Celtic TeamTalk Gossip/Rumours Thread 10/11

Iago

Celtic FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread Aug 1st 2009

This thread is for team talk, Gossip and Rumours pertaining to Celtic. This thread is open for all users to post in. There are no preferences for fans of any team. A separate thread will be started for SPL discussion, so please restrict discussion here to on-topic subjects related to Celtic.

Please note the following Rules:

1. NO MATCH DISCUSSIONS
- Match threads will be created for matches/match weeks where required.
- Match discussion will be deleted.


2. Transfers.
- When a major transfer occurs, please post in the specific thread
- We will merge/split discussion on requests
- We will delete transfer discussion that continues here while a tangent thread is in progress.

3. Users who repeatedly ignore these guidelines will receive warnings/bans.

Previous Discussion Thread is located [thread=2055637836]Here[/thread]

Iago

Celtic v SC Braga in 3rd Qualifying Round of CL

bobbysands81

Well folks, seeing as our season more or less begins today because of the CL draw I thought I'd see could I start the new thread!

We have the draw for the third qualifying round of the CL. It is essential that Celtic get through this to, at the very least, guarantee Europa League involvement and a much needed stream of funding.

The teams that we can be pitted against today are:

Ajax
Dynamo Kiev
Fenerbahce
Sporting Braga
Zenit St Petersburg

Hopefully we'll be bringing the thunder back to Europe and the SPL!

Iago wrote: »

Celtic v SC Braga in 3rd Qualifying Round of CL

The best we could hope for... but still not confident.

celticbest

celticbest wrote:

Big day today, Champions League Qualifying Draw.

Celtic's potential Champions League qualifying opponents today are Ajax, Dynamo Kiev, Fenerbahce, Sporting Braga, Zenit St Petersburg.

Who do you fancy us getting ?
I think I'd like us to get Sporting Braga.

As posted in the old thread, I was hoping for Sporting Braga Best we could have hoped for.

lubo_moravcik

is the home leg first or second??

celticbest

lubo_moravcik wrote: »

is the home leg first or second??

Away 1st leg on 27/28 July, home tie on 3/4 August

Dempsey

celticbest wrote: »

As posted in the old thread, I was hoping for Sporting Braga Best we could have hoped for.

Braga look like a good option on paper but whether that is the case when we play is another thing! They'll have less pressure than us to do well in UCL qualifiers.

bobbysands81

Has anyone seen their stadium???

It has a feckin cliff on one end!!!

dartbhoy

As I said in the old thread Braga is a great draw for Celtic and probably represents our best chance of progressing to the 4th round. Any news if this will be televised?

Dempsey

bobbysands81 wrote: »

Has anyone seen their stadium???

It has a feckin cliff on one end!!!

They didnt think much about future expansion!! :pac:

MuPpItJoCkEy

That draw is grand if ya ask me.

Is there anywhere I'll be able to watch the friendly against United tonight considering I don't have MUTV? Perhaps someone could PM me some stream links.

Joyce Country

decent draw. they're still going to be a good outfit though if they finished 2nd in Portugal. having the 2nd leg at CP should help hopefully.

dartbhoy

Daryl Murphy has signed for Celtic on a 3 year deal. Full details on Celtic's offical website. According to BBC the transfer fee was £1.5 million.

ctrl-alt-delete

dartbhoy wrote: »

Daryl Murphy has signed for Celtic on a 3 year deal. Full details on Celtic's offical website. According to BBC the transfer fee was £1.5 million.

Good move for both him and Celtic in my opinion.

He never got a great shot at Sunderland, most times he played he was played on the wing. Will be interesting to see where Lennon plans on playing him.

He always scored a decent amount at Championship level anyways, so there is no doubt he has the quality for playing in Scotland.

Pompey Magnus

Since moving to England Daryl Murphy has scored 20 goals in 132 games, 1 goal in 6.6 games. He makes Chris Killen look like a prolific striker. What a waste of money, we already have plenty of strikers who can't score, spending a considerable amount of money on another one is a little perplexing.

