OlegKuznetsov 10,816 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Fans badly let down by wrong arm of the Law Peter Lawwell and Gordon Strachan must now wait until the January window to add further talent to the Celtic squad Peter Lawwell and Gordon Strachan must now wait until the January window to add further talent to the Celtic squad by Thomas Jordan LIKE every person who runs a football club, Peter Lawwell likes to pick and choose the occasions when he raises his head above the parapet. As Gordon Strachan's side were thrashed at home to Old Firm rivals Rangers, it comes as no surprise there has been no sightings of the Celtic chief executive in the newspapers. This, you may or may not know, is a man who spends almost every working day making calls to journalists. While Rangers owner David Murray has long been accused of having his media puppets whose strings he pulls, Lawwell is pretty much the same. But even PR guru Max Clifford would struggle to put a positive spin on Celtic's business in the transfer market during the current window. Quite simply, they have let their supporters down badly and sold them short. advertisement Since winning the title last season, can Strachan honestly say he has improved his team considerably? I don't think so. Georgios Samaras has signed on a permanent basis, but still can't be considered a first pick Shaun Maloney will be a good player, but will he play in attack at the expense of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Scott McDonald or in one of the wide midfield positions instead of Aiden McGeady and Shunsuke Nakamura? Glenn Loovens also arrived in a £2.5m deal from Cardiff City. There will be some - and I'm one of them - who regarded that as more of an attempt to get one over Rangers than actually sign a player who will make a big impact. Strachan doesn't seem overly keen on him. And although Marc Crosas was brought in from Barcelona in a £400,000 deal, he hasn't started any games since signing and is being talked about as someone for the future. Rangers have signed a host of players who were better than what was already there and gone straight into their starting line-up. Celtic have strengthened their squad - but not in the areas that required improving. The Parkhead support might not be packed by managerial geniuses, however, for well over a year they have identified the two full-back areas as the weakest parts of the team. And they are spot on. It is nothing other than gross negligence on the part of the powers-that-be at Celtic Park that the club still find themselves playing Andreas Hinkel on the right of defence and are forced to play Mark Wilson out of position on the left of the defence. I'm told the manager put forward a list of several signing targets he would have been keen to bring on board. Players he believed could be within the club's budget. At that stage, it comes down to Lawwell's negotiating skills. Apart from Samaras, Maloney, Loovens and Crosas, the only new faces Celtic supporters were treated to was Paddy McCourt, a player who has been operating in the Irish League. Does that constitute a good enough effort on the transfer front? Should guys who have shelled out hard-earned cash on renewing their season books be saying to themselves; the club pushed the boat out as much as I did to afford my season ticket? So who is the blame? Is it Strachan for failing to identify targets or is it Lawwell for failing to deliver them? From the outside looking in, it looks quite apparent the manager hasn't been backed the same way as Walter Smith has. As Rangers struggled at the beginning of the season, maybe Lawwell didn't think there was a need to improve the team. But Rangers have brought in quality that has improved their team. Celtic could still win the league with their current squad. However, they would have a far greater chance had more money been invested in the team. Then again, perhaps certain people are more interested in holding up balance sheets more than trophies. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest therabbitt Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 I swear, I'd forgotten about Crosas already! See when you see Celtics summer recruits written down it is nothing short of hilarious. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
papaguy51 912 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 I swear, I'd forgotten about Crosas already! See when you see Celtics summer recruits written down it is nothing short of hilarious. Crosas is a far better player than either of the central midfielders they had on show on Saturday. If anything, it shows Strachan's basic shortcomings as a manager. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trueblue86 0 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 I swear, I'd forgotten about Crosas already! See when you see Celtics summer recruits written down it is nothing short of hilarious. Crosas is a far better player than either of the central midfielders they had on show on Saturday. If anything, it shows Strachan's basic shortcomings as a manager. So was Barry Robson to be fair, but he spent the majority of the game bench warming. Expert management again from WGS! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest therabbitt Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 I swear, I'd forgotten about Crosas already! See when you see Celtics summer recruits written down it is nothing short of hilarious. Crosas is a far better player than either of the central midfielders they had on show on Saturday. If anything, it shows Strachan's basic shortcomings as a manager. Absolutely, immensely talented youngster Glad he wasn't played! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
radlord 24 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Strachan is the luckiest manager ever. Think about the dire Rangers teams of the last three seasons. McLeish, Le Guen, and we all know about last season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
papaguy51 912 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 ET puts boot into Liewell Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brissyger 8 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Strachan has been extremely lucky so far that he's faced a pretty dire Rangers squad but we have strengthened on a team that should have beaten them to the trophy last season and they've barely added any quality. They've been prattling on since the Kaunus debacle about how we stand not chance this season against them and already the tides have turned and the tims are in panic mode and calling for the head of Strachan and lambasting Lawell as well, praying that they will have enough to edge us out. It doesn't get any better than that my friends. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1690 Posts 71 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 They're all putting the boot in, Keep The Filth is the latest. The entire old firm fan boot is on the other foot now as it was us pounding our erstwhile leader a few weeks ago while they sat smug as bastards so it's fine to sit back and read of their pain. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_ni 12 Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 I swear, I'd forgotten about Crosas already! See when you see Celtics summer recruits written down it is nothing short of hilarious. Crosas is a far better player than either of the central midfielders they had on show on Saturday. If anything, it shows Strachan's basic shortcomings as a manager. So was Barry Robson to be fair, but he spent the majority of the game bench warming. Expert management again from WGS! barry robson is the best central midfielder they have imo. He played a massive part in them winning the league last year and the only reason he got in the team in the first place was when brown was suspended. Thank goodness strachan is a crap manager, the more he plays brown rather than robson the better it is for us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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