Season 16-17 | Page 2 | Vital Football

Season 16-17

I don't mean right now, Deila will NOT be sacked before the end of the season! I honestly believe we're waiting for his contract to run down in the summer and then find someone else.
Moyes and Mackay have both said they'd find it a very tempting offer.....IF they were asked!

That's the other thing about Lennon. The whole cheating on his wife and having mistresses etc.....the club surely can't think about hiring him if that is all still going on?
 
I doubt that stuff is still going on. It really made Lennon look bad. He may be in the consideration set, but down the list because of the bad press it would bring the club.
 
So.....Rangers are back in the Premiership. They officially can't be caught in the Championship and were crowned champions last night after a 1-0 win over Dumbarton at Ibrox.

2 questions for us this summer now that Rangers are back......
1. Is Ronny and his system good enough to stay in charge? We can't afford the embarrassment of Rangers getting the better of us in their first season back in the top flight....do we have enough faith that it won't happen with our current team, formation, tactics and manager in place? I'm not convinced!
2. How much money should or do we need to spend this summer to keep Rangers at bay and improve our chances in Europe? Do we need to go back to signing more established players like Joe Ledley etc....good quality Championship players capable of stepping up to mid-low EPL level?
 
We're continually being linked with moves for new strikers this summer. The latest one is Obbi Oulare, a 20 year old striker currently at Watford. He only joined Watford in the summer from Club Brugge but has been restricted to just 3 appearances totaling 50mins of game time. 45mins in an FA Cup game and just 5mins in 2 Premier League appearances.
The reason is because of the form of both Troy Deaney and Odion Ighalo who have both remained relatively injury free as well.

The only problem is the cost. He signed for around £6m and his value is currently around £4.5m. So would this be ANOTHER loan move? Watford only have 3 strikers so unless they sign someone else this summer, I can't see him going anywhere!
We also have to remember that we still have Stokes, Ciftci, Scepovic all out on loan plus we have Carlton Cole to make a decision on, CKR and of course Griffiths is still our number 1 striker. I feel that with only ever having 1 striker on the pitch, our back-ups should be someone older who is experienced enough to be able to come on and not miss a beat and maybe 1 other who should be a promising youngster who is normally playing in the youth team to keep their fitness and learning up but that is going to have something to try and prove when they come on!

Bottom line - we need a new striker, someone to be a goal threat (it could still be Stokes) but we need to get rid of the ones we don't want first!
 
So....new manager in the summer. What player changes are likely to happen as a result?

I don't see there being too much interest in our players with the exception of Griffiths, Rogic and Tierney.

I think we may need to send some players out on loan though. The new manager will likely use a different formation/system and I think we have too many attacking midfielders and not enough strikers. A striker could be on the list if we can offload those we don't want or need. While some of the attacking midfielders could be going out on loan to free up some wages.

Players like Scott Allan, Ryan Christie could go out on loan.

33 players would be the size of our squad next season once players return from loan but that doesn't include those graduating from our youth team like Nesbitt, Kelleher and Thomson.
2 of those 33 have contracts expiring this summer, Darnell Fisher and Stuart Findlay. Both players have performed well in the SPFL this season and in my opinion have shown they are good enough to play in the league although European football could still be a step too far. However they are both still young and given decent time in our first team, they could end up being good enough. Both would be more than adequate back-up players.
 
I see Ambrose, Cole leaving. Maybe Janko and GMS, too. But all of this talk is for naught until a new manager comes in.
 
The squad would break down to:

3 GKs (Gordon, Bailly and Fasan)

6 CBs, 7 including Kelleher. (Ambrose, Boyata, Simunovic, Sviatchenko, O'Connell, Findlay)
3 RBs (Fisher, Lustig and Janko)
2 LBs (Tierney and Izaguirre)

4 CMs (Brown, Bitton, Allan and Henderson)
5 AM/CMs (Rogic, McGregor, Johansen, Ajer and Armstrong)
4 Wingers/AMs (GMS, Christie, Commons, Duffy)

6 Strikers (Griffiths, Stokes, Ciftci, CKR, Scepovic and Cole)
 
I'd get rid of Bailly, Ambrose, Boyata, Allan, Duffy, Ciftci, CKR, Scepovic and Cole. I'd also let Johansen leave if there was a decent offer for him.