Antrim_Man

Pompey Magnus wrote: »

Since moving to England Daryl Murphy has scored 20 goals in 132 games, 1 goal in 6.6 games. He makes Chris Killen look like a prolific striker. What a waste of money, we already have plenty of strikers who can't score, spending a considerable amount of money on another one is a little perplexing.

How many of these games did he start as a striker do you know

bit of a bogey

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

He always scored a decent amount at Championship level anyways, so there is no doubt he has the quality for playing in Scotland.

You reckon? I dont share you optimism. I'm not happy at all about the players Lennon has been looking at. I dont think Murphy has enough quality to be a successful celtic player.

I really disagree with the general premiership football fans view of scottish football. Not every crap premiership player is good enough for celtic/rangers! It just doesnt work like that.

Happy with Ledley signing. And Juarez could be good (although I know little about him). But I really dont believe the likes of Sol Campell or Daryl Murphy are good enough. I wouldnt go near Jimmy Bullard either. Will end up costing us an arm and leg whilst he sitting in the stand!

Eirebear

Ahhh, nice new thread...

Good draw for Celtic today, and in all honesty I cant say i'm not happy about it (Despite really wanting to be).
We need all of the scottish teams to at least make their respective group stages, and hopefully progress from there this season.

Dempsey

Eirebear wrote: »

Ahhh, nice new thread...

Good draw for Celtic today, and in all honesty I cant say i'm not happy about it (Despite really wanting to be).
We need all of the scottish teams to at least make their respective group stages, and hopefully progress from there this season.

It was nice and new until you posted in it! :pac:

Ya, Scottish Football needs both Celtic and Rangers to do well despite that deep burning desire to see each other to fail miserably!

Its a pity that the other European qualifiers in Scotland dont make a mark. Although Gretna & Dunfermline getting European slots, greed when selling tv rights is a clear sign that Scottish Football likes shooting itself in the foot.

I really think hope that Dundee United have a strong enough squad to reach the Europa League Group Stages this term. Their inexperience will probably be their undoing though. Hearts should be knocking about in the group stages of the Europa League if Romonov wasnt so interfering and abrasive.

Eirebear

Ah to be fair, its still new....maybe just not as nice

It doesnt get any easier for Celtic in the next round, but i assume that losing there will put you into the Europa League? A few good results in that should see the Co-Efficient lifted a little (The Quarter Finals is the limit of my goodwill BTW )

Motherwell got a win last night against some Icelandic team, hopefully they can hold on to their lead over there setting up a tie with Aalesunds FK of Norway, which hopefully Craigy Broon can see them through.

Hibs have either FC Videoton of Hungary, or more likely Maribor from Slovenia (They drew 1-1) in Huingary last night.

They along with Dundee Utd could hit some pretty big teams come the Play Off round though, as im guessing they wont be seeded, but hopefully they can all at least make it that far eh?

Dempsey

Eirebear wrote: »

Ah to be fair, its still new....maybe just not as nice

It doesnt get any easier for Celtic in the next round, but i assume that losing there will put you into the Europa League? A few good results in that should see the Co-Efficient lifted a little (The Quarter Finals is the limit of my goodwill BTW )

Motherwell got a win last night against some Icelandic team, hopefully they can hold on to their lead over there setting up a tie with Aalesunds FK of Norway, which hopefully Craigy Broon can see them through.

Hibs have either FC Videoton of Hungary, or more likely Maribor from Slovenia (They drew 1-1) in Huingary last night.

They along with Dundee Utd could hit some pretty big teams come the Play Off round though, as im guessing they wont be seeded, but hopefully they can all at least make it that far eh?

Ya we go into the qualifiers for the Europa League but if we beat Braga then we are guaranteed a group spot if we loose the playoff game. Ye better not embarrass the SPL!!

I see no reason why those teams shouldnt be able to get that far but I reckon its a lack of professionalism from players when they go off on holidays and poor preseason preparation that catches Scottish clubs cold. Its like European matches are used part of preparation for the SPL which is just a cost cutting measure.

ctrl-alt-delete

bit of a bogey wrote: »

You reckon? I dont share you optimism. I'm not happy at all about the players Lennon has been looking at. I dont think Murphy has enough quality to be a successful celtic player.

