ESPN Soccernet - Correspondents - Celtic FC - Introduction

Posted by on 01/19/2011

Good Evening Everyone...Hail Hail!!!

This is my first post here so I thought I would start by introducing myself, didn't want just to start posting without giving you an idea who I was and why you should believe anything I say.

My name is Andrew Gibney born about 13 miles from Celtic Park in a small town called Cumbernauld. After seven glorious seasons sitting in the main stand at Parkhead (time perfectly with Larsson's arrival and departure) I moved to Leeds, England for education reasons.

Six years I have been in Yorkshire now, and it looks like I'm here for good. Many a good night has been spent in the Wim Jansen Celtic Supporters Club on Regent Street. My subscription to Sky and ESPN means I rarely get down there any more.

You may know my work already, I am the editor and writer of gibfootballshow and host of the award nominated gibfootballshow podcast, have a listen! This season I have also done work for Scottish TV station STV concentrating on tactical analysis for Celtic and Rangers Champions League games.

But if this is first time you've read anything of mine then "Hello!" Thanks for dropping by. I like to think of myself as a fair and level headed kind of guy. I don't go in for conspiracy theories or that type of shenanigans, just love the club and will do till I die.

So without further adieu let's get right in tae it!

JANUARY TRANSFERS

It has been quite a quiet window so far, but there are still 12 days to go and I'm sure there will be plenty of action before the window slams shut. Jos Hooiveld has gone to Copenhagen on loan, good move for him, now he has the chance to play Champions League football. I hope he can come back and become a better player, or Celtic get a decent transfer fee for him.

Interesting that Lennon has let him go, as good as Rogne has been that now leaves him, Majstorovic, Glenn Loovens and at a massive stretch Charlie Mulgrew. Lennon must have something up his sleeve....surely.

The Erik Huseklepp deal seems dead in the water, really disappointed this one didn't get finalised, after seeing Erik a few times for SK Brann and France he is a very talented player. Playing from either the left or right of a 4-2-3-1 he love to get forward and join the attack and he is also very useful playing off the striker and will always give support. Too often Hooper or Stokes are left isolated upfront and there is no support, Huseklepp would have provided that.

Rumours are the deal died as Brann wanted £2m but that was too rich for Celtic's blood. Celtic's offer seems to have been either £650,000 with £50,000 for each year's Champions League participation. However in Norway rumours were that Celtic only offered £320,000 upfront and the same Champions League deal.

This is a ridiculous price for Celtic to try and prize away a Norwegian International without giving his team compensation to replace him with any type of quality. So Brann said "no way" and the deal is off.

Kelvin Wilson from Nottingham Forest has been signed on a pre-contract agreement but Kelvin and Celtic hold out hope that a deal can be done to bring him in this window. It may depend on what forward Lennon can lure to the club. James Vaughan from Everton on loan is the newest story, which is good cause it stops the Kevin Phillips rumours staying around too long.

Vaughan is a decent forward, watched him score a superb header against Sheffield United at the end of last year. Has some space, but seems to lack that killer instinct so maybe better to stay away from that one.

Come back on Friday for a preview of Celtic v Aberdeen, must be much tougher than last time.

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Comments

Posted by mat on 01/20/2011

good reading mate.

cumbernauld bhoy myself.

hail hail

Posted by declan carroll on 01/20/2011

good round up so far ahead of what celtic are about to do ! we need another striker in there to bolster the attack and get rid of hutchinson , loovens etc ...... and bring in anoter couple of defenders likley so :)

Posted by Andrew on 01/20/2011

@mat - good man Mat, hope all is well back home.

@declan - cheers Declan. I agree that the strikers need some back up. I'm not 100% sure on Stokes, think Hooper is the type of player we've missed since Sutton/Hartson/Larsson, just a born finisher. We can't rely Samaras he's very hit and miss. and the less said about Murphy the better.

Ljungberg is still settling in and he offers something a bit different, the dury is certainly still out on that one.

Will be interesting as the window goes on who is out there. 1st priority has to be a defender though.

