07 Aug 2025 11:29:28
Ok, your resident happy clapper here just to provide the alternative voice for all the panty wetters who have been hogging this and other forums and phone-ins recently.
We are one game into the new season, a game which we won comfortably, keeping a clean sheet. Yes it was only 1-0 but we hit the woodwork several times, missed other good chances, had a goal disallowed and might even have had a penalty. Run that game again and I bet we win 3 or 4 nil.
We’ve signed the best left back in British football who if he stays fit will win POTY. We’ve signed another midfielder who looks decent, I think we’re now well covered in that area and also expect big seasons from 2 of McCowan, Engels or Bernardo. We’ve also signed a striker who has scored a good number of goals in the J-League (a league far superior to our own) and played for the Japan national team (currently ranked 17th in the world) . When Shin settles in he’ll score a barrel-load in Scotland.
No one was more gutted than me when we lost Kyogo, I loved everything about that guy, but let's be honest he wasn’t perfect – he could easily miss 3 or 4 good chances in a game (not unlike Idah on Sunday) . As for Kuhn tho, the guy was a liability, total attitude problem, played when it suited him. A lot of times it was like playing with 10 men (see St Johnstone last season) .
So overall, I don’t see us s being in worse shape. Rodgers is playing a game, ultimately probably working his ticket (I don’t see him staying a third year) . Someone actually phoned SSB the other night to say he might walk if we don’t make the Champions League – if we don’t get past Kairat or Bratislava it is 100% the fault of Rodgers and he should take the blame. Our squad cost and value dwarves both those teams combined, we should swat either of them aside with zero fuss.
Personally, I think we will make the CL (although I’d be happy with a go at the Europa which offers a decent chance of a long European run) . I think we will sign another couple of players before the end of August (I couldn’t care less how much we spend, it doesn’t matter a jot, £20m buys you Engels and Idah but £10m buys you Daizen, Kyogo and Reo, so who cares about fees, I wish they weren’t even reported) . I think we’ll win the league comfortably (and whilst I’ll stop short of saying Hearts will be second I will say I think Rangers will be closer to them than us) .
The cups are a bit of a lottery, any team can have an off day, bad decisions etc. We’ve had an insane run of cup wins over the last decade, if we get one this season I’ll be delighted. But trebles are not normal and we’ve been spoiled with that recently.
This is hopefully to center the discussion, like I say the panty wetters have taken over, don’t believe the negativity, its Keevins/ SSB talk, we don’t need it. We are fine, our team is fine, here’s to another successful season.
07 Aug 2025 11:50:51
Well put Gerry. Balanced and in perspective. I would say some on here have been spoilt with Celtics success. I remember the 90s. When Rangers won everything. Enjoy our success and may it long continue. All the best from down under (Oz) .
07 Aug 2025 12:07:00
@gerry I feel sorry for you as all your food must taste funny with all the brown stuff you have been licking.
07 Aug 2025 12:46:56
Feck me gerry we've less than 3 weeks till window closes the qualifier is in less than 2,aye let's trust the process ??.
07 Aug 2025 13:23:08
Spot on Gerry??.
07 Aug 2025 13:35:37
Mally,
The deadline to submit our CL squad for the playoffs is next Thursday before midnight.
Basically 7 days.
{Ed007's Note - You can also add 2 new signings up until 24:00 (23:00 BST) the day before the first-leg match.}
07 Aug 2025 13:35:43
@Gerry
There are deficiencies in our team and squad.
Before window opened most of us wanted a better LCB than Scales and Trusty and we still don't have that.
At RCB, we have CCV and 2 untested youngsters as back up. This may well prove costly if CCV gets injured.
We may have no cover for LB or at best an untested option in Inamura.
We have Yang and Forrest on the RW. One is not good enough to be no1 and the other is injury prone. This needs addressed quickly and we have known since January this was happening.
