The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[lfdown2]

I think our club is currently well placed to win everything in Scotland this season, suffered its first european blip in years which is unlikely to be repeated,is well run financially (if only another Glasgow club could say all those things to-day), and most importantly can anticipate a golden future, when the economic downfall threatens to cripple the so called big English clubs, and level out the playing field if you'll pardon the pun.

Shelling out big money always runs the risk of wasting huge resources on another Rafael Scheidt. Sheeling out moderate funds reduces this risk.

In short we are good to-day, and can be confident about being even better tomorrow.

firstly, what makes you think the above tony, i can see very little from the current squad that fills me with confidence for europe

secondly,

Arthur Boruc 800,000
Maciej Zurawski 2.2m
Naka 2.7m
Mo Camara free
Paul Telfer 200,000
Adm Virgo 1.2m
Jeremie Aliadiere loan
Du Wei trial
Mark Wilson 400,000
Roy Keane free
Doin Dublin free
Kenny Miller free
Gary Caldwell free
Derek Riordan 150,000
Jiri Jarosik 1.5m
Evander Sno 80,000
Jan V of Hessellink 3.4m
Thomas Graveson 2m
Lee Naylor 800,000
Steven Pressley free
Mark Brown 100,000
Paul Hartley 1m
Scott McDonald 700,000
Scott Brown 4.4m
Massimo Donati 1.2m
JJ Perrier Doumbe 400,000
Chris Killen free
Koki Mizuno 400,000
Ben Hutchinson 300,000
Andrius Hinkel 1.9m
Barry Robson 1.1m
Paddy McCourt 100,000
Georgios Samaras 1.2m
Marc Crosas 400,000
Glenn Loovens 2.5m
Shaun Maloney 1m
Neil Mcginn not sure

-----------------------------------

£32+ million

i just cant see how he has been cute with the £'s, i will be honest in that I defended strachan for a long time but when looked at realistically he has spend a lot of money on rubbish, while being lucky at the oppositions lack of quality

[illdecide]

I have to agree with Mr Fearon on this...i know we would all love to see millions thrashed out on new players but the ways things are Celtic are doing the right thing by keeping their debt to a minimum, over the next few years when some big clubs go to the wall and Celtic are as strong (financially) as ever we can maybe compete better with the so called bigger (richer) clubs. the money them premiership clubs are shelling out for players is scandalous and it's not a bottomless pit, the shit will hit the fan for some of these clubs over the next few years...

[the colonel]

ifdown2, can you list the players o neill signed and see how much he spent and some of the diddies he signed also

[Clown]

32 million for 3 and soon to be 4 titles in a row and 2 appearances in the last 16 of the CL isnt a lot of money in my opinion. 8 million per season -

there were a lot of gambles in there, chances taken on young players who didnt work out - Sno, du wei, mccourt (yet)

if i was to analyse it i wud say -

Arthur Boruc 800,000 - bargain
Maciej Zurawski 2.2m  - good first season, poor after that
Naka 2.7m  - good signing
Mo Camara free  - no good, no money spent tho
Paul Telfer 200,000 - no
Adm Virgo 1.2m - waste of money
Jeremie Aliadiere loan - no
Du Wei trial - no
Mark Wilson 400,000 - good signing
Roy Keane free - good signing
Doin Dublin free - solid signing
Kenny Miller free - no money spent, poor scoring record, scored important CL goals
Gary Caldwell free - good signing
Derek Riordan 150,000 - poor signing
Jiri Jarosik 1.5m - poor signing
Evander Sno 80,000 - poor signing
Jan V of Hessellink 3.4m - decent signing
Thomas Graveson 2m - poor signing
Lee Naylor 800,000 - decent first season, poor afterwards
Steven Pressley free - no good, no money spent tho
Mark Brown 100,000 - no good
Paul Hartley 1m - decent signing
Scott McDonald 700,000 - bargain
Scott Brown 4.4m - good signing, will be a bargain in a few years
Massimo Donati 1.2m - no good
JJ Perrier Doumbe 400,000 - won us a scottish cup, overall hasnt done it
Chris Killen free - no good
Koki Mizuno 400,000 - promising
Ben Hutchinson 300,000 - hasnt cut it yet
Andrius Hinkel 1.9m - good signing
Barry Robson 1.1m - great signing
Paddy McCourt 100,000 - jury still out
Georgios Samaras 1.2m - good signing
Marc Crosas 400,000 - good signing
Glenn Loovens 2.5m - jury still out
Shaun Maloney 1m - good signing
Neil Mcginn not sure - jury still out

a lot of good pieces of business in there in my opinion

[the colonel]

at the time we signed jarosik and graveson, i was delighted as where most celtic fans. had been succesful in tougher leagues (england) and can't blame strachan for the fact they turned to be duds.

sno-bought for £80k- sold for £1.2m- good enough
kenny miller- free- sold for £3m- good enough

[Main Street]

ifdown2, can you list the players o neill signed and see how much he spent and some of the diddies he signed also

O'Neill's transfer record over his  4 seasons is much much better. His big signings were full value.
Lennon Sutton Hartson and Thompson.
Valgaeren? reasonable value at least
Maybe should have gone for a different goalkeeper  


2000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_F.C._season_2000-01

in 19m   out 7m

2001
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_F.C._season_2001-02
in 6.8m   out 2.5m
2002  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_F.C._season_2002-03

1n 2.5  out .7m

2003
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_F.C._season_2003-04
in .4m      out  1.3

2004  not much activity afaia.

