The Celtic Influx

Being reported that Gordon Strachan is to take four of his old Celtic players to the Riverside.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/middlesbrough/8447259.stm

As a Scot from a Celtic-daft family, I thought I'd share my views on these players.

Barry Robson - My dad is genuinely gutted to see this guy leave. Gives 100%, has a decent left foot, and is handy with a free kick too. Arguably Celtic's best player against Rangers last weekend. Despite being a yellow card certainty most weeks, I think he'd make a good addition for any Championship club.

Gary Caldwell - A difficult one to call. Very few Celtic fans will be sad to see the back of him. Very error prone, with too many high-profile gaffes for both club and country this season. He was however Scotland's Player of the Year last season. If he can be that cultured centre-half again for Boro, he could be a decent signing.

Chris Killen - When managers move clubs, they will inevitably look to bring in players from their last club. But why so often do they go for guys they never played? Killen is a case in point. He'll be leading the line for New Zealand in South Africa in the summer, but was never given a fair crack by Strachan at Celtic. A bustling big striker, but an unsuccessful loan spell at Norwich last season suggests that goals might be hard to come by.

Willo Flood - See above RE: buying players you didn't rate the first time. Flood couldn't hold down a starting place at Cardiff, before a good loan spell at Dundee Utd saw him move to Celtic a year ago. An excellent 60 mins against Rangers on his debut was the sum total of his efforts before being consigned to the reserves. Why Strachan would be interested in bringing him to the Championship is beyond me.

In short, it looks awfully like Strachan is ready to throw the towel in on promotion for this season, slash the wage bill, and build a squad for next season. But I was wondering what the Boro fans here made of it. Do you think Strachan is the man to return your team to the Premier League? And do you think these players will improve your squad at present?

Dan_the_Owl wrote:Being reported that Gordon Strachan is to take four of his old Celtic players to the Riverside.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/middlesbrough/8447259.stm

As a Scot from a Celtic-daft family, I thought I'd share my views on these players.

Barry Robson - My dad is genuinely gutted to see this guy leave. Gives 100%, has a decent left foot, and is handy with a free kick too. Arguably Celtic's best player against Rangers last weekend. Despite being a yellow card certainty most weeks, I think he'd make a good addition for any Championship club.

Gary Caldwell - A difficult one to call. Very few Celtic fans will be sad to see the back of him. Very error prone, with too many high-profile gaffes for both club and country this season. He was however Scotland's Player of the Year last season. If he can be that cultured centre-half again for Boro, he could be a decent signing.

Chris Killen - When managers move clubs, they will inevitably look to bring in players from their last club. But why so often do they go for guys they never played? Killen is a case in point. He'll be leading the line for New Zealand in South Africa in the summer, but was never given a fair crack by Strachan at Celtic. A bustling big striker, but an unsuccessful loan spell at Norwich last season suggests that goals might be hard to come by.

Willo Flood - See above RE: buying players you didn't rate the first time. Flood couldn't hold down a starting place at Cardiff, before a good loan spell at Dundee Utd saw him move to Celtic a year ago. An excellent 60 mins against Rangers on his debut was the sum total of his efforts before being consigned to the reserves. Why Strachan would be interested in bringing him to the Championship is beyond me.

In short, it looks awfully like Strachan is ready to throw the towel in on promotion for this season, slash the wage bill, and build a squad for next season. But I was wondering what the Boro fans here made of it. Do you think Strachan is the man to return your team to the Premier League? And do you think these players will improve your squad at present?

I'm very surprised that CC and diggerman haven't found your appraisals of all these players of any interest yet. Interesting read and overall a really good post Dan.

Cheers Hoola, but it's already losing some of its relevance! Gary Caldwell's agent has said that he's signed a four-and-a-half year deal with Wigan.

However, word is that Strachan is not done shopping at Celtic, and will still be making a bid for Aussie striker Scott McDonald. Stay tuned.

caldwell has gone to wigan by all accounts and it seems like he was the player strachan wanted to build his tem around.

never really heard of any of the others to be honest.

kris Boyd was the player being mentioned a week or so ago. now he is injured I don't know whether that will change things.

