With 26 career goals, 25 of which came in a Dundee United shirt, £1.5m sounds a tad generous for Nadir Ciftci. Celtic’s earlier offer of £900k sounds more like the mark but Wigan have validated United’s target price with a deal with meets their requirements, if not that of the player’s.
Is he a player to improve Celtic? Quite possibly, he’ll bring something we don’t have at the moment – a sticky out ball – but it’s a big ask to expect him to step up to Champions League levels. Signing that level of player might take Champions League money, but we’ll need to get there first, which is why we need to bolster the attack quickish.
Two years ago we talked about the number of senior games a good player is able to make before he’s noticed by those to rich and lazy to do as much low-level research Celtic must do to unearth a gem.
Victor Wanyama made 51 appearances before becoming a Celtic player, Virgil van Dijk made 62. It’s likely both spent the bulk of those games without anyone paying much attention to them, Celtic’s scouts are likely to have been alerted when they have little more than a dozen or so games left at their previous clubs.
Ciftci’s made 67 senior appearances. If he has what it takes, the world will know about it sooner rather than later.
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BMCUW,
Sometimes
Question
Who was the first Scottish player to score for the ‘tic in the champions league?
Canamalar
00:39 on
7 July, 2015
Auldhed,
You keep gong back to the board sanctioning it, why. Or the clubs having some sort of vote on it, again, why ?
I’m no sure why you find my argument so hard to understand.
I never asked our board to consider what is best for a corrupted Scottish football, I did expect our board to be consistent in their previously public demands for sporting integrity.
As soon as our board heard about the 5way they should have declared to the support and the shareholders that they did not support the corruption of out game through illegal secret deals, That is all I asked, nothing more.
You are making excused as to why they did not do that.
You know fine well I don’t give a funkeys muck about what the football authorities or supporters of this corruption would think about such a deceleration, this IMO is a very local issue between the board and those who administer our club and everyone who supports/shareholders of the club had a right to know about the decisions being made without their consent. Especially when those decisions involve corruption.
Pragmatism is not something that should be used to incriminate or reduce the culpability of those responsible for criminal acts and that is exactly what happened here. Money men commonly use this strategy to spread the blame and confuse culpability and that has IMO brought shame on our club.
—————————–
I had a copy of the 5 Way lying around which I had a look at and its a nightmare to follow.
I’m not sure what was illegal about it though if all the named parties, who presumably consulted amongst themselves first, signed up to it. As I said previously we don’t know the process.That is not an excuse, its a fact.
The only bit I found worth questioning and so questionable (with the value of hindsight) was the transfer of the Full SFA Membership when Associate SFA Membership could have easily been granted.
Even then that was not against the rules as written but used the power of discretion contained in one (Art 14 PROHIBITION OF TRANSFER OF SFA MEMBERSHIP ) to certainly twist the spirit behind it out of shape.
Again with the benefit of hindsight I would have made a song and dance about that.
I’ll e mail you a copy.
clogher celt
01:31 on
7 July, 2015
Auldheid,
Rangers cheated. When my late father saved up for a Season Ticket, they cheated.
Put the team on the park and let’s see what they can do.
++++++++++++++++
In a few weeks I hope that the full extent of that cheating will become even more apparent.
They even cheated to cover up the cheating!
Just read back on the past couple of days and must voice my disgust at Weefra advocating nuclear strikes against the arab countries where IS operate.
FFS, Weefra get up with the tech. We can smoke em from space using the Ronny Reagan star wars system. You need to google more.
Light em up and make em glow…………………………….or,
Parachute the wee man in, armed to the teeth and equipped wi Cowiebhoy’s dug. It’s immune to snakebites and there’s hunners of them in the desert.
Contact WeeRambo.com for further information.
MurdochauldandHay & Wee Oscar
01:34
Doncaster continues to fly this kite. Celtic stated last year the club wasn’t interested in expanding the league and I expect that position remains the same. No way will the other eleven join forces against us.
The good weather bubble bursts against the point that raith v aberdeen was postponed at the week-end due to a waterlogged pitch arising from recent storms.
