Not Actually that Crucial a Summer as of August 2023...beginning to now think everything isnt fine!

If I had a pound for every time I've heard this over the years I'd be able to sign 1 of these imaginary players myself. Our recruitment policy is not a secret, it's buy low sell high. That's what we try to do at any rate. The priority signings for this season should have been a GK ready to go straight into the first 11 and a credible alternative for CB and LB yet the first players through the door are a couple more 'projects', one a CM and the other a winger(the position we probably have most options for). It's the hubris here that worries me though, with all this talk of how much money we have and how far ahead of sevco we supposedly are. This was the patter when we were going for 10IAR and look what happened. We took our eyes off the ball and just assumed it was gonna happen. As we stand we are weaker than last season, no Ange, no Jota, AJ and CCV injured. It's not too late to sort out of course but there are far too many people assuming we're just going to keep on hammering the huns without any sort of fight.

 

Everything that has happened since we won the Scottish Cup has been disappointing if we're all honest.

 

Come back to me on 15th august

 

Starting to get really worried about our situation at the back.

CCV not guaranteed to be fit and both Welsh and Kobayashi don’t look at the level to be playing a run of games.

At right back, Johnston definitely out for first month of the season by sound of it, so will miss away to Aberdeen and be a doubt for game vs them. Ralston was also cutting about with a brace just after the end of the season, not seen any of him in the training footage either.

Hart looked worryingly in decline at the end of last season and needing replaced.

To start the season with the below wouldn’t be the encouraging start that I was hoping for.

—————-—-Hart————

B team——-Welsh/Kobi—-Starfelt——Taylor
RB

Then you have our attacking third, where we really are a Kyogo injury away from really struggling.

Abada and Maeda are both good options but I don’t like them both playing at the same time as they aren’t players who like to be on the ball and when you combine that with how Kyogo plays, you then don’t have many options to play the ball into in the final third and a lack of creativity.

To put this in perspective the team we can put out the now is a Kyogo injury away from looking very much like the side that started at Ibrox in May and we were pathetic that day.

A serious amount of work needs done between now and three weeks tomorrow.

Overall we need

Starting GK
LB competition
CB competition
Athleticism in midfield
Creativity and a goal threat from the wings.

In addition a bit of depth in the striking department and right back given our injury situation wouldn’t go a miss.

 

Stuff needs to start happening and soon.

Tilio, Holm, even the ongoing saga with the Korean winger, are not Rodgers signings.
He may be happier with the recruitment setup and willing to trust in the players signed, but he still needs to bring in players he wants and needs for the squad.

With rumoured £30m to play with before a ball was kicked, with £25m from the Jota deal (of course minus sell on etc), then there really ought to be some pushing of the boat per se.

With players leaving for Japan this weekend, with only two pre-season games scheduled after that, we really aren't giving ourselves much time at all here.

I expected the first week or two to be slow with Rodgers assessing everything, but that's 3 weeks and more since he's came in and really there doesn't seem to be anything on the cards.

I get we play our cards close to the chest and often signings come out the blue for us.
But as the days tick by, with squads flying around the world, you so wonder what the plan is to get new signings in and up to speed.

First competitive game is 3 weeks away.


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i have a feeling it will be starfelt and scales at cb for the opener and the way rodgers is talking about forrest and mccarthy is worrying to say the least

 

Been forcing myself to not get impatient or negative, but * me it's getting more difficult by the day.

Obviously we will make more signings but I was really hoping to have had some in by now.

 

While I'm not panicking, I don't believe that completing big transfers takes a lot of time. We should present clear questions to players' agents at the start, and move on if we get a response that indicates the player doesn't want to be here. We have the money, so dealing with clubs shouldn't be that complex either.

 

Yep, starting to worry a wee bit now after hearing about the problems with injuries to key players. We all know that we need important positions filled i.e. GK, CM, RW etc. and I can't help worrying about the dark old days when we supposedly missed out on signings due to squabbling about prices

 

If we’re following the buy low, sell high strategy… then technically every player we sign is a “project”.

