Lee Congerton appointed Head of Recruitment

[surrifox]

4 hours ago, RowlattsFox said:

I'm sure Rodgers has brought this guy in just so someone else can be blamed for any bad signings. If they're good Rodgers will get the credit, this guy will be deemed useless no matter what he does.

Draws a lot of the flak that is usually directed at Rudders too 

[brucey]

It seems Celtic also had issues with team news leaks a couple weeks before this, so there may be a serial leaker on the loose. If it does turn out to be Congerton is that legitimate legal grounds for sacking him from here?

[foxinsocks]

Just now, brucey said:

It seems Celtic also had issues with team news leaks a couple weeks before this, so there may be a serial leaker on the loose. If it does turn out to be Congerton is that legitimate legal grounds for sacking him from here?

Not unless he tweeted his intentions when he was in highschool

[Muzzy_Larsson]

58 minutes ago, brucey said:

It seems Celtic also had issues with team news leaks a couple weeks before this, so there may be a serial leaker on the loose. If it does turn out to be Congerton is that legitimate legal grounds for sacking him from here?

Yeah this is true, only thing to mention is it's been happening the entire season, not just since Lennon arrived but while Rodgers was here too.

[whoareyaaa]

Its not like we have been any good with transfer over the last few years anyway and have blown ridiculous amounts on flops or players that just haven't cut it.

 

I'm honestly not sure how Congerton could do any worse.

[Ted Maul]

35 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

Its not like we have been any good with transfer over the last few years anyway and have blown ridiculous amounts on flops or players that just haven't cut it.

 

I'm honestly not sure how Congerton could do any worse.

We signed Evans, Ricardo, Maddison and Tielemans in the last 2 transfer windows- we could do much worse.

[Nickfosse]

36 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

Its not like we have been any good with transfer over the last few years anyway and have blown ridiculous amounts on flops or players that just haven't cut it.

 

I'm honestly not sure how Congerton could do any worse.

Yeah,  I agree. Apart from Ricardo, Evans, Maguire, Maddison, N’Didi and Tielemans, our Recruitment these last few years has been shocking. 

[brucey]

1 hour ago, henrik_62 said:

Yeah this is true, only thing to mention is it's been happening the entire season, not just since Lennon arrived but while Rodgers was here too.

Is the leaked list confirmed to be from the house Congerton was renting or did that get rumoured later down the line? I can't see anything about it on the original Tweet if that was the first place it showed up.

 

Would Congerton have had any motivation to leak stuff while Brendan was still at Celtic? A beef with someone?

[TJB-fox]

Lets be fair 80% of you don’t have a clue about his ability and experience/contacts you’re just going off what Celtic and Sunderland fans have said. Since when have we listened to Celtic and Sunderland. 

Personally just going to see how we go with him, let his transfers do the talking. 

[murphy]

24 minutes ago, TJB-fox said:

Lets be fair 80% of you don’t have a clue about his ability and experience/contacts you’re just going off what Celtic and Sunderland fans have said. Since when have we listened to Celtic and Sunderland. 

Personally just going to see how we go with him, let his transfers do the talking. 

Exactly.

 

If Celtic and Sunderland fans react with horror at the mention of his name then alarm bells should be ringing.  We should have also taken notice of Nigeria fans before we signed Musa and Monaco fans when we signed Ghezzal.  We just seem to sail past these red flags with our head in the clouds.

 

 

 

[TJB-fox]

1 hour ago, murphy said:

Exactly.

 

If Celtic and Sunderland fans react with horror at the mention of his name then alarm bells should be ringing.  We should have also taken notice of Nigeria fans before we signed Musa and Monaco fans when we signed Ghezzal.  We just seem to sail past these red flags with our head in the clouds.

 

 

 

So you genuinely think Top is going to sit down and listen to what Celtic and Sunderland fans think?  If this bloke really is that awful then he’s got quite an impressive CV for someone who supposedly doesn’t know his arse from his elbow. 

 

Thank god we didn’t listen to the red flags surrounding our signings of Vardy, Schmeichel, Albrighton, Simpson and Morgan to name a few, otherwise we wouldn’t have been premier league champions. But hey, at least we wouldn’t have our head in the clouds.

[murphy]

6 minutes ago, TJB-fox said:

So you genuinely think Top is going to sit down and listen to what Celtic and Sunderland fans think?  If this bloke really is that awful then he’s got quite an impressive CV for someone who supposedly doesn’t know his arse from his elbow. 

