According to a report in today's Herald, Celtic are likely to wait until the final 7-10 days of January before deciding on any new signings. This is based on the criteria that we already have, in the opinion of the Board, a squad strong enough to win the title without any new additions. A cynic might argue that it is yet another example of the Board's attempt at simply staying one step ahead of the opposition. Some will point to Gordon Strachan's final season when in the same transfer window Celtic refused to move for a then promising Hibs striker called Steven Fletcher and opted instead to bring in Willo Flood from Dundee United. Many Celtic fans put the loss of the title that year down to this single act of spendthriftiness which is perhaps a rather simplistic viewpoint but not a surprising one given the cynicism with which some supporters view the Board when it comes to pressing home the club's advantage in the transfer windows. On the other hand the January transfer window is a notoriously difficult time to bring in players that fit the criteria of what a manager is after or what the club can afford. Most players are still under contract with their clubs at this point. Those that are nearing the end of their contracts are free to sign a pre-contract but getting them in before January 31st usually still involves a transfer fee. There is also the fact that clubs do not want to part with their players halfway through a season. Spending £300,000 on the likes of Francisco Sandaza might not seem a lot but to a club like St Johnstone, the loss of such a player could mean the difference between finishing top six and play off games against the Old Firm or finishing in the bottom half and trips to less glamorous locations. The more cynical among us will look at this report and conclude that it is yet another example of the Celtic Board looking across the city and basing our transfer policy on the severe financial restrictions currently hampering our neighbours. Others will point out that there is no point spending lots of money bringing in players just for the sake of it. Come the summer, if the SPL trophy is taking pride of place in the trophy cabinet the lack of January transfer activity will be forgotten. Failure to take back the title from our skint neighbours however, and the Celtic fans will not be slow in letting the Board know exactly who's fault it is. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport...r-targets-on-the-back-burner-for-now.16427210
don't forget that rangers are spending 2 million on some spanish goal machine I think the biggest problem we have is the size of the squad, this has to be reduced. If we could get rid of everyone who is out on loan plus get rid of a couple of fringe players like bangura loovens m wilson then we could maybe bring in a bit of quality. as strange as this may seem i would also sell sammy, i think he will return to type soon enough. Every squad should always be on the lookout for players that could improve it
Lawell write that article? 3 in a row happened due to this plan and im still of the opinion that they will win 4 If lawell can't arrange a transfer punt him and find someone who can
To be honest id like to think that by now Lennon has built his squad and any additions now are not to merely make up the numbers but to push a current first team regular to the bench allowing the person who sat on the bench before to be punted. Therefore the players we need to be looking at now need to be top quality. There is no point spending for the sake of it. If lennon cant get who he wants in January then id rather we spent nothing than money elsewhere on someone who wont displace a first team player and will himself be punted in 6 months or a year. January isnt an ideal time to get anyone top quality. Teams wont sell their best players cheap at this point unless they are out of contract in the summer and they need to cash in. So i cant really see us buying anyone to be honest. If we buy anyone just for the sake of it we'll end up with more Rasumsens/Murphys/Juarez's taking up a wage and not offering anything
100% agree with this Anport. There is a reason top managers don't go out and spend a load in January. They see no value in it. Plus like you said; we got almost a team of players out on loan. Juarez can't get a game for Zaragoza and they're rock-bottom of La Liga, 7 points adrift. Rasmussen has been walloped from more clubs than an old golf ball as well. Murphy These three have all played international football, they'll be on at least £10K a week. Get the likes of them gone before spending money in my opinion.
I don't see the need for buying a centre back during this window. We have enough to cover as is. Plus I don't see who of value or quality is actually available and would want to come. A striker; fair enough. But again I'd err on the side of caution and only buy if he is the right person at the right price. The only player I can remember Celtic buying in the January window who made a difference in the run-in was Barry Robson.
Kris commons last season has to go down as a great January buy , he scored 15 goals between January and May
The chat is still bothroyd. i understand that he brings another dimension (if required). I don't know if he's the man to be that or not. On a side note, i dont understand how we can bring boys in on trial, yet sign bang bangura without one.
If you need something that could be the difference between a title and CL football you may have to pay a bit more than his true market value in this window. I'm of the opinion that like Gordon's last season a striker, with the ability to head the ball will make the difference and he should be sought. Remember failure this season means 4 in a row and that would IMO constitute neglect from the men in charge.
True, but we still didn't win the league. Good contribution, meant **** all in the end though. The point with Robson was that after the window he made a telling difference and we won the league. Is there anyone available right now who will make a major impact in where the title is headed? I'd take him on a half-season loan. Most sensible option really. He's the target man we're looking for but I wouldn't like to see us spend on him, he sat on QPR's bench most of the time.
I think the biggest frustration about that is that we could have got him relatively cheap (if you look at what he was later sold to Wolves from Burnley for - and he's been linked with an even bigger money move again this january) So not only could we have had the player we needed for a reasonable price (and made the CL money off the back) - he ticked the box in terms of someone we could develop and sell on for a profit. Same goes for McCarthy from Hamilton - we should have taken a punt on these two who are now valued at way beyond our reach. If a deal like that presents itself we should of course stretch that bit to get them
I think a loan deal would be the most sensible option, certainly for a forward. We have Hooper and Stokes banging in goals and we get our fair share from the midfield (even Sammy's started contributing!) so even a forward is not urgent. But even getting a loan deal done is difficult. First of all there aren't that many in the category of say a Chris Sutton or John Hartson (ie. a target man); of the ones that are there are very few who aren't playing for their respective teams; of the very, very few who aren't playing do we really want to take them? Would they add anything to our team? I'm of the opinion that we don't really need anyone. We have no problem finding the net. Our defense isn't nearly as bad as it's made out (we conceded less than the Huns last season and there's not much difference again this season). We have a very strong midfield and a good GK with decent backup in Zaluska.
I`m moderately pished this fine australian evening and that was a bit hard to understand....but I got there in the end
To state the obvious, the value or otherwise of investing / not investing is only ever seen retrospectively. It's all very well suggesting it might be nice if we got in an additional (good) striker for example, but realistically, we're not going to spend loads, so are looking for bargains. Not many of those around. But then again we might pick up an unknown gem. Or waste a few hundred thousand on another bench-warmer. So, unless by some miracle the board sanctions 'big' money on a proven player or there's a gem of a player from an unknown league that we have on the radar, I'm not that fussed about bringing players in at this time of the season.
Apparently we're after some Ivory Coast forward now. I see the Huns can't even send their players out on loan
The average age of that Celtic team who started against Rangers was 22. Our oldest starter was Scott Brown at 26. I'd be delighted if we got ourselves a 'first name on the team sheet' center-half and made the rest of them fight it out for the second spot. We've got three good quality right backs and Emilio and Mulgrew fighting for left back and (bar the fact Kayal was just injured) we were leaving the likes of Ki and Brown on the bench a few weeks back (not to mention the return of Kris Commons). Stokes and Hooper have at least 40 goals a season between them, Sammy has found a talent in being a player who can hold up the ball when the situation calls for it and Bangura should be given a chance to prove himself. Basically what I am saying is our top priority is to keep the young players in our squad together, they will only improve and our only chance of building a genuine quality squad these days is buying young and developing them.
