1254125, transfer selling and sell out books

613

Thank you to everyone who participated in our auction for the Lionel Messi signed shirt, which raised £1020 when it closed this morning, a clear £20 more than the Celtic top signed by the Seville squad, which closed a few days earlier, you are a credit to the club.  Our summer fundraising for the 1254125 campaign and other good causes is off to an excellent start.

We have seven weeks until our first Champions League qualifying game but the qualifying rounds do not end for a full 12 weeks.  These timescales will determine how seriously Celtic take interest in our star players.  Right now, there will be little attention to these matters.

With a couple of new contract offers unsigned after 8 months, I expect Celtic will have a sale valuation in mind, but business is often done in the final days of the transfer window, and until then, efforts will continue to re-sign players.  Celtic are in the fortunate position of not having to accept an offer to keep the lights on, so if valuations are not met, as was the case with Gary Hooper in January, we can afford to let players leave for nothing.

Willie Wallace’s autobiography, Heart of a Lion, sold out initial stock at the mail-order fulfilment centre and several retail stores last week.  The fulfilment centre is now back in stock, all orders should be shipped and with you in a couple of days.

Order your copy (in time for Father’s Day) below:


Delivery Options




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  1. Djbee

     

    How sad and embarrassing an utter scumbag

     

    The link to the banner no longer works possibly because someone with a bit of decorum has had it removed from Facebook?

  2. Sorry to go on, but anyone going to Vegas for the North American Celtic supporters Association Party, going from here get in touch with me or see me there at the Riviera Hotel and I will get the CQN guy’s at a table, just call into the office and ask for me, I leave on Thursday see you there have a great flight, the office is at the side of the pool Hail-Hail.

  3. *THE KING VIC 67* on

    toffeetim

     

     

     

    We’re you attending the funeral of Ian Mackie by any chance?

     

     

    Apologies for the nature of the question!!

  4. Raith Rovers chairman Turnbull Hutton stood

     

    on the steps of Hampden in front of the

     

    national press and called for the league

     

    reconstruction sideshow to end before it all

     

    came crashing down to earth.

     

    Despite opposition to the SPL proposal of a

     

    league structure of 12-12-18, Hutton was in

     

    favour of it, he said: “Well I’m probably in the

     

    minority, I was in favour of the 12-12-18. I

     

    thought that was different and exciting enough

     

    to have something that they wouldn’t have

     

    seen before and the prospect of the sprint for

     

    the First Division title home and away settled

     

    by January, and then the bottom four from the

     

    SPL and the top four from the First Division

     

    entering essentially into a new competition,

     

    playing each other home and away with four

     

    places up for grabs, I thought that was tailor-

     

    made for Scottish football.”

     

    He claimed that the ‘Scottish mentality’ over

     

    the format failing in Austria and Switzerland,

     

    not to mention the failure to sell the proposal

     

    well, put an end to it.

     

    He added: “I don’t necessarily buy-in to that

     

    at all. One of them had run for 15 years. We

     

    don’t have a league structure that’s run for 15

     

    years, and there seems to be other issues

     

    about the distribution of funds and issues with

     

    certain clubs in certain of these leagues.

     

    There’s a Scottish mentality that goes, ‘It

     

    didn’t work in Switzerland.’ That doesn’t

     

    mean to say it can’t work here, it could have

     

    been something really different that got a lot

     

    of attention.

     

    “I don’t think it was necessarily sold all that

     

    well, but when you started to look into the

     

    possibilities, that kind of worked for me and

     

    that also took on-board a lot of the stuff the

     

    fans were saying, they didn’t want to play

     

    each other four times. We solved that with the

     

    18 team third tier, that was home and away,

     

    that was what the fans wanted. Also in both

     

    the Premier League and the top of the First

     

    Division, that was introducing another new set

     

    of games with different teams. So there was

     

    probably 26 teams out of, 26 clubs out of 42

     

    were going to be playing a different format

     

    from what they’d been previously, which

     

    played into what the fans wanted and I

     

    couldn’t quite understand why the second and

     

    third divisions went for the continuation of the

     

    10, 10, that just seemed bizarre to me.”

     

    The proposals confused the hell out of fans

     

    and pundits alike, but as Hutton stated earlier

     

    that’s because it wasn’t sold well enough. In

     

    fact Hutton claimed that right from the start,

     

    there seemed to be a lot of negativity.

