Birger Meling

Ah *, aye. I get them two mixed up alot which is mental because they start with an S.

 

We'll be in for him on Friday if all goes well tomorrow night, Taylor is the fall back option but with Sunderland interested in Taylor we've made moves on both fronts.

 

Hopefully, we unveil the Birgermeister!!

 

If he really is our top target for LB why wait until after our game on Thursday? (I know why they will, it's a rhetorical question). They should be planning for next years qualifiers now, not * waiting until we see if we get through first. We should be selling it to the player as we are building a squad now for the CL groups next year, in the meantime you have the chance to go down in history as one of the only players to be involved in a club getting a second 9 in a row this season. Or you can stay at Rosenberg for a few Europa games, which in all likelyhood we will be able to offer you as well anyway.

We are going to end up in the same boat again next year at this rate.

 

Spot on! Our main transfer window should be January, that's when we should be looking to strengthen for the up-coming seasons qualifiers. Mental how we leave it 'till June.

 

I don't think January should be our main window, it should still be the summer, but with a view to the following season, not trying to plug gaps left by not planning ahead. Give players the full season to bed in before hitting them with the qualifiers.

Edit: As an example of why January isn't a good idea (in my opinion) let's get back to Meling. Let's say we decided to wait until January to go back in for him, The Norwegian league finishes in November so he won't have played for months. He'll need to go through essentially a pre season with us in January to get up to speed before he can play. At least if we can get him in now, even though he has already played the majority of the season, we can bed him in, get him used to the system and his team mates but not over use him by giving him breaks and giving Bolingoli game time as well. We have much more control over the situation.

 

I understand your point however we have the winter break in January that would provide us with an opportunity to give players a mini pre-season but the main purpose of bringing players in January is that they will have sufficient time to bed into their surroundings, get to know their team-mates and be ready when the UCL qualifiers start.

It's simple succession management. Rather than bringing in the likes of Boli in July and throwing him in at the deep end against some of the toughest teams we'll face all season. If we had brought him in January he'd have been playing against the likes of St Johnstone, Airdrie, Livingston etc.

 

Hopefully has some big mellings,too many shitebags in the side.

 

And if we get them in the summer for the following year they have even more time to get ready for the qualifiers. And we have them for the start of the season in the league should there be injuries/loss of form.

 

Aye that's more what I was getting at, but I can see the argument for the summer too. We should be recruiting in the summer looking a next season, but, should be doing the following summers business in January. Ideally, we should always be a window ahead of ourselves.

 

Nobody wants to sell in January, the Summer is when you’re going to get the better players. I agree that we should be getting players in early but it’s just not gonna happen.

 

In an ideal world, aye. But a 12-month bedding in period has bigger impacts on finances & squad cohesion.

How likely would a Boli, Perraud, Meling be to sign if they knew Tierney was ahead of them for 12 months?

And how motivated are they going to be after a year of mostly playing 2nd fiddle, then now thrust into being the main man?

I think a far more achievable aim is to bring guys in January, gel with the squad during the winter break in Dubai/Tenerife etc. Get them used to our style of play over the remaining 4 months of the season. Coming in to the team if we're resting the 1st choice player or at the end of season dead rubbers.

If we're working on the 2 year cycle of punting our better players when they're at maximum value then I think that's what should be happening at the 18 month mark. It would make for an easier transition for when we lose a Tierney, Dembele, Van Dijk etc.

Rather than chucking these guys into a new team, in a new country, with no experience with their team-mates, occasional language barriers and where any individual mistake can cost us £40 million. The ultimate baptism of fire. We should be doing our best to minimise it.

 

I don't see the difference in the bolded part between Summer and January. Unless they are being told when they sign the player is definitely leaving in the summer how is it going to change their decision one way or the other?

There is also a premium paid in January as most teams don't want to lose players part way through their season, so you could end up paying just as much for them in January as you would have in the summer, but not have their services for that period.

 

Good players want to play and want assurances of first-team football. Especially those coming from other European clubs that are getting regular football and their careers are on an upwards trajectory.

We know of the 2-year cycle for exceptional players, Lawwell spoke about it at the festival. The rat spoke continuously about it for Dembele then attempted to renege on it. Wanyama, Van Dijk, Dembele to name a few all left at that 2 year point.

With that in mind I think it's an easier sell to a player with 4 months left of the season when you can tell them that you see them as a long-term replacement for the outgoing player.

I get the point about potentially paying a premium in January but if you do your homework then there's no reason why we can't get the right players in for reasonable fees. Some of our most successful signings have been bought in January:

Tom Rogic (£400k) Ajer (£700k) Griffiths (£1 million) Lustig (Free) Commons (£300k) Johansen (£2 million) Armstrong (£1.75 million) to name a few. Value is available if we can get a proper, thorough recruitment system in place.

 

I agree with some of your points, and disagree with others, but this is the Meling thread and we are going off topic in here.

 

The Celtic way unfortunately mate. I mentioned it on the Wanyama thread when someone asked how Brugge can afford him. They are about to get 2 years running in Champions league (sound familiar) and the Brugge board have went '' Hey, we quite like this idea of being in the Champions league regularly''
They are now pushing the boat out this year and paying big bucks for players so they can stay seated at the big boys table. Now compare and contrast this to what our board did last year. And this year. Sickening.

 

Our board probably feel they pushed the boat out with edouard and then jullien this year .

 

Told his agent he wants a move apparently but only to certain leagues.

 

We had no defence and lost Demebele. Hardly building on from a position of strength

 

Worrying if true.. anyone else rumoured to be interested in him?