Were you surprised this morning when you read that Celtic had signed the top goalscorer in the Japanese league, an established international goalscorer with exactly the kind of profile that Ange Postecoglou has been talking about?
Were you delighted that this deal was done without even a sniff of it being in the MSM?
And the cherry on the cake this beautiful Friday morning, after the deal was announced on the official Celtic website and shared on social media channels including Twitter, the man who told The Celtic Star that he intended to “SURPRISE AND DELIGHT” the Celtic support retweeted the signing news, something that you’ve never seen before from a Celtic CEO.
✍️ We have reached agreement to sign Japanese internationalist, @Kyogo_Furuhashi subject to the satisfaction of usual conditions and international clearance! 🍀#WelcomeKyogo 😍🇯🇵
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 16, 2021
A few points that ‘surprise and delight’ on the signing of Kyogo Furuhashi. He’s obviously a top drawer player, at 26 years of age he is coming to Celtic at his peak. He’ll bring with him huge interest in the club back home in Japan with an impact similar to the Nakamura signing. There will be commercial opportunities for Celtic to exploit in all of this, as Dom McKay is well aware.
The fact that this deal did not drag on and on like some bad re-run of the attempt to sign another player from the Far East…John McGinn from Hibs! That went on from May to August 2018 and ended up with a Celtic supporter walking away in frustration as our former CEO argued over tiny sums of money with his Easter Road counterpart.
Contrast that with today’s signing of Kyogo Furuhashi. Identified by Ange Postecoglou no doubt a few weeks ago, McKay has gone under the radar to get the deal done and with the media nowhere near this story.
Here’s a recap on where McKay and Postecoglou are with their transfer plans at the moment. You getting that “Surprise and Delight” vibe yet?
🍀 | Celtic FC – Transfer Update
🇯🇵 Furuhashi joining from Vissel Kobe.
🇮🇱 Abada joins on 5 year deal.
🇸🇪 Starfelt close to completing move.
🇮🇪 Lawal to be announced soon.
🇫🇷 Soppy remains a target, talks ongoing.
🏴 Celtic keen on Davies loan deal.
— Everything Celtic (@aboutceltic) July 16, 2021
“Surprise and Delight”…No surprise no, they have barely strengthened the team, we are weaker! Delight?? No, Anger YES!!!! Stop happy clapping and catch a grip of yourself. You are being taken for a ride and seemily enjoying it!?!? When the season fails again blame yourself!
You’re as entitled to your opinion as anyone else. Doom and gloom isn’t for everyone. Judge Ange and McKay on what they deliver and they are just in the door.
You can find a silver lining in a mushroom cloud if you like, but Ange has a thankless task. A man who is reknowned from bringing on youths and taking his time to develop his team…..gets a ONE YEAR CONTRACT?!!? THINK! Hes a patsy for the board, the guy who will get the blame. He stands very little chance and thats not his fault, its the board!!!! Ange will take the fall if it fails, and by our squad, that looks a certainty. Incidentally, sometimes “doom and gloom” is just the way it is, its how reality is! But some folk prefer to pretend all is fine when its not. History is a brilliant reminded.