Geez you guys complain about the shite on the Celtic forum (and I agree, I’m on it) but this thread is just as bad. 

Whilst I'm glad that you rate Australian players, I honestly don't think that any of the highlighted players are good enough to be playing for Celtic. PSV fans I talk to rate Behich and Sainsbury as two of the worst players that they've had in recent years [1 fan went as far to say that Behich is the worst player he's ever seen play for PSV], whilst I don't think that Good's body could handle the type of schedule that Celtic has without the constant breakdowns he had during his time at Newcastle.

On the other players mentioned, I think Atkinson needs another year or two of regular football at Melb. City before he's ready to make the jump imo, while I also don't really rate Grant that highly. Admittedly, I don't see as much of him as some of the forum regulars, so maybe I'm missing something. I think he's got a big engine and a good work rate, but I don't think he has the technical skills required to have a successful European career. Smith's in a good spot at Seattle, so it'd be foolish for him to consider leaving, and Luongo has only played 43 games from a possible 103 games since signing for Sheffield Wednesday, which suggests he's either injury prone or out of favour: not good enough to earn a move again.

Are you actually familiar with Celtics players? 

Again, the players i mention are better than the current incumbents. Not saying any of those transfers will ever happen but just saying those players are better than the incumbents. Nothing in above you said disproved that 

So I have Kayo and it seems that will get me SPFL matches but not tonight’s friendly. Anyone know how to stream just tonight’s match? My internet searching and attempt at a one game Celtic tv approach has failed.

If you never got a stream ( i have one i can message you. ), then you'll be happy as they are getting horsed 1-3 at half time.

Ryan Grant lol, Ralston is only playing because he's getting paid peanuts- will be sitting on the bench or in the stands for most games this season. We aren't winning anything with Barkas in goal, worst GK I've seen at Celtic, Ange better give up this experiment of playing him again and at least play it safe with Bain until we get someone better in. 

state of this https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E7Ed0lUXEAc1NIL?format=jpg&name=medium

FT: Celtic 2 West Ham 6

even though it was a friendly that was embarrassing, the guy who scored West Hams last goal was released from Celtic about a month ago haha. Ange has been hung out to dry so far given that backline would be a mid table spfl defence at best, however I'm not sure what lessons were learnt  that we didn't already know, now we're going into the 2nd leg of a Champions League qualifier with 0 confidence, will be an interesting press conference coming up I'd assume.

None of the players you mentioned IMHO are anywhere near good enough to be playing for Celtic, and would also have a challenge displacing those already there and ahead of them.

If when the board finally pulls their finger out of their arses hopefully we will see strength added were needed - ie wing-backs (both sides), an extra CD (we just signed Starfelt, and need probably one more), and a new keeper (fingers crossed I'm hoping for Forster return).

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I do have a personal question for you. There is no real wrong answer (depends on who you ask 😉)....  What comes first for you, Celtic or Australian players??  The reason I ask is, you seem fine settling/suggesting players (Australians) which to be blunt (IMO) are not Celtic calibre players.

So tell me... you're in the play ground picking your sides, Ralston, grant and Atkinson are the last 3 players left, its your turn and you just so happen to need a RB.. you mean to tell me seriously that you're picking Ralston ahead of the other 2?  

I follow about four different Celtic FB pages and 90% of fans are angry at the Board, not Ange, including well known player/commentators like Sutton. There’s wide acknowledgement the squad has little depth for a strong campaign domesitcally or in Europe and needs a number of experienced players. Still, too many beltings like that Ange may still be a sacrificial lamb. 

I think the point being made is you could name over 100 right backs playing closer to Scotland that are better than Ralston, Ralston isn't going to be first choice right back and is only there to make up the numbers on a team sheet when the season starts. Have a look at previous rbs, Jonjoe Kenny who came off the back of a full season in the Bundesliga wasn't good enough, Jeremy Toljan who was a backup Dortmund player now playing regulary in the Serie A wasn't good enough- Somehow I don't think a 30 year old Rhyan Grant who has only played in the A-league will be looked at. A bid of 2-3m for Aurélio Buta has been submitted according to the press.

I wouldnae be picking any of the four players you just mentioned. Out of the current crop of players we currently have available, I would be picking Lee O'Connor ahead of all four of those players mentioned. 

I'm not arguing that Ralston is a better player to those three Australian players you mentioned, as he is utter shite. What I'm am saying is none of those three players (four if you count Ralston) are Celtic calibre players, and should be nowhere near a Celtic top. Ralston gets a slight pass due to coming through the youth ranks. As for the senior team, he can get ta fuck away from the top.
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SIDE NOTE:  Are you going to answer the question that I asked you in the earlier post?? The reason I'm asking is I am genuinely interested in your thoughts on the topic 🙂

Yep, the board had been fucking around doing the bare minimum for years as their sole attention was on the SPFL, not Europe (even Lennon wasn't given the backing he needed the past season and a half - which ended in utter disaster).

Don't get me wrong Lawwell did way more good the not, and has put our club in an extremely strong financial position. It's just he, and other board members took their eyes off the section that needed their full attention - strengthening the playing squad.