[Main Street]

On another point, O'Neill bought his players and built the team up.

Strachan keeps rebuilding every season using cheaper materials.

[the colonel]

steve guppy 400k
momo sylla   400k
ulrik laursen  1m
rab douglas 1,2m
michael gray loan
magnus hedman 1.5m

complete duds

am i right as well that 04-05 was juniniho and henri camara?

[T Fearon]

Any transfer is a risk and the bigger the fee the bigger the risk and no manager is immune.

Both O'Neill and Strachan have been successful Celtic Managers, as their  respective trophy hauls (the true barometer) prove. Remember the days not so long ago, Celtic Managers could only dream of spending 1m on any player

[Main Street]

steve guppy 400k
momo sylla   400k
ulrik laursen  1m
rab douglas 1,2m
michael gray loan
magnus hedman 1.5m

complete duds

am i right as well that 04-05 was juniniho and henri camara?

Signing a few duds doesn't mar the overall quality of his signings.
Over the 4 seasons of transfer activity, O´Neill´s  transfer record is excellent and oozes a reflection of a manager who knew what team he wanted, what football he wanted to play and which player he was going to splash out the cash for to play the part in his team.
Evident in the 4 or 5 top class signings, the solid base established to the team throughout his tenure ie until he got diverted by his serious personal affairs.

Rab Douglas was the exception to the rule.

[the colonel]

yeah thats fine, of course his signings were better- how many £3.5- £6m players has strachan been able to sign?

o neill inherited players like petrov, larsson, lubo, to complete his squad

[lynchbhoy]

yeah thats fine, of course his signings were better- how many £3.5- £6m players has strachan been able to sign?

o neill inherited players like petrov, larsson, lubo, to complete his squad

as many as he wants from what I hear, he just wont spend the money
MON did suffer a bit from that but splashed out on 3 or 4 players - sutton, BBJ, Valgaren and Lennon.
However, I dont think MON's other cracking sighings cost much, Mjallby , Thommo, Bobo (Free) and Agathe.

imo MON was as prudent in the transfer market and he inherited a losing mentality - 1 title win in 11 years !
However GS inherited a dynasty.
I know which I'd rather take ovr from.....as many managers - Brady,Macari, Ceasar, Dr Jo, Barnes, Dalglish etc etc died the death of an unsuccessful manager due to their failure - I would expect GS would have suffered a similar fate if the MON machine hadnt paved the way for him.
Celtic reinstatement as Scotlands premier side was almost priceless, certainly worth three times what MON spent!
Cant understand the rest of you moaning about his signings and the money he spent - you obv dont rem the dark old days pre wim the tim !

[lynchbhoy]

strachan has had limited funds to work with in comparison with oneill.yes there is no real comparison between the likes of sutton,lennon and hartson to the likes of hartley mcdonald robson or brown but then again oneill was able to spend 5 or 6 million on players.caldwell for a free transfer has been pretty good.wilson was got for next to nothing and has done okay when not injured.hartley came for more or less nothing and robson wasnt expensive and have all done a job.brown had a poor year last year but had a lot of family problems.oneill also had the "one-off" who was larsson who pulled them out of holes time and time again.the free transfers and small money signings have still scraped through to the knockout stages of CL twice

seem my answer regarding money and MON above.

as for anyone asserting that wilson is anything other than a good runner 
I would agree that hes equally as good on the left as the right (NO good that is).
As for caldwell - watching him makes me want to make a lazarus-like return to playing soccer,as if he's a top centre half, I'm flipping the ghosts of bobby moore and Paul McGrath rolled into one!

[Main Street]

Colonel, examine O'Neills expenditure against transfer income and see what he had been able to spend in total and compare it to Strachans.

Strachan was manager who benefited from Petrovs transfer fee.

Comparing what O'Neill inherited to Strachans inheritance does not hold water when you consider Strachan's lack of ability to spend the same amount of money and build up even a remotely comparable team over the years.
As Lynchboy has oft remarked  (I think) give me a manager who signs an Alan Thompson over a manager who signs 20 average to failed midfielders or the pair of Hartson and Sutton over all the average that Strachan has signed

[T Fearon]

Lynchboy, you would also agree that the team was in need of major overhaul when WGS tookover, as evidenced by the throwing away of the league title in the dying minutes of the final game of the previous season, and WGS didn't inherit any players of the calibre of Larsson, Moravcik etc.

The real criticism is why the team wasn't bolstered immediately after the 2003 UEFA Cup Final

My contention remains that both O'Neill and Strachan have done admirable jobs at Celtic Park. But even the current issue of NTV questions the style of football played by O'Neill post Henrik.