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:-)
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GM
Baloney?
Daft? I'll leave that up to others.
Background = Mech Eng
Worked in Systems for 6 years.
Now in Finance, less than a year, consequently still a bit raw.
This site has been a revelation and has got me started thinking about the financial situation behind the team on the park. Consequently just looking for answers or at least pointers to the answers.
For what its worth I am also have the following interests:
Football / Rugby
Politics / History
Architecture / Design
Winding up ex salesmen who are slumming it in management and who have a journalistic bent.
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Congratulations polarbear - that's you officially top dog (or should that be bear?) until after Sunday's game!
I've said before I'm keeping a table of all controversial decisions that take place throughout the season, for and against both halves of the old firm. Unfortunately, I can't post this on here. I'm using the Sunday Herald, Herald and BBC match reports as my database and soccerbase online for ref names etc. I thought I'd highlight some bits to date:
Penalties: Rangers 3 for, 1 against
Celtic 2 for, 3 against.
From the reports, Rangers should have conceded 5 more penalties so far, and should have been awarded 2 more (Lovenkrands v Livi and Baz v Hearts). 2 of their given penalties were dubious - Buffel's v Falkirk described as 'fortuitous' and Prso's against us, clearly a very soft decision.
For Celtic, 2 more should have been given according to the match reports - Beattie barged in the box aginst the dons and Sutton 'bear hugged' against Killie. Of the penalties given against, the one against Dunfermline was correct, the one against Falkirk a correct decision, but play should have stopped before that for a clear foul on Lennon.
And that's just the penalties! It'll make really interesting reading come the end of the season. If anyone has an idea for posting a long table in word format, you can let me know!
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Neil Lennon has been storming down the wing before. I think two years ago we played Kilmarnock and thumped them five one (If i remember correctly Didier ran the length of the park and then missed a sitter that day), anyway. I am cretain I saw Neil Lennon bombing down the wing.
As for all this fitness gumph, Dirty Palace (as they should be known to all) have had this Aussie NRL fitness guy in for a while and according to sources, the team run the park all day and do not seem to tire.
If one considers how many late goals we conceded last year (Milan, Hibs off the top of my head (yes i know i missed the obvious ones)) surely if the players can be physically in better shape, then mentally they can only benefit too.
Can someone bring Adam Virgo in from the car park and work on his fitness now please? (if they left him there, it could turn into "Martin Hayes 2 - The revenge of the rubbish Englishman"
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Am i famous yet
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Excellent idea Rossio - bet that will make interesting reading.
I wonder if the Sunday Herald have found something to replace the league without the Old Firm feature yet? Doesn't seem that relevant all of a sudden.
I'm with you on the heart sinking Paul but I think that although Gordon talks things like this up, in reality I think he keeps their implementation simple. If that makes sense?
I'm ecstatic that Craig Beattie is seemingly 1st choice just now. His commitment and attitude is a joy.
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Winding up ex salesmen who are slumming it in management and who have a journalistic bent.
Well, well daftmitch, obviously not a Civil engineer were you?
Low, infact well below any low snyde punch I have seen pulled on here.....kidding or not.
Get a grip mate...bit of humility wouldn't go a miss.
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Paul67
Interesting comments about BBJ.
Couple this with the rumours surrounding a return to the EPL and we could have the board going for a "Half Petrov" solution to our cash crisis. That is £4mill+ to stop the debt increasing and hope that a merchandising inspired rebound can take the edge of the debt.
Also DA and SV look certainties for a Jan exit with hopefully £1mill+ coming in the opposite direction.
Asset management is still the way to go but it looks better to keep the prime candidate and move the second instead of the other way round. Selling him now would have had all the credibility of NU selling Peter Beardsley as the firemen were damping down the embers of the old main stand roof.
All we need now is a realistic offer to SP and we have hope for next year.
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Paul……………67.………………
Good post……………………..
NO…. 1.….. on this site…. was jumping through
HOOPS
When 'lil admiral' arrived.
But credit has to go 2 him……………………….
But I would play BBJ for 60mins………………..
The bring on “ The Beat”
NICEONEPOLAR
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Good posting Paul.
