The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[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.

[Over the Bar]

If Strachan had a 25 year old Larsson you wouldn't be criticising him.  If they had this likes of Henrik up front Celtic would be 15 points clear by this stage of the season. As it stands we are stuck with Samaras! 

[tyroneStatto]

there was a game on celtic tv the other night from the john barnes era. larsson scored a hat trick, viduka scored a hat trick and berkovic got one. they played breathtaking football at times - something that the current team simply cannot do. a week later and larsson breaks his leg in lyon. would it have been different for barnes if he had a fit larsson?

[lfdown2]

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

well if we look at 30+ million and say 6mil players he would have been able to sign 5, look of course of them 5 maybe 2 will not work out all im saying is that  4-5 good players is one hell of a core to build a team round could we name 4-5 of the current squad you would honestly build a team around, at the minute we have a weak to average back 4 about 30+ midfielders and one striker who is scoring goals, now maybe i have set my sights too high but i think celtic are a better football club than this

[lynchbhoy]

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.

lost it in midfield mostly that year, and the successor was groomed and ready, but the little rat fecked off to man u

big problem was the amount of inj , and MON was guilty of being too loyal to the old guard and not giving some of the younger lads a run when needed. He made a mistake - but that didnt happen often !

buying quality players over a rake of mediocre players I think is the way to go, they all cost much the same
a couple of top notch players helping you progress inthe CL and their wages wouldnt cost that much more than a heap of shaun maloneys that will do fcuk all for the team (apart from the reserves)

[Myles Na G.]

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.

lost it in midfield mostly that year, and the successor was groomed and ready, but the little rat fecked off to man u
big problem was the amount of inj , and MON was guilty of being too loyal to the old guard and not giving some of the younger lads a run when needed. He made a mistake - but that didnt happen often !

buying quality players over a rake of mediocre players I think is the way to go, they all cost much the same
a couple of top notch players helping you progress inthe CL and their wages wouldnt cost that much more than a heap of shaun maloneys that will do fcuk all for the team (apart from the reserves)

He turned out to be a world beater, didn't he? A handful of promising appearances doesn't make for a great player. (remember Jamie Smith??) I'm a big fan of MON and what he achieved at CP, but Strach's record betters him. He took over an ageing squad and turned it into a championship winning side. He took the Hoops into the latter stages of European competition, where MON couldn't manage it, despite his big money signings. Give the wee man a break.

[Main Street]

Strachans best period was the superb run in last year.


But get the big money signings myth out of the equation.
Mon had not spent anymore money than Strachan has. Mon had the confidence and nous to sign quality not quantity.
Give Strachan £10m and he'll buy 10 players.
I´d take O'Neill´s CL record over Strachans anyday.
3 home wins in one  CL group  plus a very dodgy away defeat.
In another CL campaign, unfortunate against Lyon away.

After 4 seasons, Strachan does not yet have a settled team.
He is still buying players by the dozen

[lynchbhoy]

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.

lost it in midfield mostly that year, and the successor was groomed and ready, but the little rat fecked off to man u
big problem was the amount of inj , and MON was guilty of being too loyal to the old guard and not giving some of the younger lads a run when needed. He made a mistake - but that didnt happen often !

buying quality players over a rake of mediocre players I think is the way to go, they all cost much the same
a couple of top notch players helping you progress inthe CL and their wages wouldnt cost that much more than a heap of shaun maloneys that will do fcuk all for the team (apart from the reserves)

He turned out to be a world beater, didn't he? A handful of promising appearances doesn't make for a great player. (remember Jamie Smith??) I'm a big fan of MON and what he achieved at CP, but Strach's record betters him. He took over an ageing squad and turned it into a championship winning side. He took the Hoops into the latter stages of European competition, where MON couldn't manage it, despite his big money signings. Give the wee man a break.

He was a world beater - how miller played on those few occasions was more than enough to prove to 50,000 season ticket holders and fans that he was the real deal.
he messed up himself by going to man u and not getting a game for two years - kind of fecks up any kind of continuity and momentum !

do you think that gs would have done what he has if he took the job BEFORE MON?
think the universal answer is a resounding NO.
Do you watch celtic at all ?

jamie smith was never a decent player under mon - hes a striker for starters and was only a winger/makeshift full back under mon. Aberdeen is his level. Nice lad though

been giving gs a break for a few years now. MON's wife made sure his focus wasnt on CP in his last season - maybe more.

gs or MON - no comparison

[Myles Na G.]

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.

lost it in midfield mostly that year, and the successor was groomed and ready, but the little rat fecked off to man u
big problem was the amount of inj , and MON was guilty of being too loyal to the old guard and not giving some of the younger lads a run when needed. He made a mistake - but that didnt happen often !

buying quality players over a rake of mediocre players I think is the way to go, they all cost much the same
a couple of top notch players helping you progress inthe CL and their wages wouldnt cost that much more than a heap of shaun maloneys that will do fcuk all for the team (apart from the reserves)

He turned out to be a world beater, didn't he? A handful of promising appearances doesn't make for a great player. (remember Jamie Smith??) I'm a big fan of MON and what he achieved at CP, but Strach's record betters him. He took over an ageing squad and turned it into a championship winning side. He took the Hoops into the latter stages of European competition, where MON couldn't manage it, despite his big money signings. Give the wee man a break.

He was a world beater - how miller played on those few occasions was more than enough to prove to 50,000 season ticket holders and fans that he was the real deal.
he messed up himself by going to man u and not getting a game for two years - kind of fecks up any kind of continuity and momentum !

do you think that gs would have done what he has if he took the job BEFORE MON?
think the universal answer is a resounding NO.
Do you watch celtic at all ?

jamie smith was never a decent player under mon - hes a striker for starters and was only a winger/makeshift full back under mon. Aberdeen is his level. Nice lad though

been giving gs a break for a few years now. MON's wife made sure his focus wasnt on CP in his last season - maybe more.

gs or MON - no comparison

Yeah, Miller was genuine quality. Fergie was wrong. No judge of a player that man. He'll never make a decent manager.