Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has slammed reports that Shunsuke Nakamura will leave in the next transfer window, despite the midfielder seemingly edging closer to a move back to Japan.

J-League club Yokohama Marinos, for whom Nakamura made his professional debut in 1997, will attempt to sign the 30-year-old midfielder in January ahead of their 2009 season. A Yokohama spokesman was reported as saying: "It's a matter of how soon we can get ready financially. "This will depend on when we get the nod from our parent company Nissan." But during preparations  for Wednesday's Co-operative Insurance Cup quarter-final tie against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park,  the manager remained consistent in his appraisal of the situation. "It is the same statement as on Friday, the same position, nobody has mentioned anything to me and unless anyone tells me anything different to my face then I will refer you to Friday's statement. I had a long conversation with Naka on Thursday and he never said a thing about that. I can only deal with reality; I will leave it up to the rest to deal with the nonsense that goes with it “.  

19/11/08 19:30	Doha		Qatar	-	Japan
11/02/09	TBA		Japan	-	Australia
28/03/09	TBA		Japan	-	Bahrain

 As you can see there are another three world cup qualifiers to be played before the end of the season, with all the travelling involved, you can see why Naka fancies a move back home. The 30-year-old midfielder has hinted that an ongoing ankle problem could influence him to return to Japan with Yokohama earlier than expected, but he insists he wants to continue playing for as long as he can. “I have heard about these stories but it’s a question for my agent, I want to play football for a long time, but at the moment my right ankle is giving me problems. I have to get it heavily strapped before every game I play in. I want to be the best I can be and at the moment I am not able to do that right now. It’s frustrating”

I find it strange that we won’t let Naka go in the next window, no-one is doubting the man’s ability, but, his heart  just doesn’t seem to be in  it anymore. It’s never been his style to dominate games and his performances of late have not been of the standard that we know the man rise to, however, the ongoing injury would explain that one....... Ps –its only 590 days till the next world cup kicks off....bring it on.  

Boh67

 

Close, but, no cigar

So... its goodbye Evander Sno

Its time.. time to splash the cash Celtic. You announced with great pride that the debt is down to £3.25m. This will rise over the course of the season of course, but there is room to spend and its time, no excuses.

No more McCourt’s, Mizuno’s ect – we need class reinforcements ASAP.

No one is asking that we compete with the big leagues in terms of signings, we realise that  Ashavrin and Bent ect are out of our price range, however, I give you Naka £2.5m, Boruc £1m – this is the type of players that we need.

Rangers have bought big, they had to again no-one is disputing this fact. They sold Cullar, yes that has weakened them, but they have reinvested in an area of the pitch that they were struggling.

 Let’s not forget how close the league was last season, yes we are champions and the champions win over the 38 games of the season. The players did well to win the 7 games to secure the championship and I do not agree that the Huns euro run cost them, tough shit.. get over it. But it was the last minute goal that kept out title hopes alive, without that goal the league was lost.. we were 12 points behind that pile of shite at one point, do we want to have to struggle again this season???

The defence needs urgent action, if we do not sign a left back then heads should roll, in fact we also need a change at right back as for me Hinkel is not the answer. Give Caddis a run and see how he does.

Midf... jeez not good enough – not in a millions years. Keep the ball, its round for a reason,.... pass and move, pass and move. Look for the ball, as WGS says be brave, that’s the problem, how many times do our mdf just pass the ball to one of our players in a crazy position, get rid of it, dont make a mistake, thats not brave Gordon, far from it....... we dont expect Brazil 70, but we do expect better than what we have at the moment... ah but three in a row, last 16 twice... aye, brilliant, but that does'nt mean good football has to be forgotten about.

Upfront – JVOH, McDonald, Samaras..... hmmmm –JVOH and Mcdonald did well and we can’t afford a top class replacement, so they will have to do...

Splash the cash.. this is the same guff that we had to endure for long periods of last season..... How many saves did the St Mirren or Utd keeper have to make ??? I am not saying that the leagues lost, or its time to change the management, but, action is needed now. Let’s not gamble on the Huns being as poor as last season... a spend now will secure the league and guarantee champions league football again.

 oh the dignity...........

A good result against Southampton and plus marks for Caddis and Mizuno, who both impressed when they came on. Not quite the same result today however, losing three one to Fulham.

I cannot for the life of me understand why the fuckwits in our support are tonight complaining about the result today. Fuck me, it was less than 12 hours since the end of the Southampton game and most of the same players were given a run out.

I didn’t see the game today, but, in my opinion the result is the least important thing in these games, all you look for is the players getting their fitness back and hopefully no injuries.. eh Huns???

