Foster brings quantity not quality to Rangers
Loan swap with the Dons sees utility man arrive.
Quality not quantity has been the Ibrox mantra up until now this summer but that appears to have been broken by Rangers last signing of the transfer window.
By no stretch of the imagination could Ricky Foster be described as a quality player. However, as a squad player, he could have a role in getting Rangers over the line in certain games.
In the 90s, it’s easy to recall names like Laudrup, Gascoigne or Albertz ad helping Rangers clinch title after title. A utility player like Neil Murray, youth team recruits like McSwegan or Pressley and guys that knew what Rangers is all about like John Brown all played huge roles.
It’s the squad that wins the league and Foster is another name in that squad who has top flight experience.
As a player, we don’t think Foster is very good. Much like Celtic’s signing from last season’s Aberdeen defence, it indicates the downsizing for the big two.
It can also be looked at on another way though. Swapping Velicka on loan sees Rangers free up the wages of a player unlikely to see much game time and are now paying less money to a player that should see more action.
Foster will have better players around him which can often bring improvement in a player and maybe the challenge will see Foster reach a level of consistency he has never managed before.
If Foster is rubbish, Rangers haven’t lost much and can wash their hands of him in the summer. If Foster does a job, Rangers have won a watch.
It’s not a bad position to be in…
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Shocking signing, Shocking player
Sums it up really
Certainly not a signing that has sparked a level of optimism amongst the fans, many of whom were hoping that a nice loan deal from the EPL could be on the cards. That said he will fill a void should Papac get injured or suspended as we have little or no cover in that area of the pitch.
Take off the blue and green specs and you can see that both clubs are in a position of downsizing, obviously Rangers have done more and have been doing so far earlier than Celtic, however it’s still very much happening.
were not downsizing, our gaffer has just spent 12m on several top players, we are much stronger than Rangers and i can see no trouble in any spl matches this season, i think we will go through winning ALL 38 games, this league is so easy, no one is a match for Celtic in the spl.
bring on the challenge Rangers, we welcome the chase financially and on the pitch!
Arise Sir Neil
Jimmy b
If this league is so easy i hope europe provides you with the challenge you crave
oops
Downsizing
McGeady sold reported fee of £10M
McManus sold reported fee of £1.5M
Fortune sold reported fee of £2.4M
Boruc sold reported fee of £1.4M
Total income of £15.3M in player sales, as per your count Jimmy you have brought in players worth £12M, around 10/11 if I’m not mistaken. So in excess of £3M has been kept in the bank, probably to offset the lack of European football.
Boruc, Fortune, McGeady & Keane were all earning big wages at Parkhead, all are now gone. You my friend are seriously;y deluded if you think your team are not downsizing, something they have been doing before Strachan left. As I said, not to the degree that Rangers have been doing, but happening none the less.
As for Sir Neil, he has had three meaningful games since becoming the Celtic Manager, Ross County in the Cup, Braga in the Champions League qualifiers and finally the mighty Utrecht in the Europa qualifiers. All three times comprehensively and embarrassingly beaten, I love your optimism Jimmy I just hope that its not chemically enhanced.
Maybe we’re cynical but is Jimmy B’s post not a wind-up?
Not sure who the target is but it just seemed a bit too out there.
If we’re wrong, we salute your passion JB, if not entirely endorsing all your beliefs!
Perhaps Ed, with regard to the downsizing at both clubs, what’s your own take on what’s happening at Celtic? would appreciate a fair balanced view from Celtic fans, yourself, Dub and even Billy Starko!
Celtic have been moving towards this for years – Martin O’Neill ‘welcome to life in the slow lane’ comment has come very true.
Speaking as someone who would describe themselves as risk averse, the course of action by the Celtic board is understandable in theory but far too severe in practice.
Many fans would argue that all the board cares about is money, but that’s not the way I see it (and it’s rare for me to use the word I on here, we have a few contributors but can’t say I speak for them on this matter). Every decision the board has taken has been with the goal of staying one step ahead of Rangers,
You get the same financial return and Champions League chance by winning the league by one point as opposed to ten or more. So there’s no incentive to be anything other than just better.
And whilst spending millions doesn’t guarantee success, not spending money and hoping to be lucky is not much of a tactic either.
Celtic’s failure to spend more post summer 2008 and January 2009 has caused all this. Whether it was doubts over Gordon Strachans future, Strachan himself not offering viable targets or a crazy belief that Rangers would not improve, that failure has caused the boom and bust behaviour in buying and selling.
Strachans team needed a complete overhaul by the time Mowbray came in…it was just impossible to give Mowbray the time to do it sensibly.
This, and the fact that the job appeared to be too big for Mowbray, resulted in a boom and bust January 2010 and another in this window just closed.
Celtic looked to have bought better this summer than last summer. Perhaps the breaks will fall to Lennon’s side in the way they didn’t fall to Mowbray’s. Perhaps the Rangers squad won’t stand the rigours of the CL and the SPL.
And if it does, the pendulum swings back towards Celtic. Rangers have made massive improvements but if a year or two without the CL money goes by, the quality will dip even further.