I really disagree with the general premiership football fans view of scottish football. Not every crap premiership player is good enough for celtic/rangers! It just doesnt work like that.

Happy with Ledley signing. And Juarez could be good (although I know little about him). But I really dont believe the likes of Sol Campell or Daryl Murphy are good enough. I wouldnt go near Jimmy Bullard either. Will end up costing us an arm and leg whilst he sitting in the stand!

Celtic, Rangers, Hibs and Hearts are good sides, the latter two closing the gap with the current financial climate . The remaining teams i would say are the equivalent of Championship level in England.

Stokes and Murphy were in the same Sunderland side, both played out of position by Keane when they rarely got a game. Stokes has done well in Scotland and i expect to see the same from Murphy if he is played as a striker.

dartbhoy

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

Celtic, Rangers, Hibs and Hearts are good sides, the latter two closing the gap with the current financial climate . The remaining teams i would say are the equivalent of Championship level in England.

Stokes and Murphy were in the same Sunderland side, both played out of position by Keane when they rarely got a game. Stokes has done well in Scotland and i expect to see the same from Murphy if he is played as a striker.

Personally I would have prefered if Lennon went for Stokes instead of Murphy.Stokes is a proven goalscorer something Murphy is not and I'm sure Celtic would have got Stokes cheaper than Murphy. Still I hope Daryl Murphy proves me wrong but I'm not very optimistic!

Blackjack

dartbhoy wrote: »

I'm sure Celtic would have got Stokes cheaper than Murphy.

Hibs would not have parted with Stokes for just 1.5M. Would have been at least 2.5 if not more, particularly if selling on to the Old firm.

PauloMN

bit of a bogey wrote: »

You reckon? I dont share you optimism. I'm not happy at all about the players Lennon has been looking at. I dont think Murphy has enough quality to be a successful celtic player.

I really disagree with the general premiership football fans view of scottish football. Not every crap premiership player is good enough for celtic/rangers! It just doesnt work like that.

Happy with Ledley signing. And Juarez could be good (although I know little about him). But I really dont believe the likes of Sol Campell or Daryl Murphy are good enough. I wouldnt go near Jimmy Bullard either. Will end up costing us an arm and leg whilst he sitting in the stand!

Have to say overall I'm happy with the players Lennon has brought in (from what I know of them of course) but I do agree that Murphy is a disappointing signing. We already have a striker that doesn't score (Fortune), although I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt after his poor first season. Mowbray can't have helped things there - am looking forward to seeing how him and the rest of them operate under Lennon.

Ledley, Juarez and Cha Du-Ri look to be good signings based on what we know of them, and the added bonus of course is that two of them were picked up on frees. Mulgrew will hopefully add the dead-ball ability we've missed since the departure of Naka. Don't think I ever saw so many wasted free kicks as I did last season.

Hopefully Murphy will prove us wrong, but I have to say my main concern with the squad is still a lack of goal threat. I really hope Fortune comes good this season - maybe last season was a wake up call for him and maybe he now understands the expectations of being a Celtic striker (i.e. scoring loads more than in the EPL). By the way, where was he the other night v Philly? No mention of him at all.

Scott Brown is another one that has to step up to the plate this season. For all the talk about him since he signed, I've just not seen anything other than small glimpses of the skillful player he supposedly is. Make or break for him this coming season I reckon.

As for McGeady - I'm wondering is there something big on the cards just waiting for money from a McGeady sale? Could Keane still be a possibility? I reckon McGeady will fetch €8m+. I'd be gutted to see him go as I think he's the most skillful player we have, but it's clear he wants to move on so he has to go while he's worth something to us.

The draw for the CL was as good as it could be I suppose. Celtic are capable of getting through that tie, and the 2nd leg at home could help. Park the bus over there, a bit of anti-football, try to keep it to a draw or a goal down at worst, and we're in with a good chance back home with the crowd behind them. Need to get Parkhead back to the fortress it once was. Next round of course we'd be up against the likes of Spurs, Seville but sure nothing we can do about that. Would like to see a decent spell in the Europa League at least, with a big improvement over last season's disaster.