 I cannot remember us setting the heather on fire in the last few pre-seasons and we have done not to badly .... But looking at the tic websites today and some of the usual suspects were on in all their glory – Strachan fuck off, the defence is shite, where is the money going yada yada...

The defence will be strengthened with 2 new players ,Tamas and a.n other and I would imagine that he will be a left back, saying that I thought that Wilson looked a better option at left back than Naylor is when he came on...

of course the fuckwits ( is that allowed? :-)) - forget that Naka, boruc, jvoh are still to come back in..

A message to all the doubters...(can you believe it already?????).......... why don’t you piss off , as you obviously don’t have a clue about football......Let Gordon do what he does best, making us champions come May 09.

Message delivered and hopefully understood.............. 

Rant over

CELTIC are today delighted to announce that Aiden McGeady has committed his long-term future to the club by signing a new five-year contract.

McGeady was voted Scotland’s Player of the Year by his fellow professionals last season and his form throughout the campaign helped Celtic win their third league title in a row and reach the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League for a second consecutive season.

And the news that McGeady has signed a new five-year contract will delight Celtic supporters, who voted him their Player of the Year at the club's annual awards dinner last night (Wednesday, July 16).

Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwell said: “This is wonderful news for the club and our supporters.

“Aiden's performances in recent seasons have made him the outstanding player in Scottish football and clearly we are delighted that he has committed his long-term future to the club.

“Our priority has always been to try and keep our best players at the club and the Board is delighted to support Gordon in his plans for the future by securing Aiden on this long-term agreement.

"It is particularly satisfying that Aiden has become such a success having come through the ranks of our youth development programme.

“While he himself deserves immense praise for all he has done, he is also a real tribute to all those people who have assisted his development including, of course, the great Tommy Burns.

“With Scotland's Player of the Year in Aiden McGeady and the SPL's Top scorer Scott McDonald having now agreed new extended contracts, we are delighted that we have secured the services of two of the finest players in Scotland.

“Clearly, we will also continue to look to make quality additions to our squad and we are pleased to have done this in recent days with the signing of Georgios Samaras, someone who was so crucial to our success last season.

“The Board will continue to do all we can to support the manager and ensure that Celtic stays at the top of Scottish football.”

 

 

  You really won’t believe us,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, were gonna win the league as the song goes.....

  

Tamas in Glasgow for talks according to Auxerre, we are still trying to bring in big bad mental Bassa, that’s two international centre half’s to be added to the already best back four in the league, minus Naylor of course,however, it's likely that his replacement will also be an international Rat anyone ??

One of Europe’s best keepers between the sticks.

  

Naka and aiden far better than anything the DOBs can hope to field, with a hopefully rejuvenated Scott Brown back to his best.

  

Scott, JVOH and Samaras up front.

  Excited, confident??? You better believe it and to think if we hadn’t thrown  away we wouldn’t be a kick in the arse off nine......   Ps – Gordon Smith – what a fud

 Reports today have linked us with le mans centre half Marko Basa, who is valued by his club at £7.5m, but, we hope to get him for around £4.5m.

It’s obvious that we are in the market for a centre half and have already been linked with Berra of Hearts, Stranzal of Spartak Moscow and Tamas from Auxerre.

The revolving door looks like it will be trying to him Lee Naylor on the arse, as he is rumoured to have family difficulties and wants to return south. According to reports, Sunderland are ready to “ test our resolve” with a £2 million bid. I don’t think our resolve will stand that kind of test and it will be thanks lee and see you later....

Bit of a shock this morning when it became apparent that John Kennedy has joined Motherwell on a six month loan deal, though it will be good for him to get some first team action and fingers crossed for the big man.

So... who will drop out to accommodate the new centre half, because if we are paying £4.5m for him he will be first choice that for sure. Big Mick, the new number 4 and team captain, could it be Gary Caldwell who was fantastic in the run in, or will it be Henry the mild mannered Janitor? – that’s for the auld yins....

I’m not sure, wgs has always as far as I know stuck to a rigid 442 and I can’t see this changing.... so who to drop out – thoughts ???? for me it should be.... shit I just don’t know, as in my opinion neither McManus or Caldwell are the class that we really need to take us forward...

Big rumours that Samaras and Maloney to join this week. To be honest I would take both in a heartbeat. I like big Sammy and he had a decent scoring record and scored a few big big goals in his time with us..£2m for the 23 year old big fella who has scored 30 goals in the Dutch league or £10m for Andy Johnson.. don’t you just love the premiership. Maloney will also spilt the fans, he is a cracking wee player and if rejoins it will be on our terms.. they say never go back,, time will tell, but he will be an able replacement for Naka and Aiden who both played a hell of a lot of football last season. So that’s Sammy and Maloney for a third of a tore Andre flo.......... enjoy