Grabbing players and points
It’s a big day for the PLC.
By 11pm tonight they must have satisfied off the pitch and on it as any dropped points are automatically going to be laid at their door.
Due of course by days like the last few days and especially today as that European squad needs faxed to Nyon late in the day. The alledged names have come thick and fast, as usual I might add at this time of the year. One is confirmed, several are juggling and if I had to guess I think today will see a triple whammy of signings unveiled with a further one on the Thursday, probably a keeper to be registered for Europe in the next window. One signing was unveiled, and the midfield gets a bit stronger. I love this signing, love signing Scandinavians as they not only dont mind the weather but really give their best, for better or worse, they approach the actual 90 minutes wholeheartedly in my opinion, fully committed.
And to be honest I’m not Italian footballs biggest fan with a real emphasis on defense, holding shape, set pieces etc. Thats why they fell off in my eyes. Sorenson would have been challenging for silverware infront of a smaller but passionate crowd in Midtyland. That a much faded Parma’s bench and no trophies has him ready for a change doesn’t surprise me in the slightest and he can gladly join our Scandinavian clique, which worked well last time under Wim.
What isn’t there to like about this deal especially with the try before you buy option?
If I were King I would have a strict rule of two outfield loans without an option to buy maximum, and they are cover at that. I dont mind a keeper on a no option loan, cover not profit is the most important thing for that particular position. The Chelsea kid(s) won’t have an option thats for sure.
Today will be a day of chaos, rumour, and possibly excitement as we get tooled up to fight on four fronts. It would really be nice if we also excited on the pitch by our slim pickings current squad. I’m glad this is a home tie, wouldn’t have fancied travelling with such paucity. Two spaces opened up on the bench, Kenny (leaving) and Osmond (injured) and thats alongside four missing starters (Jota, Hogh, KT, AJ) and questionmarks whether the Captain is okay to play? It looks like fortunate timing that we were forced to stock up through the deadlines. We need the numbers.
3 points and 3 players would be a bit of good business and generally help raise the spirits although it will not stop some rightfully asking the question why didnt you do this earlier? As far as actual purchases go, I agree for instance there was no World Cup holding Van Der Berg back. However I just accept this board goes hunting for ‘cover’ loans very late and tbh it no longer raises an eyebrow here.
Our buys have been spot on so far, I can only hope the rest will be the same.
By Mahe
sentinelcelts@gmail.com
We now have a new JustGiving page set up to enable donations to be made for our latest charity appeal.
We wanted to focus again on a local charity, and this time one which is dedicated to helping those suffering from homelessness, addiction or poverty.
The one we have gone for is
GLASGOW CITY MISSION
You can find our dedicated page at
https://www.justgiving.com/page/sentinelcelts67
It is coming up to that time of year when the betting aficionados amongst us have to get our thinking caps on again.
As usual, our site will run a NAPS COMPETITION with some healthy prize money, and once again it will start on St Leger Day in September and run through till the last day of Royal Ascot in June. There will be a short break from the end of November till the end of January.
https://sentinelcelts.com/2026/08/31/saturday-naps-competition-2/
And for those whose betting interests are mainly centred on the football, we will also run our MAGNIFICENT SEVEN accumulator, starting on the same day and finishing when we no longer have eight leagues to pick from. Usually the end of April. Let’s hope that it gives us a more magnificent return than the litany of near-misses and total failures we got last term!
https://sentinelcelts.com/2026/08/31/saturday-football-accumulator/
We will be looking for volunteers for this year’s ACCA , so please join up!
Both these initiatives are FREE TO ENTER, so please click on the links provided.
D R M has also very kindly volunteered to operate a competition over the three days of the AYR GOLD CUP meeting. September 18-20.
Usual rules, with a selection from each race.
There is £100 of prize money, and as alway is FREE TO ENTER!
More details are available on the dedicated page, so click on the link.
https://sentinelcelts.com/2026/08/31/d-r-m-ayr-gold-cup-meeting-competition/
POTY competition sencelpoty@gmail.com
podium.
Hi Mahe:
Hatate is also gone from the bench.
I must say it is just incredible how every year we dick around for months doing nothing, then go into this panicked last minute frenzy of ‘any port in a storm’ signings. It is utterly farcical.