     

    He added: “I think it depended on how the

     

    clubs approached it. I know Dundee had a

     

    fans’ meeting and they were all against it

     

    going in and they were all for it coming out.

     

    We did the same at Kirkcaldy, explained it all,

     

    what it meant for us and how it could be. I

     

    couldn’t quite understand the Ross County

     

    view that said my manager doesn’t

     

    understand, the board doesn’t understand, the

     

    fans don’t understand it and the players don’t

     

    understand it. There was a line in there that

     

    said, ‘There must be a lot of dozy b*****ds

     

    north of Inverness?’

     

    “It was kind of incumbent, I thought, on the

     

    clubs and the directors, the chairman, what

     

    have you, the managers to be selling that, but

     

    there seemed to be a negativity, right from the

     

    start, about this that was picked up on by the

     

    broadcasting media, the press.

     

    “They were all against it, they were talking …

     

    there was the most unbelievable amount of

     

    trash talked about the thing. Then when it got

     

    to the point of the SPL fall-out with St.Mirren

     

    and Ross County, suddenly the same people

     

    who had been planning the thing were all then

     

    saying, ‘It could be quite a good idea, blah,

     

    blah, blah, blah,’ and the whole position was

     

    turned around.”

     

    When asked if it failed mainly down to clubs

     

    looking to serve in their own best interests and

     

    rather than the game as a whole, Hutton

     

    admitted: “Yeah, I think that’s probably true.”

     

    On the subject of playoffs, Hutton continued:

     

    “After having given up on the 12-12-18,

     

    there’s another attempt to try and reconstruct

     

    and suddenly playoffs come into play. If I was

     

    an SPL team like say St Mirren, for example, I

     

    would rather take my chances and play in the

     

    top four in the First Division, home and away,

     

    plus the other three at the bottom of the SPL

     

    home and away. In that mini league, they get

     

    one of our places to get up to the SPL than

     

    take my chance on a play-off game, because

     

    one off play-off games can end in absolute

     

    disaster. We had two seasons of play offs and

     

    we never got up via a playoff. One game where

     

    they goalie had a nightmare, essentially flung

     

    two in the net, that was it, whole season

     

    gone.”

     

    He also targeted the lack of a play-off system

     

    to enter the Scottish Premier League, he

     

    added: “That’s been something that’s been

     

    sadly lacking for years because I understand

     

    how Morton must feel because we were in

     

    exactly the same position a couple of years

     

    back when we led the table for most of the

     

    season and we fell away at the end. We lost

     

    the big game at Dunfermline, who kicked on

     

    from that and won it.

     

    “At the end of the season, we’d nothing to

     

    show for it, we’d have been as well finished

     

    seventh as finishing second, whereas if there

     

    had been an incentive of a playoff that would

     

    have kept the whole season going. So as soon

     

    as Morton hit their patch and Thistle came

     

    through their shaky spell, Morton was on

     

    catch-up, it was always going to be difficult, if

     

    not impossible, for them and you saw that

     

    they kind of fell away at the end as we did two

     

    years back.”

     

    This season’s playoff games, specifically the

     

    Dunfermline-Forfar game at Station Park and

     

    then East End Park, were exciting. It caught

     

    the imagination of most fans online, but the

     

    lack of coverage [other than radio

     

    commentary] came in for serious criticism

     

    from many fans.

     

    Hutton, claimed that one governing body

     

    would be able to sell such games to the TV

     

    companies, said: “I think the difficulty is,

     

    having the SPL and the SFL, they only need

     

    one body, and surely that one body, we know

     

    that there are, every season there will be a

     

    game in the divisions below the SPL, which

     

    will attract a big crowd – the Morton v Partick

     

    game was another one. The Dunfermline v

     

    Rovers game two years ago, 12,000 at East

     

    End Park, these are tailor-made for TV, but

     

    the way the TV deals are negotiated with all

     

    the different bodies makes it almost

     

    impossible.

     

    “Therefore, if we could get one body running

     

    Scottish football, there has to be then

     

    flexibility built into whatever TV deals there

     

    are. There’s a raft of companies that are

     

    longing to show games, but they’re kind of in

     

    negotiations. We saw that with the deal for

     

    the Rangers games being televised, it’s a

     

    convoluted way of spreading money around

     

    the game, what have you. There must be a

     

    better way of doing it than that.”

