Celtic’s ongoing pursuit of Jagiellonia Bialystok goalkeeper Grzegorz Sandomierski is beginning to raise doubts amongst the fans over how much the board trust Neil Lennon’s judgement.
Having had a second offer, believed to be in the region of £1.4 million, rejected by the Polish club, there are concerns that Celtic’s unwillingness to match the £2 million asking price will lead to them missing out on a highly-rated young goalkeeper who, at just 21, is already the Polish national team’s number one.
Considering Lennon has been searching for a goalkeeper all summer and has repeatedly stated his desire to bring one in to compete with Lukasz Zaluska, it seems the board are playing a dangerous game by trying to land Sandomierski on the cheap, especially when the Belgian champions KRC Genk are also interested.
On the whole, Lennon’s signings have been quite successful and have become part of the Celtic first team. Emilio Izaguirre, Biram Kayal, Joe Ledley and Gary Hooper were all signed by Lennon and all went on to have very good debut seasons.
This season, Kelvin Wilson has come in and looks like he could become the mainstay of the Hoops backline for many years. Adam Matthews admittedly wasn’t tested much defensively at Pittodrie on Sunday but certainly impressed going forward and looks like being another astute signing by Lennon.
Of course, no manager can have a 100% success rate with their signings and Lennon is no different. Efrain Juarez arrived at the club with a big reputation and a lot of promise but unfortunately that never materialised. In fairness to Lennon though, Juarez certainly impressed in the World Cup and it was seen as something of a coup when he was brought to the club.
And this is what makes the situation all the more frustrating. During the campaign of hatred that Lennon had to endure last season, the board said they would back their manager all the way and eventually offered him a new deal over the summer, suggesting that they believe Lennon is the man to take the club forward.
So why not back him by trusting his judgement and offering an acceptable amount for a player who could well be sold on in a few years for double that amount?
There is the danger that Celtic could be faced with the same scenario that Rangers have found themselves in time and time again this summer. While claiming to have £10 million of Craig Whyte’s money to spend on new players, they have repeatedly missed out on their transfer targets by not offering enough money for them and being outbid by other clubs.
With Celtic’s only outlay so far this summer being the £900,000 spent on Victor Wanyama, and a new goalkeeper seemingly Lennon’s top priority in this window, it would be difficult to stomach if they were beaten to Sandomierski’s signature by the Belgian champions simply because they refused to meet what seems to be a fairly reasonable asking price for an international goalkeeper.
Given that Genk may well be able to offer the Pole Champions League football this season if they can beat Maccabi Haifa in the Play-Off round, Celtic will have their work cut out in order to convince him that his future lies in Glasgow.
With the Belgian club having already agreed a fee with Jagiellionia, the Celtic board might just pay the price for their frugality in this transfer window.
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This is not frugality. This is out an out stupidity. If you read the latest financial report on Celtic, it makes no sense financially, or in any other way, not to pay the £2m for this keeper or to get in a big center forward.
Celtic can afford these players, but they cant afford to not qualify for the CL again.
PL and the directors know this, so what the f*** are they doing ? Helping the other half of the “old firm” this season again ?
I’m really annoyed at this penny pinching attitude actually thinking about asking for my money back for my season card!! This is wot has lost us the last 3 league titles. Time to kick lawwell to the kerb
DD himself said he was backing Lennon just before the cup final when asked if he would sign lenny on new contract so where is the backing now when he needs it most eh wouldn’t blame Lenny to walk away or challenge the board if he doesn’t get his targets its disgusting we’ve got two billionaires on the board they couldn’t spell loyalty their a disgrace to the good name of Celtic Football Club
A good blog that echoes the question many bhoys are asking right now. We have been linked with a number of keepers this window but this lad looks to be the best investment given his potential. Lawell could well regret it if he doesn’t give NL the financial backing he deserves.
I have a differing point of view!
Neil Lennon and the Celtic scouts have been in the whole successful over the last few season in picking up the right player for THE RIGHT MONEY.
We have to judge that the value being offered represents Celtics’ valuation based on the scouts knowledge.
I’m no scout (or CEO for that matter) but I know when not to overspend
We have a winner.