He's got a dreadful CV.  

 

Failed at Hamburg, failed at Sunderland , hated at Celtic.   Put on gardening leave on three separate occasions.

 

So please tell me what exactly is on his CV that is impressive? 

 

There were threads fearing his appointment before he came here.  His failures are well known. 

 

As for fans of other clubs, well they have the ringside seat, they have seen it first hand.  They were right about Musa and Ghezzal.  Ignore them at your peril.

 

6 minutes ago, TJB-fox said:

Thank god we didn’t listen to the red flags surrounding our signings of Vardy, Schmeichel, Albrighton, Simpson and Morgan to name a few, otherwise we wouldn’t have been premier league champions. But hey, at least we wouldn’t have our head in the clouds.

What red flags?

 

That's just nonsense.   

[TJB-fox]

8 minutes ago, murphy said:

He's got a dreadful CV.  

 

Failed at Hamburg, failed at Sunderland , hated at Celtic.   Put on gardening leave on three separate occasions.

 

So please tell me what exactly is on his CV that is impressive? 

 

There were threads fearing his appointment before he came here.  His failures are well known. 

 

As for fans of other clubs, well they have the ringside seat, they have seen it first hand.  They were right about Musa and Ghezzal.  Ignore them at your peril.

 

What red flags?

 

That's just nonsense.   

Working as Head of recruitment at Chelsea, Celtic and Sunderland, yep you’re right absolutely horrific CV. Hmm

 

 

Vardy: Major issues with transfer fee.

Schmeichel: Leeds ‘reject’

Albrighton: ‘Why would Villa release him on a free if he’s any good?’

Simpson: ‘Limited wifebeater’

 

Remember now fella?

 

[murphy]

11 minutes ago, TJB-fox said:

Working as Head of recruitment at Chelsea, Celtic and Sunderland, yep you’re right absolutely horrific CV. Hmm

 

 

Vardy: Major issues with transfer fee.

Schmeichel: Leeds ‘reject’

Albrighton: ‘Why would Villa release him on a free if he’s any good?’

Simpson: ‘Limited wifebeater’

 

Remember now fella?

 

 

He was part of Arnesen's team at Chelsea who then took him to Hamburg tasked with restoring them to their glory days, within two years, flirtation with relegation, that project had failed and Congerton was removed from his job.  Hamburg would rather pay him to stay away from the club where he couldn't do any more harm and see out his contract doing nothing.  Sunderland basket case situation is well known as are the duds that he signed - Rodwell, Buckley, Alvarez debacle etc etc.  Finally Celtic, well just scroll back and read Henrik's posts unless of course you know better.  Serial failure.  I'm still waiting to hear what you think is so impressive about his history?

 

As for the list you've given.  You seem to have missed the point by about a hundred miles.  None of those signings had the fans of their clubs warning us that we are signing duds.  And that's what we're talking about isn't it?

 

Well 'fella' (somebody's been listening to too much Adrian Durham), you have a different opinion,  That's Ok, you don't have to get so defensive.  It's just that my opinion is  backed up the evidence of his career to date and yours seems to be founded on blind faith.  To each their own. 

[TJB-fox]

1 minute ago, murphy said:

 

He was part of Arnesen's team at Chelsea who then took him to Hamburg tasked with restoring them to their glory days, within two years, flirtation with relegation, that project had failed and Congerton was removed from his job.  Hamburg would rather pay him to stay away from the club where he couldn't do any more harm and see out his contract doing nothing.  Sunderland basket case situation is well known as are the duds that he signed - Rodwell, Buckley, Alvarez debacle etc etc.  Finally Celtic, well just scroll back and read Henrik's posts unless of course you know better.  Serial failure.  I'm still waiting to hear what you think is so impressive about his history?

 

As for the list you've given.  You seem to have missed the point by about a hundred miles.  None of those signings had the fans of their clubs warning us that we are signing duds.  And that's what we're talking about isn't it?

 

Well 'fella' (somebody's been listening to too much Adrian Durham), you have a different opinion,  That's Ok, you don't have to get so defensive.  It's just that my opinion is  backed up the evidence of his career to date and yours seems to be founded on blind faith.  To each their own. 

