Celtic have to Spend Now!!!

You seem to love talking down our team.

We played very good teams in the EL, and I don't think Udinese had a second string out when we almost beat them on their own patch.

 

I love talking down our team?? We are both on a thread "Celtic have to spend now" and im giving my opinion on where i think we need to spend. You seem intent on following me around to disagree with every post i make. Some have agreed with me and some have not but thats what this forum is for.

We played well away to Udinese and i think they did rest a few players in that game but ill not argue with you about that but for every Udinese performance ill give you one like the other night. Champions league will be of a much higher standard than that Europa league group though and i dont fancy going into it with Mulgrew at the back.

 

Second string teams? Atletico won the * thing and Udinese were top of Serie A and went on to finish 3rd.

 

Mulgrew played poorly the other night, but that wasn't due to it being too high a class of opposition. Helsinborg are little better than the SPL dross we face. He just had a very rare off-night. To say he 'just can't defend' is ridiculous - his composure and reading of the game is normally priceless and this negativity is only creeping in because of one bad game.

 

Follow you about?

Don't flatter yourself mate.

 

Athletico rested players when they came to Celtic park. Udinese rested players when they came over. Rennes dropped 8 players when we played them in france and also brought half a team over with them to here. I wasnt saying they were not decent teams but we played their second string in a lot of the games. Champions league will be a lot tougher than that group.

 

Its not 1 game though . I agree with you about Helsinborg not being a great team but that makes it even more worrying.

 

Bilbao put 6 past HJK the night, that put our result v Helsinki into perspective dont you think, this could suggest we do need to spend some money on experience to help out the young lhads.

 

I wasnt flattering myself but you do seem more interested in me than the actual topic we are "supposed to be discussing". Again just my opinion

 

Ideally I would like to see the following;

Out;
Wilson
Ki (deal not done yet)
Bangura
Murphy

In;
Ciani (or similar best like CB with European experience)
ANother CB
Henricksen (to supplement losing Ki)
Rhodes
Target man ST

First off, I don't think that the above will happen - not for one second - although it would be a helluva early Christmas present if it did...

Why do I think we need to do this?

First off the players in the out column are either confirmed as leaving (Ki) or simply not good enough!

The players coming in are required for obvious reasons;

Current defence;
2 x RB's
2 x CB's (that are trustworthy)
2 x LB's (well one really, as we've yet to see if Blackman is capable)

For me, that's not enough - if we need 2 players for each position, then clearly we need 2 new CB's (as long as Wilson leaves of course)

MF;
We have plenty of options - and overall 8 players who, IMO, can do a job on a regular basis;

Brown, Commons, Ledley, Kayal, McGeouch, Forrest, Wanyama, Sami

(sorry but the others have came in at times and been found wanting - and at a club like Celtic that's no good, we need back up that's every bit as good as the starters)

So all in all, we have 2 for each position in MF, however we don't have a box to box player - and from what I've heard of Henricksen he potentially gives us something that we don't have right now - although I do think that the more we see of McGeouch the better!!!

Moving onto the front line;

Stokes (capable & trustworthy)
Hooper (capable & trustworthy)
Watt (still to prove himself, although good prospect)
Keatings (still to prove himself, although good prospect)

So, for me, we have 2 ST's who can score - and do so on a regular basis - and 2 who need to develop...

But as we've seen at times, we don't have time to bleed in players at specific times of the season, i.e. early in domestic campaign, CL/European matches, etc.

Once we've won the league and have it in the bag, then I'd love to see the likes of Watt, Keatings, Ibrahim, etc getting an opportunity - but in the here and now, we need players who can do a job right from the off - players who are proven at a certain level.

And granted Rhodes isn't proven at senior level in terms of club football but I (and I think every other Celtic supporter) can see that the lad knows how to score and I'm confident that he can score in any team (just as he has done at international level)

Plus both Rhodes and Henricksen fit the bill of young players with great potential and considerable resale value - should they progress as expected/planned!

And how do we do this???

Simples!