No doubt strachan will be looking to offload a few as well. Shawky has already gone and more to follow.

i'm afraid signing players from Scotland isn't really exciting even though they may be all we can afford.

it is a terrible league.

Captain Cook wrote:caldwell has gone to wigan by all accounts and it seems like he was the player strachan wanted to build his tem around.

never really heard of any of the others to be honest.

kris Boyd was the player being mentioned a week or so ago. now he is injured I don't know whether that will change things.

No doubt strachan will be looking to offload a few as well. Shawky has already gone and more to follow.

i'm afraid signing players from Scotland isn't really exciting even though they may be all we can afford.

it is a terrible league.

However there are some rich pickings to be found if you work at it, we got Dean Shiels from Hibs and have no reason to regret it........he's a fine player.

Nephew is a Hoop and rates Robson and Killen and not drawn on Willo the Wisp.
Digard and Shawky out and a lot of the 3rd year academy lads have been told to find clubs.A couple more of the younsters in the first team squad on their way as well.

Captain Cook wrote:kris Boyd was the player being mentioned a week or so ago. now he is injured I don't know whether that will change things.

i'm afraid signing players from Scotland isn't really exciting even though they may be all we can afford.

Boyd has had a hernia operation, expected to be back playing by the end of the month. I doubt that would put Strachan off if he really wanted him. Boyd is something of a luxury player as far as I'm concerned, hence why he so often found himself not playing for the national team. He is bone idle, devoid of work rate, and really not much of a footballer. But my word, if you're creating chances and just don't have a guy putting them away, then you will struggle to do better than this guy. Absolutely deadly in the penalty area, and has racked up goals for fun his entire career. I have no doubt that he would do the same in the Championship.

Hoola makes a very valid point. The SPL is of a low standard these days, but there is talent to be found, and it's not always the obvious players. Hibs have had something of a knack for nurturing young talent in recent years (Gary Caldwell, Gary O'Connor, Scott Brown and Kevin Thomson all sold at large profit), but Dean Shiels was never considered to be one of their best players. He's doing an excellent job in the Championship for Donny. Another example that springs to mind is Charlie Adam. At Rangers, the guy was written off as pretty poor (particularly by his own supporters), but in a short spell of time he's become an inspiration from midfield with his creativity and goals at an overachieving Blackpool side, and is wearing the captain's armband to boot.

Like I said in my original post, I fully expect both Killen and Flood to struggle, maybe even not play. They are not the standard of players that will reinvigorate Middlesbrough's promotion challenge. Robson however could add something to your side, and I would expect him to take to Championship football pretty quickly.

bone idle, devoid of work rate, and really not much of a footballer.

should fit in very well with our lot then

Captain Cook wrote:bone idle, devoid of work rate, and really not much of a footballer.

should fit in very well with our lot then

Harsh very harsh Cooky but true I'm afraid.

Captain Cook wrote:bone idle, devoid of work rate, and really not much of a footballer.

should fit in very well with our lot then

I speak the truth. You will not marvel at his footballing skills even once if he signs. But you will sing his name when he scores yet another double against some lower half side. Goals galore, and nothing more.

Dan_the_Owl wrote:

I speak the truth. You will not marvel at his footballing skills even once if he signs. But you will sing his name when he scores yet another double against some lower half side. Goals galore, and nothing more.

Conversation goes like this.............'' Of course Gordon I'm sure we can let you have some of our AHEM lemons(under one's breath) great players for your team. '' The rest will be history , just like Boro' really........... THE END

Thought I'd give this a bump, I'm curious as to how these guys have settled in at Boro, namely McDonald, Robson, McManus, Killen and Flood. What do you make of them guys?

Doing ok, Big Mick is a rock at the back,robbo works hard.
Willo is injured but was playing well and mac is still recovering from hernia op but wants to win. Killen tends to drop off looking for the ball instead of playing upfront all the time.

Barry Robson is about the best player we've had this season imo.
He never stops , and certainly wears his heart on his sleeve.