Not said once that I’m a fan of his, just stating that I’ve followed football and this club long enough to know writing someone off without seeing their work first hand is pretty silly. You said about red flags, red flags aren’t just fans of other teams giving their negative opinions..

[murphy]

2 minutes ago, TJB-fox said:

Not said once that I’m a fan of his, just stating that I’ve followed football and this club long enough to know writing someone off without seeing their work first hand is pretty silly. You said about red flags, red flags aren’t just fans of other teams giving their negative opinions..

 

We were talking about fans of other clubs forewarning us of signings.  I called them red flags, that's what we were talking about and you were arguing that we should disregard them.  I really shouldn't have to explain this.  It was only five minutes ago.  Pay attention.

[TJB-fox]

26 minutes ago, murphy said:

 

We were talking about fans of other clubs forewarning us of signings.  I called them red flags, that's what we were talking about and you were arguing that we should disregard them.  I really shouldn't have to explain this.  It was only five minutes ago.  Pay attention.

I really can’t be arsed to argue with somebody that genuinely thinks Top should sit down and base our transfer business on the opinion of Nigerian/Celtic/Sunderland fans. 

[whoareyaaa]

4 hours ago, Ted Maul said:

We signed Evans, Ricardo, Maddison and Tielemans in the last 2 transfer windows- we could do much worse.

for every good signing we make there is one bad one round the corner and not at a small cost either..

 

 

[murphy]

41 minutes ago, TJB-fox said:

I really can’t be arsed to argue with somebody that genuinely thinks Top should sit down and base our transfer business on the opinion of Nigerian/Celtic/Sunderland fans. 

Thank god for that. 

 

That's a good way of bowing out when you've lost the argument, but please don't attribute nonsense that i have never said to me.  

 

Just for the benefit of the hard of thinking, in a nutshell, we would be wise to heed what the fans of other clubs think if there is a general consensus that a player (or scout) is properly awful.  I don't think that we should base our transfer business on the opinions of other fans.  Obviously.  I'm sure that you can work out the distinction there.

[Guest SO1]

Delusions of grandeur.......... aah the fresh drama of a football forum. 

 

[TJB-fox]

1 hour ago, murphy said:

Thank god for that. 

 

That's a good way of bowing out when you've lost the argument, but please don't attribute nonsense that i have never said to me.  

 

Just for the benefit of the hard of thinking, in a nutshell, we would be wise to heed what the fans of other clubs think if there is a general consensus that a player (or scout) is properly awful.  I don't think that we should base our transfer business on the opinions of other fans.  Obviously.  I'm sure that you can work out the distinction there.

Not sure about that, just differ in opinions. You seem keen to slate a man who's been at the club for 5 minutes whereas I've said I'm happy to see how he performs before judging him here. 
You claim to have won some argument but then go onto state 'we would be wise to heed what the fans of other clubs think', best phrase i've heard on here in a while. Imagine the disaster that would cause across the premier league if every decision was based on what fans said.

[murphy]

30 minutes ago, TJB-fox said:

Not sure about that, just differ in opinions. You seem keen to slate a man who's been at the club for 5 minutes whereas I've said I'm happy to see how he performs before judging him here. 
You claim to have won some argument but then go onto state 'we would be wise to heed what the fans of other clubs think', best phrase i've heard on here in a while.Imagine the disaster that would cause across the premier league if every decision was based on what fans said.

 

Well perhaps you should quote the whole sentence instead of cropping it and you might just get it.

 

I can't believe you still don't understand what I'm saying.  I can't spell it out in any simpler terms, so let's move on.

 

 

 

 

[TJB-fox]

2 minutes ago, murphy said:

I can't believe you still don't understand what I'm saying.  I can't spell it out in any simpler terms, so let's move on.

 

I fully understand what you’re saying, I just don’t really see any circumstance in which other fans opinions are so vital and relevant like you imply there to be. 