My blueprint (shouldn't that be greenprint?) for Celtic, is to see our team play in a manner of the wonderful performance of PSG, when they played us off the park in Europe several years ago. They were a joy to watch. Watching your own team get a footballing lesson is not much fun mind you!
As ever the acid test will be Rangers. Can we play off the cuff football against their physical presence? It seems big eck's attempt to copy Martin O'Neill isn't going to plan.
Well....
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Courtesy of jim62....
Neil Lennon was another penalised for daring to display his humorous side, as Sam Winter recalls. "I was watching Leicester v Coventry in the Premiership back in August 1999. Leicester were playing dreadfully and a flag-happy linesman was making it doubly bad. At one point there was a collision on the touchline between a couple of players and this particular linesman was injured as a result. Lennon went off the pitch into the disabled spectator area and got an empty wheelchair for him. He was booked."
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With regards anticipated departures i cannot see any cash for either DA (as his contract is almost up) and SV (as it is most likely we will let him go to get him off the payroll) whether he goes or not is another matter.
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Big Joe,
The chat is
BBJ has a sore foot
and will not play
Sorry
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Martybhoy
Do you know any ex salesmen slumming it in management?
If you do pass on the details and I will add him to my list.
There's not a lot of them about!
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Edward,
Regarding your last post on the previous blog...are you telling us that both Celtic and Hearts fans expect to win the treble?
:-)
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I'm glad Strachan has a vision and I hope he can hold onto this vision and remain focused in the long term as there will be pressures. The short term nature of us, the Celtic fans, is frightening sometimes. We were just not up to the challenge after the Killie game, we're world beaters having beaten Motherwell.
In a deliberate attempt to have an overly cynical look at the Motherwell game their keeper only made one save! It was enjoyable nonetheless.
If the vision is as he suggests I would suggest that there are only 5 or 6 players in the current first team reckoning capable of filling starting places in a team of this nature. Anybody for 'Long- term-work-in-progress'?
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It might just be me, but I'm really struggling with the abbreviations being used the last few days. I was all right (just about) with WGS, MoN etc..
But yesterday we had OWS and it took me 5 minutes of concerted thinking to come up with Official Web Site, and now I'm struggling to think who DA is .....
Mike
PS
Its taken just 3 minutes this time - Didier Agathe :)
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Madmitch
If you've just recently entered the finance industry then presumably you're doing exams?
You should therefore know the difference between real and nominal returns and hence the reason why bonds are not risk free.
You should also know that issuing convertible preference shares for an organisation like Celtic is probably more sensible than issuing debt i.e. failure to pay the dividend (unlike failure to pay interest on a bond), will not push the Club in to bankrupcy.
It is also a relatively cheap form of finance i.e. the 4% dividend rate payable on the prefs is far lower than anything we could hope to get in the corporate bond market.
With regard to the precise conversion terms, unfortunatley full detail is not included in the report and accounts. I would need to look at the ammended Articles of Association, which I cannot find at present.
I will concede, however, that note 21 does make reference to the conversion being based on the middle market price 3 days prior to conversion, which appears unusual. Usually these things convert on the basis of a pre-defined ratio, so I would be interested to read the full terms.
All the best.
p.s. very sorry to bore everyone. Madmitch and I were just carrying on a conversation from the previous thread.
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Madmitch,
I know plenty.
Where do I send my list.
I just reckon mate that we keep it above board here.
I always try to remember that there is a fine line when we write things on here.
Misinterpretation is easily achieved.
We are all tims mate....slag ed!
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Have heard WGS go on about the Aussie rules guys a couple of times now. It all makes sense to me. Surely the fitter you are the longer you'll run, the quicker you'll run, and you can then do it again and again.
If I can run for 45 mins twice a week without feeling completely knackered, and I'm stuck behind a desk all day, then our players who train every day should at least not look overweight and off the pace. I'm 100% behind WGS and his new training methods, I reckon we'll reap the rewards come the last qtr of the season.
See you've been taking a load of abuse the last couple of days Paul, it says more about the people giving it out than it does about you. Don't waste any more time than needed on these people, as the wee man says himself 'Down negativity man, down!'
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strange transition madmitch - Mech Eng to finance?
