celtic plc interim results - 20th Feb 2009

Very easy to make throw away posts like that. Lets start naming names. I totally 100% agree we need a quality new left back. I also think we need a new quality no nonesense center back as well. I am disappointed we didn't bring in anything which really adds to the team in January.
But who should we have signed at left back that is in our price range that is available and that is even willing to come play in the spl. Name names of players we should have signed that fit into the above and are better then Naylor and Wilson who have been our left backs this season. Same with strikers. Name names.

 

if hutzi could have been signed at 2.3millon it would have been a good move.if he was signed and got a 3 year contract for argument sake,he would be worth twice what we paid.so would that not be a good investment.
i like lawwell,he does a good job,but he does wait too long to get us the best possible deal,and i think he's missed out on this one.i think we would have signed him if a good offer came in for aiden.but with naka likely to go in the summer he would be a perfect replacement.

 

Huszti was not for sale.

 

I think its fair to say everyones bored of listening to figures and hearing phrases lke 'prudence', 'within our means' and 'financial market'.

We all just want to see a decent Celtic team on the park.

People can throw all the figures at me they like, but as far as I'm concerned, the plc are capable of producing a higher standard of player than we have now. We didn't have multi-millions to spend in the 90's but TB and his scouts managed to unearth Pierre, Di canio, Cadette and the like.

What do we get now??

The majority of our team comes from picking off 'slightly above average' SPL players.

Am I wrong?

Look at our team ... Caldwell, Wilson, Hartley, Robson, Flood, McDonald

What a wonderful scouting system eh?

 

Lawell has just shot John Reid in the foot by saying we wanted to sign loads of players and spend lots of money,

which one is lying :bbpd:

 

A lot of our best players in the 60s, 70s and 80s were just bought off other wee Scottish teams. I wouldnt knock it. Far better Celtic sides than we have seen in the last 6 years were built that way. We are just returning to our roots and the older more sustainable Celtic way.

 

Aye but that was back when Scottish Football was actually producing players of a very good standard, as opposed to a decent standard these days.

 

well said. If it was was so easy to get quality LBs we would have done it.

 

If you are so blinded by a desire to find things wrong, you'll see that both mens statements actually back each other up.

Ask Tamster about spin, he seems to think they are good at it.

 

A big thank you should be made to the fans who's hard earned money has helped put us on a secure financial footing. Without us Lawell would not have had the cash to repay the debt, and don't think he's not filled his boots while getting the debt down.

Now we look for our money to be used to give us a better matchday experience, get in better players and increase the training the players do so we get the absolute best out of them, they are getting set up for life off our money, the least we expect in return is 100% effort and a promise that they will train more and more to improve while they are on the payroll

Mon the * hoops

 

his fee may have been only 2.5 million but the real issue was probaby wage. A quality player nearly on a bosman going to a Russian team is probably on something crazy like 60000 a week, triple what we would pay. People need to understand that its WAGES that have priced us out. A wage like that is approaching 3 million a year alone. Its wages not fees.

 

Very well said!

 

i'd say hes getting 15--20k a week at zenit and probably trebling what he was making at his previous club,,a wage like this is within our budget..i'd say it was the fee not wages that was the problem..

 

We still have this element in our signing policy these days.
DiCanio and Cadete were risk signings, DiCanio was a loose cannon in Italy with more clubs than a baby seal, Cadete had no club.
Fortunately for us these were succesfull signings (not silverware-wise succesfull)
We still make signings with an element of risk, Donati for example is a risk signing that hasnt worked out, and the jury is still out on Samaras.

But remember, both Donati and Samaras have League Winners Medals, DiCanio and Cadete don't.

 

Arshavin was on £90k a week at Zenit, I'm not saying that Huszti is on that, I'd guess that £60k as Gunt said is probably more accurate.

Thats why these Russian clubs are able to attract this type of player, its because of the wages they pay, nothing to do with players ambition or playing in a better league.
We would have paid better than he was getting in the Bundesliga, but we cant compete with the Russians

 

I seriously doubt he is on as little as that. The Russian's pay the best wages outside the EPL. Our bid for Fletcher showns 2.5 million doesnt scare us off even for a young player like him. So 2.5 for Hutzi wasnt the issue.

 

Look at the hun team from 1996 compared to the team they have now, not really a fair comparison I would say.

 

right then,,if you are willing to compare wages of arshavin and huszti,,then we will do so by transfer fee arshavin is a 20 mil player huszti is a 2mil player,,huszti is worth roughly 10%of what arshavin is worth which will be reflected in his wages also,,but because he moved to russia this cant be true???

 

I think its wages every time that stumps us. Basically we come in offering 15,000 and the agent hawks him around EPL and Russian teams and they offer several multiples more. I am not sure what our new wage ceiling is but I am guessing its around 20,000 for new players, maybe less. A player is never going to come to the SPL for half the wages he can get elsewnere. Youth is the way forward.

 

I dont think you'll find its as exact a science as that, dont attempt to over simplify the transfer market, theres far too many variables.
Besides wasnt Huszti an £8million pound player yesterday ????

So do you think we can compete with the Russians wages-wise ?