Weefra, only kidding you on pal, but don’t you fancy a wee night drop over Damascus? I was there about thirty years ago and its a bit of a shithole. Nuking it would cause Billions of dollars worth of improvements.
I’d let the world’s special forces loose on these barbarians. How much do the SAS cost the tax payer to run around the Brecon Beacons firing blanks at each other and annoying peace loving hillwalkers? Young guy’s who signed up for a fight and want to kill the bad guy’s. Gie them cowiebhoy’s dug, and point them east, and I don’t mean Aberdour.
Get some Jap ninja’s involved anaw. They are sneaky we bams, so they ur.
Saw Macjay thought that if we fail to qualify for CL he must go
I disagree it must be lawell that goes
It will be approx 4 CL in 16 years. Not good enough peter
SydneyTim
Ronny`s in charge.
P.L. isn`t in charge.He`s a member of the Board.Yet,he`s the only Board member you target.
You whinge about the cost of P.L.`s supposed bonus.
How many years bonus for P.L.did Ronny`s failure to beat the might of Mariobor at Celtic Park cost us?
Hope you`re well,pal.And surviving Arctic Sydney.
:-)
Macjay. PL is in charge. He is in charge of who comes to Celtic park and how much we pay him
Peter lawell was responsible for providing a zero transfer budget to ronny for CL
He is culpable of corporate mismanagement
Indeed a bit chilly. Was zero degrees at my work yesterday morning This isn’t what it told me of the travel show on sydney. Brrrr
Yesterday morning
Syd
“PL is in charge. He is in charge of who comes to Celtic park and how much we pay him.”
I would be astonished if you were correct in that assertion.
He may well have the final say on transfer fees and player wages ie. finance.
He would certainly play a part in how much in the way of funds would be available.
That`s his job.
If he performs all the tasks you suggest,what do the other Board members do?
Rubber stamp what Lawwell the dictator decides?
Pass round the port.From the left.
If P.L. decides which player/s will be transferred to Celtic,then Ronny is a mere lackey.
Do you seriously think he and J.C. are Board bunnies?
Do they strike you that way?
Jock Stein bulldozed that barrier 50 years ago.
macjay,
I would agree that Peter Lawwell does indeed wield a fair degree of influence at Celtic Park, including transfers in and out. In fact, he is on record fairly recently on Celtic TV saying that we did not consider players from other Scottish teams because we didn’t think they were good enough, we then signed the two guys from Dundee Utd, who incidentally I am very happy with.
I think the circumstances that Ronny Deila inherited before last seasons CL qualifiers were very poor. A lack of any credible preparation following Neil Lennon’s leaving the club, Ronny’s assertion that he didn’t want loan signings, etc. it all led to a logical conclusion, despite us getting an unwarranted second chance. Ronny’s tactics against Maribor at Celtic Park were questionable but the entire end to the 2013/14 season and start of the 2014/15 season should have required a critical review of how this debacle ensued, it would have in most other industries.
I don’t know about yourself but as a shareholder, albeit modest, I cannot remember any Celtic board reporting anything to shareholders since the time Fergus McCann provided us with the opportunity, in my opinion, this should change and I don’t mean a running commentary. One example that I would cite is Neil Lennon leaving the club. The reasons for this should be explained to shareholders.
Going back to your original point, if we don’t make it through this seasons qualifiers, the RD would indeed shoulder much of the blame that may be cast but I don’t think that he alone should be held responsible. As things stand at present, I’m not sure that we are equipped to progress any farther than last season.
AR
Champions league qualification is a minefield you just never know what quality of side you will be drawn against and at what stage of the season they are at.For me getting to the group stage is an achievement and anything further is a massive bonus.Even on the balance of play we deserved to beat Maribor last season especially the first leg when we were totally dominant.
Good morning friends from a disappointingly damp, grey, breezy East Kilbride. Only 3 more reports then I escape to Nerja and you’re on your own for 10 mornings…… ;-)
the hand of god,
We did dominate over there but we suffered from not having a decent finisher, our last 15/20 minutes at Celtic Park should have been to shut the game down to ensure progression, we kept chasing the game and paid the price.
