After some chat on Twitter about the quote from Miku saying that
joining Celtic was a mistake, I’ve been given the idea of writing
about Neil Lennon’s signings so I have listed some of the not so
successful players and given my thoughts on them.
I am certainly happy with the signing record of Neil Lennon since he
has taken over as Celtic boss. I know not all players will have been
a success
 and there has been more than one disaster, but I think it’s
impossible to think of any manager who has not made a bad signing or
two.
To begin with, the players who have come and left are the ones that I
have decided to look at. I may as well start with the worst signing
that Lennon has made for us, step forward Mr Efrain Juarez. Bought
for a reported fee of £2.5mm he was with us for 2 years spending
part of that time out on loan to Real Zaragoza, the start looked
decent but he never looked a £2.5m player.
Thankfully, the cash wasted in this particular deal was the most that
Neil Lennon has spent on one player.
Two other guys who haven’t done so well that we paid for were Daryl
Murphy (£1.4m) and Mo Bangura (£2.2m) between them, they haven’t
really scored very many goals and both guys are currently out on loan.
Will we see much from them again? I don’t think we will, although,
I would like to see either of them back and doing well, we badly need
an effective striker, especially if Gary Hooper goes.
Of the other players who have also left the club are guys who we did
not have to pay a transfer fee for. Andre Blackman, Oliver Kapo and
Rabiu Ibrahim, hardly set the heather on fire and I think we would all
agree that they are no real loss.
One man who came in that most of us expected to do well was Freddie
Ljunberg, but we all remember that it never worked for him. Was it a
question of fitness with him because he hadn’t played much before
joining us or was he just past it? Another two of the free transfers
who have been and gone now are Cha and Daniel Majstorovic. Both
players were not the best but overall I wouldn’t argue in favour of
calling either a failure.
Obviously there are various reasons as to why some of the guys above
never quite made it with us. Part of it could be some were unable to
adapt to a new culture, some perhaps were unable to handle the
pressure required to play for us. Only a small percentage of football
players, worldwide, are expected to win every match that they play in.
Celtic is one of the clubs where we demand that for domestic
football.
Whatever the reasons are, I suppose they are irrelevant now but would
having a second team have helped out? In the past, new players were
often given their debut in a reserve fixture. The same could be said
for a player who was having a dip in form. Of course this can’t be
done now but would Celtic having a second team playing in the lower
leagues be the answer? I know there’s a lot of arguments for and
against this, really, I am undecided but were we able to move some of
these players between a reserve/lower league and the SPL, it could
well have helped these guys to adapt.
Some teams do not have enough money to put a second team but who says they have to? If Celtic do and the club feel it would be beneficial then why not? We have Stevie Frail and John Kennedy in charge of the u-20 team, what if we merged the u-20 squad with a second team in the lower divisions?
For example, we could be allowed four or five outfield players who are over 21, allowing for some players to get experience and match fitness without having to lose them for a full season on loan.
Come to think of it, I am no longer undecided, I would quite like to
see Celtic with a second team playing in the lower leagues. In the
past, I used to use the old fashioned season books to go and watch
some reserve football and I would be quite happy to watch a second
Celtic team in the lower leagues.
I think most fans would be happy to as well. This weekend for
example, there is no football because of the internationals. Were
Celtic playing a second team, I am pretty sure that I would be there
to watch it. For young players, having the experience of having
prepared for a match at Celtic Park and having already played there in
a competitive match before making his first team debut it can only
beneficial can it not?
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Like you I used to alternate every week with the first team then the reserves on my season book…
Those were the days my friend…..
As far as the present goes….I think it is VITAL that our fringe players get real competitive football..and I would LOVE to see them in a lower division…competing against other pros.
I watched the Govan Club being “humbled” by Stirling Albion yesterday….
Albion gave a great account of themselves..and if they had a bit more belief in themselves..would have won it.
point is ..the standard in the 3rd. Division is decent and would be a test for our “youngsters”…
I’m all for it.
Q. Where you at the asbestos Arena
Q. If so, what where you doing there?
Or do you mean on TV? but why?
We used to send some players abroad Hungary / Denmark surely that would be more beneficial than playing kick & rush stuff in the lowest league ?
We have some highly talented players just lacking that wee bit extra experience. I’d say 4-6 months abroad would help them greatly. Even a reciprical agreement with another European club in say Portugal / France / Belgium / Holland where we could give 3-4 of their players some new experiences.
Worth looking into surely ?
we put a lot of players out on loan in UK but too many do not get regular game time which defeats the entire point of the exercise.
Buy cheap, sell high. That’s what we need to do in the transfer market- until the economic climate changes. To keep competing at the top level we need to strike a balance between having a first team worthy of the club and selling on players for a profit.
We’re doing quite well at this, but I do think we could improve on this by spending more money on a couple of experienced players to help bring on the new arrivals and youngsters.
Look at Henrik, for example. He wasn’t the finished article when he joined Celtic, but, because of the experienced players he had around him, he became a world beater really quickly.
Bringing in a couple of experienced players would shore up the team now, but it would also be an investment for the future- more of our signings would make the grade and we’d get more money for them, if, or when, we have to sell them on.
I agree with your list of players but as a subtext I would state that for every failure their has been half a dozen successes.
I’m sorry but I’m dead against a colt/2nd team.
We already have the under twenty team (who are really doing well). Don’t know how many over age players are allowed but that takes care of anyone returning from injury.
I think most of us would agree that our only problem in the SPL this year has been inconsistency, the fault I believe of not puting a consistent team on the park. Who is or right back? Mathews or Lustig?
We’ve played the same centre back pairing in less than half our SPL games. Would a 2nd team improve this? I don’t think so.
If a squad player needs to go out on loan then I’m sorry he’s on his way out. Can anyone name me any player we have sent out on loan, came back and become a regular? I can’t.
I think we are in danger of complicating things by trying to look at the”European” models. There are minus’s as well as plus’s in having a big squad.
I might be a bit auld fashioned but I hanker for the days when we could rhyme our teams off like a litany. Ah we’ll I’m still trying to work out who our settled midfield is???? Hail hail
Actually, come think of it, the reserves playing in the lower leagues would be good. The youngsters could win all three dvisions in successive seasons, leaving Sevco to be runners up……….. At best. Iagine the hilarity of the kids giving Sevco, the new club not a year old yet, drubbings every time they met up?
We can look back to the Quality street kids at the same time as the Lisbon lions.Celtic have got very good youngsters at the club,it would be very good experience.HAIL HAIL
Celtic yet again let another “cheap”quality player slip thru there fingers in the form of amido balde goin to crystal palace,your trying to tell me with all the money we made last year we couldn’t fork out 2.6 million on a striker,with the immInent departure of hooper this should be a top priority surely,I’m sick of bein classed as the “nearly team”,about time Peter lawell dipped properly into his coffers and bought some real quality instead of has beens,you never get anywhere in life without takin a few risks,Dermot Desmond,what do you actually do at Celtic?,from a disgruntled for the future Celtic fan..