straight dealing

Those Celtic supporters who buy the media line and complain about Gordon Strachan's record in the transfer market should perhaps take a minute to read this and note that WGS is working under far tighter financial measures than applied to MON. He has also had to replace almost all of MON's last team and those that remain - for example Thompson, Lennon and Hartson - will, in all probability, move on this Summer.

MON inherited a squad that already contained Mjallby, McNamara, Lambert, Moravcik, Larsson and Petrov . Who did WGS inherit? Not for him the luxury of paying Paul Lambert a salary in excess of £1m so he could complete his coaching qualifications without the inconvenience of having to play first team games.

Not only has Strachan managed to transform the squad in terms of players he has also had to achieve this while operating under severe financial restrictions compared to the previous manager. Yet, at the time of writing, he has Celtic sitting 13 points clear at the top of the league and has simultaneously managed to reduce the wages bill by around £3m.

What, I wonder, could he have achieved if he had £32 million to spend?

Statto

 

Gordon Strachan's Transfer Deals
Out:
Lambert - retired
Sylla - Leicester (free)
Douglas - Leicester (Bosman)
Henchoz - Wigan, free, loan deal expired
McNamara - Wolves (Bosman)
Valgaeren - Bruges (Bosman)
Laursen - Odense, £50k
Bellamy- Loan expired.
Fernandez - Dundee Utd, Free,
Aliadere - West Ham - loan
Sutton - Birmingham (Free)
Du Wei - Shanghai (return to sender)
Agathe - free (contract terminated by agreement)

In
Camara - Burnley (Bosman)
Aliadere - £500k (estimate for season's loan)
Zurawski - £2m - Wisla Krakow
Boruc - £700k - Legia Warsaw
Adam Virgo - £1.5m - Brighton
Paul Telfer - £200 k Southampton
Nakamura - £2.7m - Reggina
Du Wei - 750k (initial 4 month loan)
Roy Keane - free - Man United.
Wilson, 500k - Dundee Utd.
Dion Dublin - free- Leicester
Gary Caldwell - Pre-contract Bosman from Hibs
Kenny Miller - pre contract Bosman from Wolves.

Mon's Transfer Dealings

In
Sutton - £6m- Chelsea
Valgaeren - £2.8m - Roda
Agathe - £50k - Hibs
Thompson - £2.8m - Aston Villa
Douglas - £1m - Dundee
Lennon - £6m - Leicester
Vega - loan deal - Spurs
Balde - free - Toulouse
Hartson - £6.5m - Coventry
Sylla - £600k - St Johnstone
Guppy - £600k - Leicester
Fernandez - £1.25m - Livingston
Laursen - £1.5m - Hibs
Hedman - £1.5m - Coventry
Broto - £25k - Livingston
Varga - free - Sunderland
Gray - on loan - Sunderland
Pearson - £350k - Motherwell
Camara - £1m loan - Wolves
Juninho - free - Middlesbrough
Henchoz - on loan - Liverpool
Bellamy - £1m loan deal - Newcastle

Total Outlay - £32,975,000

Out
Viduka (£6m) Leeds
Vega (free) Watford
Berkovic (£1.5m) Man City
Burchill (£600k) Portsmouth
Kerr (£300k) Wigan
Mahe (£100k) Hearts
Riseth (£1.2m) Munich 1860
Johnson (free) Sheff Wednesday
Stubbs (free) Everton
Tebily (£700k) Birmingham City
Lynch (£200k) Preston
Gould (free) Preston North End
Colin Healy (free) Sunderland
Liam Miller (free) Man Utd
Crainey (£300k) Southampton
Larsson (free) Barcelona
Smith (free) Den Haag
Mjallby (free) Levante
Camara (released from loan) Southampton
Juninho (free) Palmeiras

Total Income - £10,900,000

GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE