Ange had said that the club need to more aggressive in the transfer market, that was 3 years ago. Sadly and predictably the window demonstrates that Celtic at poor at securing players that the manager wants and that we don't have an effective and working scouting and recruitment department.
Interesting take, but I would take issue with some of the views stated as fact. If Idah gets injured, we have a Maeda, an international CF, hardly Mickey Johnston scenario. 18 mths ago, we had Kyogo and the Giakoumakis, so the Brondby guy was much younger and wouldn’t have played. It is disappointing but a front 3 from Kuhn, Idah, Maeda and Jota is more than good enough. If the Brondby guy is so good, why is he still at Brondby? He may go I. The summer to a top 5 league, but I don’t see how he can be worth €14M while still not an international. Sure plenty say both Engels and Idah were not worth the money, depending on how the wind blows. The Board is damned if it does or does not. Fans are fickle, as seen in the numerous podcasts with pitchforks on Mon night, yet waxing lyrical about the ahem 6 goals last night. Hilarious
We sold Giakoumakis 2 years ago (8 February 2023) so that's not true. We had Kyogo and Oh as our striking options so, on the balance of probabilities, Kvistgaarden would have got a chance to play. Kvistgaarden can also play right across the front three so there would have been other opportunities. Hardly inconceivable that he would have played.
Your point on if he's so good why is he still at Brondby is a non-starter. I can name a plethora of players who played at a much lower level in their early 20s who went to the top. I can also name a plethora of players who moved for more than €14 million Euros without getting an international cap. €14 million might be over the odds, but we've got ourselves into the position where almost all clubs are going to try and fleece us because we've boarded so much cash. But all of that is largely irrelevant. The manager wanted him, we could comfortably afford him and yet he didn't get him. He didn't get anyone else and once again the board haven't come through for him. It's not a one off, it's a pattern of behaviour. You might think the options that we have are more than enough but the manager doesn't and his is the only opinion that matters.
I have heard criticism that Engels isn't good enough but I haven't heard it levelled at the board, it's generally the recruitment team or Rodgers that gets it. The GB aren't slow in calling out the board but I can't remember any banner after the summer transfer window aimed at the board for not backing the manager. Happy to stand corrected on that.
We've never been in a stronger position financially, yet the board's continued inactivity means that we've come out of a window arguably weaker than when we went in. If it was a one off the fans would stomach it but it's a recurring theme from the Lawwell years. We need a change.
Some fair comments there BUT how can you possibly say “the board’s continued inactivity” when they’ve spent £28M on 3 players in the last 6 mths? Come on. You don’t think Jota, Maeda, Kuhn and Idah are good enough? I don’t see why him still being at Brondby is a non-starter when he is. No one else was prepared to meet that asking price. Nor would Celtic, rightly in my view. Anyway, welcomed the chat
Again, our opinions on whether we needed another striker is irrelevant. Personally, I would have wanted another striker or winger. But the manager wanted a striker, that's all that matters.
My point on the continued inactivity is with regards Nicholson's dallying on transfers leading to us missing the players we want. The article lists Slotslager and Diawara as two examples of players we missed but they aren't isolated incidents. You can go back to Piccini in Brendan's first spell as manager that we missed out on because of Lawwell's stalling and letting someone else get in ahead of us. We ended up with Toljan (brought in on the last day of the January transfer window) as our right back that year. Ange, said the same thing, that we are far too passive in our recruitment which is pretty ludicrous when you consider that our model is predicated on buying players. We've seen it season after season, especially when we had champions League qualifiers. How often did we go in with Button at Centre half or Eoghan O'Connell playing? Then we'd scramble round on deadline day for whatevers left.
We have Champions League qualifiers this year. Do you have any faith in the board to have had the bulk of our transfer work done buy then? I don't. Nicholson will fanny around and we'll end up with our 4th or 5th choice or end up paying over the odds to get our first choice late on as we've sent with Idah. The manager, who is the only senior person at the club that's close to world class, will leave as a result.
You’ve nailed this in your posts. Zero faith is very fair description.
What in your opinion changed in the Ange era - we had a really efficient window Dec/Jan 21 was it? Seemed like we were much more prepared and pulled the trigger on targets very early. Was so refreshing.
Was it when lawwell was actually away from the club?
I don't disagree at all, just think Spfl is a really hard sell, we need to identify targets before they reach peak potential, that's down to a complete lack of forward thinking and a lack of a decent scouting system
Not making any excuses as that was a well written article, but even if we did agree a deal, how do we convince a striker to come to Scotland and then say we want you to sit on the bench for 60 minutes every match, agree that we need to look at 8m to 12m signings, jus can't see how Scotland is the best option for them
Because obviously we don't pitch it like that. We tell them to come and that we'll develop them and move them on after a couple of seasons to a bigger league and therefore a better contract. We have a proven track record of doing so.
Idah and Engels both fit into that price bracket yet came. If you give them a good contract and a clear progression path then players will come. The reason they aren't coming is because of the ineptitude of those negotiating transfers as set out above.
If we want the club to be the best it can be then we need change at the top. Football is changing with the expansion of the champions league and there's a real chance for us to be mainstays in the competition, but not with people like Nicholson. We need fresh ideas and new blood on the board. People often promote in their own image and we are seeing the embodiment of that at Celtic. We have replaced one criminally conservative person in Lawwell with another in Nicholson. We need to break that cycle so that the club can truly progress.