We've already shaved a good few quid off of the wage bill, with the departure of;

Cervi, M Wilson, Cha, Maj, Glenda, O'Dea, Thompson, Towell, Spence, Juarez, McGinn, Ras.

Clearly most of the above were released/free transfers - but we did bring in £250k for Ras and a few quid for Efra as well (perhaps £1.5m in total for both???)

Either way, a few quid in and good few quid off the wage bill... (at least £50k per week)

Add to that the following;

Real friendly - £1m
Europe so far - £5m
Europe to come - £8-£15m (let's not count our chickens)
Sale of Ki - £6.3m

Total of £20.3m-£27.3m

Pay off club debt - £7m (if still same as reported in Feb)

Net profit of £13.3m-£20.3m

So can we afford to recruit the above?

Of course we can, especially if we shop wisely and continue to shop in emerging markets and/or markets that bring us a new fanbase (or continue or presence there) - such as Japan/Korea, etc, etc - as such players offer a considerable ROI...

So;

Ciani - £2m
ANother CB - Bosman
Henricksen - £2m
Rhodes - £4m
Target man ST - £1m (emerging market)

Spend £9m (some of it being an investment for future sales) and still have an overall profit of £4.3m-£11.3m!!!

Plus wages already saved (aforementioned min £50k - plus whatever Ki's on - another £10k perhaps??? - thinking about his celeb status, etc, which bumps up his worth) will cover new signings;

Ciani - £18k
ANother CB - £8k
Henricksen - £12k
Rhodes - £18k (can't see him coming in on top wages)
Target man ST - £8k

So, can we do it???

Yes we can!!!

Will we do it???

Probably not - but it's nice to think about before hitting the hay :icon_mrgreen:

Hail Hail

 

if we get thro on wed nite lenny must be in to see them and demand new signings,if not then a lot of unhappy fans and quite right to

 

Looks like no signings until at least next week.

If we qualify and do nothing in this window I'll be furious.

 

Im the exact same. If this ends up like a Willo Flood-esque tranfers window I will be raging.

 

Yes, your Murphy, Watt and Rasmussen statements are correct, I was referring to the finances behind having so many strikers on the books, especially when we have Hooper, Stokes, Samaras for a lone striker role. Are we going to sign someone of proven quality to slot straight into this role? Whilst dropping Hooper?

Why do we need a striker to make a VoH/McDonald partnership? We have played 4-2-3-1 against two average sides in qualifying, why would we possibly change to a 4-4-2 at the group stages when playing better quality opposition?

 

Nice post. Basically hits where I'm at on our current situation, as well. There are critical areas, and then there are less critical, but attractive positions for improvement/investment. We will not do both at the same time.

It all comes down to time. I worry about how we'll do in the CL this season, if we do qualify, but it's better to build slowly.

 

Lenny has already said that even if we go through we will not be spending "£6m or £7m". Thats in total, not on one player.

Prepare to vent your fury mate.

 

Wrong players transfred

They should have gave Garry Caldwell the money he was wanting and kept him he was 99% reliable. They should also have kepr Scott Mc Donald proved he could score at all levels false economy selling these players then looking for replacements.

 

We should have been bringing new faces in with or without the CL.

Caldwell was a legend in his own mind and I for one was glad to see the back of him, couldn't really stand the guy. Scott McDonald done a good job for us but he was a moaner and couldn't control the ball. How many great moves broke down when the ball reached McDonald because the ball bounced off him straight to the opposition?

I was glad the club moved these guys on because it was getting stale and things needed freshened up.

 

Why would people be unhappy after qualifying for the CL ..That my friend was the next target for the club after the title last season ..If we go through wednesday we will have achieved that target . Lenny may get some money to spend but it wont be a vast amount ..I really wont be disappointed if we just get a couple in as cover ..I expect one to be a loan as well ...

 

we could be in a great pos if we qualify for cl,sale of ki,but we must spend some decent money on players and keep fans exited and maybe wanting to buy sbs,i feel the club should try and inject 2 or 3 decent players in to team,as we want to try and put up a decent showing in cl and poss push for treble,but we need players