Muzzy_Larsson

Cornet would be a decent enough signing imo

I think it's the latter, I think he's just crap at recruitment but he's not self aware enough to realise it and wants his own way. He never seems to learn from his failings in the transfer market.

Nail on head.

And that there is the absolute nub of the issue and for what it's worth is also grossly incorrect. That's the exact reason Leicester and West Ham have fallen out of that top 6 this season because the starting XI wasn't improved. Conversely Spurs and Arsenal did improve their starting XI and have stole those positions as a result. At the top end of the EPL clubs improve their starting IX year on year and if you want to stay there that's what you constantly have to do. You can't stand still in what is the best and most competitive league in the world and that's exactly what Leicester done last season in simply bloating out the squad and not improving the starting XI. I'd love to see an example of a club in the premier league where they have went out and bought a bunch of squad fillers and it's actually worked, I don't think there is one. Liverpool and Spurs the most high profile examples of this failure with the Suarez and Bale money. Liverpool learned their lesson and never done the same with the Coutinho money and bought VVD and Allison instead and the results are plain for all to see. The key way to improve the squad is by window by window replacing 1 or two first picks with better players, otherwise you just land in the postion Leicester are now, with deadwood you can't trust. When your a club like Leicester a large part of this is also knowing when to sell assets, ideally you do this at the right time as it allows you to bridge the gap in terms of sides around you who have far greater spending power. I think there has also been a failing here in terms of 1 or 2 players who could and should have been sold at their peak value and that would've provided more funds to freshen things up. The horse has very much bolted with some of these players and the perfect negative storm has been arrived at where some players have run their contracts down, their form has fallen through the floor and as a result their value is lucky to be one third of what it was 12-18 months ago. I said it last summer that if Tielemans wasn't signing a new contract then he should have been sold to the highest bidder. I know it's not as black and white as I'm making it out as you need concrete bids and the transfer market was subdued due to covid and other things last summer but the club and manager need to be brave enough to sell top players when their value is at it's highest and Tielemans was definitely in this boat. There's a staleness about the club and some players now and this summer feels like it could be a transitional one which is always something you want to avoid if you plan correctly.

This whole "squad depth" thing is an absolute myth in all honesty. The players signed to allegedly add depth Rodgers doesn't trust, barely play and often he favours shoe horning players out of position who he does trust instead.

Fair enough with respect to the term Point is though these players and paying these sort of amounts are attainable and realisttic.

I never mentioned "modest fee" at all. The point I'm making is these players are attainable at a price point that's realistic for Leicester as this kind of money has already been spent on other players. Guimaraes was in the same ball park as what the club paid for Tielemens almost 3 years ago so in that vein, very much attainable. Fofana is another example. Bowen wasn't on 100k a week when he signed for West Ham that's completely made up. He was on 30-40k thereabouts, it's only when he signed his new contract his money was bumped up and deservedly so. Had Leicester signed him and he had made the same impact I doubt there would be any qualms around paying him the same money, after all there are already a few players at the club earning more than that. The point with Gvardiol is he could have been got before Leipzig got him, similar age and profile to Fofana but cost a lot less, again attainable. Players don't necessarily have to be 25-28 to make an impact, look at Fofana for example. Tielemans, Justin, I could go on. Perez and Vestergaard are £50m worth of EPL jobbers alone, I'm not sure that can be dismissed however you want to spin it, to spend that amount on those two who have contributed next to nothing for 12 months then questions must be asked. That alone reinforces my original point, that money spent correctly on a quality wide player for example could have made a tangible difference this season or last. The players are out there at that price point, who are attainable and who could make a difference, transfers like Tielemens and Fofana in recent years are testament to that.

So did go and signing a bunch of players that Rodgers doesn't trust and barely uses actually improve squad depth? I don't think so. All that's happened is there's more dead wood about the place, he's resorted to playing players out of position rather than playing these players who are alleged to provide squad depth and the league position has suffered as a result. Rodgers of all people should know this as he tried to do the exact same thing at Liverpool, trying to add "squad depth" by signing a bunch of players who weren't any better than they already had and it blew up in his face. The way to add depth is to buy better than what you already have and have players that can actually challenge for starting places every week.

Most clubs have a glass ceiling in who they can attract bar a handful in world football. I'm not suggesting competing with sides like Liverpool for players, that's just not going to happen. There are however a myriad of players in between guys like Diaz and Vestegaard for example you could attract. Tielemans for example was £40m at the time am I right, an international at one of the top 3 international sides in the world. Leicester are very much an attractive enough draw to be able to sign quality players that should improve the squad. Bowen Guimaraes Gvardiol Zakaria The above are just a few off the top of my head who were pretty modest fees that would have been attainable that have moved in recent times. There's tons more if I went off and looked into it. There's been a clear shift in the transfer model of the club in the last couple of years from a hugely successful model that signed guys such as the above to overpriced EPL jobbers.

