Diomansy Kamara from Fulham and Edson Braafheid from Bayern Munich are the latest arrivals on this transfer deadline day, and the revolving door at Celtic Park looks as if it will continue to spin right up until the deadline. Jos Hooiveld arrived earlier in the January window alongside Ki Sung-Yueng, Thomas Rogne and Morten Rasmussen whilst former first team regulars Gary Caldwell, Stephen McManus and Barry Robson left the club together with fringe players Willo Flood and Chris Killen. Despite the huge turnaround in personnel the Dutch defender is convinced that this transitional team can put together a winning run and that they can become champions.
Hooiveld made his debut for the club at Hamilton on Saturday, lining up in the centre of defence alongside rookie Josh Thompson. Fellow new Bhoy Morten Rasmussen ensured it was a winning debut for the Dutchman when he scored the only goal of the game in the second half, three minutes after coming on to the field to replace Georgios Samaras, and Jos isconvinced that the team can replicate the feat of his former side AIK by overturning a hefty points deficit to win the league. At one point in last seasons Swedish title race AIK had been 11 points behind IFK Gothenburg in the Allsvenskan but won the title by four clear points.
"I have been in worse situations and we still won," said Hooiveld. "The quality you need to pull it back is character, guts. We have a good group of lads, young boys who are all really hungry and who want to win prizes. That's a good thing. Now we have to make sure all heads are in the same direction and if we make sure of that I think we are quite unstoppable if we can play with confidence, keep the ball and not do strange things. Youthful things, boys' things, have to be removed from the play. We have to play like men."
The Celtic captaincy is up for grabs following the departure of Stephen McManus to Middlesbrough and although Darren O'Dea has taken temporary possession of the armband it remains to be seen who will be given the permanent responsibility. Hooiveld insists that, just as on Saturday against the Accies, he'll be a motivator on the pitch with or without an armband and that he'll encourage others to lift their heads and take more responsibility upon themselves.
"Somebody had to stand up." he said. "If you see the Hibs game, after 70 minutes it was still 1-1 and some heads went down. I want to make sure that doesn't happen again. It's still 1-1, 20 minutes to go, we're playing at our ground, we're Celtic, in 20 minutes we can score another good goal, no matter when it is."
"I want to win everything." said Hooiveld. "That's my strength. I demand a lot from myself and from other people. I have only occasionally been a captain but you don't need to wear the armband. The armband weighs 100 kilos. It's extra pressure, everyone looks at you. I have always been myself whether I've had the armband on or not. It's not an issue."