[Sly]

Let’s see how this plays out:

 

Celtic 

16/03/17 - 10/03/19

Players signed:

Odsonne Edouard - £9,270,000

Vakoun Issouf Bayo - £2,000,100

Marian Shved - £1,800,000

Scott Bain - £0

Emilio Izaguirre - £0

Youssouf Mulumbu - £0

Andrew Gutman - £0

Manny Perez - £0

Jeremy Toljan - Loan

Daniel Arzani - Loan

Timothy Weah - Loan

Oliver Burke - Loan

Filip Benkovic - Loan

Calvin Miller - Loan

Olivier Ntcham - £4,500,000

Charly Musonda Jr - Loan

Jonny Hayes - £1,320,000

Jack Hendry - £1,230,000

Marvin Compper - £1,000,300

Lewis Morgan - £300,006

Kundai Benyu - £0

Odsonne Edouard - Loan

Patrick Roberts - Loan

Scott Bain - Loan

 

Summary - Didn’t spend a great deal in the grand scheme of things, with Celtic ruling the roost over Scottish football in this time period.  I’d argue that they’ve acquired some decent players in that list above. Ultimately they’re a well supported club, however they aren’t a European powerhouse. It isn’t easy acquiring the best players.

 

Sunderland

12/03/14 - 20/12/15

Players signed:

Jack Rodwell - £11,340,000

Jermain Defoe - £3,150,000

Will Buckley - £2,800,000

Patrick van Aanholt - £1,710,000

Ricardo Álvarez - Loan

Billy Jones - £0

Jordi Gómez - £0

Costel Pantilimon - £0

Sebastián Coates - Loan

Wahbi Khazri - £10,620,000

Jeremain Lens - £10.260,000

Fabio Borini - £9,630,000

Ricardo Álvarez - £9,450,000

Lamine Koné - £5,850,000

Younès Kaboul - £3,870,000

Santiago Vergini - £2,570,000

Adam Matthews - £2,520,000

Sebastián Coates - £2,520,000

Dame N'Doye - Lon

Jan Kirchhoff - £900,000

Yann M'Vila - Loan

Ola Toivonen - Loan

DeAndre Yedlin - Loan

 

Summary - Some hefty transfer fees, coupled with the odd gem. Defoe, Van Arnholt, M’Villa, Yedlin we’re all decent. Rodwell was a gamble, especially at that price that didn’t come off. If you look at those players, we were linked to a few of them before they joined Sunderland. Kone, Defoe, Kirchhoff, N’Doye, Coates. Sunderland were a mess during this period and I’m surprised they outlaid so much of certain players. The Rodwell signing is no different to us overpaying for Nacho at this point. 

 

 

Hamburger SV

01/07/11 - 11/03/14

Players signed:

 

Gökhan Töre - £3,870,000

Ivo Ilicevic - £3,600,000

Michael Mancienne - £2,250,000

Slobodan Rajkovic - £1,800,000

Jeffrey Bruma - Loan

Per Ciljan Skjelbred - £450

Jacopo Sala - £90,000

Sven Neuhaus - £0

Rafael van der Vaart - £11,700,000

Milan Badelj - £3,600,000

Petr Jiracek - £3,600,000

Artjoms Rudnevs - £3,150,000

Hakan Calhanoglu - £2,250,000

René Adler - £0

Paul Scharner - £0

Christian Nörgaard - £0

Summary - He obviously raider Chelsea quite hard after leaving in his first year at Hamburg. Players like Tore, Bruma, Manciene and Rajkovic were all well thought of. Calhanoglu is now at Milan and he was touted as a potential player for us not so long long back. Adler was a decent keeper. Scharner was solid in the Premier League. Badeji is steady. They actually made money on Tore! 

 

All in all ..... I think people have gone a little over the top on his transfer dealings. A few questionable, however we’ve all got them. Some decent players amongst that lot. If you put into concept the teams they were at, in that time period. They’re not exactly bad. Maybe he was a scapegoat for poor performance?

[murphy]

6 minutes ago, Sly said:

Let’s see how this plays out:

 

I won't quote the whole list again, but let's just take the case of Alvarez.

 

Under Congerton, Sunderland accidentally bought him by appearances triggering the clause in the loan even though they didn't want him.  Far from being free he cost 10.5m which was a lot then, especially when you're £100m+ in debt.  Sunderland tried to get out of the purchase but the CAS ruled that they had committed to it.  Alvarez never played for Sunderland again and ended up a bit part player at Sampdoria I believe even though Sunderland had paid his fee.

 

Vergini is a similar one that was purchased after being on loan but never player for them again.

 

I could go through those lists if I had a spare three hours or so, but there is good reason why many on this forum feared he might rock up here when Rogers arrived and Macia left.  Why fans of his previous clubs couldn't wait to be shot of him and why he has been put on gardening leave on three different occasions!