There’s always some excitement when a player arrives at Lennoxtown with the intent of giving the club a look at his wares. 17-year-old Norwegian midfielder, Kristoffer Ajer, did exactly that yesterday, ahead of what we hope is a busy transfer window.
I’m pleased Ronny is scouting a market he knows well, and that we are looking to recruit below-radar players with potential. It’s also good to have prospects play training games with the squad ahead of any decision. It’s too easy to make multi-year mistakes but Kristoffer will be measured against the first team squad, and the Development Squad.
One of Celtic’s perennial failures is our inability to promote the country’s best youth talent into top professionals. Before Rangers liquidation we were involved in an all-or-nothing arms race. Every game was precious so the prospect of allowing youth players time to develop in the professional game was seen as a luxury too far.
With the greatest respect to our current rivals (including Newco, should our paths meet in the Scottish Cup), those competitive pressures have now eased. Ronny can afford to take a different view of team development. Until August, anyway.
I know what you’re thinking. You read the charges laid out at some of the characters involved with Rangers, old and new, and thought: haven’t Craig Whyte and Charles Green suffered enough? Surely calls for due process to be fulfilled are nothing short of bigoted rants? These men made their mistakes and have come through the mill, they should be allowed to get on with their lives!
Aye, I know, it’s a ridiculous suggestion.
The charge list includes “fraud, conspiracy and serious organised crime”, which is a Sword of Damocles hanging over Ibrox. No current Newco directors were involved in the criminality which is alleged to have facilitated the club’s setup, but that won’t change what happens in the event charges are upheld.
I’m sure the SFA are pondering the scope of punishment appropriate for this scenario. Irrespective of team loyalties, such is the seriousness of the alleged offenses they will be praying for not guilty verdicts.
Please note that all men charged are innocent until and unless proven otherwise and are entitled to a fair trial unprejudiced by public comment and desist from inappropriate comment.
If you have two minutes, take a look at Steven Donnell’s page here. He’s currently cycling round the Premiership’s 12 grounds to raise money for Accord Hospice in Paisley. In minging weather. With his dad, who is blind.
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Hail hail
Celtic :-)
OZY OZY OI OI OI
Happy first day back at work.
Twists and Turns
Think i done too many oi oi’s, well done.
H.H Mick
RiP
Christy O’Connor jnr
European Ryder Cup hero Christy O’Connor Jnr has died suddenly in Spain at the age of 67.
The Irishman helped Europe retain the Ryder Cup at the Belfry in 1989 when his two-iron approach at the last sealed a singles win over Fred Couples.
O’Connor won four European Tour titles including his Irish Open triumph at Woodbrook in 1975.
That victory helped secure a Ryder Cup spot that year and he played in the competition again 14 years later.
The Galway man won two Senior British Open titles and also earned victories on the Champions Tour in the US.
His legendary uncle Christy O’Connor Snr, who is now 91, played in 10 Ryder Cups and came close to winning the Open Championship on a couple of occasions.
O’Connor Jnr is understood to have passed away while on holiday with his wife Ann in Tenerife.
Twists and Turns
well done mate :-)
have a great day Celts
HH
BMCUW (and Macjay if you catch this)
Left a reply for you at the tail end of the last thread.
Paul,
don’t know why you are devoting so much cyber space to legal matters, the outcome of which will alter nothing for Celtic fans.
Concentrate on Celtic.
Nothing wrong in discussing the Huns problems.It gives some of us a break from the constant Celtic bashing.
Or maybe that is the preferred dialogue on here now.
quonno
We have plenty of time for both
THEBATTEREDBUNNET 1244 earlier
I’ll stand by my comment at 1211. I don’t need a sociologist to tell me what went wrong,or to pretend in fact that it didn’t.
Had they preyed on kids from their own background.they wouldn’t have lasted five minutes. You know it and I know it.
Dress it up how you will,the perpetrators knew who they could prey on. And who they could not.
I just find it strange the fact a manager 18 months in the job is clearly being asked for his input now.
Big difference in being asked if he knows any players to add to the shortlist from being shown a pre picked list of xx players and told to pick them in order the ones he fancies from the description and DVDs.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
To be fair, it isn’t “dressing it up” to suggest that the victims had more in common than skin colour
They were kids who were supposed to be in care. Kids who usually did their best to escape these homes and fend for themselves.
