Dara O'Shea

We likely wouldn’t make an official bid in this situation until after terms are agreed with the player. Again, we don’t tend to do our business publicly, so I’m not sure why you think it would have been reported on more. We literally enquire and have negotiations about dozens of players every transfer window.

Celtic going to Benfica after the success of the Jota deal and asking if there’s anyone in their youth set up that they’d consider a similar deal for is an entirely different situation to this. We didn’t go straight to Benfica with a bid, which is the point I’ve made. Even in Bernardo’s case, we discussed terms etc with his agent before ever making an “official” bid.

 

I honestly find it a bit silly that people think Celtic are literally doing nothing just because we aren't seeing transfer links everywhere. The board may not want to spend as much money as the fans but they are not entirely stupid. They know what is at stake and ultimately, success on the field makes for good business so we are naturally aligned.

It's a detested cliche but I find it much more plausible that we are "trying" to recruit players of a higher calibre but that also means we are likely to be one of many options for them and probably not the most appealing.

 

We know for a fact that we enquired about players in January... And then never followed up.

I suppose that's 'trying'.

 

I'm not sure of the exact situation you're referring to because my memory is terrible, but generally my feeling is that we hear limited details about enquiries made. The facts we hear is enquiries made and no offer, but there could be nuances we don't hear about like the player had no interest which would explain no bid.

I also think that even Celtic have acknowledged that the result of the January window was a disaster which just makes it even more difficult for me to believe that we're just doing nothing now.

To bring it back to O'Shea, I find it much more plausible that we have made it known we are interested but the player is holding out for better offers. We're then in a position where we wait and try to give Rogers what he wants or we move down our list to more achievable players and you end up with someone like Lagerbielke that suits nobody.

 

Better aff with John O'Shea

 

or his brother Rick..he's fast as a bullet I hear.

 

first off, our two keepers got reported in the media.

The type of off the books non media deals have been done with Ange was here. Prime example was Kyogo.

Now I’m not saying it doesn’t happen all the time but more recently our transfers have been reported in the media.

I suggested that we deal with clubs direct, provided an example of this, we spoke to a club, then submitted the deal. It does happen.

Regarding Bernardo, wouldn’t be discuss with his club about wages as it was a loan in the first place?

 

This would entirely accurate... If we hadn't seen this movie a million times before.

The Celtic board have run out of credit as far as "most" fans are concerned. The so called "plausibility" you refer to has no currency anymore. We've seen what they SAY and what they DO. When it comes to player recruitment, those are two entirely different things.

"Quality over quantity"... Goes out and buys a raft of projects. All fail.

"Difficult to compete in the market"... Quality players within our woeful wage bracket are still available, they just won't commit funds for them with trial loan periods, which most clubs reject.

"January is a difficult time, no one wants to let their players go"... Inaccurate. No one wants to let their players go CHEAP, or for a loan which may or may not result in a fee in a years time.

"We couldn't get it over the line"... You could've, you just didn't.

"We were disappointed with the last window". Come look at our big bank balance.

"Michael and x are working hard" theyre * AWOL... or on holiday.

It * AMAZES me that some fans still take the * that comes out of our club regarding transfers as "plausible".

 

Skickat från min SM-F926B via Tapatalk

 

The truth probably falls somewhere in the middle... We undoubtedly could do bigger and better transfers but don't because of our outdated structures/pay restraints. But we also undoubtedly do far more work behind the scenes than willbe reported, as seen by a lot of our actual deals being a "surprise" that's done before anyone out with the club knowing...

Fans are perfectly entitled to be * off that we're sitting on a goldmine, while our team is visibly deficient to purpose in certain areas, repeatedly over many windows. There's also a lot of respect due, that isn't often given, for the fact that we're in such financially constrained circumstances but are one of the "best run" clubs across the whole UK, just not from a football recruitment perspective. As you say, the board have treated the fans like *, so they've generated the bad will they now have to deal with...

 

Agree to disagree. I understand they have run out of credit with most of the support, I just think generally we don't see most of the intricacies involved with transfers or the accounting.

