Transfer Deadline Day Summer 2017

A good quality central defender should have been signed. Can't believe anybody is arguing that point. As always we try to get by with spending the minimum amount possible.
Only time we pushed the boat out was to get Brendan and think it's fair to say he's been worth the money.

 

Has the option to buy Edouard been confirmed as 10m euros? Bit * if so because we all know we won't be spending that regardless of how he performs.

Edit: Not even gonna get into the CB debate cause I'm beyond * off at that. Brendan and the players done their part by hammering Astana 5-0 at home which allowed us more than 2 weeks of knowing the CL money was guaranteed to get the signings that were needed.

 

It says it all that we have as many strikers as we do CBs when we have half as many places to fill in that position.

 

We must be the moaniest supporters in the world man

Great window.

 

Rodgers clearly wanted a CB, we had one pretty much signed remember and something went wrong on his medical yet the guy moved yesterday. Boyata and sviatchenko won't be fit for PSG so we face the possibility of bitton at CB vs Neymar and Mbappe etc.

And I said we have a reputation for selling our best players after TWO seasons. Armstrong and Simunovic have been here for longer but have only had one good season each so far. Doesn't take a genius to work out that if Dembele has another season like lastvhe will be off and yes Tierney is Celtic through and through but will also have a price.

I'm glad none of these players left during this window. Think dembele being injured helped us tbh. But going back to the original point Rodgers clearly wanted a CB and he never got one. And to say he runs the club is ridiculous, he may have a stronger say on transfers than previous managers but no way is he the boss. He wasn't happy with lack of activity in January

 

Just in time for the last 16

 

I think the board live by the mantra "always leave them wanting more". Someone should point out to them that means wanting to watch more of the team, not crying out for more players. I'd have been really happy with this window had we got a decent CB, as it is we now have a squad capable of destroying anything domestically but are incredibly vulnerable in Europe. We'll just need to put 10 past PSG to make sure we pick up the 3 points at home I guess.

 

Personally I think we have a strong squad. Of course there's weaker areas which could have been strengthened, but overall I'm happy with our roster.

 

Disappointing that we didn't sign a CB. With one decent addition there we could have had a very strong chance at 3rd place in the group. Now it looks increasingly unlikely.

Someone quoted me a few weeks back asking "why the f*ck Bitton or Ajer would be playing at CB when the Group Stages come around." Guess what. It's happening.

 

can we still sign Kolo back on a free?

 

All in all, a good window for us.

Maybe need to see what's available on a free for a CB. We need cover badly.

 

As much as I'm disappointed with the fact we didn't sign a centre back, the reality is that we could have signed Van Dijk and people would be moaning that we didn't sign a goalkeeper to back him up. *, we could then have went out and signed Neuer and people would hav moaned that we left a weakness at right back. If we signed a right back; they'd moan that we don't have a back up left back and * forbid if we covered that too, they'd moan that we don't use our youth system.

The fact is if Brendan didn't find a centre back within budget (who was willing to come and whose club was willing to sell) who was a certain upgrade on Boyata and Sviatchenko, then there's absolutely no point on spending the money and bloating the squad.

We'll have Boyata and Sviatchenko back soon and hopefully back on form. When that happens, and with Ajer backing them up, people will be praising the strength in depth. It's swings and roundabouts.

Personally, if coming off an unbeaten treble last season you'd offered me Roberts back, a genuinely European class midfielder in Ntcham, a potential wonderkid as back up striker in Edouard, a player who was the next best thing in Scotland outwith our team last year to replace GMS and back up Sinclair and a raw talent with heaps of potential in Benyu to eventually compete with Rogic, I'd have absolutely bitten your hand off.

We can't have everything, we can have a team of unbeaten treble winners and the champions league to look forward to

 

If a couple of 6-0 scores happen against P.S.G and Bayern Munich then alot of finger pointing at the board for not giving the manager the funds to strengthen the defence .

 

Liking your take on the situation immensely mcGrory.

I was over the moon we didn't lose anyone we didn't want to, including Brendan.
We also added quality in a few positions & Paddy returned, so i'm happy as well.

 

Breaking news ,we are kicking off a champions league campaign (one which Desmond said we will be aiming for the last16) with 1 recognised cb fit!!!!

 

Well that was the summer window that was. So how have we came out that window???