Brewster

Great draw for Celtic today, even though Braga won't be easy, they cannot be complacent about it. Zenit, Fen and Kiev would not be nice trips from a footballing and supporters point of view. Im sure a few Celtic fans were disappointed not to get Ajax eh!! Nice city Amsterdam!!:D Good to see supporters acknowledging that all Scottish teams need to do well this year. I wonder how long this will last.....:)

Brewster

Pompey Magnus wrote: »

Since moving to England Daryl Murphy has scored 20 goals in 132 games, 1 goal in 6.6 games. He makes Chris Killen look like a prolific striker. What a waste of money, we already have plenty of strikers who can't score, spending a considerable amount of money on another one is a little perplexing.

I think this is a poor signing by Celtic. Im sure Bobby will have plenty to say about his goal scoring stats!!:D

Dempsey

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

Celtic, Rangers, Hibs and Hearts are good sides, the latter two closing the gap with the current financial climate . The remaining teams i would say are the equivalent of Championship level in England.

I'd have Dundee United up there before Hearts. Hearts have the financial muscle to be 3rd in line but have they messed themselves up. They need to hold out for top dollar for the likes of Driver and shed the dead weight and mercenaries and spend their money on youth development, coaching and scouting (like Dundee United did). In the SPL, throwing money at the problem doesnt get you that far ahead at all

dartbhoy wrote: »

Personally I would have prefered if Lennon went for Stokes instead of Murphy.Stokes is a proven goalscorer something Murphy is not and I'm sure Celtic would have got Stokes cheaper than Murphy. Still I hope Daryl Murphy proves me wrong but I'm not very optimistic!

As the lads said, Rod Petrie gets a semi when the Old Firm ring him about a player so thats enough fot both clubs to look elsewhere.

Also, Stokes has only ever performed for one manager in his career, John Hughes and its through Hughes that he's ever been in demand by other clubs. Stokes is supposed to get a big head very easily and I suppose Hughes has a knack for using it to his advantage

dartbhoy

Blackjack wrote: »

Hibs would not have parted with Stokes for just 1.5M. Would have been at least 2.5 if not more, particularly if selling on to the Old firm.

That's possibly true. I wouldn't give Hibs more than the £1.5 million that Sunderland got for Murphy and in my opinion that was too much for Murphy. Hopefully Murphy will prove me wrong and he'll do well above in Scotland and bang in the goals for us.

dartbhoy

Celtic were beat 3-1 by Man Utd in Toronto in the early hours this morning. Man Utd took the lead in the 1st half but Celtic equalised on the 61st minute with a penalty from Samaras only for Man Utd to score 2 goals in the last 11 minutes of the game.

According to a report I read on 1 site Celtic's best players were new signings Du Ri and Ledley along with Samaras and Maloney. It's good to see Maloney back playing after nearly spending all of last season on the sidelines.

PauloMN

dartbhoy wrote: »

Celtic were beat 3-1 by Man Utd in Toronto in the early hours this morning. Man Utd took the lead in the 1st half but Celtic equalised on the 61st minute with a penalty from Samaras only for Man Utd to score 2 goals in the last 11 minutes of the game.

According to a report I read on 1 site Celtic's best players were new signings Du Ri and Ledley along with Samaras and Maloney. It's good to see Maloney back playing after nearly spending all of last season on the sidelines.

Was a decent game for a friendly actually. Refreshing after seeing a month of World Cup dross.

Funny to see two forwards from their respective sides who have not been hugely popular trying their hearts out - Berbatov and Samaras! :eek: Both were excellent.

Celtic had a decent 2nd half after a ropey first half. Nice to see Lennon able to give the players a boost at half time, something Mowbray clearly wasn't able to do.

My concerns about Fortune seem to still be there... more often than not he seems to choose the wrong option (shooting instead of passing) and still loosing the ball too easily. Really hope he gets better.

The new boys are looking good so far and yes great to see Maloney back. Would be happy to see the back of Mark Wilson though, tries hard but I just don't think he's good enough.