That would take the squad size down to the mid 20s and then I'd want to bring in 1 or 2, maybe another winger as well.
 
Stories out today are saying that Ciftci is apparently wanting out of Celtic and wants to move back to Turkey this summer. Well that's all well and good and I don't think anyone is going to be that bothered if he goes.....but we did spend a fair bit of money on him so we would need to see some sort of return on that!
 
Ronny Deila has been linked with taking over at Brondby in Denmark and Sviatchenko thinks he'd be a success.......Teemu Pukki on the other hand is making sure his bags are ready in case he's forced to leave another club he's at when Deila takes over!

Apparently ourselves and Rangers are set to battle it out for an EPL striker.......Danny Graham! He was fantastic for Swansea when they first got promotion to the EPL and has gone on to join Sunderland but has struggled there (who hasn't?) and has spent the last few months on loan at Blackburn Rovers where he's scored 6 goals in 17 appearances......set the heather on fire eh?!
He's 30 years old and....well just why the hell would we be going after Danny fucking Graham? Bloody bonkers move! I don't believe a word of it and if that sort of transfer was done before or without the say of a new manager then that would tell us everything we need to know about this board!
 
We won't sign him. The new mama her will make signings and we already have a 30-something stuff in Carltpn Cole.
 
Interesting read here guys!

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11787/10270243/celtic-recruitment-issues-discussed-by-former-scout-neil-mcguinness

Neil McGuinness is a former scout for Celtic, he scouted players like Van Dijk and Johansen for Lennon before becoming a scout for Deila in his first season. He is now working for the Qatar Football Federation scouting players before the World Cup out there. I don't know if that means he's watching all these young guys and basically advising who has the potential to become a top player for Qatar or what but it's a good read and he has some interesting thoughts.
It's possible that losing someone like him has not helped our scouting and player buys this season which to be honest have probably been worse than last season........
 
A few things to catch up on!

Rogic appears to be catching the eye and is wanted by Arsenal, Valencia and Fiorientina!

Kristoffer Ajer has now played his final game for IK Start (a disappointing 5-0 defeat) and is on his way to Glasgow to try and impress Brendan Rodgers as much as he did with everyone else! I'd be surprised if Rodgers doesn't already know a bit about him to be honest.

Tierney has been linked with interest from some of the world's biggest clubs, including Arsenal again.

Stokes wants to come back and play alongside Griffiths but it seems Championship clubs including Birmingham are interested in him and so it will be up to Rodgers if he wants to keep him at the club or move him on to make room for a new striker.

Ciftci was linked with a move to Turkey but it now seems he wants to come back and fight for a spot in Rodgers' new Celtic team.

We've been linked with Danny Graham again (because Rodgers worked with him at Swansea). I doubt that one at all!
It's been suggested Rodgers will want Joe Allen from Liverpool but the wages rather than a transfer fee seems to be the issue there.
Robert Snodgrass is wanted by us again and while he's flattered, he says he's happy with newly promoted Hull.....for now!

Colin Kazim Richards looks to be on his way to joining a Brazilian club. His Brazilian wife wants to move back to Brazil and wants him to play his football over there and a former teammate from Turkey is currently playing there as well. Thank god, if we get any money for him it will be an even better move!

We've released 4 Development Squad players - Jack Breslin (a little bit surprising as he is a talented and versatile player, defender and midfielder and a regular for the Scottish youth teams), Blair Kidd and Calum Waters who are both LBs (Waters was on loan last season and didn't do much but had come close to the first team before but with Tierney dominating the LB spot they weren't going to get a chance) and striker Ciaran Lafferty.
Hope the 4 lads all do really well in the future and I'd be surprised if we don't see some of them again in the future in the SPFL. Just need to look at some of the other talented young lads who have left the club after not quite making it and where they are now!

