As good as it gets at centre half

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Last week I wrote that Celtic were lucky their central defensive crisis happened during the transfer window.  They had time to make their move, although the requirement could not have been easy to fit.

A player was needed who could play in the Champions League alongside a young Swedish defender who is new to the club.  That sets the bar quite high, but the player would also know that with two new central defenders signed this window, Brendan Rodgers will be motivated to develop them whenever possible.  Game time may tail off when Cameron Carter-Vickers and Maik Nawrocki return to fitness.

I would walk past Nat Phillips without recognising him on Buchannan St this afternoon, but on paper, he is about as good as we could hope for.  Interestingly, he was the player Bournemouth signed as replacement for Carter-Vickers when his loan period there ended two years ago.

I hope he spends much of today and tomorrow in the company of Gustaf Lagerbielke.  They have lots to talk about before Sunday.

Welcome to Celtic, Nat.  Own it, while you’re here!

More blogging to come today.

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  1. Directors Emoulients ye 2022

     

     

    T Allison 25,000

     

    I Bankier 80,000

     

    D Desmond 25,000

     

    C McKay 465,753

     

    B Wilson 25,000

     

    S Brown 30,000

     

    M Nicholson 572,349

     

    D McKay 115,230

  2. What is the optimum squad size for us? We need a min of two for each position, though in some cases like CF we should have three due to the nature of the game.

     

    Beyond that, how many is enough?

     

    (disclaimer, wingers are a law apart for us)

  3. Better interview today from Brendan. Sounds more into it, planning and looks calculated.

     

     

    Love it,

     

     

    Listen to him all day at times.

     

     

    KLV

  4. No Country for Old Men –

     

     

    Thomas E. Allison

     

    Non-Executive Director and Senior Independent Director (74)

     

    Appointment Date:

     

    September 2001

     

    Experience:

     

    Mr Allison is a very experienced businessman and holds

     

    directorships in large corporate and public company environments.

     

    His experience spans numerous sectors over several decades.

     

    Committees:

     

    Chair of the Remuneration Committee

     

    Member of the Nomination Committee

     

    Key Appointments:

     

    • Chairman of Peel Ports Limited

     

    • Chairman of Cammell Laird Shiprepairs and Shipbuilders Limited

     

    • Chairman of Atlantic and Peninsula Marine Services Limited

     

    • Ambassador for The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice

     

    in Glasgow

     

    Number of Board Meetings Attended:

     

    6 out of 6

     

     

    Dermot F. Desmond

     

    Non-Executive Director (72)

     

    Appointment Date:

     

    May 1995

     

    Experience:

     

    Mr Desmond is the Chairman and founder of International

     

    Investment and Underwriting UC, a private equity company based in

     

    Dublin. He has investments in a variety of start-up and established

     

    businesses worldwide, in the areas of financial services, technology,

     

    education, information systems, leisure, aviation, health and sport

     

    (including Celtic plc). He also promoted the establishment of a

     

    financial services centre in Dublin in 1986. Today more than 500

     

    companies trade from the IFSC.

     

    Committees:

     

    Member of the Nomination Committee

     

    Member of the Audit Committee

     

    Key Appointments:

     

    • Chairman of International Investment and Underwriting UC

     

    Number of Board Meetings Attended:

     

    6 out of 6 (attended by representative)

     

     

    Brian Wilson

     

    Non-executive Director (73)

     

    Appointment Date:

     

    June 2005

     

    Experience:

     

    Formerly a Member of Parliament, Mr Wilson also held several

     

    ministerial posts during his political career. In 2011, he was named

     

    UK Global Director of the Year by the Institute of Directors. He is an

     

    experienced journalist and Privy Councillor for the UK Government

     

    and a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde.

     

    Committees:

     

    Member of the Audit Committee

     

    Member of the Remuneration Committee

     

    External Appointments:

     

    • Chairman of Harris Tweed Hebrides Limited

     

    • Director of Shetland Space Centre Limited

     

    Number of Board Meetings Attended:

     

    6 out of 6

     

     

    Ian P. Bankier

     

    Non-executive Chairman (70)

     

    Appointment Date:

     

    June 2011

     

    Experience:

     

    Mr Bankier’s formative career was as a solicitor and he was a

     

    partner in McGrigors for 15 years, specialising in corporate law.

     

    He moved on to become a corporate adviser and non-Executive

     

    Director of several listed companies and subsequently entered the

     

    Scotch whisky industry. He was Managing Director of Burn Stewart

     

    Distillers plc, Chief Executive of CL World Brands Limited and is

     

    currently Executive Chairman of Glenkeir Whiskies Limited.