In short (ha!) the Celtic PLC gambled on downsizing but staying one step ahead of their rivals. And when you do that, it’s more likely you lose your own way. If Celtic looked to strengthen their first team when they had the chance and the lead, who knows where the two clubs would be?
All ifs and buts of course but if Celtic had the foresight to spend a proportion of the cash they’ve had to splash in the past 14 months around 2-3 years ago, they’d be in a far better state.
Its akin to a gambler. The PLC board went with a prudent approach, it failed and they made a loss. Continuing the prudent approach was a non-starter so more desperate moves were made. And when you do that, you need them all to come off.
This year, it may work. If it doesn’t, will they have the funds to spin big again?
Okay, all written on a phone so may need to tidy up later but there you go!
With regards to the team and squad itself, convinced the 2010/11 Celtic team will be a different animal to the 09/10 vintage. Too early to really judge them (even though we are trying to on the Celtic posts), just don’t see this team capitulating so often in the league.
Which will place a greater pressure on Rangers, who are still going to be extremely tough to beat.
Expecting a tight one this year, even though the quality may be more of the two drunks scrambling to the bar for last orders of 1998 as opposed to the shoot-out intensity of 2003.
WKS,
Spot on with the analysis of the board. Since the great Seville year we have had nothing but downsizing. This was needed, though perhaps not to the severe extent that it was carried out, as we could easily have done a ‘Leeds’ or ‘Rangers’, positions we will NEVER end up in .(Our lessons of the 90′s have been well learned).
I am also sick of smug arse posters continually claiming that Lenny has lost his only 3 meaningful matches in charge! What rot. Apart from perhaps the last 1 or 2 league games at the end of the season EVERY match was meaningful. Gers fans took great delight in telling us we could have finished 3rd so it was vital to put that daylight between us and United. Also, weren’t the home legs of the Euro matches meaningful as well? And as for his 100% record over ‘sir’ Watty of Smith, don’t we keep getting reminded that there is no such thing as a meaningless Celtic-Rangers game? Didn’t Kris ‘Boydy’ Boydichenko score his only goal against ‘them’ in a meaningless game? Did that stop him celebrating heartily with his usual grimace?
Sure, of course we were disappointed about RC, Braga and Utrecht,. Utter disasters the lot of them, but as for them being the only 3 meaningful games of Lenny’s tenure so far, please stop with the codswallop soundbites.
Do you seriously think if Celtic had dropped any points in the 1st 3 SPL games this season we would have considered them ‘meaningless’? Gie’s peace ya phuds!
Quack,
Although the board is essentially doing the right thing and making sure we don’t end up in an Owebrox-style mess, it is feckin’ frustrating as feck to see how our standing in Europe and England (even Coventry fans mock us on their blogs!) has dropped over the last few years.
As for the high earners, well Scoosh and Joe Ledley for starters certainly ain’t on no minimum wages. I’m sure provision was made for a signing on the scale of Bellamy (who we would have got if it wasn’t for him listening to his heartstrings) and I am sure the Keano rumours will be flying again come January. Celtic DO have money to spare and it will be apparent in January, mark my words. Just hope it’s not too little too late like last season.
Just the small distraction of the weekend internationals to get out of the way before the real stuff is back again. Bring it on!
Ed, international weekends sure are ‘Slow Life’.
Quags.. you have asked for my opinion on what’s happening at Celtic.
Three major mistakes have left Celtic at this very precarious point in its history.
1) Gordon Strachan not leaving after winning the league at Tannadice at the end of the 2007 / 2008 season.
Strachan had lost the fans by this point and only the manner of the victory in the last game of the season and the untimely death of Tommy Burns probably persuaded him to stay on against his and probably the majority of the fans better judgement.
2) Not buying another striker in the January Transfer window of 2009.
I believe if Celtic had picked up Fletcher from Hibs or another half decent striker then they would have gained the necessary goals and points that would have seen them win their fourth title in a row.
3) The appointment of Tony Mowbray:
It’s now very easy with hindsight to say that Tony Mowbray is not a winner, but in his short spell in the dugout at Celtic Park he lacked the bottle, heart and brain to fight Rangers, the SFA and the media. He took too long to find out what players he didn’t need and probably brought in too many players who shared his own traits in not being having the heart to play for Celtic.
The three events have meant that Celtic needed a massive clearout and a major investment at a time when finance is tight and Celtic could be once again without Champions League money. To then put this pressure on a rookie manager to carry out this cull seems rather ridiculous but then again I can’t think of one other person who would have a better insight to what was needed at Celtic than Neil Lennon.
The above is all my cold analysis of where I see Celtic are at the moment.