I prefer signings to loans but the Chelsea lads are way out of our league. Shim Mheuka is truly exciting. I watched a bunch of films on him ( posted a brief one on the last blog) and would have no hesitation in starting him alongside Duran vs the Sheep. If Arsenal can field 15 year olds, there is no reason we can’t toss in an 18 year old. He will get bums off seats.
HH
INIQUITOUS IV 😊
Got a text earlier
” Celtic at the end of the transfer window, is like yer auld da down the Barras on Christmas eve “.
The Japanese connection finally comes to end. I wish we had another 3 like Reo, Daizen and Kyogo ready to go. 192 goals between the 3.
Thanks for the memories lads 🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵
All very late as usual and at what cost? Typical Celtic plc, another profitable window. Spent nothing
Listening to the Huddle Breakdown and Alan Morrison made an excellent point about transfers, now that the EPL has went through the obscene,£3bn mark this summer and it was that most of it was it going between the EPL clubs.
There’s something afoot here, FSR or something, but he said that outside the 20 EPL clubs + PSG,RM and Barca, the average European transfer is around €8m.
So, basically you’ve got 200 European clubs all trying to find the next level of stars to sell on. Throw in Saudi and MSL , and you start to see the scale of the problem that most clubs face in trying to get genuine quality to sign and for us, even worst, come into a league that isn’t consider top 10 .
That’s why I’d make it a priority to sign local talent first. Your McGinns, etc…just push out the boat .
Good morning friends and a Big Happy Matchday to all who post or lurk on this fine site.
Hopefully some new faces take to the Celtic Park pitch tonight. And perhaps even impress enough to be one of your top 3… sencelpoty@gmail.com
https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/9/1/belgian-mayor-blocks-club-from-hosting-israeli-opponent-in-europa-league 👏
How much money to we get for our Japanese translator if he departs this window.🤔
Off out to watch some world class cycling in Cartagena today as La Vuelta continues. Sad to see Podgacar get injured but still strong field.
I’ll be wearing the hoops of course.
“Premier League clubs have broken their all-time summer transfer record after spending reached £3.46bn.”
How are we meant to compete with that?
CRAIG76
From what I’ve seen, it is around £10m including add ons, plus 15% of any profit.
FRODSHAMBHOY
£170m per club. Obscene. But it’s a byproduct of the new financial regulations which enforce sales on some clubs and encourage player churn to keep money viable for future use.
FrodshambhoyI
We of course can’t compete but Celtic shrugging shoulders and doing nothing is not a strategy.
A cohesive plan to grow in the skewed landscape would be a start.
Employing proper coaches and utilising sports science’s would be the beginning.
Employing an overseer of football operations to coordinate and give club direction and footballing identity.
Too many excuses from our corporate leeches and no attempt at addressing the difficult football landscape.
https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2026/09/01/calculate-how-much-youd-be-worth-in-todays-premier-league-transfer-market/
BMCUWP
Seems a fair price.
We must be £20m up in transfers dealings so far.
That’s the way to run a football club.
ST TAMS
Yep. And considering that our squad last season was the worst in over thirty years, the board can probably keep a straight face when the point to the green shoots of recovery.
The Lone Arranger…sorry.
Next May when all these loanees leave, we’ll be right back to where we were at the start of this summer.
Rinse and repeat.
The interesting thing about the English transfer window is that clubs in the championship seem to have ramped down their spending. We were told fairly recently that clubs like that were our competition, that might no longer be the case.
2026/27 summer window as it stands (approx. fees):
In (£27.5m):
🇩🇰 Høgh (£11m)
🇪🇬 Hassan (£6m)
🇩🇪 Baur (£5m)
🇨🇴 Durán (£5.5m)
🇩🇰 Sørensen (Loan)
Out (£40.5m):
🇧🇪 Engels (£22m)
🇯🇵 Maeda (£8m)
🇯🇵 Inamura (£1.5m
🇭🇳 Palma (£3.5m)
🇮🇪 Kenny (£3m)
🇵🇱 Nawrocki (2.5m)
🇯🇵 Hatate (?)
Hatate, £7m allegedly
Locking the stable door after the horse has bolted .. it’s the Celtic way!
This might have been a very good window if we had done all this around a month ago. I’d be willing to bet that if you went through each transfer target one at a time, you would find there was nothing preventing us doing just that
Will we ever learn? Well, I wouldn’t bet on that.
