I thought Bain was an upgrade on Gordon when he came into the team after Christmas last season. He was grand and generally competent. He was comfortable with the ball at his feet and actually seemed to be happy to be involved in playing it around at the back, drawing opponents onto us and then getting attacks going with a decent short/mid range pass.
Lennon came along then and he’d actually had Bain as his back up keeper at Hibs so possibly didn’t fancy him that much. He initially gave sound bites to the effect that he was merely going to keep things ticking over as he’d inherited a successful regime and style from Rodgers. But soon after he started expressing misgivings about building up from the back and saying it invited pressure on us and we needed to play in the right areas and get the ball forward quicker. So it was kinda hinting at taking away one of Bain’s strengths.
Then in pre-season he made some public comments about there being no number 1 and it was a contest for the goalie job, even though Bain’s displays had been good.
I guess those two things might have been contributory factors to Bain looking less sure of himself at the start of this season. He could/should have done better for 2 or 3 goals but Lennon’s management of it/him is a bit questionable.
As for Forster, I agree that it’s putting resources into an area that didn’t need to be prioritised. He’s had quite a fall from grace - is he 3rd or 4th choice at Southampton after being in the England squad a while back? With the window closed in England maybe Southampton want to get him off the books and they might be paying him off? In that case, Celtic could be picking up part of his salary to make up the difference and getting him for 2-3 years? But if it’s just a straightforward season loan then it’s a meh.
I agree with plenty of that. But I would say that Bain has been really poor this season. He hasn’t really made a noteable save yet and has been at fault for some pretty important goals.
Forster was on the bench for Southampton at the weekend. Not sure if that was because of injuries or because he has regained form or fitness or what.
Yeah, Bain was beaten through his legs in Cluj. Not a mistake per se but might have saved it. Poor for a goal at Motherwell and then should have done better for the third Cluj goal at Celtic Park. Also fumbled a cross over the end-line to give away the corner from which Brown inexplicably fisted the ball away in conceding the pelanty for the second goal. Not a good start to the season alright.
But just don’t think a new goalie should be a priority. There’s around 4 or 5 other positions where we actually do need players. And he also needs to sort out the team shape and structure and not have us looking so disjointed and easy to exploit.
Forester is another awful signing by Celtic. They need to make sure every signing has an up side or else is a Scottish/Irish type that’ll adore the club and stay out of loyalty. They don’t great out of the likes of van dyke, wanayama and forester. Buying cheep and selling on for huge profit. They also badly need to invest more in their youth set up and try desperately to produce some home grown players.
He’s an extremely good example though. He could be a top four player in England. They probably sold him cheap alright but He’s levels above your average SPL player. Ajax are the model and the likes of Porto. They are wasting their time signing the likes of foster or the Israel lad or any of those age bracket signings. They’d be better off giving a young player a chance.
Celtic knew there was a strong possibility Rodgers was leaving after all the internal arguments last summer. They also knew Lustig was on his last legs and leaving, that someone may come in for Tierney and that Izaguirre was the same as Lustig. They’ve had since Rodgers left in February to sort out replacements, even though they should have been lining them up since last year or two years ago.
Instead they went into the CL qualifiers without addressing it at all. If you take it that Celtic / Lennon don’t rate and want to ship off young squad filler like Ralston, Miller and Hendry (which I think is fair enough) they’ve gone into these crucial qualifiers with only 5 first team defenders at the club.
Lennon would barely manage a junior GAA side. He is a fraud of a manager but it’s how he even got the job in the first place that needs to be questioned.
The Ajax model only works if you supplement it with some experience. For all their great young players, Ajax still bought Tadic as a 29 year old for €11m. Daley Blind wasn’t bought with a resale value in mind. Celtic need a couple of those to help the young players and who should have a greater success rate than just buying prospects.
Porto signed Pepe and Casillas. I’m sure they’re on big money. They bought a Colombian 28 year old for €10m+ too this summer.
Their model is also relying on better pools of talent (including ex-colonies). Celtic need to do a better job at mimicking it but they have 3 of the Ireland Under 19 team from this summer now, a couple of English Under 18 internationalists and the great Karamoko Dembele.
The work permit rules mean they can’t buy as many young Brazilians in as the likes of Porto but they are still well positioned to attract players from northern and eastern Europe. Getting Ajer in from Norway as a 17 year old was excellent business and hopefully some of the other signings can be as productive. But you need to supplement that by spending on the first team.
How much involvement has Dermot Desmond in the day to day running of the club? Would he have been actively involved in the Lennon appointment or just rubber stamped it?
Hard to say. There was talk at the time of Lennon’s appointment that he discussed it with Lawwell and the chairman. But hard to know if that was just to make it seem more fully endorsed.
He doesn’t really have much to do with the operations of the club.
Desmond bought a major shareholding in Celtic on the expectation that Celtic would join the EPL which did look fairly plausible back around the early 00s.
Since then the Scottish League has diminished in standing.