Sandomierski looks a class act. He’s 6ft 5″, a cat in his box, he is totally commanding & fast off his line & fantastic handling. Forster is average & not one that commands his box.
I’m feeling disgusted & fact we’ve laughed at the Govan mob, they have spent at least 4x what we have spent. Disgusted at our signing policy. Embarassing. Outbid by Genk. We cant still say we’re a big club with this bollocks.
behave with your rash disgust. your over-reaction scale is obscene. do you want to kill if you spill milk?
Stitched up again by lawwell, this clown is an out and out liar who treats us the fans with contempt year after year and he should be made accountable for the mowbray fiasco and hunted out OUR club
@pokeofchips what you on about saying we know when not to overspend. Wake up son ffs. Stevie Woods watched him in Poland & gave a glowing recommendation. It’s Lawell doing a Craig Whyte. It’s f***ing embarrassing. He is AHEAD of Boruc, Fabianski & Szcezny as the new Poland number 1. He wanted to join us but we are offering 600k rising to 1.4m based on appearances. That is trampy in the extreme. GOOGLE Sandomierski & look at aprils Daily Mail web article, Chelsea, Man U & others were all linked.
Compare Lawwell to Whyte is like comparing a credit card paying Curry’s customer to a looter.
You really have some issues.
be far better with a 2 million outlay for this guy than ff. sheer stupidity if they are outbid by genk imho
I’m not going to throw the rattle out the pram over a goalie I never heard off until 2 weeks ago but I am going to take solace in the fact that only the Belgian champions are willing to meet the asking price.
The Belgian champions. Not a big club and hardly a sign of an ability level that is being waxed lyrical about by 99% of cats who have only watched the same Yous Tube as me.
Lennon will get his number one target.
I wish I had your confidence that NL will get his number one target. I haven’t seen one thing in the last four years to give me any confidence in PL or the board. Why did they bid for Sandormiersky in the first place if NL didn’t think he was good ? I’d say better than FF.
I dont think Newcastle will let FF go cheaply either; now they know how desperate we are.
I’m not saying that Lennon didn’t think the Pole was good, he was scouted and glowing reports given and a bid was made. What’s changed?
The club moving the goalposts, starting an auction or NL getting news that his top target is now available after a blunder strewn pre-season at Boocastle?
I’m not a lover of the PLC. They have made major mistakes. But, I sometimes think this blanket blaming them for hold ups is not giving NL credit for his final say policy that he admits he has.
Let’s hope your right and it was NL’s decision to pull the plug. But we’ll never know, and I’ll never be convinced that it was.
My anger at the board comes not from them making blunders, but from them making the same blunder year, after year, after year- even when there’s no financial reason for them not to invest in the squad.
Lads, what is the big deal? Last year we had an average keeper who only let in 22 league goals, a league record. Petr Cech what not have done much better than that.
The difference between a great keeper and an average keeper for us is about 5-10 goals a season. Acceptible. If the board don’t value this lad at the price quoted, no big loss, we improved our defence already and Zaluska, who is average, has 2 clean sheets.
What we need is someone that can bang them in at the other end.
“It’s alright folks, we’re still acvtively chasing Given, Bellamy, and Keane” – P Lawell
They’re a joke.
i “have issues”. Rangers have spent 2.5m on Ortiz, 900k Goian & 1.3m on Lee Wallace & bid 3m for Juhasz. We spend 900k on a work-in-progress Wanyama who doesn’t get a game. So we’ve added zero to a starting 11. An 11 that has lost 3 titles in a row to a shambolic Rangers side who got beat 1-4 at Ibrox by Unirea Uriczeni, a club from a place whos population is 11,000!!! Get ur head out ur arse & wake up, last nights Evening Times column by Davie Hay spelled it out in black & white WE LOST OUT ON THE POLE COS WE CAN’T AFFORD HIM!!! Davie Hay ain’t blinkered like you. (Evening Times friday 12.08.11) & before you say we dont wantt to overspend & be in Rangers state, they’re fu*ked because of 2 decades filling whole squads with 4m + upwards internationals. 2m for guy who played 3 internationals this year & been scouted by Chelsea, Man United amongst others says a lot. Go back to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic son. Take ur blinkers off first, mind. Lawell poster child.
we got Kelvin Wilson free (he does look the part) Matthews average