Will The Board Spend In January ?

We need to strengthen the team, although attracting players to the SPL is difficult at the best of times never mind now.

If we get one strong commanding CB and even a 6 month loan deal for a quality striker to see us through to the summer then I'll be relatively satisfied.

I don't think there will be, or should be, a huge clear out in January, I wouldn't mind if some of the fringe players were sold and a few of those out on loan had their deals made permanent but I wouldn't want to see a massive clearout of first team players halfway through the season, that should be done in the summer when we have pre-season to gel the new players into the team.

As for Greenmachine wanting DD to either inject equity or debt it's not realistic in the current climate. He can't inject equity as he's at the limit before having being forced by stock exchange regulations to make a takeover bid. As for debt, how much debt is too much in a time when revenues are falling? The cost of servicing a debt to finance a player needs to also be considered and although interest rates are at an all time low just now the banks aren't exactly keen to give more debt at a time when they are trying to call in some of their loans.

I want to see investment and expect to see a couple of new faces in the squad in January, however those that are expecting or wanting wholesale changes will be disappointed.

 

I definately think they will back him although the problem he has is in january clubs dont want to lose players even if they are running down their contracts but anyone he can get in that he wants wil be welcome but id rather wait than get in players to fill numbers and i say again we should be using the loan system far more than we do

 

Jvoh was always a dissapointment, last year he was preposterous. We need a stiker who can score 30 goals a year at leat one CB also.

 

In that case why go on about money?

If it's really a belief and not a business, surely we need an injection of emotional certainty, and not money?

 

Can you give me the address of the Crack Den you are currently residing in mate? I think i will come over and we can discuss how we will win the CL next year.:icon_mrgreen:

Your right about the reserves though, if they cannot step up tpo replace the * in the first team they should take up badger baiting because they must be * dire.

 

worst celtic team in half a century whit age are you because i have seen much much worse than this

 

I think you will witness some shrewd and astute wheeler dealing in January.
The Board and TM are not mugs, they know what is required, and will have already identified all their targets already.

We will be guaging it very much on a game to game basis, and reviewing where we are at any given time. That is the correct and most realistic attitude to take I believe in these prevailing economic conditions.

 

I think they wil spend,but not silly money,it'll be a couple in and a couple out,they wont make the same mistake they made last Jan,if Mogga says he needs a few fresh faces for the run in i feel he'll get them.

 

Great post chara

Celtic are not a business, they are a football club.
We badly need money to bring in players, we need strikers, central defenders and above all a guy that the support can get behind, a fans favourite if you like. £10M OR £15M is needed to get this team going. And not over 3 or 4 transfere windows we need this to happen in january and the summer.
If the PLC invest this amount in the team, they will see the benefits by exrta merch, extra season tickets, extra euro money etc. Thats what a football board of directors should be doing.

 

Only washers.

 

Does it include wages or only transfer fees?

How are we meant to finance this £10-£15 million investment?

I want to see investment in the team as it's badly needed, but we have to be realistic in our expectations and I just can't see us spending this amount in one transfer window, and definitely not in January.

 

I cant see the board doing it either tbh.
But this is probably what we need. But if TM spent say £5m in january, then £10m in the summer it could be possible. Sell some players on, use the wages they had and give it to the new player or players. Also the money celtic get in from transferes can be used to pay wages and/ or buy in players. We have also got 3 Billionaires at the club.

 

Based on the performances so far this season I think we need to spend in order to improve the shambles which Strachan left us, he reckons he left us a team which is better than the current team. Well we've brought in Fortune, Fox and N'Guemo to play with Strachan's aces, so eight starting players belonged to the Strachan era.

All this talk of don't break up or defensive centre back partnership in January is a joke, these partnerships (Caldwell, Mc Manus & Loovens) should have been kicked into touch in June or July. Our fowards last season were crap, we got rid of one liability when Big Jan departed, our mistake was not clearing our Samaras, Mac Donald and Killen at the same time.

The crap spouted out about what Dermot Desmond can and can't do with his money because we're a PLC is beyond believe, I think DD likes the idea of everyone else (The Fans & The Sponsers) funding Celtic while he reaps his dividends.

Eight years ago we had far better players on the park in the form of Larsson, Sutton, Hartson, Lennon, Lambert and Petrov with debt of approximately £20 Mil due to Fergus Mc Cann's final pay-off. We were seriously challenging Europe's top clubs at fortress Parkhead and beating nearly them all, all this for £250 season ticket, marvellous.

Now we're reduced to watching third rate players, we're getting beat at Parkhead by the likes of Hamburg and Dynamo Moscow in Europe, while Hearts are knocking us out on the domestic front, however our debts nil, we now paying £530 for a season ticket,great result Mr Desmond & Mr Lawwell.

Given the turnover of a club like Celtic an overdraft of £10 Mil would be seen as nothing to worry about, and having a major shareholder with a personal fortune estimated near 1 Billion you would expect to see the colour of some of his money if he is genuine Celtic supporter, no evidence so far Mr Desmond.

60,000 home gates are becoming less and less as the years roll on, the fear factor for a great many Celtic supporters of not getting a seat most weeks is rapidly disappearing, so the clear message is invest in January or get use to see much more empty seats on a far more regular basis.

 

The personal fortune of the major shareholder has no impact on the overdraft capabilities of Celtic.

