Lee Congerton, who left his post as Celtic chief scout, to re-join Brendan Rodgers at Leicester, will not be remembered fondly by Celtic supporters. We can look to Olivier Ntcham, a £4.5m acquisition from Manchester City, whom Celtic had a pre-existing relationship with, and to Odsonne Edouard, a 2018 £9m acquisition from PSG, whom Congerton identified as a loan signing during his first transfer window at the club in 2017, as success, but they were few and far between.
The debit column has Marvin Compper and Jack Hendry, two central defenders who Lee should have discovered were not what Celtic required before putting his name to the players, but the most alarming signing was Charly Musonda.
Charly was one fo the slightest players I have seen in a Celtic jersey. He had something about him, but so do lots of players. What Charly did not possess was the detrmination to success at Celtic, or the physical attributes necessary to work in the professional game. He was an extravagant signing, at the time the best-paid player in the Scottish game, and a complete misfit at Celtic.
Five transfer windows did not produce as many players able to command a regular starting place.
Football loves a scapegoat at Lee is a perfect fit. I have little sympathy for him, but scouting is as nuanced as any other aspect of life. Scouts are repeatedly employed by managers because they do not wipe their bums without the boss telling them to do so.
The fact that Lee left Celtic surprised no one, but the real question is, why did Brendan employ a scout who was so ineffective for him at Celtic? It seems an incredulous appointment, but Lee got the Leicester gig because he did what he was told at Celtic to the satisfaction of Brendan.
Chief scouts who keep their jobs and are repeatedly re-employed by the same manager observe one rule: Let the boss control everything. I have heard this straight from one well-known chief scout, who suffered the odd period of negative publicity, while only privately despairing at his manager’s signing choices.
A chief scout acts as gatekeeper to the countless agents promoting undiscovered never-will-bes, while trying to convince an agent with a talent in demand that his club is the perfect platform for the next stage in the player’s development. It is a job of phone calls, video feeds and airports – so that the manager doesn’t have to. The manager, often inspired by his confident ability to produce Lazarus-type recoveries, will then allow everyone to marvel at his wisdom.
I have no idea if Lee Congerton is a good scout or not. I can tell you his knowledge of obscure European players was impressive and his analysis was consistent with other good analysis I checked, but the data is not complete. Judging him is a big like judging a striker on his goals tally without known his Expected Goals stat.
All we know for sure is that the outcome was not good enough for Celtic, but was good enough for Brendan to give him another job.
Auction ends tomorrow (Wednesday): Directors’ Box Champaign Reception for 4 v Hearts, 19 May
Celtic sponsor, Intelligent Car Leasing, have offered four tickets to the Directors’ Box on trophy presentation day at Celtic Park against Hearts on 19 May 2019.
Package includes champagne reception on arrival, four-course meal, seats in the Directors’ Box over the halfway line and complimentary bar both pre and post-match.
This is an opportunity for four people to experience a special day in Celtic’s history from the Directors’ Box. Tickets can be collected from Glasgow on Thursday 16th or Friday 17th.
All proceeds from this auction will go to Celtic FC Foundation. The Foundation support people living in poverty in Scotland, England, Ireland and in many of the world’s most impoverished countries. The provide support to people with Downs Syndrome, Autism and Dementia. They reach out to those excluded from many aspects of normal living with educational and social projects, often providing life-changing opportunities.
You can bid for the prize here on eBay.
Thanks for the fantastic help of Intelligent Car Leasing – again!
234 Comments- Pages:
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No agenda…but truth…even if it’s ugly….jist like yer wife…the last for creative purposes only ;-))
Flanagan added to Kent, MacLean, Menga and McKenna.
All given retrospective Red cards after games v us.
We are not paranoid enough
HH
Celtic need to challenge Fleming about why his officials cannot spot a red card offence when it is against Celtic, the rule that they miss the next game is useless and of no benefit to Celtic, I have lost count of the amount of these this season against Celtic, it is a pattern of that there is no doubt, Ryan Christie had facially injuries consistent with a car crash and the referee deems it a yellow card, no more of this blatant cheating by officials here, we get the snake Collum in the final remember Perth no penalties and Aberdeen 2 penalties and Thomson who failed to red card Ball for the butt on Christie.