Once a mecheng always a mecheng!
could be worse - you could be an electromechanical eng - with an emphasis on Supplier Quality - they really are the worst ;-)
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Thismancraig, I can tell you a couple of things about Newcastle:
Freddie Shepherd is an astute businessman with close ties with a certain Glasgow club. His financial situation – specifically the failure to progress from the Inter Toto and what is looking like a low league position will leave him desperately keen to fix his clubs earning potential – which he believes to be much more than he is currently earning.
Celtic being asked down for a testimonial is an interesting development on the back of other conversations.
Dick Byrne, you are correct. The video links are not a matter for CQN, but if Celtic fails to protect the rights it is a matter for Celtic.
Madmitch; “ex salesmen”, you really know how to cut a guy. September was quiet, but October is year end and I am on fire.
Ardoch, It had slipped my conciseness that McLeish has modelled his team on that of Martin O’Neill. ‘Big guys at the back’, ‘Big guy up front’, we know the story too well when things don’t click.
Best to stick to your own ideas maybe.
Keep knocking out that 'informed information' GM. Facts are ever so important and so under utilised.
Martybhoy, I agree, the TYR, UYS abbreviations confuse me also.
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Thanks for the response from the previous article Paul, much appreciated.
I wondered why Freddie was so effusive in his praise of us on the day that Bellamy signed for Bellamy.
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thepolarbear @ 1:50
enough said mate!! A picture, even if it is emiticons, says a thousand words!
;-)
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you know me TMM - dont like to gloat with the "hooray first post" banter!
3-1 on Sunday. Fernandez to score first!!
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Paul
Have we actually accepted the Newcastle Testimonial?
When is it?
Can't see it being very "friendly" with Souness in charge. Neil Lennon has a score to settle with Shearer too.
Bt then Souness may be back home by then.
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madmitch,
thanks for the brief autobiography. I often wonder the what, why, where and who of the great and good on this site.
I know many people, including readers (not going to use lurkers), revel in their anonimity but I wish more people would at least put some info in their blog profile.
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TMMurph - Ever drink in the Wee Howff?
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GM
Finance Exams - What's that.
The company that I work for has a long and honourable tradition of bringing in outsiders into Finance and letting them get on with it, ie make it up as they go along.
New grads - That is different, CIMA all the way.
Also I am still doing a business course that I started when I was in Systems.
Regarding the 2001 "DD" share issue I think most of the investors were in for the long haul. I do not know if these shares have ever been traded in significant volumes so that a fully liquid market could develop.
Regarding rates of return I think there is a ladder involved.
CL grooup stage qualification delivers an increase on the base rate.
CL Last 16 and the dividend rate goes up again.
Same goes for the Last 8 and the Last 4.
On a similat vein I do not know how these figures would compare with the returns from the 1995 Preference share issue whare I think the return is constant based on the issue price.
Finally conversion rates, the value of the shares is fixed on the issuing side, that is what you put in while the output side is variable based on the price of ordinary shares in the week before the transaction.
It is this part that causes me concern given the fact that DD is the both largest holder of these shares and the biggest (de facto) influence on the board. That and the fact that a low/depressed ordinary share price would suit his financial interests means that corporate governance issues must be involved.
How would you overcome this apparent conflict of interest?
1) Independent chairman?
Who appointed BQ?
Who is on the Nominations Committee
2) CEO rewarded against ordinary share price performance?
Is this the case or are there other metrics?
Unfortunately more questions than answers.
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Paul67,
Finally a topic I can get my teeth into. (not that I have a problem with the others but) I’ve thought for a while that Gordon is on to something and I’ve been waiting patiently…
As I my post of 11.35 September 22.
Just to add my tuppence worth to the reasons for seemingly playing players out of position.
It was my understanding that WGS is playing the wingers on the "wrong" wing to allow them to cut inside to their good foot and double up as strikers and allow the full backs/ wing backs to double up as wingers.
After the home Artmedia game (where Ross Wallace was played on the right) he said "the gaffer wanted me to cut in and get a few shots off", this coupled with the fact that we are playing two quite attack minded (my way of saying, Not very Defence minded) full backs would support that idea.