We have no cover on the LW as Jota out for most of the season. With the way Maeda plays, it won't be long until he is in the red zone as he will get overplayed. This needs addressed quickly and I think a season long loan would be a sensible move.
We have Idah, Yamada and Kenny as our 3 strikers and I reckon you could make a strong argument that none of them are good enough to be our number 1 striker and 1 of them may be sold as well. So again this needs address immediately. The worst part is we have know this since January and have still not fixed it.
I can understand being frugal if our finances were tight but we have never been this rich, so what is going on?
07 Aug 2025 13:49:28
IMO there would be less concerned fans if someone from the club’s hierarchy just came out and said:
- we’re working on BR’s contract as we want to ensure he’s here for the long run and not just another year or two. We have to make sure the right things are in place for both parties, so this is a work in progress.
- we’re working to get signings in but we’re not going after hidden gems as they don’t really exist in modern day football. The world has changed and almost every player is on multiple team radars, so naturally player agents are generally holding out till the end of the window to get as high a fee as possible - especially for the better players. Similarly, some of the players we are looking at, their current club needs to find a replacement before they’ll release them, so that causes delay.
- our strategy is primarily to buy low/ sell high, so you’ll see a few low ball offers rejected. It isn’t just about what we can buy a player for, but how much we think there is to gain.
- we’re working behind the scenes. We know we need additions and we’re working to get them in the door. You should see another one or two new faces by the end of the window.
For me a statement from that shuts up SMSM (although they’ll always find a way to twist words) , it calms us all knowing that there is some sort of plan, and it just builds a relationship with fans that they don’t currently have at a senior level at our club.
07 Aug 2025 15:47:01
Gerry be careful or you will get a seat on the board.
Wee Joe sums it up in his post.
07 Aug 2025 16:12:03
Weejoe who's to blame then for our deficiences? The board seem to get the blame but ultimately it was BR that spent big on Iadh and Trusty and now wants to spend money again why? because he got it wrong with Idah and Trusty? At what point here does the manager become accountable? Is it that he has to convince the board to allow him to waste more of the clubs money?
07 Aug 2025 17:20:37
@Bhoy88 There is no point responding to me as I just ignore you.
07 Aug 2025 19:51:55
Idah scored over 20 goals last season and some big goals no way is he a bad signing trusty divides opinion he could kick on this season time will tell, your defence of the board in this window is bizarre and your in the minority.
07 Aug 2025 19:52:26
The reason we spent so much on Idah and Engles is because we left it to the last minute and appeared desperate, as usual!
{Ed007's Note - So why did Celtic spend the whole of the summer negotiating with Norwich over Idah?}
07 Aug 2025 21:26:12
Mally I personally don't think Idah is a bad signing but a lot of fans do and are pinning it on the board that we don't have a No.1 striker. The Man City boy isn't coming here to sit on the bench so either CCV is getting dropped, which I doubt, that doesn't bode well for Trusty giving that Scales also appears to ahead of him seeing that he got the nod on Sunday.
When it comes to the board I'm just giving the other side of the arguement. The board don't deserve half the flak they're getting on here.
07 Aug 2025 22:28:00
If we thought Idah wasn’t worse the money why did we spend all that time negotiating? Wasn’t he a last minute loan without the option to buy which would have got him for much less, none of which is his fault. Personally I think if he gets a good run he will score plenty, but our failure to supply strikers doesn’t help.
07 Aug 2025 22:51:05
This board has held this club back for years. The business model is doing great but the perception is that the only people profiting are the board members to the detriment of the football team. AGMs are stooged performances and the CEO could AI for all we know.
08 Aug 2025 00:50:44
I think that some of us think that just because a few fans think that we need a player for a certain position in the team the Board and the recruitment team must find suitable players for that position or else the Board isn’t doing its job.
If that was the case James Forrest would have been discarded at least 10 yrs ago, as he was a much disliked player at that time .
Greg Taylor was another player who the fans wanted rid of up on to recent times So we can forget about what fans want and concentrate on what the Board agree with manager as been needed.