http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/...raser-forster-talks-southampton-after-4026846 Seems Lawwell's axe knows no bounds and Fraser's off to Southampton for £10m. Of course I expect you chaps to not see a penny of that reinvested in to the team if recent months are anything to prove about Lawwell's philosophy. Plus Newcastle are entitled to a bit of the transfer fee because of their sell-on clause. That potentially leaves you chaps with a dodgy Pole and a guy who's been out the game for yonks. Opinions in a hat? Also of course the usual best wishes to FF in his future endeavours, hopefully a move to the Premiership gets him challenging Joe Hart a bit more for the England gloves.
Good luck to Fraser. There will be at least a couple of players in now that we have secured European football.
Good luck to Fraser who has been great for us and is a good keeper but i'm still not so sure he is as good as many seem to think. That's not our worry though and it's great business to get £10m for him. I think the thing that irks many Celtic fans about the Gordon signing is that far from looking at is an opportunistic signing of a guy who may still be international class, they simply see it as yet another risk for the sake of not spending any dosh. It may work out a treat and be seen as the former by some but when it comes to the playing side of things it just seems that the board are hell bent on guarding every penny to the extent that we won't have any players who are that level or two above what is the norm. With Forster leaving I would say we now have two (possibly three if Forrest showed more consistency) players in that bracket who stand out above the rest. I genuinely feel that we need to bring in about 4 or 5 quality players who can immediately enhance the first team but I don't hold too much hope that much money will be spent to get this.
The next signings must enhance the starting eleven. We have squandered money on Boerigter, Pukki and Balde. We must reverse that trend and make the next couple of signings work.
Bit dodgy now as Zaluska or Gordon are going to be first choice, both haven't had a run in a first team for years.
Zaluska isn't good enough to be permanent number one. The goalkeeping coach Stevie Woods (who is very highly rated) must either think Gordon is or we will sign someone else.
The big man has gone. Officially signed for Southampton tonight. A few nice words on his departure here. . . .still won't stop some fans blaming Lawwell though. http://www.celticfc.net/news/6418
That'll be because its his fault. Or that fault of the people he is acting for. The decision from him to look elsewhere is understandable. The decision to let him go at the most important part of the season, which could have been avoided, its truly embarrassing from us. He was under contract and we did have an option to keep him. We chose not to.
If it was up to some fans we would keep everyone and they would run down their contracts while we receive no cash. They would then be screaming from the rooftops that we need to spend millions we simply don't have. When a club come along and say we'll give you £10m and we want the player now or we walk away then as a club playing in Scottish football then we must sell. Especially when the player wants to go and would be going into his last year next season. People are living in fantasy land if they think that's not the case.
Why not, its not like we spend the cash we receive anyway. If Celtic don't use every bit of that £10 Million they have received it is nothing sort of a joke. No one wants to spend millions we dot have we just want the club to at least spend they cash they ring in. Basically what the club are saying by not reinvesting the cash is - if we don't sell out big players we are in trouble.
The cash we bring in pays the overall wagebill that relies on European football. If we simply relied on ticket money and sponsorship etc the whole set up would need to be drastically cut. It's been that way for years but some fans refuse to believe it. Throw on to that a lot less cash coming in due to less season tickets., £3/4m a season lost due to £100 off the season tickets (some of the same fans that shouted for that are the ones wanting millions spent). We rely on European football and player sales to keep the whole set up at the level it is at.
So if we rely on European football why not do everything in our power to progress into the group stages. The whole set up has been drastically cut over the years and continues to be so, the reason season ticket sales are down is because of the lack of ambition on the pitch. Its a vicious circle, keep making cuts to the playing side and the fans will stop paying as much to see the team. We do have money in the coffers to spend an extra £10 Million a season without damaging the club, yes that may be off the back of a CL season, so use that to our advantage and push on from there. Celtic as a club at board level refuse to push on after a decent season, I don't believe for a second if we never sold Forster etc an don't make Europe for one season we are in dire straights. We need to show ambition on the pitch and at least TRY every now and then to build a decent team that can take us through for a couple years then start the investment again.
Credit also must go to Stevie Woods our goalkeeping coach. He's highly rated and turned Forster into a far better goalkeeper than the one we signed.
I think his form will be ok don't know about how his fitness will hold up. I don't think anyone could with his track record in that department. Don't know if we'll sign another keeper now.
Other than printing our own cash I don't understand what you're saying. Every penny is accounted for in the accounts. It's not the running of the club it's the country we play in.
You cant have it both ways. The club have openly stated that we budget for the EL group stage to break even. Since they made that claim, we have been in the CL twice including a last 16. We have also made player sales beyond our wildest dreams. This is all "extra" or "unaccounted" for money. We have also shifted almost all of our high earners. Bar Brown really. So, if the money is being spent in other parts of the club then its being spent incorrectly. This can be clearly evidenced by the masses of empty seats at most games and the fact that the team is a pale shadow of what it was less than 18 months ago. We didn't need to sell all those players, we chose to. With this policy, which was always going to catch up on us we have amassed a large squad of average and poor players. This is purely because we will not let our manager (who left due to it more than likely) spend on a little bit of quality. I dont mind bring in the occasional project but it seems that 95% of our signings are brought in with resale value in mind. I dont give a shit what league we play in, its a manufactured excuse to accept sub standards. We recently were rated as the 40th richest club in the world. We certainly dont act like it.
Our wage level is far higher than it would be without European football. The club has stated we need European football and/or a sale each year to keep the level we currently pay. Please show me where this cash is in the accounts. If it's not there are you saying it's being stolen?. . .we are being run in a way we can survive one year without European cash without huge downscaling. What would be your attitude after two years without that cash (nothing is guaranteed in football) and massive downscaling that would take us years to recover from? This mystery cash simply isn't there and if your pet hate (and many others) Lawwell went I think you'd be in for a surprise if you think someone else will come in and start splashing it. At some point some fans who refuse to believe this will be hit with the harsh reality of trying to run a big club in Scottish football.
Good season ticket sales, good merchandising, the money from leasing Parkhead for the Commonwealth (there must've been a lease fee, right?), European football, TV rights, the money made from Europe the past few seasons, Celtic MUST have some decent dosh to spend on better pish than Pukki. Giving Gordon and Zaluska until January to prove themselves seems fair but a calculated risk too. There's cash there though, there must be