Its an ambitious idea which relies heavily on Lennon to sit back and guard the CB's. In short 4-4-2 quickly changing to 3-5-2 when attacking.
It allows very attacking, 'Celtic', football and once perfected will pay dividends, BIG TIME!
And then you said “It does sound v good in theory, which always has me panicking a bit. The best football we have seen from Celtic was when everything was simple.”
I think now we have seen THE system in action we can say that there is much more than simple football out there and wee Gordon knows this!
There is still room to improve even more! Our full backs are not up to the standard to carry this off… yet. I have nothing against Telfer and Mo but they don’t have the attacking capabilities we need to pull it off to the extent to take European teams apart.
I love the idea of Ross Wallace he’s ideal for THE system. Agathe would also fit although I have the feeling that we are playing the same game with Agathe as they are with Klos he will be out the door come January.
TBE.
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Madmitch,
I get where you are coming from re:CEO and business performance. However, football shares do not necessarily rise in line with performance as in say M&S etc as you know.
The characteristiucs of the market are not correlated in smililar ways.
Celtic as a plc was more a governance decision i.e. provide a wide ownership base answering the kelly problems of that time rather than a practical business decision for the future.
Maybe one day there will be an opportunity for Celtic to de-list however this will not be anytime soon.
I could tell you a fable about how nominations were made when fergus was in charge....I'm not sure if you would laugh or cry.
When the next Chairman is appointed that will take on more relevance. I'd suggest that the members are board members or non execs or a combination.
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GM, not boring to this anorak.
It has always surprised me that the share price is not brought into discussion more often.
For those who do not have much experience of the financial sector basically the share price is made up from a whole number of factors. You can’t take accounting figures for example, apply a formula and get a share price figure. It depends on supply and demand of course but these are generally driven by market expectations of future return on that share, i.e. What its face value will be and what future dividends it will bring.
There are many perceptions of the ‘market’ and how efficient it is. The ‘market’ is the financial world in general. Without getting bogged down it is generally accepted to be ‘reasonably’ efficient. This means that the experts agree that generally any information out there that could affect a Company is reflected in its share price pretty quickly. E.g. Pharmaceuticals PLC are getting close to a cure for the common cold, the share price will rocket. No-one denies that there is on occasion insider dealing however, i.e. Company directors with inside knowledge not yet released to the market might trade on the shares before it is released (buy if it’s good news, sell if it’s bad). This of course is illegal.
What has this got to do with Celtic? I hold a small number of Celtic shares, bought as my own emotional attachment for no financial reason as I’ll never sell. But I always look at the price and have a wee wonder to myself what it can mean.
Look at the last 3 years. On the run up to Seville the share price fell steadily, hitting its lowest ever price around 31p around the time we were in flip flops. (Hence my constant rejection of the notion that DD and anyone else took the decision around that time to run the company down).
It rose steadily for 6 months hitting its peak over this 3 year period at around 70p at Christmas but fell back to 60p by the time we’d won the double. A few wobbles but a general fall until, funnily enough, May and while we endured Black Sunday the share price was rising to nearly 70p again by July. It has since then been falling heavily, today down to 43p. The results have been out for many weeks now, the steady fall more recently cannot be a result of these released accounting figures.
Get to the point.
OK, a fall to Seville, a rise to the double of 2004, and a rise as we lost our manager and the league. It is empirically not related to football results, positively or negatively. So what is driving it? Market expectations of a move for Celtic driving it up as rumours of the EPL abound? New TV deal maintaining the EPL status quo now driving it down?
A case study of news relating to Celtic and its share price might make very interesting reading but while it's at 43p I fear that a move is very much not on the cards, unless of course bad news is being drip fed lowering the share price and enabling a cheap takeover……………but that would be illegal.
As Paul67 has said we (you and me) can literally influence the share price. If all CQN readers were to buy even a nominal amount of shares towards 2007 then the market sees demand and the share price increases. With a higher share price the Convertible Preference Shares are converted into less ordinary shares than they would have been at a lower price and so the ownership of the club is not swung so heavily to, for example, DD.
So buy shares if you’ve got spare cash and you’re concerned about ownership of the club not being sufficiently spread. If you’ve no cash just enjoy the football and stop reading long boring posts from me.