Why is it that some of our fans seem to think we’re under some sort of unique pressure that other big clubs are not experiencing with regard to winning, that necessitates buying ready-made players?

Are the likes of Ajax/PSV or Benfica/Porto not under similar pressure to win every year? And yet these clubs still manage to give young players a chance in their first 11, which is why they reap the rewards of this bravery by banking huge profits on player sales.

If you lack bravery when following this transfer strategy, you won’t pull it off to its full capacity.

A large chunk of our fanbase, makes it very difficult to follow this strategy successfully because of this constant pressure to be seen throwing money around… panic and anger sets in very quickly if the club is not sinking every last penny into the transfer market.

It’s a very frustrating mentality which doesn’t really help the club progress on or off the pitch.

 

No I don't think Ajax/PSV are under the same pressure, Benfica and Porto probably not to the same extent either. Both leagues have 3 teams (in reality) competing for the league. A big part of our pressure to win is because if we don't then Rangers do. It's nearly 40 years since a non Glasgow team has won the league, in the last 7 years it's currently 16 Trophies Celtic, Rangers and St Johnston 2. Often their fans will see the bigger picture, spending a season putting a team together to dominate in the future probably would have been accepted here 21-22 but not now.

 

There was clearly positions that needed attention when we were coming towards the season's end. I'm surprised we haven't moved more quickly as this was the way the club wanted to work apparantley. Identify early, buy promptly.

Maybe the recruitment and management team don't agree with the fans that certain positions need strengthened as seems to be the case with Joe Hart or when Ange left the building the impetus to do business sharply went with him. The excuse that we are trying to shop in more expensive markets so it's harder to do business doesn't really cut it. The likely budget will have been known months prior. The early identification and recruitment process should still stand up and if anything it becomes more important.

Edit: the one scenario that I'm hoping for is that we did have priority signings we identified but with AP leaving and Rodgers coming in we agreed to put the breaks on them as they were significant sums taking up a large chunk of BR's budget and he wanted to assess the squad before any significant outlays. Odin Holm and Tillio were further down the line, a smaller outlay and more of a project so BR was happy to ok them. He has spoken openly about assessing the squad and getting a look at all the players on this Portuguese training camp so I would expect significant movements after this.

 

Brendan has said CCV is well on the road to recovery. He should be available for start of the season. Jota is a massive loss but we will need to be patient if we want to replace him with real top quality. Tete seems to be a major target in that regard. Guys like that will have multiple options. It is mid July man so I would not be panicking just yet- far from it. We have signed two players already and the Korean winner looks likely in the next while. If Ange was still here we would be happy enough. He isn't but Rodgers has a proven record every bit as good.

And in regards Sevco we will have to wait to see how good they are with the new signings. Of course they had an excellent points total last year so anything remotely similar we need to be on top of our game but we have CCV, McGregor and Kyogo as the spine of our team with Hatate, Maeda, O'Riley hopefully ready to improve under Rodgers. We have a team who have consistently performed magnificently. A couple of big marquee signings will be made this summer let's be patient.

 

I really don’t think we are under greater pressure. It’s just a perception some of our fans have.

Plus, if you do it right, there’s no reason why you can’t be both competitive in the present while also making solid long term investments in the squad.

Take Jota for example. Was he not a bit of a project player? And yet our fans are desperate for us to go into the market and splash big money on his replacement… even though spending big money doesn’t necessarily guarantee you success anyway.

For me, it’s just the wrong mentality. It’s short-termism… motivated by panic and fear mostly.

 

Bored as *.

Slightly concerned.

And bored.

 

Some of you need * alcohol lads

 

Think weed would be better judging by the mood

 

People are genuinely getting upset because we are hoovering up the young talent in the best leagues in Asia with an eye on the future.. baffling