£3.5bn in one country’s incomings during just ONE window? As I’ve been saying for years, this is getting utterly obscene. I know it is pointless letting this bother me as much as it does, but I really am falling out of love with the game
It really is quite a feat to come out of each window with the cash pile never decreasing.
A bunch of incompetents could never achieve such a thing. Maybe the odd time, but every window without fail? Nope, not buying that.
All they have to change for us to give them credit, is the timing of our dealings. As usual we go into a game, worth tens of millions, relying on guys who are already packing their suitcases to be somewhere else.
The board lackeys would say they are still our player at the time so …this only goes to show how little they understand the game.
Will this be the year they learn this lesson? Not a chance!
I have been going to Parkhead since 1966 , first game was a home game against Morton, kept going until Strachan era then realised we had no interest on the team on the park just how much money the business could make and line the directors pockets. Thought we had turned that corner with Rodgers first appointment and stuck it out till Ange left. Until we have a total regime change nothing will change and I doubt I will see it as I an old git now sad to say on both fronts.
Bad
I posted on here a few days ago, only 3 windows in 10 years showing a deficit.
Said before must be a KPI !
CRAIG76
All very promising, but none of our signings this week will play while all of our departures obviously won’t. That means we have Scales at LB with no back up. CCV and Trusty at CB with only Murray in reserve, and Donovan/Ralston at RB.
Duran starts through the middle, and we have nobody in reserve. And the midfield reserve force is McCowan. And that’s it.
Looks like some of yesterday’s signings might be needed to pad out the bench, but relying on them is a tad optimistic. Mind you, I recall Sinclair scoring on his debut as a sub mere hours after signing.
BAD
We can’t use the cash pile to sign players. That dosh is now past its sell-by date for footballing purposes. Which Celtic knew to be the case.
BMCUWP,
That is an oversimplification.
UEFA’s Financial Sustainability Regulations (FSR) do not prevent Celtic from spending cash that is already sitting in the bank. What matters is whether the resulting wages, transfer amortisation and agent fees remain within UEFA’s financial limits relative to the club’s revenues.
Why the cash pile itself is not the issue
If Celtic have £100m+ in cash reserves, UEFA does not say:
“You cannot spend that money on players.”
Instead UEFA looks at:
Football earnings (profitability) over a multi-year period.
Squad cost ratio — player wages, transfer amortisation and agent fees as a percentage of revenue. The permanent limit is 70%.
Example
Suppose Celtic have:
Revenue: £125m
Cash in bank: £120m
They could theoretically spend £40m on transfers tomorrow.
However, UEFA would then assess:
Annual amortisation charge (e.g. £40m player on a 5-year contract = £8m per year)
Player wages
Agent fees
Those recurring costs count towards FSR calculations.
What cash does help with
The cash pile gives Celtic advantages:
Ability to pay transfer fees upfront.
Ability to absorb a bad season without European income.
Ability to invest in infrastructure, training facilities and youth development.
Lower financial risk than clubs relying on owner loans.
The real constraint for Celtic
Celtic’s constraint is not the size of the cash reserve.
The constraint is that Scottish football revenues are relatively modest compared with the Premier League and the major European leagues. If Celtic suddenly doubled the wage bill and spent heavily every summer, the squad-cost ratio could eventually become the limiting factor regardless of how much cash was sitting in the bank.
So the statement:
“Celtic can’t spend their cash pile because of FSR”
is false.
A more accurate statement would be:
“Celtic can spend their cash pile, but the wages and amortised transfer costs generated by that spending must still fit within UEFA’s financial sustainability limits and the club’s recurring revenues.”
PB, Bobby ..
You just know this board despise us for not being impressed with their ability to keep churning the squad while making money.
Thing is, if they’d only prioritise us qualifying for the champions league, there’s no doubt the domestic challenges would take care of themselves.
With qualifying becoming harder with each passing summer, I’ve a funny feeling I’ll be saying the same things, word-for-word almost, this time next year.
You could start a list, even before this summer window closes, with those that will be looking to get their piece of the £3.5bn pie …
who could blame them, eh?
Only the names will change but it’ll be a list beginning with guys like Nygren, AJ, Trusty etc.