We've been linked with Wigan's 28 goal top scorer Will Grigg of Northern Ireland but he says he's happy at Wigan (promoted back to the Championship) and is focusing on the Euros this summer.

We're now also once being linked with Steven Fletcher! Why??? Who keeps putting this out there? I don't think Rodgers will want him!

We signed talented youngster Calvin Miller to a new contract, expect to see him on the fringes of the team next season! Once named as the biggest potential talent under the age of 16 in the whole of the UK!

Apparently we are negotiating Carlton Cole's release and the sale of Stefan Scepovic to Getafe as well.

Efe Ambrose is hoping to play for Nigeria at the Olympics and could use that as a way to seal a move out of Celtic.
 
Oh and the Dutch striker we were linked with over the last couple of windows apparently claimed he would be Rodgers' first signing. Wout Weghorst, 23 year old and about 6ft 4. He's a poacher but he has decent pace when he wants to run! He's not a bulky player but I haven't seen him run that much in footage. I'm rather undecided about him to be honest. He can finish but more often than not it's from a lucky bounce of the ball or it's been put on a plate for him.....
 
He sounds good wee od. Be great if he could hold the ball up and lay off "Sutton esq" Seemed to be a missing part of our game last season. Over the moon with Rogers appointment, and I hope he gets the cash to splash. It is important they sell / release players asap too. Cant wait to see what kind of team he is trying to form, or who he is going to build the team around
 
Stokes has left the club on a free transfer! It seems his contract was actually at an end but the club had the option of an extra year. However the club have chosen not to take up the option and he is free to leave and find a new club. Both Neil Lennon and Alan Stubbs want him with Lennon taking over from Stubbs at Hibs where Stokes was on loan last season and Stubbs now down at Rotherham.

Stokes mad 192 appearances for the club and scored 77 goals.

All the best Stokes!
 
In other news.........

Stefan Johansen may be a ?2m target for Fulham.

It appears we could make some very useful cash this summer after Ronald Koeman left Southampton to join Everton and 3 former Celtic players could all make a move to Merseyside after it was confirmed there were no restrictions on Koeman signing his former players AND the fact that he is said to have a transfer budget of over ?100m!
Everton badly need a new goalkeeper so Fraser Forster is likely a target.....we get a % of the fee because of sell on clauses.
Everton need a new CB, particularly if clubs are still interested in John Stones.....Virgil Van Dijk would be the likely target even though he just signed a new 6 year contract.
Everton may also need a solid CM and so Victor Wanyama could be the man.
We could be earning millions from the sales of these 3 players alone!
 
I've been looking at a few strikers who could possibly play up alongside griffiths and one who particularly stands out is Imoh Ezekiel but could be a hefty price tag but then again been put out on loan past couple of seasons,

As a back up to tierney possibly Martin milec he's a right full back but can play left back, again looks like a decent young player has been named player of the season a few year back which for a defender is good going, not very tall but then neither was izzi

 
Hi Danny, nice to have your input to the site!

He's certainly a player of potential! He was on loan at Anderlecht last season and only managed 3 goals. I believe his goalscoring has been better in the past though. Apparently Anderlecht have an option to buy from Al Arabi in Qatar but I don't know if that's happening yet or not.
Even if Anderlecht don't want to sign him, there are a few issues with us getting him. One of those is, as you mentioned, the hefty price tag we can expect to have to pay as he was bought by Al Arabi for ?6m from Standard Liege. His current value is only around ?3.75m though. The value will also depend on how long is left on his contract at Al Arabi but I would imagine it will be about 2 years to go.
The other major issue is getting a work permit. He won't qualify for a VISA because he's only made 1 international appearance for Nigeria and that was back in 2014!

Having watched a bit of footage of him though, he's a very talented young player, my only real question would be on how he'd adapt to Scottish football. He's very much about pace and working space in the defence and catching teams on the break but he won't get that sort of luxury very often playing in the SPFL. Good for Europe though! He does have good skill and is prepared to battle when defenders get close to him but he still manages to get into space after beating them for the ball.....would he still find that space in Scotland?
 
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