20 Times 20 Times

Brewster wrote: »

Great draw for Celtic today, even though Braga won't be easy, they cannot be complacent about it. Zenit, Fen and Kiev would not be nice trips from a footballing and supporters point of view. Im sure a few Celtic fans were disappointed not to get Ajax eh!! Nice city Amsterdam!!:D Good to see supporters acknowledging that all Scottish teams need to do well this year. I wonder how long this will last.....:)

We've been there done that ! Bobby petta he was ****eeee not hes better :-)

Pompey Magnus

Antrim_Man wrote: »

How many of these games did he start as a striker do you know

I have yet to come across one sunderland fan who is anything but delighted to be rid of him off the payroll, and are even more happy in getting paid good money by Celtic for a player who was no better than reserve quality. If Lennon intends on playing him upfront then I can't see him being anything better than forth choice given the current, unimpressive forward line. If he was bought for the left wing then he may make third choice.

Whichever it is he will add nothing to the squad except cover, and the problem with Celtic is that the squad already has too many players of that quality. In my opinion it was far too much money to pay for a championship level bit player. I'd have much prefered to see Celtic spend the extra £1 million or so and sign Diomansy Kamara when they had the chance.

Pompey Magnus

REPUBLIC OF SCOTLAND striker Daryl Murphy was living the dream last night after joining Bhoyhood heroes Celtic from Sunderland for s800,000.

Link

Republic of Scotland? When did this happen? Ah God bless the Daily Record

dartbhoy

That Daily Record story has said the transfer fee was £800,000? If that's the case Celtic didn't pay over the odds for him,BBC said the fee was £1.5 million. While I have my doubts about him he seems determined to do well at Celtic and to give 100% in every game,he seems to have the right attitude for Celtic so hopefully this will help him become a top player at Celtic.

Going back to my earlier post about Stokes he has rejected a move to Celtic in the past and him been a Hibs player they would probably demand a ridiculous fee like the one they got for Brown so we'd be better off forgetting about him even though I must admit I still think he's a good striker.

Dempsey

Pompey Magnus wrote: »

Link

Republic of Scotland? When did this happen? Ah God bless the Daily Record

Maybe Scotland will become a republic by mid afternoon and that article will become accurate :pac:

Coillte_Bhoy

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

Celtic, Rangers, Hibs and Hearts are good sides, the latter two closing the gap with the current financial climate .

What about Dundee Utd who finished 3rd 9 pts ahead of Hibs and 15 ahead of 6th placed Hearts?????

Coillte_Bhoy

Brewster wrote: »

Great draw for Celtic today, even though Braga won't be easy, they cannot be complacent about it. Zenit, Fen and Kiev would not be nice trips from a footballing and supporters point of view. Im sure a few Celtic fans were disappointed not to get Ajax eh!! Nice city Amsterdam!!:D Good to see supporters acknowledging that all Scottish teams need to do well this year. I wonder how long this will last.....:)

I only noticed one. The season hasnt even started and you are on your pet topic already.:o

LETS BE AVN IT

Great signing in Murphy for celtic , he proved he could get goals at championship level so should suit the SPL well , hope he gets the chance to play upfront and not on the wing like he was used at Sunderland , also a tough and hardworking player should fit in well up there.

cruiserweight

Celtic are beating Rangers 3-2 in the masters football at the moment, 2 minutes left

Yes, it is only a week since the world cup ended and I am already desperate for football

dartbhoy

According to the Scottish News Of The World Jimmy Bullard is set to drop his outrageous wage demands and join Celtic. By their story he'll sign a contract worth £30,000 a week paid by Celtic and Hull paying him £15,000 a week to make up his original wage packet of £45,000 while he's on loan to Celtic.

Personally I think this would be a disastrous signing for Celtic and is far too much money to be paying to a player who has spent more time out injured the last few seasons and he comes across to me as an individual who's only looking for a big wage packet before retirement! I hope this is a ball of lies from the NOTW!