If that's the case then why not change how you recruit? Instead of buying a shedload of players, for a lot of money, many of which you end up not even trusting to play, why not consolidate funds and sign less players, but for more money of a higer quality, ones that could replace the ones you mention. Essentially instead of signing 3-4 players who are obviously no better than what you currently have, consolidate the funds and sign 1 or two who are. That aside that's why you pay a guy like Rodgers £10m a year, he should be able to work that out.

Interesting and I know everyone is fed up of me highlighting the parallels from his time at Celtic but I went and checked the last side he fielded for us against Motherwell before he left to join Leicester later that week and the similarities are stark. Of the side that started 8 of the players were already at the club when he arrived, almost three years previous. The only signings of his that were in the side were, Jeremy Toljan (loan), Scott Sinclair and Odsonne Edouard. Both of these examples are symbolic of his lack of success from a recruitment point of view at both clubs.

Well none of our lot have ever invaded the pitch and assaulted people in the last 20 years or so. The scenes I've seen this week are miles worse than anything I've seen at an Old Firm game in 30 years of attending them. Last pitch invasion at Celtic park was when we won the league way back in 1998.

@Tinman How did that one work out for you

The podcast is great I'm an avid listener of it also.

If this was happening at Celtic Park or Ibrox there would be national outrage and parliamentary enquiries and all sorts.

This would be a tremendous signing

Cracking player the lad, hoping someone comes in for him in the summer.

Rodgers signing six players in one window fills me with fear.

As said before on this thread, not true. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/how-celtic-rangers-coefficient-contributions-26852890.amp Celtic contribute more to the co-efficient as it stands and thus the automatic champions league place for this season. Next season however when this season's points are added then Rangers will have contributed more over the 5 year period that makes up the coefficient. If Celtic get an automatic spot next season then yes it'll mainly thanks to Rangers success in Europe, but not this season.

He was rotten in the season he was up in Scotland, Edouard terrified him every time we played them. Not seen much of him at all since he went back south so he's maybe improved as he seems to have fostered a bit of a reputation for himself now.

The way it was handled was a mess at the time of course and it was mainly due to Lawell (due to his long standing beef with Petrie). However, when Celtic eventually had a bid accepted at the 11th hour Rodgers never covered himself in glory either telling McGinn he'd have work to do to nail down a regular place ahead of Brown and McGregor. McGinn felt that Celtic weren't all that desperate to sign him as a result while Villa on the other hand went all out for him, matched the asking price and took him out to dinner with Bruce later that same day where he said he'd build his team around him and Grealish. Reason I know that is that an immediate family member of McGinn's, that I've known for a long time told me that a few weeks after he signed for Villa. He was most definitely was the driving force behind Johnny Hayes, he worked with him before at Reading and was very public about and that he considered him the best player in the league outside the Celtic squad. Roberts again you are misinformed, Rodgers never actually wanted Roberts permanently and whenever he was fit Forrest played ahead of Roberts. Rodgers wanted Musonda instead although he ended up having to wait until the January window to get him. Again Rodgers suggested this publicly in saying that he'd been trying for a year to sign Musonda (while Roberts was still at the club). Lawell had many faults and did foist players upon managers but Rodgers even if given everything he wanted would still have left us for Leicester first chance he got, you have your head in the sand if you think otherwise, it was an obvious step up for him in his career and that'll always dictate what Rodgers does.

I see where you are coming from tbh. The whole orange thing and bringing out orange strips and thus pandering to the sectarian element among them is crass and 17th century stuff agreed.

That's a novel approach to a transfer window, deliberately going out and signing a bunch of players no better than what's already at the club. The "improving the squad" argument doesn't wash either tbh as the way you improve a squad is by improving the starting IX. If that was indeed Rodgers' intention then I'm even more worried about him overseeing a rebuild than I was before.

Yeah it's an odd mentality they've got, I've got some friends who are Rangers fans and I do feel sorry for them as they are decent folk and they get tarnished with the same brush as the morons in their support. I've seen a few screenshots on social media this week from follow follow at fans enraged at certain bars in Seville closing this week and them saying things like "they are asking for trouble", "they deserve for us to kick off", etc, etc. Why can't they just go and enjoy their team in a European final and savour it, feels like some of them are looking for any reason to kick off. Again there are a lot of decent Rangers fans who don't have that mentality of course it just seems with their support the moronic minority is more audible than most.