AR
Jobo, your reports will be missed…its same here in darkest Lanarkshire. Just so you know another48 minute 5 mile jog on treadmill yesterday…..surely the Rio 2016 call up is in the post?
jmccormick –
been noticing your fitness reports. At the pace you’re going I’d say you’ve now moved out of the jogging phase and are now most definitely running. You should consider the ole Saturday morning ParkRun ;-) http://www.parkrun.org.uk/strathclyde/
Good morning CQNers,
Delighted to see Celtic supporters driving the agenda on CQN again!
AR…i think Lustig going off injured in the 2nd leg at 0-0 was a big factor in our defensive slump..cheers.
jobo baldie
Thanks for the philately….the gang at Strathy are usually forming when I leave the gym down there. I have parental duties on a Saturday morning so the 9.30 start puts me off, honest guv. It’s a 5k course is it not? Will be happen getting a few circuits of lake ( 3.75 miles) in before I go public, in flight I am not a pretty sight , a lumbering , asthmatic camel is the best description.
The hand of God @ 07.38
Lustig’s fitness is fundamental to the solidity of our defence, I fear it’s our weakest area now.
What I would like to see for the qualifiers would be a line-up of….
Lustig Boyata VVD Mulgrew
With 3 midfielders protecting them.
Where there is a will… there is a way
From the Scotsman:
THE MOMENT the SFA’s own counsel, Paul Cullen, threw down his pen in frustration at Jim Farry’s “very poor” performance under cross-examination, the writing was on the wall for the man who had ruled Scottish football with a rod of iron. But the embattled chief executive, a punctilious power-broker of fearsome repute, probably wouldn’t have recognised it. In a supreme irony, it was the Great Administrator’s misadministration that proved to be his downfall.
His misinterpretation of what was written in the game’s statutes forced him to face Celtic’s lawyers in an arbitration case and ultimately forced him out of office in what will be remembered as Scottish football’s greatest courtroom drama.
Ten years ago this week the Royal Automobile Club in Glasgow provided the setting for the endgame in an extraordinary saga. Its starting point had come three years earlier when the SFA fatally delayed registering the new Celtic signing, Jorge Cadete. Farry’s stubborn refusal to lodge the paperwork in time for the Portuguese striker to appear in the 1996 Scottish Cup semi-final, and Celtic owner Fergus McCann’s equally stubborn refusal to let the matter rest, have given rise to various theories on the motives of two abrasive men. Previously unreleased legal papers shown to Scotland on Sunday do not lend any credence to the fanciful interpretations which have taken root in the decade since. Nothing supports the notion that Farry acted deliberately to hold up Cadete’s registration out of “anti-Celtic” bias. Or that his adversary, McCann, was responsible for a “witch-hunt”. Yet so sensitive does the episode remain that McCann declined to discuss it this week. Neither was Farry available for comment.
Farry left the arbitration hearing at the RAC on February 24, 1996 with no future in a game he had served across three decades because his own testimony destroyed his reputation. Even the SFA’s own lawyers, Burness Solicitors, picked Farry apart.
The case revolved around the wording of an International Transfer Certificate for Cadete, who joined Celtic from Sporting CP (Lisbon). Celtic forwarded the ITC to the SFA on March 7, 1996 with all other relevant paperwork having arrived two weeks earlier. Initially, the club believed the player was a free agent. He wasn’t, but that should have had no bearing on Farry registering Cadete. Celtic could not convince him of this because of a “conditionality clause” within the ITC. Under law, this was an irrelevance, which a fax from FIFA explained. Yet, it was not until Celtic lodged a third application to register Cadete at the end of March that Farry was eventually persuaded of that fact. Under the SFA’s 14-day clearance rule, that was too late for the striker to play in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers on April 6 – a match Celtic lost 2-1.
On March 29, Farry agreed to apply it retrospectively, only to change his mind the following day.