We need some R.I.C.O. legislation in this country.
The farrago that was the old club continues into the new club and its effect on Scottish sport has been incalculably corrosive.
Time to excise this cancer in our midst.
quonno
settle down, its paul’s blog and some of us would much rather read his intelligent, interesting and informative take on all matters relating to celtic than your poorly informed single-issue rants.
you’d do well to remember who’s providing you with the platform to voice your “concerns”
till later all
weemhan to pick up,
he went into my room yesterday
” wow papa santa brought you a Celtic calendar for Christmas COOOOOOOOOOOOL”
I now don’t have a Celtic calendar :)))))))))))))))))))))
Hail Hail & KTF
This was one of my favourite European games – a 3-1 win with both Larsson and O’Neill sitting in the stand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxlDCF8bErQ
Whatever happened to Kevin Kuranyi?
“EYES WIDE OPEN on 6TH JANUARY 2016 1:08 PM
I just find it strange the fact a manager 18 months in the job is clearly being asked for his input now.
Big difference in being asked if he knows any players to add to the shortlist from being shown a pre picked list of xx players and told to pick them in order the ones he fancies from the description and DVDs.”
Are you suggesting Ronny had no input with the Berget signing?
What about the five players from other Scottish clubs?
What about Simunovic who played against us for Dynamo Zagreb?
PAUL67
Bearing in mind the conspiracy part of the charges,should there not be another defendant in the dock?
Admittedly,another corporate one.
I give you Pinsent and,ahem,Mason.
Surely guilty as charged of creaming off money from whatever version of Rangers,I lose the track wi this sometimes,when they did that internal investigation.
You know? The one where they found no evidence of a link between,another ahem,Green and Whyte?
I’m sure they charged a fortune for all the work done,so they should be there too. Not only for fraudulent invoices as they did eff all,but for conspiracy to cover up the original charge which they were supposed to be investigating.
Green had already admitted the connection!
TIMALOY29
Most of them weren’t actually in care. Hence my comment about parents being told by social workers and police officers that their kids were making a lifestyle choice.
CELTIC40ME on 6TH JANUARY 2016 1:13 PM
quonno
settle down, its paul’s blog and some of us would much rather read his intelligent, interesting and informative take on all matters relating to celtic than your poorly informed single-issue rants.
you’d do well to remember who’s providing you with the platform to voice your “concerns”
Without posters, there would be no blog.
Perhaps, as one of the well informed, you would care to enlighten me on exactly what difference to Celtic fans the outcome of present court cases will make.
As I posted yesterday. For four years we have had a good laugh at THEM. Now let’s get on with Celtic related matters.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/ajer-alleged-serious-organised-crime-for-sfa-to-consider/#comment-2748905
I’d take that young Norwegian we had that played centre half back in a heartbeat. Thomas Rogne is back playing in the Nordics after not quite hitting the heights with us or Wigan but I suspect age and experience will see him become a better player. Hindsight I suppose in the face of months of Boyata.
Darren ODea is another who never hit the heights but I thought was solid. Better the devil you know.
I don’t have a problem with reporting of Rangers problems here. Their demise is entangled with our future. Our leaders think we need Rangers as do the rest of Scortish football. I am hoping that these court cases put a further concrete boot on the cadaver of Rangers and we will never see them again. If this was any other league in the world and any other club in the world the appropriate National association would be under pressure to release a statement on the punishment for the club in question. The press should be all over this but like everyone else it’s not in their interest to kill the cash cow. If this was Lazio, Werder Bremen, Lyon or Everton or suchlike you picture the headlines around Europe and the expected repercussions. We get radio silence.
There is enough in the public domain now for the press to demand answers from the SFA on how THEY got Svottish football into this position. They allowed the dual contracts, hired the guy that administered them, hired former directors of the same club as lead office bearers and allowed a disproportionate number of their supporters into key influential positions, they allegedly were told of Whytes plan to drive the bus into the wall in a recorded dinner conversation? They passed numerous actors in the charade as fit and proper.
The worst kind of sickening corruption and boys network for the sake of money and a corrupt fixed product.
Paul67. These latest charges could run into 2017 without returning a verdict, then there’s the appeal process i suppose.