They doing everything on the cheap, only keeping their eyes on the SFPL (Scotland) and not Europe has put us in the position we currently find ourselves in.

I'm really hoping that Dominic McKay will bring a new way of running things, and gives the areas that need the most attention and help their proper dues and fix things sooner than later. I guess only time will tell 😕

Mate are you watching the Spain game now? 

Still think that Atkinson isn't celtic quality?!? 

Another thing ... I named mooy and Ryan in my original post. Are you seriously trying to claim they aren't celtic quality either? 

Not only are they good enough for celtic they would be stars in our current team. The current celtic are a far cry from the days of buying 2 of the better strikers in the prem (sutton and Hartson). 

As for Ralston I have said he isn't good enough for Celtic, and will barely see many minutes if he is still around come the close of the transfer window.

What I am saying is we need to be targeting a higher calibre of players then those that you have mentioned/put forth. That's my own personal view - If you think that those are good enough, and are the type of players we should be targeting/chasing, than I'm going to have to agree to disagree, as IMO you haven't set the bar high enough (just my take on the situation).

As for Mooy I like him, and I do believe he could offer Celtic something. Whether or not he would be willing to take the necessary huge pay cut needed for us to have any chance at signing him is out of our control. 

As for Ryan, that ship has sailed, so there is really is no need bringing him up. That being said, as much as I like Ryan, if it was a straight choice between Ryan and Forster, Forster get my vote everytime, though deep down I know that move is highly unlikely to happen also.

I've been properly following Celtic since the mid/late eighties (not the most enjoyable time to be a Tim) so you don't really need to tell/remind me that times have changed, all due to the stupid crazy money that has flooded into the game (mostly to those south of the border) and has destroyed any chance that Celtic (and Rangers) will ever have at reaching our full potential, and hence why we have pretty much become a feeder club to those clubs who play in the leagues awashed with coin.

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Also, you are still to answered the question I asked you several post ago. Am I to take your silence on the topic that you don't wish to respond to the the question??  If that's the case that's fine, but an acknowledgement would have been nice 🙂

Ange's presser ahead of tomorrow's playoff: https://youtu.be/r1Qnix4sCZ8

I agree with you that, while we hope Aussie players do well, quite a few are overrated.

As regards Sainsbury, specifically, I feel as if that criticism from those PSV fans is surely a bit rough. A non-Aussie mate of mine (who has played football overseas at quite a high level and understands the game very well) was very impressed by Australia's defence at the 2018 World Cup. And Trent Sainsbury was a key part of that defence.

For what it's worth, this particular friend has never stepped foot in Australia (so not exactly pro-Aussie). Admittedly, that's not exactly the same thing as a diehard PSV fan who keeps close tabs on all the players in the squad.

I think to be a foreign player, whether it's the a league or abroad, you have to be not just good enough for the team but one of the best in the team. If you aren't then fans quickly complain that you are blocking the development of domestic players - mediocre domestic players almost always get favoured over above average foreign players. 

Add to that the fact that the stereotypes about coming from australia is probably similar to how we would feel if an a league club bought a young player who was doing well in the singapore league. Every time an aussie gets signed I go onto the club forums to take a look (often using google translate) and there is often irritation that they have signed an aussie and the board should spend some money on someone decent. Fan outrage puts pressure on the coach (who is also constantly worrying about their job) so a single mistake could be the end of your career. Compare that to a promising young player from brazil with a bit of hype about them and they get proper time.

Then you get the fact that you will be home sick and disorientated and playing 20% below your best for the first year or two while you adapt to being a young person living in a foreign country (I say this from experience).

You really need to dominate the domestic league to have a chance. It's not about being good enough, it's about being better then the typical starting player in the side. If you came through their academy, even for one year, a lot of those factors are no longer there. You have adjusted to the country, fans encourage coaches to give development players more chances and their is no anger at playing them (though you will still get stereotype threat if you aren't from a big country). Having said that, you are part of a big crowd of kids that also went through the academy

I think atkinson played a 1000 minutes this year. Is he good enough that if he played in the national team against players of celtic pedigree or higher that he would hold his own or better? Yes absolutely! Is he ready to overcome all of that? No in my opinion

Nice point.

VEry well put.
It gets a bit wearing hearing aussies talk about the next big thing, as if they have already made it just because they scored a decent goal in the A-League.

Good post.

yep +1 grazorblade.....

In the meantime couple of days ago Rangers played a friendly against RealM.
Yep these games are always try outs, Ancelotti played alot of ressies etc But its Real right.
They also made many changes throughout the game.
2-1 to Rangers with a RM red carded for they were copping it.
21 shots 8 on target to RM's 5 and 1.

Derby gonna be huge, alot of you guys watching for the first time I guess or rare time.

3.45am second leg.

I'm tired but shitty and can't sleep after olyroos game. But I'm going to get up for this.

" oh but none of our players are 'Celtic quality' " 
(Whatever the fuck that is) 

Awer mabil, who isn't even a starter with our national side, has just scored against celtic to knock us out of the champions league... thats 4 campaigns in a row now we have failed to qualify through the champions league qualification...