See you all on Monday.
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To anyone in need of a laugh :
Defender Jose-Karl Pierre-Fanfan picked up a slight knock at Livingston and
faces a late fitness test. Bob Malcolm is on stand-by.
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Paul67
I take it you are a bit like PL and Livi?
That is you still have a bit of a player manager role?
Year end? For whom, you or your suppliers?
If its them I hope there is no "channel stuffing" going on!
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Ardoch 3.28 coudn't agree more, that PSG side were fantastic to watch they also had an explosive type of fitness about them that made our players look a yard short.
Another area that should be looked at is the diet of the players.
Most sports diets tend to concentrate on the nutrional value but we should also look at the combination of food.
People regard digestion as a passive activity but badly combined food robs you of energy and subsequently effects things like recovery time from physical exercision.
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Terry,
My old dear still swears by chewing your food 30 times before swalling....
aids the digestive process freeing up energy for better purposes!
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Exactly terry, the PSG players moved like athletes, had an explosive burst of pace, and played beautiful one touch football. It opened my eyes to what Celtic should be aspiring to. Great pace and technique should always outdo power.
We are not bringing in countless millions, but we are bringing in more than enough to be able to buy better technique. Successive managers have let us down on that front. Lubo should have been the norm, not the exception.
Paul i couldn't help but think eck had decided that to beat Celtic, he had to fight fire with fire, and bulk up his side. It can surely be the only explanation for buying Marvin Andrews.
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Credit where it is due The Bald Ego, you called it two months ago.
There is so much of our squad not right for this style of play it will take more than January to fix it.
Madmitch, we are all sales people here. From the girl who answers the phone to the network engineer to the people with actual sales targets.
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PSG were indeed beautiful to watch that night. But had Big Pierre not had the light in his eyes with the goal at his mercy in the away leg it just might have been oh so different.
And incidentally, their left back? One Stephane Mahe.
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thepolarbear,
nearly!! I've never been in it, but the last time myself and a couple of mates were in paisley we were almost going in before we decided we fancied a game of pool and went into leasuireland.
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Paul,
I do get a wee bit worried whenever I hear of Mangers going on about fitness. That was all the press spoke about when Hearts last nearly won the League. Trying to replicate their example led to teams forgetting skill and concentrating on "fitness" with dire consequences for the whole Scottish game.
However, our Manager seems to realise that danger and he seems to be hoining the fitness only so that it can harness the skill. I have yearned to see us play as we did on Wednesday. Here's hoping the Manager succeeeds in creating his vision. It is a joy to see players like Nakamura expressing themselves. And as one of his most regular critics, it was a special dlight to see Lennon on the right wing. Oh, if only that goal had stood.
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Interesting stuff on the McLeish copying MON line.
He definitely decided to bulk up his team at the detriment of technique but at the end of the day he failed to tackle the one major difference between Celtic and Rangers over the MON period and that was a certain Mr. Henrik Larsson.
O'Neil bulked up the back four with the signings of Valgaeren, Balde, Varga and for a short time Vega, he toughened up the midfield with Lennon and Thompson and added the arial power of Sutton and Hartson up front. However the deciding factor in many a tight game was still the most technically gifted player I've seen in a Celtic jersey.
This is Eck's dilemma as all the beef at the back (5-6 centre halves), supposed toughness in midfield Ricksen, Ferguson and the supposed arial threat of Prso and Thompson will only get him so far as without a natural goalscorer they are a toothless machine and it doesn't look like they have the money to go out and buy one either if the Franny Jeffers signing is anything to go by.
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Noticed when Naka scored the other night we were treated to the strains of Japanese boy.
My own personal favorite is a song by Sakamoto Kyu music by Hachidai Nakamura it still remains the most succsessful recorded popular song by a Japanese artist topping the US charts in June 1963.It was recently used in one of the 3 network ads.
For 40 odd versions of it go to
www.maddmansrealm.com/sukiyaki/index.htm
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BlantyreKev,
Stephane Mahe-what a guy.Loved his passion,wish MON had gave him more of a chance.