Having said all that, I think we’re going to have a team worth watching this season. We may not have the squad depth a club our size should have, but I really believe we will have another successful campaign 🏆🏆🏆
HH 🍀
https://readceltic.com/2026/09/02/dont-be-fooled-this-celtic-transfer-window-has-been-a-disaster/
Deals for Sam Johnstone, Shim Mheuka and Joel van den Berg are all complete, just announcements to be confirmed. I’m told #Celtic expect to be busy. Lotomba and Emenalo could be next in the door. Gvidas Gineitis still being worked on.
https://x.com/mhendry92/status/2095074561146401161
Awe naw,
Without double checking, was it 8th in the league you said Eintracht finished last season? And that would see them outside the places for European qualification I take it, eh?
I meant to ask if that is seen as a poor season by their standards. Do you expect much better than that? Is qualifying for Europe seen as the minimum the fans expect?
TIA.
Craig,
Would be just like us to bring in half a squad of new players, with the only deal we fail to complete being the one we are most in need of, a midfielder who is more defensive minded.
Surely to Christ we’ll make sure and complete a deal for Geneitis today at some point!
I’ve seen £4m & £10m quoted for Hatate.
No matter what we are in big profit again and have a big bank balance.
Not saying we could fully compete with the big boys but putting the money on the pitch and coaching staff would allow progress in Europe.
Could even help financially in the long run with continuing CL exposure.
I’ll judge the window once it has been completed. Under the circumstances it’s looking good. What Brendan said about timing this time last year still applies and what Fan says above about getting the right football minded people in to oversee what Brendan had issues with still applies.
Even when the window closes it can’t be properly judged until the players recruited settle in and start performing consistently over time but the initial optics so far are looking good.
Have we plugged all the holes in relation to squad balance?
We have definitely churned a profit which is good in relation to FSR
We have reduced the wage bill which is good in relation to FSR
We definitely have improved the scope of the FSR ceiling with pure profit on players like Kenny, Maeda, Hatate, Engels while not losing out on Naiwrocki, Palma. Balikwisha and Bernardo pending.
There should be a freshness to the squad now. Hopefully less square pegs in round holes. Strikers for fuxaches ..what a novelty.
BAD,
Yes but only recently. We’ve been spoiled. It will be interesting to see how the fan base reacts this season depending on where we finish.
I know I could just look on YT, but you can get the wrong impression of football players by just looking at their highlights, especially goalkeepers prior to major injuries.
We saw first-hand what can happen to good goalies that get upper body injuries, and the effect that can have on their mobility ..the goal Kasper cost us, (at Hampden V Aberdeen in the SCF) being a prime example!
So, has anyone seem Sam Johnstone lately??
Awe naw,
Thank you.
Can I ask what your expectations are for this season, given you won’t have the distraction of European football to contend with? Is challenging for the title realistic?
HH 🍀
Transfermarkt@FeyenoordTM
38m
https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/svg/1f6a8.svghttps://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/svg/1f3f4-e0067-e0062-e0073-e0063-e0074-e007f.svg More on revealed Jordan Lotomba story: #Feyenoord and Celtic FC signed all documents this Wednesday morning to make the transfer done. Right-back leaves the club after two seasons and will play in Scottish Premiership.
@fr12nl
Bada
Can he play left back as well?
BAD,
I expect a low mid table finish if we don’t strengthen in January. If we do qualify for Europe I’ll be amazed
I’m glad that there are a bunch of new players coming in, gives them the chance to showcase their talents. I’m glad that the new players have been signed in this window rather than the January window. The season is just beginning. Also glad that the Ox has been training harder, he has nothing to prove, how we missed his experience against Lask. I would like to see him take the defensive midfield roll, he’s made for it.
I’m very optimistic for the rest of this season, interested to see how the new players perform, putting the Dead club back in its box and doing well in the Europa, bring it on….
Awe naw,
Thanks again, buddy.
I’ll be watching with interest, hoping you end up having a fantastic campaign.
All the best.
HH 🍀
As I pointed out yesterday we are effectively in 20th place in the country coefficient table. If we Scotland don’t outperform the likes of Croatia, Sweden, Israel, Ukraine then they will take our place. If other countries like Bosnia, Slovenia, Macedonia start performing better then us then we can basically wave goodbye to European football and watch the death spiral of Scottish football. We will be on a par with Wales, N. Ireland and Ireland. If and when that happens then maybe dome radical thinking will need to be done.
It’s also imperative from now on in until the coefficient improves to win the Scottish cup