DD can not inject anymore equity into the club without being forced by stock exchange regulations to make an official takeover bid for the club.

DD has invested more money than any other person in Celtic so to suggest he likes to sit back and have the fans and sponsors fund Celtic is just plain incorrect.

How much do you think it would cost to get players of the caliber of Sutton, Hartson etc, certainly more than £6million each, added to the huge wages it would take, it was rumoured that Bellamy wanted £60,000 per week to come, quite simply we can't afford those type of wages.

Eight years ago the transfer market was a different landscape and we could compete on the wages front with EPL teams, we can no longer compete on that level and some realism is required.

 

£60,000 per week would be a fantasy salary fort the Austrian league, for example. I think one of the reasons of the success of clubs like <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Barcelona</st1lace></st1:City>, Inter, etc is their financial recourses. Ballack at <st1:City w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Chelsea</st1lace></st1:City> and Berbatov at Manchester Utd make £120,000 per week.

Football has become a very money dominated game. If you have to compete on the international stage and have only a mediocre budget you don’t get very far… <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

Exactly, but unfortunately a lot of Celtic fans still expect us to be able to pay the extortionate wages.

 

Think ur figures are a bit off here mate. MCcann saved us, got us out the red and left with a hefty profit as he sold his shares after his endeavour resulted in the value of those shares rising. He also strategically sold shares to wealthy buisnessmen and woman such as the ones who are runiing the club now which has benefitted us in the long run. You also did not mention the decline in the state of the economy since back in the days of Petrov, Larsson etc which has to be appreciated as back then the gaffer had a higher transfer and wage budget and the recession was not half as bad as what it is if it existed at all then. We could also compete for players against EPL teams back then- something which we struggle to do now due to the gap in finances.

On the current finances- Did the board not publicly state recently that no funds would be available for players unless we sold first? Im sure i read this or heard it from the summary of the AGM and i agree with this. I seen a thread posted about going into debt to revamp the squad but in, my oppinion, i think this is a bad idea. Y take such a big risk and dig a bigger hole for the club that for years they have been trying to fight and get out of? Ridiculous. I would like to see a few players sold- for instance we may consider selling a high earner like boruc when we have zaluska who is more than capable. We may not be able to turn down a good bid for brown or mcgeady either if the likes of spurs come calling in Jan.

Mowbray has already put his faith in fortune and spent approx 3.5-3.8m on him which is a relatively big, expensive buy and may come back to haunt him unless he proves to be worth the money. After spending on Ki and Fox ther cant be too much left in the kitty for January. I think the transformation from Strachans celtic to Mowbrays celtic may be a gradual process and the fans will have to be patient. Peter Lawwel has done a good job in keeping things tight at celtic park in these tough financial times and we need to look at other sources of income such as INVESTING IN YOUTH which will benefit us in the long run. Lawwel even had arsenal wanting him on their board so he must be doing something right.

Hopefully we wont live above our means and Mowbray will operate shrewdly. sell a few and get in a few bargains on the cheap and/or loan deals.

 

What exactly do you find beyond belief about stock market regulations exactly?

Eight years ago bottom feeding clubs in the EPL weren't pocketing sums in excess of £30M a year in T.V. revenue from Sky, they are now. Eight years ago, we were on a par with the top 5 EPL clubs in terms of what we could offer players in wages, not any more. Eight years ago we were in the D&T top 20 european clubs in terms of annual turnover, not any more.

Our debt had to be addressed, and was done so in part by the share issue in 2005. How often do you feel is reasonable (not to mention sustainable) to re-issue shares in order to service debt?

I can only suggest that you face up to the realities of the current economic landscape both in the football industry and the wider world, rather than live in past.

Where does this figure of £10M come from? and what would you expect the borrowing of £10M to acheive in terms of rebuilding our squad, if it is as bad as you would have us beleive?

Pathetic. This has been covered many times on this and other forums,use of the search facility will unearth such "evidence".

 

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What I can't understand is the fact that some people are under the impression that it is not possible to invest the millions , that they have, into a club that they so called love , when I have said it * knows how many times , there is no law in using your own money to improve things at Celtic football club.

e.g. If I won 100 mil Euro, I would have the right to invest it in Celtic to buy players to improve the team without breaking any laws.

The so called Celtic supporters who have 1 billion between them don't have the same philosophy as me and are more inclined to take money from Celtic rather than put money into Celtic. How there way of working can be defended as good business sense strikes me as naivety TBH. It feels like 1991 again and i'll give it 3 maybe 4 years year before we end up back to no more 5 to 10 thou season ticket holders and a debt back on our hands.

I didn't like Fergus McCann for one reason only, 'the fact he came out and said he was only there for 5 years' it did not show loyalty to Celtic but I have to give him credit for his way of turning things around, to see it all looking as if it is going to fall flat on its face soon just goes to show what this present board main priority is.
for anyone to defend how things are going just now at park head is beyond me. Some people just can't see past the bed of roses.

The biggest part of our income is from the supporter, be it merchandise or season ticket sale and it won’t be long before it start to fall. Will the same people still defending how things are just now, because I think standing still is a sure fire way to seing us falling from something to nothing

 

january window has never been a transfer window where big deals go through. i am not hopeful much will happen.
possibly more out the door than in.