Lawwell & Strachan about transfers

Peter Lawwell in The Times;
"We are still working on strengthening the team. Gordon has a lot of good players in that squad but we would not buy for the sake of it, only if it made us better.” “We are not bothered by what is going on elsewhere,” the chief executive said. “We have a responsibility to do the right thing for this club and we will continue to go about our business in a professional manner. When we have something to announce, we will let the Celtic fans know.
“We are trying to strengthen the team but we have a good track record in recent years and we will not be rushed into doing deals. The transfer window lasts until the end of August and every club recognises that. It is not just Celtic, everyone does business up until the last day, so there is no need to panic.”

Gordon Strachan after the Spurs game;
"Look at who they had tonight. Luka Modric, David Bentley, Dimitar Berbatov and then the left-back Gareth Bale comes on and he's worth £12m.
"We don't have that money and we have to do our best with what we've got and make the players better. What are our limits? Do you get half a Bentley, a quarter of Bentley? Do we get a Bentley right leg?
"We learned that Spurs are top quality. The way you play football is to pass the ball better. We gave the ball away 18 times in the first half and when you do that it means they have the ball for eight minutes.
"Then when we get the ball we're tired. We have to deal with that, though, and when it comes to the Champions League we have to pass the ball better.
"When you don't pass the ball well you create problems. We're about threadbare right now. But the players I have here are all I've got.
"One way or another we have to have passers on and then battlers on and we have to be ready for all sorts of games. It's easy for them to progress when they have money to spend.
"Bobo (Balde) is here and is looking to move on and we have two young kids. We need to get players back fit."

 

I don't care about other team's spending power. Just go out and buy what we need. I'm not expecting world beaters, just enough to see Rangers off for sure and the sooner these players are in the better.

 

I like what Lawwell had to say; Strachans' words seemed more akin to admiting defeat which I didn't really like, but I get where he's coming from. Hopefully we continue to improve the team, like Lawwell stated.

 

Everyone knows we can’t compete with spurs in the transfer market, however I think his comments are somewhat degrading towards his own players.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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I mean is Boruc not worth 13 mil or McGeady for that matter. From our point of view we have quality players maybe Skippy and Naka´s value 7-8 mil. Perhaps we dont have as many as Spurs but our players are better than the way WGS has described them to be. Not exactly a great way to motivate our players IMO.<o></o>
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With regards to the fans needing to realise we can’t compete, I think we all knew that already. However I think as fans we have given the club everything in terms of loyalty and finances. IMO it is about time Celtic gave the fans back something in return. If this close season goes by, as yet another disappointing one in terms of quality signings, which from the sounds that WGS has been making in recent day’s is a possibility, then it will be yet another slap in the face for the fans.<o></o>
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Here is hoping we get what we all crave, some quality players.<o></o>
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True. TBH, I don't rate Bent or Bentley. If we were 100% fit and all available, we'd have pulled out something.

 

I don't think you have understood anything that Stach and Lawwell have said.

Why do a Rangers and buy just for the sake of it? Does it not make sense to you to buy only players of quality at a price and wage we can afford?

Maybe you would rather we just sign players who are out of our price range and put the club back financially to the early 90s.

The club is on a sound financial footing at the moment and to continue with this we can't just throw money at players. Have faith. We will sign and when we do it will be quality. Work is going on daily behind the scenes and as has been stated, when we do sign someone the fans will be among the first to know.

 

Mate, I think to be fair to WGS he was generalising about the situation as a whole and not specifically talking about our individual players. Plus, as far as motivating the players, lets not forget this is still pre-season and we're notoriously lacklustre around this time. It's only natural players won't give their all, I mean who wants to risk an injury that will put you out for a couple of months before the season's even started? Also, we all know that Strachan has a "press" persona and a "dressing room" persona. A bit like Fergie in that he'll say one thing in public but behind closed doors he's a different animal and to be fair, we really don't know how the troops are motivated before going on the pitch. For all we know before the Spurs he could have told the players to play around 70% and not risk anything dodgy. I would make perfect sense, as this tournament is nothing more than a marketing exercise anyway.