THELURKINTIM:
Fair play to you fella. :)
Slaven Bilic is interested in the job according to the BBC.
It could be risky but a lot of fun..
In a half-full kind of way, the Ryan Chrisrie-like Lazarus prize for 2019/20 Celtic player could go to:
Shved – looks the business and will be a star.
Arzani – Convinced me after 15 minutes at Dundee. New Paddy Roberts.
Kouassi – There’s a player in there that needs nurtured.
Bayo – For purely being remotely possible header of the crosses nobody currently gets near to.
Future is bright…
JAMES FORREST on 14TH MAY 2019 4:40 PM
TIMALOY29′:
He speaks perfect English. The last club linked with him was Anderlecht, and he was interested, but the negotiations broke down. If we can’t top Anderlecht we’re in bother.
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Fair enough. Thanks for the info regarding his english. He certainly has the pedigree and credentials.
A quick google search has suggested he’s currently being linked with Real Betis. Though I cannot speak for the reliability of that.
“The (Sun) tweet – but not the article – maintained that Celtic and the Boys Club were one in the same.”
That is still going on.
Radio Scotland reporting the outcome of the McCafferty trial today, stated that the abuse occurred “during his time at Celtic and Celtic Boy’s Club”- it was a very clear linking.
The current BBC online report states-
“Jim McCafferty, 73, was a coach and kit man for the Celtic youth team who also worked for Celtic Boys Club.”
and later states “In relation to the latest charges, most of his victims played for youth teams he ran in North Lanarkshire.” ( but stating that 4 of his victims played for Celtic Boys Club and Celtic youth team without specifying whether they were under the Club’s direct care when abuse took place.)
It then goes on to state “He is the fourth man connected to either Celtic or Celtic Boys Club to be found guilty of historical child sex abuse in the past year.” The previous 3 they list (Torbett, King and Cairney are described in bold print as to their role in the boys’ club i.e. no mention of the senior club, despite the previous sentence linkeage .
Now, we all have different positions on this – my own is that we owe a duty of care to people affected by the actions of those whose tendencies were known and either, ignored or diminished by the Senior Club, Celtic, with whom there was an arms-length relationship to Celtic Boys Club in which we were not legally responsible but were morally culpable.
You can see that the public and press are not going to be impressed by the strict legal definitions, and there are many in the Press and Media quite willing to blur the lines and promote the ambiguities.
While I would support the club in going after the careless or malicious reporting, it would be better done in a climate where we held our hands up and said “While we had no legal obligations, we did not do enough at the time to act on these issues”.
I would see this done, even at the expense of having the funds to employ a big time manager.
A red card and a penalty changes the game
Flanagan two match ban from compliance officer.
The biggest threat to nine in a row remains the SFA referees
SFTB
We know where the agenda lies here and to be honest trying to point score over such heinous crimes is beyond contempt but unsurprising from the BBC. I concur with you that we as a club should act in the best moral instance.
!!BADA BING!! on 14TH MAY 2019 4:53 PM
A red card and a penalty changes the game
__
It wouldn’t be a penalty because the ball was out of play
Timaloy- not true,if a direct free kick is the offence inside penalty area,a penalty is the award.
….irrespective if the ball is in play or not
I’d add that it’s the Spanish press suggesting Cocu will take over at Betis once the season is over. Their final game of the season is this weekend. So we will see soon enough.
!!BADA BING!! on 14TH MAY 2019 5:02 PM
Timaloy- not true,if a direct free kick is the offence inside penalty area,a penalty is the award.
!!BADA BING!! on 14TH MAY 2019 5:03 PM
….irrespective if the ball is in play or not
___
My understanding is that it’s not a penalty if the balls out of play. Two sources below. I’ll need to have a look at the official rules later.
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/rangers/why-rangers-jon-flanagan-should-have-seen-red-for-elbow-on-scott-brown-but-no-penalty-for-celtic-1-4925799
https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl/scottish-premiership/should-rangers-star-jon-flanagan-16262812
TIMALOY29:
If true that’s a major blow. A real top drawer candidate there, but realistically we’re not going to compete with a La Liga team, and they are quite an ambitious club.
Gerrard, in his defence, has been ok so far at calling out the lack of discipline of his players and admitting he doesn’t know what to do to improve it. I doubt the thuggery is happening on his orders. For sure he wants them to be physical but I don’t think they are a particularly dirty team – nothing like Hearts or Aberdeen.
