Iāve looked at compilation video of him on YouTube and he seems to be quite decent, seems to be highly rated so if we obtain him for a reasonable fee Iād be willing to give this signing my approval.
Drew 0-0 with Augsburg this evening
The Herald are reporting weāve accepted a Ā£7m bid from QPR for Ki and the deal looks likely to go through. Iād be happy enough with this deal but Iām continually dismayed by the lack of ambition show by our board. We have reduced the wage bill significantly in the close season yet donāt really seem to have any particular ambition in spending some money, instead we are selling off one of our more valuable players. We have turned over a profit in the two seasons Lennon has been in charge and we also have the prospect of CL football which should further aid our coffers. With the demise of the huns we now have the chance to build a good competitive squad and consolidate our place as CL regulars over the next couple of seasons, but instead it seems shareholders payouts hold more sway.
Itās very early in the transfer window (not even open for 2 weeks yet and thereās another 7 or 8 to go) to be talking about refusal to spend etc.
I would have preferred us to commit to a bit of investment early in the window to try and give us a better chance of CL qualification but without being arrogant about it the quality of side we can face in the first encounter is pretty poor. Thatās not to say weāll win but we should do with the squad we currently have. Itās fairly understandable that weād have one eye on CL qualification before knowing our budget but the timings donāt work out unfortunately.
Also worth considering that we did spend Ā£2m on a goalkeeper already and we had a centre back lined up who we (rightly) pulled the plug on. That probably changes the priorities a bit. Selling Ki is acceptable as far as Iām concerned - nice player but we have other options in his position and he hasnāt matured as much as we might have hoped for by now. Weāre in no position to turn down a bid in the region of Ā£7m and if we can reinvest that elsewhere that could be good business.
I wouldnāt trust that smarmy prick Lawwell as far as I could throw him and I know he will be doing everything in his power to avoid investment in the squad - a complete and outright crook. I know itās early but the signs arenāt good IMO, we seem to have a good financial base to improve our squad but Lawwellās outlook seems to be that we should win the league anyway and that we donāt need to improve the squad because the league is a cakewalk. I fucking despise that fat prick, a time when Celtic were going through a barren run of titles and his salary was trebling. The huns going bust should be strengthening our case, it should in likelihood be guaranteeing us CL money for the next 4/5 years - which you would imagine gives us a solid foundation to keep building on the squad, but it seems we are not.
I do know itās very early in the day to speculate and to a degree I can understand our conservatism in recent years, Strachan presided over a disastrous transfer campaign, giving us a squad of over 40 players with the majority of them utterly shit. Itās only real this season we are free of it with all the wasters signed during that era gone, the wage bill reduced, profits for the last two seasons and the imminent return of CL football - now we seem to be to be in a position to ramp up our transfer plans we look to be heading in the opposite direction. Iām very cynical here to a degree but can you blame me? Lawwell was a guy who was one of the main men at Celtic through a time when we were neither performing effectively on the pitch nor off, where limited investment was happening and his salary and bonuses were rising where Celticās standing was deteriorating.
Iād be very surprised if we spend more than we take in this summer, which would say a lot about our boardās ambition.
Looks like heās for Cardiff.
Stokes is in talks about a new contract.
I was a big fan of his until the middle to latter end of last season when I thought he regressed. He did seem to be making a considerable effort to improve his all-round game and workrate earlier on in the season but he has a tendency to let the head drop when things arenāt going his way and heās slow to recover form if his confidence is low.
A very talented player though with youth on his side and if he wasnāt at Celtic Iād be glad if we snapped him up so extending his contract would be good news.
I think Lennon badly dented his confidence last year. He was our form striker at the time and Hooper was struggling with his game yet Stokes was constantly the one taken off when things were going well for us or dropped for the tougher away games. I think the only big game Lennon trusted Stokes ahead of Hooper in his tenure was the home match against Rennes where he was superb and scored two goals. He badly tailed off towards the end of the season, very important that Lennon steps away from making Hooper undroppable - he had some very poor runs of form last season and I think this was down to complacency on his part. We need at least one quality striker in this summer who will keep these bhoys on their toes and itās extremely important that Lennon lets form dictate over reputation amd preconceived thoughts.
I wouldnāt be pushed if Stokes was sold.
Team for tonightās game:
[font=Arial][left]Zaluska, Toshney, Rogne, Mulgrew, Blackman, McCourt, Brown, F. Twardzik, Commons, Hooper, Murphy[/left][/font]
[font=Arial][/font]
[font=Arial][left]Subs: Forster, K. Wilson, McGeouch, Kayal, Watt, Ibrahim, Forrest[/left][/font]
New jersey is terribly smart.
Rogne powers a header off the post from a well-flighted Commons corner.
Lennon asking Charlie to take more responsibility.
Paddy is playing at the base of the midfield, picking it up off the centre backs and playing it from there.
Commons has looked lively so far. Seems to be fit enough anyway. Murphy hasnāt improved in his time away.
Unimpressed with Blackman so far. Dived in there to win a ball that was rolling to him anyway and just prodded it out for a throw-in. Has given it away a few times too.
Link please Rocko.
1 down just at the interval. They had an overlap on our left but Blackman had a chance to win the challenge but sort of slipped into it and just deflected the ball into the path of the winger who crossed for a Jatta header at the back post. Rogne looked like his marker but was further inside. Blackman should have prevented the cross though and would have if heād kept his feet.
Grazie.
I hope Forrest is alright here. Went to twist and crumpled down holding his knee with nobody near him.