Sold short again

Exactly this. I also think that because the league is so poor and boring that the players feel like there is nothing to play for except the champions league, and players don't want to come to play for us because of that. I hope I'm wrong.

 

I read a lot of moaning about no £6million pound striker but who realistically is going to join?

It was reported in the summer that we bid £4million for Artjoms Rudnevs and he turned us down.

Same with Marko Arnautovic who joined Stoke instead for £2 million.

Finnbogason was mocking us on twitter not that long ago as well.

I didn't want Griffths personally - I wanted Lennon to wait till the summer, give Pukki and Balde and the other new Bhoy time to settle.

Can anyone genuinely name any Striker that would join us? (for £5million upwards)

 

Reported £14million spent on players over 2 windows and the only real issue is that we lack a 'European goalscorer' - I have the same amount of faith in Griffiths as I did in Hooper when he signed. Natural goalscorer - averages 1 in 2 at all levels.

We keep VVD and Forster in the Summer window and we are looking strong going into Europe.

You heard it hear first - Stokes and Griffiths will be devastating in Scotland (At least).

 

I like this positivity

 

I've been saying over and over again that the level of Celtics ambition is to get through the qualifying rounds of the CL and see how far they can go. If we're lucky we rake in a few more millions and the club turns a profit for another year. We only ever seem to do enough to achieve that. Also the buy low and sell for a profit seems to work for them 9 times out of 10 therefore they've realised the value of being a selling club.

What choice do they really have? As you have intimated none of the known quality players are even remotely interested. Who of that calibre is coming to Glasgow to play the like of Partick Thistle etc (no disrespect intended). Like it or not the EPL is where it's at. There's also no money in Scottish football so they have to find ways of continually turning over. I think maybe it's time for us to get a reality check and be more appreciative of what we have. So we're big fish in a small pond but we will have our moments just the same. Yes sometimes the club could do better by us and tbh if this really is the extent of their ambition they should be thinking about cutting the price of season tickets. If the product is in decline perhaps they should think of that.

 

Diego forlan gets my vote

 

The only good thing about today is that tony watt has scored again to night against Andraleck (for give the spelling)a half decent team I think he could be an ace up our sleeve for next season but I won't hold my breath on celtic playing him.

 

Anderlecht? Good on the lad, seems to be hitting form. Long may it continue, has all the potential to be a superb player for us.

 

T. Watt has to resolve issues with Neil Lennon before any thought is given towards
playing for Celtic . I think the most important asset any striker can have is confidence .
I think Griffiths will get confidence in abundance playing as striker for Celtic in SPFL .
Griffiths is a goal scorer and will thrive with us. When CL comes along his confidence
will carry him through . It certainly wouldn't be easy for Celtic to buy their £6m
striker if there were no clubs wanting to sell their £6 m goal scorer. I can imagine
that many clubs would want to sell their £3m striker for £6m .

 

Even if that were true, it's hardly a minor issue is it? If we hold out any hope of ever reaching the last 16(or heaven forbid, the last 8) of the Champions League again then we are going to need to find a striker who can score at least occasionally at that level.

I don't think that is our only issue in any case. Our midfield also lacks creativity at Champions League level. I'm going to say the same thing about Kris Commons as I say about Leigh Griffiths or Anthony Stokes, he's plenty good enough to do the business in Scotland but he's bang average in the Champions League. We need another creative player added to our squad.

 

Best. Window. Everrrrrrrr.

 

would the op rather have had Kevin Doyle?

 

and leigh griffiths at hibs was better than stokes at hibs.....

 

Seriously!? In all honesty is there a single person on here who still genuinely believes any of the spewing rhetoric * the club relay about spending "£6m" on anyone?

If Celtic were offered Messi for £6m they'd humph and haw about it!! But really if Heerenven contacted Celtic saying £6m was the fee for Alfie we'd never have went through with it. We are on a very slippery slope in terms of the actual standard of players we have at our disposal and the quality of player we can genuinely sign! I won't say afford because its fair to say in cash terms were richer than we've ever ever been (go figure).

Lawwell and whomever is/was the current boss at any given time are very cute with the soundbites talking high value targets, blue-chip players and big bids for unknown players but it's all a ruse. Buy your season tickets * up and support the team that's the current view!

Unfortunately we have no competition to force the board to buy better quality players, fans complaining and moaning makes no difference never has, never will THE CLUB DO NOT GIVE A * WHAT YOU THINK!! Only when we're in danger of failing to reach the UCL GROUP STAGES would it be a factor. It frustrates the * out of me but that's the way it is.
In Euro terms we have a 1st class support, 1st class stadium and Training facilities 3rd rate team and conference level board!

Think the current board are an absolute disgrace with their behaviour over the last few years regards their vilification of fans and general self-satisfied backslapping that seems to be taking place at our club but hey I'll continue to purchase my ST, SC tix and CL tix and support my team hopefully one day we'll be treated properly and actually valued by the heid-hawners at Celtic!

 

Haven't seen enough of him to really judge him.

That's debatable. Stokes played for Hibs 4 years ago when the SPL was stronger than it is now and his goalscoring record was comparable with that of Griffiths.

I don't think there's much between the two of them but if I had to choose one then I'd choose Stokes.

 

Stokes is a poor striker theres no comparison! Griffiths is young technically gd and Scottish goalscorer ! Exactly what people where wanting, now we sign Scottish people are greeting ! Canni win :/

 

We'll need a defensive midfielder for Europe. Other than that, by the time Europe comes around we should have progressed as a team.

Pukki, is improving. Griffiths will probably link up well, otherwise it puts a bit more pressure on Pukki and that competition can be good for him.

Balde can get better over the next six months. Already he looks better in the air, maybe his touch too and that is easy to develop.

Boerigter, well that's the one that could be exciting for us. He looked ready against Kilmarnock, maybe a bit more confident to put pressure on his ankle to open up defenses with his pace.

While coming back he'll have been told to maybe hold back from that a bit and just keep things simple, not to aggravate it. If he can get over this injury that's something we've not seen yet. Could be like getting a whole new player.

Then there is Fridjonsson, who we've not seen yet.

Johansen has just stepped into the team and looks calm and composed on the ball, a proper Champions' League type player.

Add to that Watt and Atajic and i reckon the only thing to develop a bit is strength in midfield.

So with 6 months to develop, everyone happily out on loan getting games and still the Summer window to go, we're on track to have a team capable of doing ok in Europe.

If the strength is in the team, it can be just as good as expensive individual players.

 

Agree the club is completely downsizing. Underwhelmed by the Griffiths signing, but I'll give him a chance.

What gets me is the future ambition and the next 2/3 years. If this is the height of our ambition following the selling of Hooper & Wanyama, and two years CL group stage/ Last 16 money, what will it be when its Europa League. Elfsborg/Sharaktar Karagandy were warnings in how lucky we were to get through. The next few years there will be an extra CL qualifier add on for us, we will say 4 out 5 years be in Europa. Will this downsizing continue into that? Is the reality of ambition win a one horse race and then have 'fun' in Europe?

Regarding our board, we are told to accept our situation and live within our means. That should also be true for the top. We're in essence paying a Ferrari mechanic for the upkeep of a Skoda.

 

Hooper, Wanyama, Ledley and Wilson all gone within 6 months.

 

I'm cautiously optimistic. Let's see how it turns out