     

    With clubs looking at their own self-interests

     

    rather than the game as a whole, despite the

     

    rhetoric they peddle in public, I asked if an

     

    independent committee would have been a

     

    better idea to propose said league

     

    reconstruction plans – with a take it or leave

     

    it mentality.

     

    Hutton added: “Well, there’s certainly a case

     

    for that. You could argue that’s what Henry

     

    McLeish set out to do, but there are interests

     

    of the SPL clubs, there’s all the teams that

     

    have all got a point of view, everybody has

     

    got a different working model in terms of how

     

    they finance their clubs. I’ve been a critic it’s

     

    easy to say what’s wrong, actually trying to

     

    sort it, it’s not without its difficulties, I

     

    certainly don’t underestimate the difficulties

     

    that they’ve had.

     

    “There was probably a case for saying what

     

    kind of structure is it we want, let’s put

     

    together that structure and let the leagues

     

    reorganise underneath that new structure.

     

    We’re trying to do that the other way around,

     

    we’re trying to rehash the leagues and then

     

    the structure was almost an afterthought.”

     

    During the discussions of the 12-12-18

     

    league revamp, then-Rangers chief executive

     

    Charles Green spoke out in opposition against

     

    it and that Rangers not having a vote was

     

    inconceivable.

     

    Hutton hit back at the Yorkshireman, he said:

     

    “Well I can really can’t see where the hell he’s

     

    coming from. Rangers imploded and came in

     

    to the Third Division and were prepared, as I

     

    understood it, to work their way through the

     

    leagues, buy a bit of time, sort out their issues

     

    and get back in three seasons to the SPL.

     

    Everybody seemed to be quite happy with that,

     

    that was my understanding.

     

    “We came out of Hampden when that decision

     

    was made, there were Rangers fans there that

     

    were delighted that that had happened, but

     

    Charles Green came in with his proposals, he

     

    knew they didn’t have a vote. How much of it

     

    was grandstanding and mischief making, I

     

    don’t know.”

     

    When asked if it was pandering to an element

     

    within his support along with the media who

     

    were against the league proposals, Hutton

     

    added: “Yeah, I mean I don’t know what his

     

    motives were, but there was an element of

     

    grandstanding going on with him, whether it

     

    was Dallas Cowboys, whether it was the ten

     

    million transfer kitty for McCoist. Whatever it

     

    was, it’s all been well documented. What I

     

    think about Rangers has got no bearing at all

     

    because I’m only finally interested in Raith

     

    Rovers. Rangers are where they are, they

     

    cleared the first hurdle and won that league,

     

    I’ve no doubt they’ll clear the second hurdle

     

    and, you know, then it’s a different ball game

     

    and they’re back in the First Division.”

     

    With the 12-12-18 proposals being blocked

     

    and subsequently 13 member clubs of the

     

    Scottish Football League not agreeing to the

     

    proposed shake-up of the current league

     

    system, ten SFL clubs want to break away

     

    from the SFL and join the SPL under an SPL2

     

    league. The ten clubs, include Turnbull

     

    Hutton’s Raith Rovers side.

     

    On the SPL2 proposal, Hutton said: “We came

     

    out of Hampden last year when we had been

     

    talking about SPL2 and the view from all the

     

    clubs, especially the First Division clubs, was

     

    they wanted a solution for all 42 clubs. There

     

    was a view that several meetings ago, that

     

    what we had was a 28-1 vote for the

     

    proposals that were on the table and then it

     

    would appear that certain forces came into

     

    play and 28-1 became 14-14. At that point,

     

    you say well, we cannot go on like this.

     

    “The SPL then, after being unanimous and

     

    going to go ahead with their changes they

     

    come out with a 10-2 vote. There was a

     

    feeling among a whole lot of people that said

     

    well, that’s it, we’ve done our best, there’s no

     

    change, and I suppose the breakaway or the

     

    proposed breakaway of the First Division clubs

     

    was a means whereby we were trying to get a

     

    debate reopened. Everybody that spoke or has

     

    spoken about the First Division breakaway, as

     

    it’s called, or the proposed breakaway, has

     

    been at pains to point out that what we want

     

    is a 42 club solution and that’s still the case.