Posted by Davie McElroy on 01/20/2011

Ok Andrew,
Jos Hooiveld unlucky to get injury near start of his celtic upbringing, hope he comes back better, Mastro(looks good but theres a doubt in me about him still lingering) is solid defender but maybe he needs back up of someone with a bit o ball skills to balance rawness of him thats where Rogne is good.
Yaughan not sure dont know enough to comment,but as you noted, if everton,like us, want Dembele, it might come down to wages but a hope he can see the celtic history and thats brings him to the east, cause a think he could be a cracker.
I think that with Brown and Kayal as ball winners and distributers in midfield they are a perfect link to defence and frontline its going to help both centrebacks having them in front of them and they both give excellent support to the front two of stokes and hooper, now they do look like a proper front two good to see that, not forgetting forrest,Ki and the derry pele, that will do time to plan for end of season celebrations HAIL HAIL

Posted by johnny vaughan on 01/20/2011

good man drew..fair analysis of the going ons at the hoops this minute..we need some new signings , a big signing during jan to keep the fans appeased..they more concerned with this witchhunt on the green brigade..worry bout findn players worthy of wearing the hoops jersey for our great club..keep on hooping mate... johnny....
www.irishpublichouse.com

Posted by tambhoy1950 on 01/20/2011

good analysis andrew apart from the huseklepp transfer bid i know for a fact that yhey wanted £1 million pound for him started to talk celtic offer was £750 iff they won league and qualified for champ.league and goals scoredby huseklepp but they suddenly changed the goalposts and asked for £2million pounds celtic upped their offer to £1.2 million they refused the lad huseklepp then said they could keep the signing on fee of 2.2 million krona iff they didn't kill his move they said no we now want £2 million pound i got this from inside brann itself

Posted by Andrew on 01/20/2011

Cheers guys will reply to all your comments, during the day unfortunately I have to work.

@tambhoy - cheers for the reply mate. Interesting given the figures you've got. I'd heard all the talk that came out from Celtic for the £1.1m total move.

I have lots of friends in Norway, a few of them in Brann and also spoke to a journo from TV2 who had broke the £320,000 story.

Of course all of it could be rubbish but can on't report what I hear read. So I welcome all your inside knowledge, adds to what I write.

So thanks mate.

Posted by Andrew on 01/20/2011

@Davie - Yeah I know what you mean with big Dan, It reminds me of Stubbs when he first arrived, playing beside Mackay he looked awful, then when Rieper arrived he just looked a different player, maybe another experienced CB would have the same effect.

I've never heard of Dembele before the rumour yesterday so can't really judge that one just yet.

I have to admit I'm not a Brown fan, I admire the hard work and effort he puts in but he mainly runs around like a headless chicken and I believe the combination of Ki and Kayal is the way forward.

@johnny - not sure we need a big signing just 2 good signings that will improve the team. Last January yeah we were all happy Keane came, but what did he really add, we were gonna finish second and we did finish second but we chucked loads of money at him. I don't think that's the way forward.

Totally agree that the fans should concentrate on actions on the pitch instead of off it, that's what i try to do.

Posted by Joe on 01/20/2011

I agree that Celtic only needs maybe two more signings this window, a central defender and a target man up front. For the defender I think with Hooiveld, O'Dea, and Thompson all returning from loan and Wilson coming in on a Bosman a loan deal for an experienced player makes the most sense. The player that stands out above all else for me would be Richard Dunne if he's available. However the most pressing need is to get any kind of an aerial threat into the attack. This might be the worst squad I have ever seen at winning headers on the attack. Majstorovic, for all his size, couldn't get a header on target if his life depended on it. Hooper and Stokes simply aren't physical enough to play the target man up front. I can't say just how many crosses it has been since we headed a goal in, but the conversion rate must be pathetic. Extremely unlikely now but I would have loved to see a double loan swoop for Carew and Dunne.

============
Totally agree about big Dan's heading it's awful, if he was better, he could have 5/6 goals easy. I'd like to see Thompson back I though he was good at CP, hope he's matured as well. Not sure O'Dea will ever make it though.

Posted by HardYards on 01/20/2011

Hi Andrew - what happened to your previous site gibfootballshow? It appears to have just disappeared in the last couple of hours!

Posted by Andrew on 01/21/2011

To cut a long story short HardYards I've had a pretty brilliant week on the site and it has crashed the server that my domain is on, so they have suspended my site, so i've gone somewhere else.

Hopefully it will be back up with the new podcast in the morning.

Posted by Dan on 01/21/2011

I think Forster has done very well for us this season but what are your thoughts on going for Given now? I'm not looking forward to next July when we send Fraser back south and will be back to Zaluska as #1 when there probably won't be a keeper with the talent and Celtic ties of Given on the market.

Posted by Andrew on 01/22/2011

I agree that it's not a good prospect seeing Zaluska as #1 next season, howeverI don't see the point going to Given, yeah he's a fantastic keeper but do you really need a brilliant keeper to win the league, I don't think so.

Why not go for a keeper around 21-23 years old and after 3-4 years sell him on, the way we should have done with Boruc.

I don't like loaning #1's either as you don't gain anything in the long term.

Celtic and Rangers need to start buying players that have the potential to be sold on, not emergency loans and older players. This is what the Dutch clubs do and they work it really well.

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