In the process we lost to..

Midtjylland
Ferencvaros 
Cfr cluj
Aek 

These are not big clubs!  I repeat.. long gone are the days of celtic /rangers buying upper quality serie a or prem players like hartson, sutton, berkovic, gascoigne, laudrup, and regularly playing Champs league football.

Celtic currently are an upper championship side!

Matty Ryan turned Celtic down! Our best defender and best prospect is moving to Brentford a promotion team! Think about that.

So back to my original point.. I think there is as many as 15 socceroos who'd be good enough for minutes at celtic which is the question I was originally responding to... this Inc's imo...

Ryan 
Grant (maybe not starter but would get minutes) 
Atkinson
Karacic
Sains 
Souttar 
Behich 
Smith 
Luongo
Irvine 
Mooy 
Hrustic (step down for him) 
Mooy 
Boyle 
Leckie 


All of these guys are good enough to get at least squad rotation minutes at celtic... Atkinson/Karacic,  leckie, Boyle, hrustic, mooy, Ryan and sains would be regular starters in this current angeball celtic and would improve the team. 

That point about none of our players being 'celtic quality' really fucking pissed me off tbh!  (And im a celtic supporter)!  We need to stop apologizing for our Australian players and thinking we are inferior - its like when mooy was moving to England and so many morons on her were like "oh but he's 25 already and if was good enough he'd have made it already blah blah, he's best to start in championship first blah blah blah"... basic eye test and half a brain could see he was prem quality and when he went to huddersfield the fans were already calling him their greatest ever player within 10 weeks! 

 Our national side currently is probably upper championship standard which is about where celtic is, and I've just named our better players so logical that they'd make the side. 

Rant over

How long until Ange is sacked is what I'm wondering.

You keep repeating that long gone are the days where Celtic can no longer sign a Hartson or Sutton etc. I have not come across a single post where anyone disagrees with that statement. As stated numerous times the crazy money that the big 5 league generate pretty much makes us as developing selling club, which we will never reach our true potential (unless something changes).

You say we can no long atract top players of yesteryear, yet over the past several seasons we have been able to sign Dembele, Edouard, Ajer, Van Dyke, Ledley, Wanyama, Ki Sung Yueng, Sinclair, Simunovic, Jullien, Frimpong etc. That's not even including the players we have been able to bring in on loan, nor the players that have come through the Celtic youth set-up. So are you suggesting that those players are not as good as the Australain players you mentioned?? Because in my opinion those are types of players we should be chasing. Those are Celtic calibre players (IMO).

You say you are a Celtic supporter,  which I'm sure is true, but you come across as someone who is an Australian player fan first and foremost,  then a Celtic supporter, hence why you would rather sign any Australian player who may get some minutes in a rotation, than sign a player(s) who (1) can make a real difference on the field, and (2) would has a potential for a future profit for the club via a transfer fee and sell on clauses. 

Also where are all the scouts and technical directors hyping up these players and trying to sign them??

I can see us not agreeing what/who is the the best choice/path for Celtic so I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree.

Out of curiosity, when did you start supporting Celtic,  and is there any reason as to why you started (and continued) to support them?? 

Because Anges goal isn't to bring Australias starting xi over to Scotland to replace the cheap youth team players, not once did you even mention the fact Celtic (or 'we' as you like to call it lol) had 3 youth team players in the back 4- you could look at any top 50 national side and say the same thing about replacing the youth team players. Only one signing has played a competetive game so far, the problem is the board were a full 4-5 weeks too late in signing players and this is the consequence, now we might not even make it into the Europa League. Everyone knows these results are the fault of board and not Ange, the only thing Ange can be criticized for so far is the resigning Leigh Griffiths. 

The initial question posited to which i responded was ...

" are there any Australian players who could technically good enough to play for celtic"? 

Then after I replied with certain players your comment was "no Australian player is celtic quality" which is quite simply wrong and got me annoyed AF. The anti Australian bias in this group pisses me off... our players already face uphill perceptual battle in Europe. As a couple of ppl have said on here our players almost need to be twice as good as their direct competition before they'll get played and recognized. 

Why this makes a difference i don't know but in answer to ur question Im socceroos first, celtic 2nd, middlesbrough 3rd. I always liked celtic they were my scottish team given my Irish catholic background,  but when rogic moved there I've followed them ever since and now I'm part of the Abu dhabi celtic supporters club. One of my best mates here is hardcore celtic, ira supporting, scottish nationalist etc etc. 

I'm not saying ange should go and buy those players... that is not my contention. 

I was initially responding to the question posted by someone on here about "which Australian players would be good enough to make the celtic team" to which I was then told that none of our players are good enough, which is rubbish. 

If the socceroos went out and played celtic say 20 times using the same lineups that both teams used in their last competitive fixtures, socceroos would win more. 

In fact if anyone has the latest version of fifa or football manager please test that hypothesis for me using the last lineup of each team and sim the game 20 times... I bet 100bucks that Australia wins more.