     

    Committees:

     

    Chair of the Nomination Committee

     

    Member of the Remuneration Committee

     

    Key Appointments:

     

    • Executive Chairman of Glenkeir Whiskies Limited, a company

     

    he co-owns

     

    Number of Board Meetings Attended:

     

    6 out of 6

  5. PeterLatchfordsBelly on

    On paper I’d give this window 6.5 out of 10. Time will tell if it’s better or worse. I’ll judge it on whether we win the league, not the Champions League. We can’t compete there no matter how well run we are. I do know the huns shouldn’t be anywhere near us in Scotland. If they are, that’ll be a consequence of the choices we’ve made, including not upgrading at LB per AJ levels.

  6. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    Gene – cheers.

     

     

    Apologies.

     

     

    Missed your post.

     

     

    He’s a year older than Jude Bellingham.

     

     

    World has gone mad.

  7. Ten Men Won The League on 1st September 2023 3:35 pm

     

     

    SAINT STIVS on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2023 3:30 PM

     

     

     

     

    Everybody knows we needed a

     

     

     

     

     

     

    GK, LB, RB, CBX2, A DM, CM, RM, LM, LW, CF X 2, RW, and 8 x quality on the bench, everyone over 6ft 3 please.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    ————————————————————–

     

     

     

     

    You forgot to add the Main Stand renovation…

     

     

     

     

    Love it. The lady of the house as we all experience from time to time like clearouts – do you need this, do you need that . To day it happened in my estableshment and among other things I came accross a copy of the Dublin Evening Herald dated 3rd September 2018 which had a souveneir supplement of the previous days All Ireland football final and a double page spread of the Glasgow derby. Oliver Nitcham scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory for the Hoops with Brendan Rodgers extending his unbeaten run against the Ibroxi men to 12 games.

     

     

    Brendan definitely has the knack of victory in these derbies, perhaps a good omen for Sunday. Celtic have 9 new signings to date and you would need an encyclopedic memory to keep track of all these guys coming to Celtic Park.

     

     

    Hoping our central defence can have a good day and midfield, whoever Brendan choses to pick, we have the attack to trouble Newco after their collapse in the Champs Lge against the Dutch.

  8. Chairbhoy

     

     

    Likewise after the carcrash of Lenny MK II it was no coincidence Ange won five out six trophies

     

    They are very good managers

     

    These things are 100% doable, the metrics, analytics etc are a numbers, time game

     

    We should never assume that the folk we have doing this “know their stuff” or have a talent

     

     

    Just catching up. What was your expressed view of Ange in June 2021? Does it reflect your current view that he was a good manager then, or is hindsight operating?

     

     

    I didn’t assume anything- I actually know someone who set up the Sports Science department and have spoken with the employed practitioners. I am not going to claim they were the best in the business but I am going to tell you they were trained professionals and not just an ex-player with a sponge. Now, they were on the Sports Science – so should I assume that the expertise shown there was totally absent from the Scouting and Recruitment Network? No- the only assumption I see is the one where you have assumed they are piss poor at their job and don’t use modern techniques.

     

     

     

    A small sample test, if we used this approach in South Korea how come the same “model”, gave us Yang and Kwon!?

     

     

    Not sure I get your point but I’ll assume you mean Yang is good and Kwon’s a dud.

     

     

    Different metrics will have been used for a winger and a DM, for a start.

     

     

    Yet- Yang is 21and has played 2 seasons in S. Korea with a struggling top flight team- 66 matches. He has 6 caps at U-23 level.

     

     

    Kwon is 22 and has 4 seasons as a Busan player but loaned to Gimcheon when he was doing his National Service as this allowed him to play locally to where he was posted. In that time with both clubs he played 35 top flight games and 41 in the 2nd flight. He has been capped at U-17, U-20 and U-23 level for S. Korea. He has 32 under age caps, 11 of them at u-23 level- more than Yang.

     

     

    So, I see no difference in their historian metrics. Young promising players earmarked for future full caps. In fact Kwon looks the lesser risk on his record.

     

     

    The only metric that makes them look different, is that Yang has had 3 competitive outings for Celtic and has looked a likely lad in 2 of those appearances. Kwon has appeared twice in friendlies, making a good impression against Wolves but having a total mare vs Bilbao. That one bad match has him portrayed as a Korean 2nd division project who has been written off. Now, maybe he won’t make it with us. But I, for one, don’t know that as yet because he is barely in the door and has not been given the playing time to impress. I did note he was still being selected for the bench by Brendan in our last game, so he hasn’t given up on him.

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