There is a lot of valid criticism out there but I don't think it's as clear cut as they are incompetent cash hoarders with contempt for the club. There has to be a bit of balance.

 

The only thing I agree with is I'm not sure they have actual 'contempt for the club'

Whatever we all think of their sporting (in)competence, lack of ambition, 20 year outdated approach to sporting v business success....the arrogant, nepotistic self serving chairman....the lazy minority owner, the lack of meaningful engagement with fans and the short sighted 'bare minimum to be better than Rangers' approach to running our great club - I think they do care about our club.

Hold on... isn't all of that essentially contempt for our club?
Scratch my initial statement.

 

Haha no you were right the first time!

I agree with some of the criticism, I just think there is a bit of a cartoonish portrayal of board members that goes beyond the reality. As has been said I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.

 

Everything was already agreed with Schmeichel before Romano broke it (through Kasper’s agent) as one of his “look at me being super in the know” tweets. Villa leaked our interest in Sinisalo in early May (I think) and it then went extremely quiet until a day before he was announced. So you’ve kind of made my point there - we don’t do our business publicly. Of course, they eventually hit the media, but it’s almost always very very late in proceedings.

As I said; we discussed loan prospects with Benfica and were then referred to Bernardo’s agent to discuss his interest and sell our project to the player. We then obviously reverted back to Benfica to finalise the deal. Obviously at some point we have to deal with clubs direct, but the point I’ve made is that it’s very rarely the first step to put an “official” bid in, as you had suggested.

 

First part, I’ve not made your point at all, more like you have made mines. Also just to add, you have absolutely no proof we didn’t speak with Villa in the first instance.

if you do then please show it and I will accept that.

Secondly we don’t need to talk to a club if a player is a free transfer……

Second part once again you have made my point again regarding dealing with clubs too.

 

Thats fair enough.

I dont thing theres any criticism being labelled fairly, or at all actually, at the financial operations of the club.
They've worked absolute miracles for a Scottish club.

Theres been plenty of plaudits given to them over the past two decades, particularly in light of the death of rangers and the advent of sevco, its been fun waving our bank balance in their faces.

But we're a football club, not a credit union or an investment firm.
The customers, ie. The fans, celebrate goals, trophies, and on field success. Not balance sheets.
Theres no open top bus parades for end of year accounts.

Some of the more, lets say provincial members of these boards, point to our domestic dominance and scottish trophy haul.
Success is measured by the times and conditions. Whilst I celebrate these successes, i refuse to be pigeon holed by them.
Weve fast become a european non entity. Fodder.

This is down to the consistent downsizing and blase approach from a BoD who thinks they're justified in keeping their noses just in front of basket case club with crackpot fans.

As for the intricacies of transfer dealings, im sorry, its not complicated. We're simply REFUSING to commit additional funds to top up a 20 year old wage structure and transfer policy, which has seen us become a European laughing stock.

Peter Lawell may get his hand shaken and pats on the back at European dinners with CEOs and Chairmen, the fans still have to go home dejected after another Euro embarrassment.

Theres * all complicated about it;

Raise the wage cap by 10k
Raise the transfer spend to 40% of incoming transfer fees
Hire a DoF
Modernise the scouting dept.
Put a * stop the nepotism crippling this club.

We'd be making it out of a CL group stage in 2 seasons.

 

You seem to have completely misunderstood. The first half of my post makes clear (factually, not opinion) that the media aren’t kept up to date with our transfer dealings.

The second half makes clear that we don’t tend to agree a deal with a club prior to having discussions with an agent/player. The Bernardo deal, even though we literally spoke to Benfica to enquire about potential availability within their squad, we were still referred to an agent prior to agreeing a deal with Benfica.

 

I’ve not misunderstood anything mate, again you have no actual proof like I asked before or you would have posted it.

you have used opinion or what you think happens and we have discussed it and not agreed.

That’s the crux of it really.

 

It certainly seems you’ve flip flopped your argument with every post, or changed the point you’re trying to make at the very least.

Not to worry. Have a good night.