The Burness report exposed the extent of Farry’s bungling. At the arbitration hearing he “substantially damaged his credibility and the integrity of the Association’s case” by failing to produce correspondence from FIFA between 1994 and 1996 on the conditionality of ITCs. He “drew a warning” for “consistently” evading questions; was “unable to give a convincing explanation” why conditions in the second application “were unacceptable to him”; “indicated significant aspects…of registration fell to subordinates” “as he had been abroad”; “he gave evidence … not regarded as credible ….”; “he gave contradictory evidence on the powers of the Executive Committee”; “was unable to explain why retrospectivity of the ITC was not applied in this case” and “deflected responsibility to Mr (Sandy] Bryson (head of registrations] …. (on] certain executive decisions”.
Moreover, it had emerged that the day before his self-destructive evidence he had to be ordered to appear at the hearing by SFA vice-president John McBeth. Farry had intended to travel to Geneva for a conference.
The errors by Scotland’s supposed supreme football law enforcer resulted in Burness advising the SFA to settle. They did so immediately for fear of the further damage that could follow from allowing the arbitration to proceed to a conclusion. In doing so, they paid Celtic’s legal costs and gave them a 10,000 compensation payment – somewhat short of the 600,000 McCann demanded for the semi-final loss. Farry was suspended on full pay and removed from his post permanently two weeks later. He departed with a 200,000 pay-off that still rankles with McCann.
The downfall of the infuriatingly bumptious SFA secretary/chief executive of nine years is one that has to be understood in the context of the infamous workings of the Association. “Increasingly, he was running the Association as if it were his personal fiefdom,” one former colleague reveals. “He had a way that made it very difficult for other voices to be heard and meant there was no way of suggesting to him he could have made a mistake. He prided himself on his knowledge of the rule book, and had an impressive grasp of it.”
Clearly, he did not have as solid a grasp as he imagined. Hubris was a by-product. Every single piece of mail sent to the SFA would be delivered to his desk at 9am. He would read all correspondence then forward it to relevant departments. Replies to letters had to be written as if composed by him and at 4pm every day he would sign them off.
McCann was also a steely, single-minded operator but his martinet ways did not extend to this level of control in his day-to-day business. And neither did his determination to correct the wrong over Cadete’s registration amount to a personal vendetta.
“At Celtic the Cadete case was not a ‘get Farry’ exercise,” says a former club official. “Achieving justice on the matter certainly became a crusade for Fergus, but then he could go on a crusade over a bag of crisps. No one at Celtic, especially him, thought Jim was working to any agenda. We just thought he had made a huge mistake and wanted that recognised. Yes, there was an element of rubbing the SFA’s noses in it, and therefore Jimmy’s nose in it because he was the personification of the SFA. But plenty people at Celtic had a lot of time for him, could appreciate that he had strong points and worked hard. It was never the ultimate aim that he lose his job, and that was a surprise.”
But his departure became inevitable, when the SFA announced on March 1 that the arbitration had been settled in Celtic’s favour. McCann declared Farry’s position untenable. The settlement including a letter of apology to the club that didn’t best please Farry.
His fate was sealed when Burness delivered their report to the SFA on March 4. In damning fashion, it set out his “obstructive actions”, the impact of which was, “to impede the preparation of the Association’s case, to increase the expense of the process and to cause material frustration to Counsel who indicated his dismay at the counter-productive stance adopted in this complex case”.
The following day, at a meeting of the SFA Emergency Committee, the office bearers unanimously agreed that “the Chief Executive be dismissed from his executive position and his office as Secretary of the Association on the grounds of gross misconduct”. In Park Gardens, meanwhile, as they had since the end of the Cadete affair, employees continued to sport broad smiles, walk the corridors with a free air and even sign their own letters.
Off to a stag do in Düsseldorf at the weekend
What’s the prices like ..beer , food etc ?
Have to go get some euros today
From Twitter
@OHenleyAlex: .@dundeeunitedfc have confirmed that price agreed with @celticfc for Nadir Ciftci and permission granted for player to speak to Celtic.