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something different for tea tonight-lemming meringue pie!and the best thing is the wee buggers don't mind going in the oven!
the team have set themselves high standards after wednesday so let's hope they can keep it up against the jim mclean former pupils
don't forget to put the clocks back tomorrow night
in the great german film 'das boot'what team did the crew support?
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Madmitch
There is indeed an escalation clause on the dividend rate that depends on our CL success. Alas, it has been an irrelevance thus far.
It looks as though the dividend rate on the 1995 scheme is 6%.
As I said on my previous post, I cannot comment on the conversion terms of the current scheme until I see the details. If you could direct me to the Articles of Association I would be interested to read more.
With regard to how Peter Lawell is rewarded, he actually has 588,234 share options, which have a strike price of 51p. These were granted on 27 October 2003 when the share price was around 50p.I would have to say that awarding options "at the money" is not the best corporate governance.
In any case, his options are exercisable after 3 years i.e. from 27 October 2006, provided the increase in Celtic's share price places it in the top third of its FTSE sector (Leisure & Hotels) and the percentage growth in eps is greater than RPI + 3%. Both these conditions must be met over 3 consecutive years.
Part of his remuneration is therefore based on share price performance.
On current trends, Rangers have more chance of winning the CL than Mr Lawell has getting his hands on those options.
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Paul, who about a link to a page for CQN etiquette? Should help a lot of people, what you think?
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GM
Without the information to hand I imagine the shares may have been issued under the Enterprise Intiative Scheme rules and therefore the option price would have to be the current trading price or suffer considerable tax consequences.
I have no problem with the current share options and dividends, they all rely heavily on a very succesful Celtic and that has to be the focus of everything.
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No Bread No Cakes...9.32 (on the last thread)
Nakamura phenomenon?
I seen an interview with our commercial director a few weeks back on Celtic TV saying the new home top was selling in the same numbers as the it done in the seville season.
Did we not sell over 100 thousand tops that year?
Wee get 5M per year of Nike, I thought if we hit certain targets we got a bonuses from them? (say selling more than 100 thousand tops = extra money) or maybe it's on the field of play, wining the SPL, Europe, etc. does anyone know if this is true?
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Not sure BlantyreKev, it doesn't say.
Normally I like to see options that are well out of the money. It focuses the mind!
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Paul67,
I see that the NewsNow have your previous post as their no1 story. The technique is working and/or the word is spreading. How many hits a day do you get?
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dontbrattbackinanger,
took a second for that to sink in!!
superb mate!
lemming meringue pie, brilliant (as the man once said)
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dannybhoy67,
great idea. I also think a link to parliamo CQN would be useful too.
How often do people ask questions about what something means or who is ray/sandy/monk/rory.
and while I'm at it, what about that edit button!!
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A good idea dannybhoy67, though most people have excellent etiquette.
Gerry the conditions under which Nike would pay more money were not disclosed. The figures Celtic refer to as being their sale figure for the strips are only what they sell through Celtic retail outlets. Anything sold in Japan does not earn the club anything unless it pushes us through one of the undisclosed conditions.
TheMadMurph, it sure does, thank you. I had stopped looking at the stats and had forgotten the password; however, having retrieved it; on 27th Oct there were 13,018 visitors. 92 during the quietest hour and 1500 during the busiest. The ‘day’ is measured based on US EST.
An edit button would mean moving away from Blogger – a v large project.
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ardoch
celtic were excellent themselves against psg away - sh*itey linesman decisions against thom in particular stopped us doing better -
seem to remember the psg staff commenting on our football saying that it wasnt your typical british fare
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dannybhoy67, 4.14.
we don't need a guide to etiquette, us financial dumbos need an idiots guide to finance 101 and a glossary please. (Paul and an edit button too. and and ignore so we can be shot of Kojo's wonderland)
I haven't a clue what half this stuff means, so I just nod my head at random and then don't post for fear of being ridiculed by the economics and finance grads.... us Strat Man 404 guys are lost.
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Paul 67
I'm disappointed that you didn't respond to my post a couple of days ago.
I took your criticism on board,have you deemed that i am not worthy of a response?
I thought the challenge would have been one that you would have risen to.
You do afterall have an advantage as you are much more in the know .You know more of what is actually going on at Celtic Park.
