Brendan Fraudgers!

Bitton's 5 year contract extension was given in November 2015, Deila's last season. He's hardly going to come out and slate him in the press, he done a commendable job for us at CB when we were thin on the ground but it's clear as day BR doesn't rate him as a starting pick if everyone is fit.

No-one was asking for us to splurge all of the £33 million cash in bank or over £20 million in transfer surplus but it's reasonable to expect that some of that be made available to freshen up a squad that was in clear need of it.

We are a football club first and foremost, the playing squad should always be the priority. LED lights, Hotels, improving the local infrastructure are all worthwhile pursuits but they shouldn't come at the expense of the playing squad.

This isn't hindsight. Myself and many others were vocal about the need for Celtic to strengthen the team with the Champions League qualifiers in mind. They didn't. We went into the qualifiers with a toiling defence against a distinctly average AEK team and lost out on £40 million. Part of the job of a CEO is to balance risk with reward.

I believe with a modest investment of no more than £15 million on Rodger's identified signings, would've seen us qualify and bank the £40 million from the Champions League. Beyond that Boyata and Dembele could've left and we could have replaced them with players in the £3/4 million bracket and ended up exiting the transfer window with a substantial transfer surplus, a satisfied manager, a healthier squad attitude and still easily running on an even keel.

Lawwell made an irresponsible gamble at a time that we were the strongest we have ever been financially. He should absolutely be held accountable for that.

 

Aah yes obviously the only cost is a players initial transfer fee and salaries don't also come into it .. how stupid of me to not realise that ..

Aye it's me who is all over the place though

 

My mistake I thought he had an extension under BR. When he was fit he was used in an area that many of us have highlighted is a problem area ever since BR took over but little has been done about it.

You are right, as I have recently just discovered/had pointed out to me it's only the initial transfer cost that we need to cover/budget for .. so aye we can spend more of it ... although we did pay 9 million quid for Edouard, various deals failed for a number of reasons and we had bids turned down for Mckenna.

Well that is always going to be open to debate - some would be happy still walking through 4 inches of pish and others would prefer hotels and wifi etc, the problem is striking a balance. I suppose some will think they are doing ok while others will not. I happen to think they are doing ok in that regard and realise that even though we are a Football Club we also need to offer good facilities/infrastructure because that is expected from people nowadays, whether thats liked or not it's just the way it is now.

The defence has been needing sorted since BR came in the door, we have all been vocal on that. Part of a successful CEO job is to balance risk and reward, that's true, AND have in place reserves to cover eventualities.

Ok, so out of the 15 million, 9 million went on Edouard (I can only assume you agree with that choice) and BR was desperate to get Mckenna, so are you saying Mckenna would have seen us qualify then ? Or would Mcginn have solved the defensive problems.
Both Boyata and Dembele Pete tried his hardest to keep because BR wanted them, so we turned down 12 million for Boyata (we aint gonna see anything like that figure in the summer). And but for Dembele really forcing the situation we would have kept him. So Pete's/Boards gamble kinda failed with these 2.

The whole summer transfer was a result of irresponsible actions, I agree with you on that, although I don't think the majority of those irresponsible actions can be laid at Pete/Boards door, some yes, majority no.

 

I know, I should have known that the only cost was the initial fee

 

£15 million on top of the Edouard fee which will not be £9 million up front and was covered by the Van Dijk sell-on fee and Sviatcenko sale.

Well within our capabilities given that we made £30 million from the sales of Armstrong and Dembele.

 

Not so "modest" then

 

No one can tell me that Rodgers has been backed significantly enough so we can make serious improvements in Europe. Certainly not this season given the talent that we lost and the fact that we haven't really replaced it.

 

Returned to the emojis when debating I see. I would argue with anyone that providing Rodgers with 50% of the transfer fees we took in over the summer at a time that we had over £30 million in the bank - in no small part thanks to his outstanding work - is a modest investment.

He transformed a dejected squad from Deila turning many guys careers round, won an unprecedented Double Treble, secured back-to-back Champions League qualifications. If that doesn't warrant loosening the purse strings and keeping the best manager we've had since Stein happy then nothing will.

Essentially every major situation was badly handled in the summer and the blame lies at the feet of our extremely handsomely paid CEO. If that qualifies as doing 'OK' then you evidently don't hold Lawwell to the same standards as you do Rodgers.

 

50%, of anything, is not a modest amount simple as that.


If I want to use emojis I will, if that upsets you then there is a simple solution.

 

According to Transfermarkt, Rodgers blew over £10m on De Vries, Gamboa, Hendry, Compper, Eboué, Musonda and Hayes in transfer fees and loan fees alone. They have contributed absolutely nothing to the club.

Recruitment under Rodgers has been mostly poor; there is no getting away from that fact.

Does he deserve greater backing in the transfer market? Maybe, but he needs to improve his track record in it. Liverpool and Swansea can afford multiple failures in the £1m-£3m bracket; we can’t.

 

Anyone who is willing to spend £3.5m or more on McKenna needs checks and balances, that much is certain.

 

Dunno how concrete those figures are, but they can't be too far off.

And that's not taking into account wages, plus Sinclair £4m, Ntcham £4m, Edouard £9m plus bumper new contracts for present squad players., plus the supposed offers of £2-3m for McGinn, and somewhere in the region of £5m for McKenna.

He has been backed very well, anyone who says differently imo is deluded.

 

Accusations of ego ... coming from you is priceless tbh.

I'm sorry If my "aggression" in your safe space has upset you petal but I'm sure Sean hasn't * his pants.

Although, as you do have a habit of making wild assumptions, maybe I should point out that my reference to a - simple solution - was me pointing out that Sean doesn't have to quote me, and that it wasn't actually a challenge to have a fight LOL.

 

I don't think we went to 2 for McGinn in the end and I thought the lumps highest bid was 3.5. Could be wrong..

He has had backing, but he has also been let down a lot as well when it's put in to context..

He certainly isn't blameless whatsoever. In my opinion there is blame in every department and I'm HOPING we sort it out in January as the next can't be anywhere near as bad as the last, surely..

 

I think that the board have backed him well too.

Perhaps, he is still adjusting to the market in which we operate, but he has five transfer windows behind him now. He needs to start unearthing some hidden gems because our success on and off the park will be unsustainable otherwise.

 

No , no ,no nope - Wages need not be taken into account its only initial transfer, seemingly.

I take your concerns seriously, be brave