HH
From the Herald:
Gordon Smith believes his work as chief executive of the Scottish Football Association was criticised in some quarters because he was a former Rangers player
Michael Grant
Saturday 15 May 2010
Smith, who resigned his post last month, told The Herald that he still had “a passion for the game” and intended to remain within football.
But he said that whoever replaces him as the next SFA chief executive inevitably will face negative reaction and hostility too.
Any negativity towards Smith because of his Rangers history came from outwith the SFA itself, he stressed, but, for a minority of Celtic and other clubs’ supporters, his spell as an Ibrox forward was always an issue, even though he left the club 30 years ago. Smith joined the SFA in the summer of 2007 and resigned last month for personal reasons.
“There are some people who will never accept you: some Celtic fans, some fans around the country,” he said. “It would be the same the other way round if I had a Celtic background. For me, it was down to having a Rangers background. For some people, they don’t like Rangers and so they don’t like anyone who’s been at Rangers.
“You can get accusations of bias between the east and west coasts, too. East coast people talk about ‘the GFA’ – the Glasgow Football Association. So you get that too. There is always negativity towards you, in that respect. But I would say that the number of people who got in touch and wished me all the best when I left, and said they would be sorry to see me go, was fantastic. I have had a great lift from the number of people who made an effort to get in touch. People have been very good. I had come to a point where I just felt I had to move on. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I am considering my options.”
Virtually the only restriction on where he might work next is the fact that he would prefer to remain close to his elderly parents in Ayrshire, who have both suffered ill health recently.
Smith will be a pundit for Sky Sports at today’s Active Nation Scottish Cup final between Ross County and Dundee United, having already done a stint for that broadcaster on the day Rangers clinched the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title.
A return to regular work as a summariser – he served 14 years as a senior voice of BBC Scotland before joining the SFA – is a possibility, as is returning to another of his previous roles as a players’ agent.
Intriguingly, he does not rule out the possibility of becoming a chief executive or general manager of a club, even in Scotland, where it could potentially bring him into contact, and conflict, with the SFA.
“I would like to still be involved in football. I still have a passion for the game so I would like to be still involved in some respects. Could I go and work for a club? It’s a possibility. I haven’t given it a lot of consideration but it is one of the things that people have asked me about. I would maybe consider going to work in Europe. I have had phone calls from people in Austria and Switzerland [he played in both countries in the late 1980s] asking whether I would be interested if jobs came up over there, like a general manager’s job or a director of football or something. I said, ‘Come to me with an offer first and I’d consider it.’ ” But would he work for a Scottish club? “That would be interesting, wouldn’t it? The other side of the fence …”
Smith would not comment on the widely-held belief that he signed a confidentiality clause when he left the SFA, but said there was no reason to feel his work would be inhibited if he were to make a regular return to broadcasting. “There wouldn’t be anything to stop me being a pundit again. I’ve done work for Sky Sports and I’m doing the Scottish Cup final too. So there’s no reason why not. I was asked on Sky about leaving the SFA, but I just kept it general and said it had been time to leave.
“I have felt fine about my decision to leave. It was a major decision to make and I am still very comfortable with it. I am very positive about going forward and whatever I will do next, just as I was positive about being at the SFA.”
That included being positive about the findings of phase one of Henry McLeish’s review into grassroots and youth football, which was commissioned by the SFA and published last month. “Henry’s review touches on the fact that football needs to have a good dialogue between all the groups that are involved. It’s maybe been too disparate over the years; people have been concerned with all different things at all different levels. I think we need some sort of consensus on what’s best for the game as a whole. There is a degree of self-interest in the game and we need to look beyond that.
“I speak honestly about the game and about matches so I don’t have a problem with giving an opinion and I don’t think the SFA would either. I have always been free to give my opinion. I have strong opinions on the game and they are basically to try and promote the game and see it improve. I don’t think the game is quite as bad as everyone says. I still think there are positives there. I am a positive person and if I stay in the game I will remain a positive person.