With my fans hat and scarf on I’m always more a half full glass kind of person and I see a lot of positives in the new Celtic squad that Neil has built obviously this is still tainted with last weeks disaster in Utrecht. Juarez, Kayal & Ledley all look like major improvements to the midfield and even Scott Brown has played a lot better on occasions this season so far. Having a new left back instantly improves the team over last season and Cha Du Ri looks like he will be ok in the SPL but his positional sense seems a bit wayward at time. Big Dan Majstorovic will help the defence with his stature alone and if he can make a partner out of Rogne, Hoovield or Loovens then I have high hopes that Celtic can go through games without losing the inevitable soft goals we have since the heyday of Caldwell & McManus.
Upfront is where the biggest question marks are for me, Samaras on his day is unplayable but on other days and you can usually tell after 10 minutes you just know he’s going to have you shouting in despair and pulling out your hair. Hooper before his injury looked like he could have been a fitter faster McDonald and someone who would score 20 goals quite easily, hopefully we will get to see him a lot more of him before the winter kicks in. The signing of Anthony Stokes has been overshadowed by the non-appearance on deadline day of any marquee signings and with the extra baggage of his decision to go to Sunderland instead of Celtic a few years earlier it’s going to take quite a few games and goals before he is taken to the fans hearts.
I think Celtic can win the league this year but I think a lot will depend on how Rangers manage to juggle SPL & Champions League football. Rangers have five away games following Champions League games this season and this could have a massive bearing on the league with Celtic have the extra recovery and coaching time.
14/15 Sep CL
Rangers at Home to Dundee Utd in next game.
28/29 Sep CL
Rangers away to Hearts next game
19/20 Oct CL
Rangers Away to CELTIC
2/3 Nov CL
Rangers away to St Mirren
23/24 Nov CL
Rangers away to Dundee Utd
7/8 Dec CL
Rangers away to ICT.
With question marks still over Rangers new signings Beattie and Jelavic plus the loan players Foster and Weiss it’s going to be interesting to see if Rangers have the energy to pull themseleves over the line one last time for Smith as he sets off into the sun.
*** sorry for the long rant… that’s why I usually stick to the graphic side of things.
Channel 67 are reporting tonight that Gary Hooper should be back in time for the next home game against Hearts on the 11th September
Celtic had a huge advantage over Rangers for the last three seasons and failure by their PLC board to seize upon the initiative has cost them deer, two seasons of CL dough for a start. The fact that all key personnel remain in position is beyond me to be honest, but heh that’s not my business.
I read a very good article on Celtics finances today
http://www.etims.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2985&Itemid=29
Whilst focusing on Celtic’c financial position, it clearly shows the vast imbalance that both sides of the Old Firm face when they get their respective TV payments, especially compared to England. Murray tried all manor of cash schemes to enable him to try and push Rangers forward and has effectively bankrupt the club in his pursuit, Celtic, whilst not operating the same financial suicide, have still chased the dream and now realise that player sales (McGeady/Boruc) are going to be quite common place to balance the books, especially with no European money to bank on. It’s certainly no bed of roses for either side looking forward, perhaps it will force both to play and develop more of their own in the future.
Billy – As for Lennon, you cannot hide from the fact that in three of the most important matches since he took over, he has failed.
Ross County excuses can be made as it wasn’t his time and it was most certainly a wake up call for the job that lay in hand. That said it was a 1st division side that couldn’t boast the riches of Fortune, Keane, McGeady et al.
Braga – I will cut him some slack in this tie, they are a decent side as their subsequent CL qualification has proved, playing so soon with so many new faces was always going to be a hard task. Once more though, this was a crucial game to give Celtic the chance of gaining the CL riches and poor away form cost dear.
Lastly and probably the most disappointing one was Utrecht, a mid table Dutch team who qualified through the fair play award, simply should not be beating Celtic in a two legged tie. A good result at Parkhead was followed by yet another European away horror show, 4-0 isn’t acceptable and had he not just been awarded the Celtic job, surely this is as near to a sacking offence as possible.
His SPL record is worthy of note so far, no league goals conceded and three wins from three, coupled with his unbeaten run at the end of last season, he looks to know how to set a team up in the SPL, sunday was a huge result as a draw would have set the alarm bells ringing, whether he has the mettle to go to places and get results when it really matters, Tynecastle, Pitttodrie, Easter Road etc we will see. As the previous poster said, they won’t be as easy beat as Mowbray’s lot were.
And billy, why the aggression? Smug arse posters, phuds? Only trying to engage with the other side man, chill out!
Can’t disagree with your analysis Dub, especially the failure to strengthen in the January window with someone like Fletcher, I’m more than sure had they done so, the league would have been heading to the East End that season.
Your right about the games right after the Cl Dub, Rangers have an awful record of dropping points after crucial games in the CL, be that at home or away. There’s some tasty looking ties to be played and they will need to be at the top of their game to do well in these. A lot will depend on whether or not Jelavic turns out to be a star man, having him fresh for all these games should prove to be an advantage but only if he turns out to be a good un.
It promises to be a real humdinger this season, let the battle commence!
Haha, ‘Slow Life’ indeed. International games are more like the ‘international language of screaming’ for us !!
Quag,
The steam has finally stopped coming out of my ears! I simply get annoyed when folk hit out with nonsense soundbites without putting any obvious thought in to them. Peace brother!