Do you really feel that if we don't make a start signing it's a slap in the face? Wasn't aware you felt that strongly about the transfers we're involved in mate. I admit it's disappointing but the Lawell/Strachan record speaks for itself and we're just gonna have to accept that the days of big money buys are gone for us. I think both are looking for value for money signings, but I do share your pain mate....think we all do for that matter as nothing would lift the support more than a quality signing, especially as our main rivals team sheet looks like a journeyman's 11.

My own biggest fear for the season is that we go down the same road as last season in that Strachan sticks with players who are not performing and that he changes it only when the pressure to do so is intense. None of us want to go to the wire again as the potential for slipping up is too big. This is when we should be looking to strengthen our hold over the Championship both in terms of quality of player and demoralising the opposition by opening up a very healthy lead by Christmas.

I'm hoping also we get a nice wee slice of luck in the CL draw and manage to get to the latter stages, that would be superb for everyone at the club and also the support. One other thing is that if we manage to get to the last 8 of the CL, with the money it would bring in I think Lawell and Strachan would be under serious pressure to spend big and I don't think they could resist the pressure....I don't think the support would let them away with not buying big under those circumstances.

 

To be honest I agree with what they said most of it is common sense and i agree we have players who where bought maybe rushed like tommy g who havent worked out and i would rather he waited and got who he wanted with n more 40k pw wages that we get saddled with . While as a supporter I hope my team wins EVERY game but we have a poor record in pre-season friendlies and its never really had a bearing on what we do in the season so I for one urge everyone to not panic and lets all show some faith in what peter and wgs are trying to do and lets make it 4 in a row Hail HAil !!

 

Most of Strachen's signings have been PISH. I don't blame Lawell for being reluctant if Strachen recommends a £3 TO £4 MILLION player maybe he's getting all Strachens recomendations double checked.But Strachen should stop the "fans have to be realistic * "we all know we can't compete with English teams but it's not asking too much for 2 or 3 £3 TO £4 MILLION players.* sake the Huns can do it so why can't we?

 

Moan moan moan moan moan,

 

aye but the huns are *

who cares what they do??

ffs kenny misser? good luck to them.

 

I pay my season ticket money so if i want a moan i can.What supporters buses leave from Malta:bbpd:

 

I care what Celtic do and that team needs improving

 

transfer window still got abit go yet plenty of time get a wee gem....in gord we trust...

 

can you please break this down for me please? - as to these * signings.
As the only out and out * signings that cost us any money have been adam virgo & tommy G. donati fast becoming the third but apart from that please, tell me.
jan - been great
skippy - amazing
naka - amazing
wilson- great, but injured
naylor- done the job for a season
boruc - 600k into 15million quid player...
samaras - helped win us the league
brown - had a bad season and alot of personal trouble - showed he has great talent though
* it, virgo cost a million grave cost 2million , we sold kenny misser for 3million.


All this crap about strach being * in the transfer window is a myth peddled by huns and people who just do not like strachan.

 

There's 2 ways to look at this transfer situation.

a) We wait and buy last minute players.

This way we can maybe bargain a bit more and get the player to back down on wages etc what with the window closing.


b) We sign our targets right now and blend them into the squad sooner.

This way we could have a new defence for maybe the 2nd game of the season which is a tricky trip to Tannadice and prepare for the Rangers game 2 weeks later. I think it's very important to get off to a flyer. I'm not saying we won't anyway although there is a bigger risk if we leave it late.

 

excellent post, i agree wholeheartedly.

 

i think some folk need to get a life and wait until the season starts before degrading the team and the manager. Signings will come.

 

Boruc world class ,Naka 1 good game in 4(as long as its at Parkhead) but i'll give you him ,Skippy we'll see at end of this season but i think he 's anothr Naylor one good season then squad player Brown headlees chicken 2nd touch a tackle for £4.4m the rest your having a laugh you forgot Pressley Caldwell Killen M Brown Doumbe Donati Gravesen Hartley Etc added to Virgo Miller You want me to go on Telfer....