Broxi_Bear_Eire

dartbhoy wrote: »

According to the Scottish News Of The World Jimmy Bullard is set to drop his outrageous wage demands and join Celtic. By their story he'll sign a contract worth £30,000 a week paid by Celtic and Hull paying him £15,000 a week to make up his original wage packet of £45,000 while he's on loan to Celtic.

Personally I think this would be a disastrous signing for Celtic and is far too much money to be paying to a player who has spent more time out injured the last few seasons and he comes across to me as an individual who's only looking for a big wage packet before retirement! I hope this is a ball of lies from the NOTW!

Get him signed

lubo_moravcik

dartbhoy wrote: »

According to the Scottish News Of The World Jimmy Bullard is set to drop his outrageous wage demands and join Celtic. By their story he'll sign a contract worth £30,000 a week paid by Celtic and Hull paying him £15,000 a week to make up his original wage packet of £45,000 while he's on loan to Celtic.

Personally I think this would be a disastrous signing for Celtic and is far too much money to be paying to a player who has spent more time out injured the last few seasons and he comes across to me as an individual who's only looking for a big wage packet before retirement! I hope this is a ball of lies from the NOTW!

I'd hope the thing stalling this is Celtic demanding a pay as you play contract, so if he does get injured then Hull can pick up the wage. ~I've no doubt that if he did join he could be a great signing though.

ctrl-alt-delete

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

What about Dundee Utd who finished 3rd 9 pts ahead of Hibs and 15 ahead of 6th placed Hearts?????

Sorry, i have them on ignore

dartbhoy

Celtic won for the first time on their North American tour last night beating Seattle Sounders 2-1 with goals from a Samaras penalty on the 32nd minute and a Paddy McCourt strike on the 64th minute with Seattle replying on the 66th minute.

Dempsey

Celtic have a bid on the table for Samaras. Sell Sell Sell!

PauloMN

Dempsey wrote: »

Celtic have a bid on the table for Samaras. Sell Sell Sell!

Honestly, I don't know, I really don't. I'm not a big fan and he annoys the hell out of me sometimes, but Fortune is worse. And Daryl Murphy's record isn't exactly filling me with confidence either. I'd hold off getting rid of Samaras for the time being.

Dempsey

PauloMN wrote: »

Honestly, I don't know, I really don't. I'm not a big fan and he annoys the hell out of me sometimes, but Fortune is worse. And Daryl Murphy's record isn't exactly filling me with confidence either. I'd hold off getting rid of Samaras for the time being.

I think is form and motivation are largely down to the fact that he's looking for a new contract. Its either sell him this summer, let him run his contract and risk seeing him leave on a free transfer or offer him a new contract.

I'd sell because you can just imagine him fluffing easy headers and grabbing to ball to take a free/peno instead of Mulgrew and other stuff that will make you to shout at the tv!

Delighted to hear that Bullard transfer is "definitely dead" according to Pearson. Maloney wont be getting anyone to keep him company in the physio room

PauloMN

Dempsey wrote: »

I think is form and motivation are largely down to the fact that he's looking for a new contract. Its either sell him this summer, let him run his contract and risk seeing him leave on a free transfer or offer him a new contract.

I'd sell because you can just imagine him fluffing easy headers and grabbing to ball to take a free/peno instead of Mulgrew and other stuff that will make you to shout at the tv!

Delighted to hear that Bullard transfer is "definitely dead" according to Pearson. Maloney wont be getting anyone to keep him company in the physio room

I know, I kinda agree with you, and had we another couple of stong strikers I'd be the first to sell Samaras. I just wonder would we be sitting here at Christmas wishing we'd kept him if Fortune or Murphy aren't up to scratch. I know he hasn't shown it recently, but he does have ability. I just can't confidently say (for now anyway) the same for Fortune, Murphy or Rasmussen for that matter. Rasmussen definitely showed potential, haven't seen enough of him yet though. I just feel Samaras might be worth keeping for this season given the amount of change in the squad, even if he leaves for nowt in a years time.

The Bullard thing - I tend to agree there also, sounds like waaaay too much cash for a player who has injury problems. Mind you, Maloney was playing the other night, the poor Celtic docs must be bored out of their minds at the moment. I was thinking to myself "who's that baby-faced young lad running about there"?