• Well we still have all our key players
• 6 UCL nights to look forward too between now and the big fat guy in the red suit with the white beard coming down the chimney.
• Cleared over 25 players off the wage bill with a significant amount of players who have no future away from celtic out the door. Of the players out on loan probably only Christie has any sort of a future here and that is for some up for debate.
• Got the 3rd striker that we have said for the summer we needed
• Stu signed a new 2 year deal and will hopefully now get back to his best.
• Ntcham looks a real find, the sort of player we need for UCL
• Paddy has returned albeit on loan, perhaps we will be plugging away to get him permenantly while he is here as by all accounts it seems a complicated transfer with Fulham, Man City and ourselves involved.
• We have a right to purchase on Edouard, no one know the acutal buy-out but I am sure we will see how he goes.

However.....

• We are very light in certain positions namely Left Back and Center Back, Emilio Izzaguire has been away now for 6 weeks before the window closed, if anything happens to Kieran Tierney then we are in a difficult position, your back up is Johnny Hayes, Callum McGregor and Calvin Miller.
• We have 1 fit recognised centre back until the end of September so you are going against PSG, Sevco and Anderlecht with Jozo and A.N. Other.
• Middle to front we are so superior to anything else in Scotland it is a joy to behold but the "back-up" back 4 give me the absolute fear and i think if we are all being honest with the exception of Jozo and Tierney all our defenders and goalie give us the fear.
• Rivaldo Coetzee failed his medical on Saturday afternoon 2pm roughly news started to filter through why didnt we act on getting someone in, i dont buy this we tried jargon simply because we had almost a week to get a player in for Center Back.
• Thats 2 seasons in a row with UCL football, £30m last season and £40m this season we are told we budget for the Europa League every season, our purchases upon qualification in 2016 was Gamboa £1m and 2 loan deals in 2017 who probably have cost a decent loan fee, as we have said it isnt about spending millions its about getting quality in, but sometimes you do have to spend that wee bit more to get quality in and i feel Ntcham aside we have done just enough again to get by.

Going into the next few weeks we will get;

• We tried but couldnt get it over the line
• Then the we tried to sign a West Brom or Stoke player at 9pm on deadline day
• The full 2016/17 account showing huge turnover and profit will be released
• Chairmen statement praising the team and company as a whole
• Lawwell or Bankier saying "money is there for quality"
• Winter window opens, Brendan saying want to strengthen for next seasons tilt at UCL.
• Winter window will come and go and we will say try and get business done early

Decent summer in regards to qualification for UCL, kept all our players, strenghtened the squad and got rid of deadwood!!!

We await the accounts Messers Bankier and Lawwell...

 

Ntcham looks a real find. Odsonne comes highly rated and Paddy came home.

I would have liked a CB but (on paper) this looks to have been a decent window.

We also, and most importantly imo, never lost any of our top players from last season.

So * what if we haven't got any fit CB's. We'll just have to score more than the opposition then.

 

Very disappointing we didn't sign a CB. But in the light of day we have to put it in to perspective. Roy Keane had stated the other day average players are going for £30m to £35m. Just watching Sky Sports, Sahka£23m, Drinkwater £35m , a total of £1.47bn spent in EPL alone, mind boggling. The top 5 Leagues in Europe are all like this and this is having a knock on effect. Say the board were going to spend £5m on a CB what would that have got us? A player no better than we have already or suddenly that £5m player is now pushed up to £10m. Peogle going on about we have £60m to spend on players, where's the proof? That £60m is for running costs and investing in the Club as a whole, running costs, for the stadium as well as training facilities. We have enough plans to build a hotel complex, better for the Club to spend it's own money on it instead of borrowing. I can't see how anybody can say the board have not invested in the squad with Ncamp and Paddy etc coming in and keeping all our top players. Brendan knows we need cover at CB and is probably as disappointed as us. Give him or the board a chance to explain as I don't think it is just a case of not opening the biscuit tin. If I am honest I thought we may have got at least a Toure type in to see us though until everyone is fit but it wasn't to be. It is what it is, we have our squad until at least January, get behind the team and even joy the season ahead.

 

Havent seen that myself to be honest about the £60m spend on players but we do have a signifcant amount of money available to spend if we wanted too, the only thing i am thinking is we are going to payoff the longterm debt to the co-op which i think is around £16m