Their two main disciplinary issues, for me, are the random acts of violence and injury simulation/diving. The first, I think, has to be the fault of the individual players. No way is SG telling McGregor to kick out like that or for Morelos to get retaliation in first. The second, the coaching staff. They know most refs are bent so you might as well make the most of it.
TIMALOY29 on 14TH MAY 2019 4:26 PM
BIG GEORGES FAN CLUB – HAIL, HAIL, WEE OSCAR on 14TH MAY 2019 3:41 PM
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Celtic had spoken to Dembele from January but he wasn’t convinced to sign until he spoke to Brendan Rodgers. Credit where its due, BR convinced him to come and allegedly promised he could leave after two seasons.
I also heard a rumour that BR wanted Moussa Dembele to come with him to his next club. BR was already being courted by Leicester and China in the background. Hence Dembele’s comments on Rodgers being untrustworthy.
———————-
Cheers for the background – Dembele certainly kept up his assertion that he had been let-down / betrayed in some way by BR long after he left us – especially in that “see- I told you so” message when BR jumped-ship.
Thanks again.
HH
BGFC
Surely Clancy has seen the last of the top flight for an extended period? To have the compliance officer and discipline committee apply the laws of the game for you , doesn’t make you much of a referee.
Head butts? Elbows? The man is a danger to Celtic.
DENIABHOY
… The first, I think, has to be the fault of the individual players. No way is SG telling McGregor to kick out like that or for Morelos to get retaliation in first…
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Agree with that – McGregor and Morelos are thugs – McGregor has a long history, and appears this year to have completely lost the plot. Morelos – seems unhinged – was genuinely surprised that he managed to see out the game on Sunday without a red card.
HH
BGFC
Deniabhoy
No, don’t agree with you from players falling in the box faking elbows to blatant thuggery then trying to blame others, this is originating from the sidelines training ground and Gerrard is probably going job done.
Big Moussa will earn us another 5-10 million when he joins Man Utd :)
Bada Bing
The ball is in play , it was spotted for a corner – clear penalty – unless it is now legal to punch a player in the pen
It would have been a penalty at the other end for sure. Ref is looking right at it.
T29- The Scotsman…??
I was at Livingston a few years ago, McNamara got poleaxed in the box,ball was out for a shy or a corner, penalty. I think Henrik missed it….
CELTIC will pay a special tribute to Lisbon Lions, Billy McNeill and Stevie Chalmers, at this season’s Scottish Cup final, with the players wearing both the No.5 and the No.9 on their shorts for the two Celtic legends.
One number will be on the front left of the shorts, while the other will be on the back right, a reflection of the iconic way the Celtic players wore their numbers in the 1960s when Billy and Stevie wore the green and white Hoops with such distinction.
EKBhoy on 14th May 2019 5:21 pm
Bada Bing
The ball is in play , it was spotted for a corner – clear penalty – unless it is now legal to punch a player in the pen
####
The ball is out of play when it goes out for a corner and isn’t back in play till the corner is taken.
Celtic will have a parade through Glasgow if they can seal the Scottish Cup with victory over Hearts on May 25.
Glasgow City Council granted the club permission for the procession which, if the Hoops win, would leave Hampden Park on an open top bus at 6.15pm and include around 60 of the club’s players and staff.
The proposed route would then see Celtic travel along Cathcart Road, Cumberland Street, Crown Street, Saltmarket and the Gallowgate and Barrack Street.
SFTB…Thank you…I think…it was and is annoying me
Ernie- makes no difference, if a player is assaulted, INSIDE the box
yeah congerton’s record isn’t great
An b4 anyone accuses me of thinking…av scraped the barrel..gonna talk to my Doc…I’ve been spiralling…close to losing ma house…and other such
H.H.
THELURKINTIM
Prayers for you mate – worry is a terrible, debilitating thing, and can make anyone say things they wouldn’t normally.
Sending big cuddles to you from me and Wee BGFC.
Keep the Faith.
HH
BGFC
Does the play begin when the ball is kicked, or after the ref blows his whistle?
Thiat was a cry for help…cos I know I need it
TLT
Good luck, hope you find the help you might need