Can't agree more. Time and again we fanny about on transfers in and dare I say out too
Ange had said that the club need to more aggressive in the transfer market, that was 3 years ago. Sadly and predictably the window demonstrates that Celtic at poor at securing players that the manager wants and that we don't have an effective and working scouting and recruitment department.
Interesting take, but I would take issue with some of the views stated as fact. If Idah gets injured, we have a Maeda, an international CF, hardly Mickey Johnston scenario. 18 mths ago, we had Kyogo and the Giakoumakis, so the Brondby guy was much younger and wouldn’t have played. It is disappointing but a front 3 from Kuhn, Idah, Maeda and Jota is more than good enough. If the Brondby guy is so good, why is he still at Brondby? He may go I. The summer to a top 5 league, but I don’t see how he can be worth €14M while still not an international. Sure plenty say both Engels and Idah were not worth the money, depending on how the wind blows. The Board is damned if it does or does not. Fans are fickle, as seen in the numerous podcasts with pitchforks on Mon night, yet waxing lyrical about the ahem 6 goals last night. Hilarious
We sold Giakoumakis 2 years ago (8 February 2023) so that's not true. We had Kyogo and Oh as our striking options so, on the balance of probabilities, Kvistgaarden would have got a chance to play. Kvistgaarden can also play right across the front three so there would have been other opportunities. Hardly inconceivable that he would have played.
Your point on if he's so good why is he still at Brondby is a non-starter. I can name a plethora of players who played at a much lower level in their early 20s who went to the top. I can also name a plethora of players who moved for more than €14 million Euros without getting an international cap. €14 million might be over the odds, but we've got ourselves into the position where almost all clubs are going to try and fleece us because we've boarded so much cash. But all of that is largely irrelevant. The manager wanted him, we could comfortably afford him and yet he didn't get him. He didn't get anyone else and once again the board haven't come through for him. It's not a one off, it's a pattern of behaviour. You might think the options that we have are more than enough but the manager doesn't and his is the only opinion that matters.
I have heard criticism that Engels isn't good enough but I haven't heard it levelled at the board, it's generally the recruitment team or Rodgers that gets it. The GB aren't slow in calling out the board but I can't remember any banner after the summer transfer window aimed at the board for not backing the manager. Happy to stand corrected on that.
We've never been in a stronger position financially, yet the board's continued inactivity means that we've come out of a window arguably weaker than when we went in. If it was a one off the fans would stomach it but it's a recurring theme from the Lawwell years. We need a change.
Some fair comments there BUT how can you possibly say “the board’s continued inactivity” when they’ve spent £28M on 3 players in the last 6 mths? Come on. You don’t think Jota, Maeda, Kuhn and Idah are good enough? I don’t see why him still being at Brondby is a non-starter when he is. No one else was prepared to meet that asking price. Nor would Celtic, rightly in my view. Anyway, welcomed the chat
Again, our opinions on whether we needed another striker is irrelevant. Personally, I would have wanted another striker or winger. But the manager wanted a striker, that's all that matters.
My point on the continued inactivity is with regards Nicholson's dallying on transfers leading to us missing the players we want. The article lists Slotslager and Diawara as two examples of players we missed but they aren't isolated incidents. You can go back to Piccini in Brendan's first spell as manager that we missed out on because of Lawwell's stalling and letting someone else get in ahead of us. We ended up with Toljan (brought in on the last day of the January transfer window) as our right back that year. Ange, said the same thing, that we are far too passive in our recruitment which is pretty ludicrous when you consider that our model is predicated on buying players. We've seen it season after season, especially when we had champions League qualifiers. How often did we go in with Button at Centre half or Eoghan O'Connell playing? Then we'd scramble round on deadline day for whatevers left.
We have Champions League qualifiers this year. Do you have any faith in the board to have had the bulk of our transfer work done buy then? I don't. Nicholson will fanny around and we'll end up with our 4th or 5th choice or end up paying over the odds to get our first choice late on as we've sent with Idah. The manager, who is the only senior person at the club that's close to world class, will leave as a result.
You’ve nailed this in your posts. Zero faith is very fair description.
What in your opinion changed in the Ange era - we had a really efficient window Dec/Jan 21 was it? Seemed like we were much more prepared and pulled the trigger on targets very early. Was so refreshing.
Was it when lawwell was actually away from the club?
How much have we taken in on transfer fees ?
They of course are good enough but our dithering meant we ended up paying too much for Idah and Engels.
I don't disagree at all, just think Spfl is a really hard sell, we need to identify targets before they reach peak potential, that's down to a complete lack of forward thinking and a lack of a decent scouting system
Not making any excuses as that was a well written article, but even if we did agree a deal, how do we convince a striker to come to Scotland and then say we want you to sit on the bench for 60 minutes every match, agree that we need to look at 8m to 12m signings, jus can't see how Scotland is the best option for them
Because obviously we don't pitch it like that. We tell them to come and that we'll develop them and move them on after a couple of seasons to a bigger league and therefore a better contract. We have a proven track record of doing so.
Idah and Engels both fit into that price bracket yet came. If you give them a good contract and a clear progression path then players will come. The reason they aren't coming is because of the ineptitude of those negotiating transfers as set out above.
If we want the club to be the best it can be then we need change at the top. Football is changing with the expansion of the champions league and there's a real chance for us to be mainstays in the competition, but not with people like Nicholson. We need fresh ideas and new blood on the board. People often promote in their own image and we are seeing the embodiment of that at Celtic. We have replaced one criminally conservative person in Lawwell with another in Nicholson. We need to break that cycle so that the club can truly progress.