     

    “If the threat of a breakaway has had the

     

    effect of making people think that there is a

     

    danger of things fragmenting, therefore we’ll

     

    be better if we got our thinking caps on and

     

    did something as an entity, that has to be

     

    good and maybe that’s where we’re at just

     

    now. I mean I don’t have any details, but the

     

    meeting of the Second and Third division clubs

     

    last week in Stirling, what the Montrose

     

    chairman said, kind of led you to think that

     

    there’s going to be.

     

    “You’re never going to get everything you want

     

    in any kind of reorganisation. SPL probably

     

    haven’t got what they want, SFL haven’t got

     

    what they want, but if you’re going to merge

     

    two organisations and try and move it

     

    forwards, you’ve got to be prepared to give

     

    and take a wee bit and there has to be an

     

    element of trust in there. For whatever reasons

     

    latterly, you’ve got the feeling that that

     

    element of trust to make it happen wasn’t

     

    there and that there was vested interest and

     

    short-term opportunities and scores being

     

    settled, what have you. That it got the point

     

    that something had to materialise to

     

    concentrate their minds again and maybe that

     

    was the threat of the First Division

     

    breakaway.”

  5. 'crushed nuts?' 'Naw, Layringitis!' on

    Ally’s morphing into Hateley!

     

     

    ALLY McCOIST expects Carlos Bocanegra and Dorin Goian to report for pre-season training on June 24.

     

     

    The manager, in Bocanegra’s home US state of California for this year’s NARSA convention, is keen to have both players back in his squad for next season.

     

    Having seen his side concede some sloppy goals last term, particularly from set plays, that perhaps comes as little surprise.

     

    Let’s be honest about it – they are two international-quality centre-backs and I’d be delighted if they came back.

     

    “They’d be like new signings, that’s exactly what they’d be like, and of a great pedigree at that.

     

    &&&&&

  6. MooooonTheHoops on

    Happy 80th birthday today, the 4th of June (it is in Oz), to my late father’s cousin, Alex Byrne, who played for Celtic between 1957 and 1963. He was lucky enough to share the pitch in his 100 odd games with the likes of Charlie Tully, Stevie Chalmers, Billy McPhail, Bertie Peacock & Billy McNeill – amongst others – and managed to score 30 goals for the Hoops playing mostly outside-left.

     

     

    MON

  7. !!Bada Bing!! on

    Turnbull Hutton again showing no fear of the intimidation tactics of The Gang.

  8. WeefratheTim on

    Bada

     

     

    Get him in as SFA prezzie and we might get something like an even playing field. Not guaranteed though. :)

     

     

    Weefra HH

  9. Alex “Acker” Byrne great player and very underrated. Well known and respected in Greenock !

  10. lennon's passion on

    gerald766

     

     

    17:37 on 3 June, 2013

     

     

    Diawarra was the other player. Utter tosh about the 4m signing on fee. MSM printed that crap we would be all over them.

  11. Gerald766- 17 37

     

    “Remember,Bangura came highly recommended by “King of Kings”.

     

    No,I don’t remember this although it has been repeated often enough!

     

    I do remember the first story on here started as yours,then mentioned PL involved and that Larson had said he was ok! I wondered at the time, was this Hendryk being non committal with ok ranging from passable to pretty good and not wanting to put a player down.

     

    However the story seems to have been passed down as being “OK’d by KoK. After later reports on his abilities and some viewing I think I prefer my interpretation of KoK’s laconic statement. Whatever?

     

    tusker

  12. Kojo

     

    I hope the fence posts don’t have pointy tops. :-)

     

    ‘GG laughing at last.

  13. !!Bada Bing!! on

    weefrathetim-With his business acumen with Diageo amongst others,he could buy and sell the complicit clowns in charge of the game in Scotland.How did Smudger get the SFA Execs job again? By all accounts he didn’t even meet the job criteria.But being a hun and a Mason ticked all the boxes.

  14. MooooonTheHoops

     

     

    Tough times growing up as a ‘Hoop’ from 1957-65 but remember Alex Byrne well – a favourite of mine because I often played at O.L.

  15. WeefratheTim on

    Bada

     

     

    Says it all really. BUT, we will see them all off with our magnificent support. IMHO. :)

     

     

    Weefra HH

  16. 'crushed nuts?' 'Naw, Layringitis!' on

    Walty at the helm

     

    Master Ally on the poopdeck

     

    Mather in the crow’s nest

     

    The scurviest, scrofuloussest rag-tag gang of knaves ever gathered under one sail

     

    Scribbler Jabba keeping his log

     

     

    Set course for the isle ‘o’ saps, and pick those mugs’ pockets!!!!!!!