When i was teased foer being a Tim as a child my mother used to say "ignore them and they will go away."
Have you taken such a stance?
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finance types -
you've got to love them
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Re an edit button. It's best to "preview" first, correct any errors and then "log in and publish". That's pretty much what an edit button would do anyway surely - or am I missing something?
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spikey..... no you don't.
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KOJO/FARGO
Your information/predictions about what is actually going on at Celtic Park has been bang on.
You stated that Boruc's deal was done and dusted long before it actually happened.
I fear that you know that Celtic will offer Stan Petrov terms that can be bettered by many clubs .
I believe selling Stan for below £5million would be a mistake.
I want us to keep him.
I would prefer to see us reduce the wage bill by selling off, two or three fringe players as opposed to selling Stan.
I believe that Celtic want Stan off the wage bill ,or to reduce his current salary.
The board know that he is our most sellable player.
Your info must come from a power broker within Celtic Park.
You have tried to put a positive slant on any sale of Stan.
Last week you said he was just an ordinary player,who could be replaced by a player from Dunde/Dundee United.This week after his hat rick you stated that this was great because it would raise his value.
Why don't you just come clean,the club are cost cutting and want money in.
You do yourself no justice by belittleing Stan as a player.
I fear the club will put a Jackie McNamara spin on Stan if he does not sign on there terms.
He has been a terrific player for us.
Much more than the workmanlike tag that you have placed on him.
Speak to the people you know, tell them to sacrifice,Agathe or Virgo .
Stan has his best years ahead of him.
We should be building a team around him.
I think that you know that, the powers that be, want him out the door or on reduced wages and you and i both know the player can earn much more elsewhere.
The boy will most probably be sold as soon as an offer comes in.
What D'ya Think?
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big hurdie's been drinking since the fjord took emmylou..
anyway they are all on this submarine in the middle of the atlantic being depth-charged to buggery but still gathered round the wireless to see how schalke are getting on...pah!say c.q.n.ers ,ce n'est rien!
i once had to[ ]to get to hear the game,when i was stuck in[ ]miles away from anywhere,up to my neck in [ ]
going home shortly as it's happy hour at the berserkers arms[all the krill you can eat,washed down with a pint of the old faltskog]
skol!
moderate or good
occasionally poor with
fog patches
fire and skill,celtic,fire and skill!
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Big new article just posted….
Tinytim, we have been here before. The truth is – and keep this one to yourself – I cannot read all the comments and must have missed around 6,00 this week alone.
When I don’t have time, I scan down and select comments that catch the eye. If you took my comments to you on board, or retracted your own, I scrolled past you. As a rule, if someone makes a personal attack on me, I tend not to rush to see their next comment.
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Sir Paul,
Just read your very enlightening revelations regarding the Daily CQN, Score Board........
Charles Dickens critics..eat your heart out........
Life is indeed... full of COINCIDENCES!
Only a few moments ago, I was contacted by no less than 4 paid -up Movers and Shakers of Celtica!
Conference Call.......Ain't life in the Fast Lane, Grand?
Your Monumental Magnus Opus is a Must Read.......an every day thing.... for all of these sterling Chaps.
Paul, me lad...........You are fast becoming an Influential Stoker... of the FireBox of the Good Ship Lollipop!
They did mention.......Johnbhoy's Wonderful Synopses.....in relation to the Youths' Progress..I thought that that(?) was worth a mention.
No.......... they did not mention me...... !!
The Life of a Pariah( In the Eyes of some....of Some) is a LONELY ONE!
C'est la Vie!
Hail! Hail!
Kojo.
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tinytim,
We gave Kojo a veritable "doing" over his Petrov remarks a couple of nights ago and then on Wednesday after his wonder show against Motherwell. Little point in going over old ground, as just about everyone agrees that we should be busting a gut to get Stan to stay, meanwhile offloading others deemed surplus to current requirements.
But if agreement cannot be reached with Stan....
The good news is that the manager clearly agrees with the view of the majority of people on here, and has been pushing Stan's cause, saying that he wants to see him at Celtic for a long time.