The longer this runs the more people will just forget it all happened imo, maybe that is the end game they’re all hoping for?
We missed the boat in my honest opinion, we should have tendered our resignation from the SFA years ago.
i’ve no idea where we would have gone but i’m sure we would be playing in a different league now.
Happy New Year to all the Bhoys and Ghirls.
Not been on much for the last 12 months due to family issue which thankfully are now all heading in the right direction. Twins!!!! At my age :)
Been reading during the various night time feeds etc. and can see a lot of the angst from posters as to the direction the club is currently travelling.
I think for me the January window will be a telling factor in how serious Celtic the PLC and not us fans, players etc. are in arresting our decline.
I’ve enjoyed the updates on what is happening across the city but can also understand the need to protect Paul from any potential legal matters on comments regarding the ongoing investigations.
It is a huge smoking gun and one I truly hope will see the trigger pulled again to the detriment of many of those currently in residence in senior positions within the SFA. No need to name the targets I guess.
More power to your elbows as we move further into 2016 and may it bring you happy times and of course a lottery win so that you can then address each and every transfer window to your hearts content. :)
BTW,I note that young Ajer is reportedly a holding midfielder.
Yippee,we could do wi one!
However…
As we continually watch the square and round pegs being rotated,he might well be played up front!!
9 goals in 43 games suggests he might be better than some who have striker on their CV.
(And that’s he’s no Neil Lennon…)
Some interesting stuff from Phil today, especially the bit about a hack, being hacked..
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/unsustainable-costs-and-hostile-debtors/
Bobby Murdoch – you don’t know what was in the Pinsent Mason report – it may well have found a link but the report was never disclosed. The Sevco board at the time said all was fine & dandy and of course that was good enough for the SFA.
SWEE
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
PHYLLISDIETRICHSON
Correct. The inclusion of Mason gave it away,weel kinda,since it’s a secret…
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 6th January 2016 1:18 pm
Pinsent Masons will have done absolutely nothing wrong here. Other than produce a report based on the evidence available. Remember they did not interview Craig Whyte, nor did they have any power to compel him to attend such an interview.
It was a flawed investigation from the start with no actual legal weighting. Much like the Lord Nimmo Smith one.
PHYLLIS DIETRICHSON on 6TH JANUARY 2016 1:47 PM
Bobby Murdoch – you don’t know what was in the Pinsent Mason report
Maybe it was a secret.
ttp://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/ajer-alleged-serious-organised-crime-for-sfa-to-consider/#comment-2748914
quonno
i think cqn would survive without your comments.
this court case has very serious implications for the game in scotland, historically and for the future.
Cheers BMCW :)
The Tottington Celtic Supporters club now getting close to double figures :)
Alexander Tonev was found guilty of racially abusing the Aberdeen player Shay Logan and banned for 7 games by the SFA. I’d be much obliged if anyone can point me in the direction of the evidence on which this guilty verdict was arrived at.
CELTIC40ME on 6TH JANUARY 2016 1:54 PM
quonno
i think cqn would survive without your comments.
this court case has very serious implications for the game in scotland, historically and for the future.
I repeat. Without POSTERS, plural, there would be no blog.
As for my own posts, I have no doubt that they would not be missed.
Just think that at the present time Celtic affairs are of far more importance than those of other organisations.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/ajer-alleged-serious-organised-crime-for-sfa-to-consider/#comment-2748918
THEORIGINALSADIESBHOY on 6TH JANUARY 2016 1:56 PM
Alexander Tonev was found guilty of racially abusing the Aberdeen player Shay Logan and banned for 7 games by the SFA. I’d be much obliged if anyone can point me in the direction of the evidence on which this guilty verdict was arrived at.
It is the SFA’s cavalier approach to evidence, or the lack of it, that renders, in football sense, present court proceedings meaningless.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/ajer-alleged-serious-organised-crime-for-sfa-to-consider/#comment-2748921
You know, there isn’t a limited amount of posts you can put on this blog
Paul can comment on Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen or Hearts to his heart content. As long as he covers the ins and outs at Celtic I’m happy.
The story surrounding Celtic is we have a new player on trial. It’s been covered. We don’t play until Sunday so there is likely no team news.
What would you see him discuss?