John

Once again, England simply not good enough. True maybe dubious ref decision but any team has to offer more of an attacking threat than England did. Beckham is currently in the team on reputation, Owen doesnt really offer much either. As for the penalty spot- same for both sides. Problem is people get too hyped up when England win a game, so when a loss comes a long disbelief and amazement is common. JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH

we are not buying him anymore as we went for the older, cheaper option. Interesting article nethertheless- http://msn.skysports.com/skysports/article...1140505,00.html

Souness has bought players who he has worked with before for Blackburn. But you can only say they have all mostly been a relative success. Players who he knows well or about have been bought as well. Tugay and Friedal are good examples of players who he knew could do a job in the Premiership. Barry Ferguson will soon join them as one of our best players. Also he showed their was no old pals act with Harkness in Division one- he didnt think he was up to it so he was sold.

I know where your coming from rover6- just think if we dont have much cash then De Pedro is probably a good option. Quality left footers are rare, but at least we know we have got someone of proven pedigree. As for the panic buy, maybe not a panic buy but I think GS did not want to get caught out again and miss out on buying left footer this summer. As MGP didnt materialise, next on the list was De Pedro. As with the age of him, well unless you have much cash then it is unlikely to get quality in around the ages of mid 20s. Building a team with a small budget is about getting short term solutions and backing it up with players coming through the youth system. I am sure Souness does not enjoy doing a Redknapp and wheeling and dealing around free transfers, the club finances dont allow him to do anything else. Expect Matteo to join if he lowers demands then no more in-comings until Todd and maybe others go.

for all you Souness doubters/haters, you cant deny when it comes to persuading players, attracting them to the club- that he pretty much gets his man. Of course anyone who takes a look around our facilities will realise they are class but the manager is a major pulling factor for us.

Everton interested in him.... “He’s one of a number of players we are interested in,” Moyes told the club’s official website, www.evertonfc.com. “We are keeping an eye on his situation.”

Article could be bullsh*t but makes sense Celtic being after a centre-back. Article also suggests he will go there as his family are 'celtic mad fans'. They will offer more cash for him as we are only trying to take over his contract.

Celtic in for Matteo according to News of the World...

I can understand that people are getting negative vibes from the signings we are making. You have to understand that with a budget of £4 million that the majority of it will go on a left sided midfielder. The signings of Dickov and Matteo who do improve on what we have as well and both have shown they can hack it in the Prem league. After the signing of Matteo, I suspect the next arrival will be a left midfielder. Then after that, we can assess the money we have then maybe an 'exciting' free or loan maybe. Fact is, next season it looks like we will be a much harder team to beat and we will have a more workman like look to our team. As teams like Charlton have shown, that combination can work in the Premiership.

Heard Martin O'Neil last week talking about his transfer plans. Basically he seems to have a similar strategy to ours. He will bring in players who have been there and done it on short-term deals. This will supplement the youngsters he has coming through. Talk is that Celtic's budget is not the biggest. Most of his budget will go on Larsson's replacement. Its about bringing in players who could do a job- Dickov and Matteo will provide that. Nethertheless, all that we will be doing is replacing Yorke and Todd with those signings.

I would think he will go through an extensive medical- sure we will know of any major problems there guys.

I like a few on this board keep thinking we should buy a young defender, one for the future. But is there really a point unless you have a few million? For our own situation, we can get someone like Matteo who has experience of this league, played Champions league football, has another 3-5 years in him. It looks like he wont cost much more than 1 million. Our defenders were woeful last season but you are better off buying them a bit older as they are less likely to make mistakes. All our dream is a quick, reliable, young centre-half- problem is they cost too much.

Not sure if GS did bring him through- He made his Liverpool debut at in October 1993. Looks like we will have a mean team of strong characters this time around. Not only is Matteo a leader on the pitch he holds no punches when it comes to verbal dressing downs.

Think we will get him for sure. His wages may be high but he will take a cut- Souness has tried to sign him before but was quoted too high a price, this time that wont be a problem. The fact he is left-footed means we have a range of options buying him, even though he will be played primarily at centre-back.

Some links to profiles on Matteo- seems his only real negative is that he is injury prone. Good buy though if fit! http://www.leedsfans.org.uk/leeds/players/728.html http://www.soccernet.com/england/players/MatteoDominic.html http://ds.dial.pipex.com/town/pipexdsl/o/a...iles/matteo.htm http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/foot/ukie/1806.html

Thing is that Souness has watched this guy around 5 times live- he must be sure in his mind if he can do it. Also watched him play international football- the fact he is trying to tie him up so early on in the summer must be down to the fact that he thinks he can hack Prem football- also its our priority position.

It doesnt say how much the bid was for.

Just got a breaking news text from Rovers- our bid for Pedersen has been turned down!

Shut up- lot of stupid moaners here. Loads of Prem clubs wanted him and we have got him, he will be good.

yeah, so Redknapp, Mclaren etc are ###### opinions of players- Dickov for the PREMIERSHIP is a very good buy, for all your Anti-Souness moaners, it would not of happened without him!

Luck having your main midfield players Ferguson and Thompson injured??? Also Tugay along with others got us into the relegation mess but not so sure without him we would of stayed up...He certainly pulled his weight and was superb in the games we had to pick up points.

On the subject of Flitcroft- I do think he should get more respect. I have seen a few poor displays from him but he does do an important job for the team. Ideally he likes he make forward runs but mostly sits and trys to disrupt the opposition. Fulham playing on the right was a good example of this. Also our manager knows a bit about being a good centre midfielder, so I doubt he would have persisted for so long in him if he that bad!

Jan- it is understandable that you hated Souness before he came to the club. Thats the reason you go over the top slating him. Any Celtic fan hates anything connected to Rangers and I understand that. However at this moment in time he wont go until the end of the season so you may as well accept that. He is making mistakes which are getting highlighted because we are losing. However he is missing the driving forces in midfield- Thommo and Fergie. He hasnt used it as an excuse yet. Interesting article- http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390...4170042,00.html

Some of the posts here suggest that GS doesnt realise what has gone wrong this season. He absolutely hates losing, especially in some of the manners we have done this season. He simply wont put up for it for another season. Budget will not be big in the summer, even some of his/our favourite players will go. Talk is that Norway left winger may come in along with a young central defender. If we get some income maybe even a centre midfield player or striker.

Fact is he wont resign and wont be sacked- so why not get behind him and the boys. Apart from the top three, every other club is not far off each other. Also most other clubs think they should be doing a lot better this season but its been a funny old league so far and there is a long way to go. My thoughts are that De Pedro and Josip Skoko will be with us in the next 10 days- as they are the only ones available and we can afford!