Brewster

Hi lads, just thought id give my two cents on how Celtic squad is taking shape from an outsider. I certainly feel the squad is taking shape, however, yes the dreaded however, there are a number of areas of concern.

Boruc is off, he will be missed. I think it was correct that he went, he was past his best on his off field problems were well documented. I think Zaluska is an able replacement.

The centre of defence concerns me slighty, Loovens is still here who I don't rate in the slightest. Constantly gets caught out of position and is an accident waiting to happen. Its too difficult to give a proper assessment of Rogne and Hoiveld as they were basically injured for their time at Celtic. One would hope they are not crocks and that they can come onto a game. Sol Campbell would be a great signing, I was the first poster on here to suggest his name last season when he left Notts County. I think most of the regulars on here thought poorly of him. I am not sure if hes coming or not, but he would be a fantastic influence on the young defenders at Celtic. Just look at Davie Weir accross city. I dont know much about the Korean, I didnt see the games he played in World Cup. As for Mulgrew, great going forward, great left peg, can he defend on the European stage or even the SPL, no for me.

Onto midfielld, first of all I was delighted to see NGuemo leave, he was a very average player and I was consistent on my views on this last season. The guy couldn't pass a ball, he got a nose bleed when he passed halfway!! Celtic midfielders will get alot of time on the ball when they are playing in SPL and as a result they need to be comfortable on ball and be able to pick a pass. NGuemo could do neither and Im delighted Celtic are not wasting money on him. The new Mexican looks to have great pedigree and I would have high hopes for him, he is the opposite to NGuemo in that he wont be afraid to get hold of ball. I saw him in WC and I was impressed. I think Celtic are comfortable in midfield, especially if Brown could up his game a little.

The one area I have major concerns for Celtic is attack. Celtic simply have not found someone to replace Robbie's goals so far, afterall he scored most of Celtic's goals in 2nd half of campaign. They have signed Murphy who is a truly poor signing, like many other have said. I have yet to meet a football fan who has anything positive to say about him. Celtic currently have four strikers on their books, Rasmussen, Fortune, Murphy and Samaras. Who is going to score the goals here lads? Rasmussen is the only one I would bracket as a goalscorer, yet he is still unproven to some degree. Fortune is an awful player as many of you have alluded too. He will unfortunately be remembered an expensive mistake from the Mowbray era. He is simply not a goalscorer and never has been in any league. Will he come good this year and score 20+ goals? I just cant see it, he just doesn't bring a whole lot to the table, a couple of great goals aside. As for Samaras, Id drive him to Spain myself if Celtic were getting 1.5m for him, he is the more talented off the two but his attitude is plain sticking and has been since his time at Man City. He is just not interested, will miss chance after chance and run around like a headless chicken. If selling him meant Lennon was able to bring in a goalscorer, id punt him ASAP. I simply can't see why anyone would want to buy him? He has been plain stinking for City and Celtic for the most part. They are better players around for 1.5m!!

So there you have it, I don't expect all the regular guys on here to agree with everything I have said, but I think its a pretty accurate assessment where Celtic are at present. Celtic's priority this year is to win SPL and stop Rangers winning 3-in-a-row. I think at this moment in time, they are certainly favourites. Rangers have bled some top quality players in Boyd and Thomson and I just cant see who is going to replace Boyd's goals. Despite my reservations above, Celtic squad is looking stronger than Rangers, if it wasn't for Walter Smith, it wouldn't even be a contest next season in my view. Till Aug 31st comes along and squads are finalised, it is impossible to say how Celtic will fare.

dartbhoy

Great news that the Bullard deal is dead,he was only looking for a sizeable retirement package out of Celtic,he had some cheek trying to demand £30,000 a week off Celtic and be getting paid off Hull also and the man spends 75% of the season injured!

By the uk version of the Daily Mail Celtic have opened talks with David James! We already have a good goalkeeper in Zaluska and If we need another goalie It should be a goalie as cover and with no disrespect to David James someone a lot younger than him!