Something has been bothering me for a while and it is round how I think the board take us for mugs. I am not doubting they are great businessmen, the branding of Celtic is as high as it has even been. The Magners deal is a great bit of business and although I am not a fan of the team having to fly all over the world to play friendlies it does bring in a lot of revenue due to the Celtic brand. However I am talking about keeping their customers, the fans happy.
So far this summer we have raked in nearly £20million for 3 players who were integral to everything we achieved last season and this is not even thinking about the £23.6million pulled in from the Champions League last season. The team needs investment we can all see that, however the board seem to think we will all stand idly by and be prepared for them to go out and try and spend the odd £1million on a player and expect him to hit the ground running and sell them on for a profit a few seasons later. It is time for Neil Lennon to be given some of that well deserved cash and go out and get a few players who are in their prime and proven, for example Finnbogason. A young, proven goal scorer who we could all get excited about, except the board want to try and save every penny by trying to force the hand of Heerenveen but it will just get to the stage where someone will pay what the club want and another target is lost.
Contract negotiations are another gripe of mine, why does it take so long to try and tie down players / manger to a long term contract. I understand agent’s etc need to get involved but this surely does not take months on end. Joe Ledley is a prime example, he is a linchpin in the Celtic midfield so pay him what he deserves as he wants to stay. I can understand the Hooper and Wanyama deals, they did not want to stay so those negotiations were dead before they started. However key players who want to be part of the club need to tied down quicker, as I remember the Henrik Larsson contract negotiations dragging on and on also.
I would think the squad there can get past a team from Kazakhstan however I would have slept easier knowing a new defender midfielder and striker were on board that plane! Fingers crossed for the sake of the board as if this decision not to invest now comes back to bite them I feel there will be repercussions
HH
David Gallacher
(@dave311009)