  17. ‘crushed nuts?’ ‘Naw, Layringitis!’

     

     

    Please! No renditions of: ‘it was on the good ship Souness’ before the watershed!

  18. Joe Filippis Haircut on

    It might be worth giving Bangura another run in our pre-season games I have never seen anything to indicate there is a player there, but surely the bhoy must have something that we havnt seen yet ? H.H.

  19. isle ‘o’ saps

     

     

    haahhaahhaha

     

     

    thats getting used,

     

     

    hahahahahaha

  20. !!Bada Bing!! on

    joe filippis haircut

     

     

    19:45 on 3 June, 2013It might be worth giving Bangura another run in our pre-season games I have never seen anything to indicate there is a player there, but surely the bhoy must have something that we havnt seen yet ? H.H.

     

    A tattoo maybe? :)

  21. You must be joking Turnbull Hutton being the head of Scottish football? what you are telling me is you want a straight up stand up guy leading our national game,you’r having a laugh, level playing field never going to happen, the game is bent, the people who run it (the we are the people) will never be beaten, my god it makes me laugh Jock Stein must have cast a giant shadow, must be really cold in that shadow, even there yesterdays where yesterday’s.

  22. 'crushed nuts?' 'Naw, Layringitis!' on

    praecepta

     

     

    19:43 on 3 June, 2013

     

    #######

     

    The boy stood on the burning deck

     

    The flames licked round the row locks

     

    He said with a sigh and a tear in his eye

     

    I wish I’d protected me share options!

  23. Thindimebhoy on

    Well shiver me timbers sea dog Smithie de Cardigan has shanghaied the locals and now they set sail under the Jolly Dodger to the Isle o Saps

     

     

    Isle o Saps

     

     

    hahaha

  24. !!Bada Bing!! on

    Joe F-Diawara who we looked at the same time ,was playing in a better league.Though he’s not set the heather on fire in Spain,he might still be one to consider.Bangura doesn’t look like a player to me mate.HH

  25. The Honest Mistake- 19 31

     

    Well, I must use your title! First time I have seen that comprehensive account. Obviously I read just someones “early” blog and miscued!! My apologies to Gerald766 and all the later posters that I thought were misquoting Hendryk. Definately me wrong and, so far, KoK?

     

    Humbly corrected.

     

     

     

    tusker

  26. !!Bada Bing!! on

    Crushed nuts-You can be sure the Legned and Sally will be part of the “penny a share” gang,therefore fleecing the stupid hun hordes.

  27. !!Bada Bing!!

     

     

    …… but surely the bhoy must have something that we havnt seen yet ? H.H.

     

    A tattoo maybe? :)

     

     

    I think PL has slipped up on this marketing area – he should have tied-up some ‘corporate’ advertising deals based on the player’s tattoos.

     

     

    * Any player with a dragon tattoo = Chinese Restaurant advert.

     

    * Any player with a tiger tattoo = Indian Restaurant advert.

     

    * Any player with a bar-code tattoo = Asda/ Tesco advert.

     

     

    Etc., etc. :-)

  28. MooooonTheHoops

     

     

    A couple of us from St Pat’s HS Dumbarton used to go to see ther Celts reserves on Friday nights (I think ) an Alec Byrne used to be absolutely fantastic for the wee team, however when he played for the senior team, it was almost is if he got stage fright or something, he just faded out of games. Shame really.

  29. And Captain Smith looks through the scope and say’s ” I see no ships” but ” I thought I saw the Titanic on the horizon but alas it has gone”

  30. WeefratheTim on

    tonydonnelly67

     

     

    Stop beating about the bush and come to the point. It was posted in jest. Chill :))

     

     

    Weefra HH

  31. Anybody see any club challenging us next year ? How long before a consistent club emerges – Can they beat the other clubs is the question.

  32. Bada bing

     

     

    Bangura doesn’t look like any kind of footballer ….apart from a crap one ….

  33. ‘crushed nuts?’ ‘Naw, Layringitis!’

     

     

    Was thinking more of the Sally (Nell) ditty: ‘neath the light of the pub stood little Nell’ ……… etc!

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