TheBaldEgo
Very good tactical summary. Strachan needs his team to be fit to play at the speed he wants them to play at. The key thing is that the passing has to be fast and accurate to match the movements. This is why Nakamura is key to Celtic's best play.
Such interplay requires a lot of work on the training ground, and my view is that Celtic can only get better!
But there can be no place for lazy trainers or those who can't get up to pace or follow intricate instructions.
P.S. Very few people have seen Mark Virgo play in weeks. In that time he has worked hard enough on the training ground to merit a place in the squad. So let's leave out the lazy jibes, please. Can we not support our own squad?
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I'm listening to big fat DJ on Clyde trying to defend big Feck. his voice is getting higher by the minute, my PC speakers are in danger of melting and my windows are in danger of cracking. updates to follow...
:o)
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just heard stan is to release 2nd biography titled -
"Stan - My Journey To Competence" ;-)
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oops - just read the previous thread !
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Clyde update...
Big fat DJ has calmed down because they are talking about the 15 mill for our share issue for the Academy. Keevins is being unbelievably patronising to a Celtic supporter who called in to say that Celtic supporters have already paid for this academy a few years back. keevins is on his high horse saying celtic were "remiss" on this issue before.
the caller wants celtic to come out and admit this money has been put up by us before - youve got to say he has a point (hasn't he Paul?)
keevins just keeps mocking the guy and says things like "how often do you want me to say celtic were remiss?" blah blah blah - even BFDJ and Peter McGuire (sic) are cringing with embarrasment
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martybhoy is smiling.....
Not quite the delisting I was talking about earlier but Thanks Board and DD
I'm bowrrowingsomeofbigjesriojafaustionVIIthenmovingontomarquesdecaceresasacelbration
Theni'llmaybedothekaraokethenightroundthelocal
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i've said this ages ago on this site...just like others
big eck has been looking at a blank page as far as ideas are concerned and has just copied MON for instant success....but has never had the talent to be durable,
although he did feed from the scraps of our table.
can he run a team?.no he cannae run a bath!
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Alex McLeish says that his team will fight, fight and fight. According to the newspapers.
I left Scotland a while back so I can't really give an opinion on modern day Rangers. I saw them on T.V. a few times in Champions League matches, getting a sniff of European glory against Marseille.
The Rangers I grew up with were robust and played the big kick up the park method. The Souness era, brought a return to the side to side, ball on the deck, fast flowing football of the likes of Eric Caldow, Ralph Brand, Ian MacMillan and Jim Forrest (no relation to our poster?) there were characters too such as Jim Baxter and Willie Henderson.
That Rangers era reached a peak in season 64/65, after which there was the equivalent of a sporting meltdown.
Was it more than a coincidence that the end of that era was a quarter-final loss in the European Cup to none other than Inter Milan?
They had had some good victories in that era. An 8-0 victory against Borrusia Munch. in the Cup Winners Cup stands out. But when they moved up to the highest level... a 6-0 defeat off Real Madrid in a European Cup match also stands out!!
After the Milan defeat they would be completely out of Europe the following season and would not return to the highest level until ten years later. And not to set the heather on fire exactly when they got back then either.
Their decline though was undoubtedly connected with the rise and rise of Celtic under Jock Stein.
Rangers probably came unstuck at the end of their own nine in a row when there ought to have been their own bunch of young players coming through, but as others have pointed out, Fergie was doing just that down in Manchester, not along Paisley Road West. They were hooked to the star system with guys like Gazza playing out a pantomine.
Now at this moment in 2005 Maloney and Beattie are getting in amongst it and MacManus is holding a place down. The success of a total football approach depends on the young talent coming through. I sense that there is a reservoir of young hungry talent to be tapped out there.
I was remembering recently when I saw at first hand more than a passing resemblence to the great Celtic sides of the 60's and 70's. It was when I was playing for the St James Cub Scouts at the age of nine! We played against St Brennans or St Brendans. The score was 23-0. I remember it like they were like wasps moving in and about us. And they played in Celtic strips! Green and white hooped wasps. Being a Celtic fan I was never too upset about that defeat. It was just something incredible I witnessed.
Go for it Gordon.
Taking a bit of time out from posting...But going to watch the game tomorrow ..YES.