“When I was approached by Sky I did think at first, ‘Is this the right thing to do,’ but I thought, ‘Why not?’ I’m free to do it, I’m experienced in it, I hadn’t done it for three years and I thought it would be quite interesting to go and do it again. I enjoyed it.”
His employment within football at the SFA meant Smith did not have to relinquish his licence as a players’ agent and he will not have to reapply for one if he returns to that line of work. He previously represented Paul Lambert and Kenny Miller among others. “There are one or two agents out there who have spoken to me about meeting up and maybe getting back into that business, but I’ve had no thoughts yet on what I will do.
“The agency business has changed a lot since I started in the 1990s. When I started there were four or five agents in Scotland, now there are more than 50. But I always had an advantage in terms of profile. I was seen as having knowledge of the game in terms of contracts and also contacts. I know everybody. I was able to phone top managers and get them, whereas a lot of agents find it very tough to do that.”
Smith claimed that one of the most satisfying aspects of his spell at the SFA was the appointment of Craig Levein as Scotland manager because it rubbished one of the most persistent rumours in the game, namely that he had a grievance with Levein for releasing his son, Grant Smith, as a Dundee United player in 2007.
“The story was that I’d had something against Craig because of that. That was nonsense. My son’s contract was up and he didn’t renew it. I felt no bitterness at all about that. A manager has every right to sign or not sign a player. My son moved on and went to Finland and enjoyed his time over there. When the job was available people were saying, ‘Well Craig Levein will never become Scotland manager while Gordon Smith is there,’ and I proved them totally wrong.
“I’m glad Craig got the Scotland job because if he hadn’t been appointed people would have said it was because of me, and that he would have got it if it wasn’t for me being there. To try and prejudge me, in terms of my values and how I deal with life, proved to be a total mistake. I had nothing against him and I proved that was the case. I don’t bear grudges against anyone. Craig Levein was the right man for the job.”
Erzi fishell news!!
http://dufc.co/news/ciftci-fee-agreed/
HH
Morning all.
So, it looks like Ciftci is on his way. Doesn’t excite me but if our manager feels he can get the best out of him, then well and good.
Any word about the ole HMRC and the court case?
By the bye, it is yet another awful “summer’s day” down here. Nae sun; rain and the threat of rain, as it has been usually for the past 2/3 months.
Fee undisclosed for Ciftci. Interesting. I suspect that is to prevent the United fans going tonto.
Welcome to Paradise Ciftci.
LB
parkheadcumsalford
Ditto in G45. (re. the weather!)
HH
Good morning from a wet north staffs – so that will be a 7 match ban for Ciftci on the probability rule. Not excited, was looking forward to seeing him turn out for Wigan against the mighty Vale. Says a lot when that was the choice he had.
Reached my 65th birthday the other week and didn’t realise i had to claim my state pension – doh
Hopefully ciftci along with others is enough to get us into group stages then we can get another couple of good players to try get beyond the groups.
Good quality striker being priority.
Scorchio – way down south .
Stjarnan? .
Watched both their games v Inter.A parked bus in Iceland got them a 3- 0 defeat . A parked bus in Milan got them a 6-0 defeat.Fit and tactically disciplined , absolutely crap otherwise.
You know, this 12 team top tier just isn’t working. We need to expand that for next season. Or… not sure the new huns will make it into the top half dozen or so in the 2nd tier. So here’s an idea…
Gene,
I reach that particular milestone on Sunday and I received the relevant information a couple of months ago, from the Pensions folk. Very helpful they were too.
Parkheadcumsalford,
Not a word from our intrepid hack pack.H,mmmm.
Will Ciftci be handed the Number 7?
Hope so.
The big guy is going to be a star.
In my opinion of course ;)
Parkheadcomesalford
Hope it clears a bit later as forecast. I’m heading down that way later.
James Forrest. This season has to be make or break for him, hopefully Ronnie’s confidence in him will be repaid by good performances but if not he needs to go. Last season every time he was in the team I feared the worst, and more often than not we were a 10 man team. I see him as a weak link that we continually persevere with. He must be really good in training.