You didn’t need to see the evidence for yourself last night, but Cameron Carter-Vickers gave more evidence that he is an absolute rock of a defender. How we managed to sign him for £6m in June is remarkable.
Before Tottenham agreed on his loan to Celtic with an option to buy, the player spent four years loaned to six different English Championship clubs. He excelled at each, encouraging Spurs to keep a tight reign on him. It wasn’t until he turned 23 that they considered an exit price, without ever playing a competitive game for his parent club.
His profile is not that different to Dedryck Boyata. When Dedryck signed from Manchester City, he was a year older than Cameron when he arrived, but had played significantly less football. Consequentially, his first season in Glasgow was full of bomb scare moments. It took time for Celtic to turn him into a Belgium international. Cameron cut his teeth in a competitive Championship before arriving at Celtic.
I would not like to contemplate his departure anytime soon, but if you consider the £14m we got for Kristoffer Ajer and the £20m Ajax paid for Calvin Bassey, Cameron is a very valuable asset.
The challenge to our primacy in Scotland will be orchestrated by Michael “Mick” Beale, who was appointed Newco boss on Monday evening. He is a relatively safe pair of hands. Unlike most alternatives, he will not have to spend the next six months getting to know what is possible to squeeze out of this squad he has inherited.
As recently as last month, with QPR leading the Championship, he was unattainable by (then bottom of the EPL) Wolves and regarded as out of reach for Newco. A subsequent collapse in west London changed all that. “Mick” (we’ll see how long it takes before they’re calling him Ted) saw his challenge circling the plughole, QPR did their best to keep a straight face when asked about a possible approach for their manager. The move made sense for everyone.
There is a difference between being a coach and a manager. The latter has all the responsibility, the former has the luxury of being able to indulge in clever technical detail, without the need to pull a dressing room along with him. This quality was lacking at both Newco and QPR in recent weeks. Both clubs are likely to see an uptick in form as players attempt to impress their new bosses, although dead cats seldom soar for long.
No one believes Beale is a gamechanger. He is a known quantity, experienced in the most over-priced league structure in the world, who was part of a management regime at Ibrox which won only one trophy from nine, and that was tamely conceded to them.
There was rumours of a Portuguese candidate managing in Brazil. This echoed our reach for a Greek-Australian working in Japan, but Newco have walked this road before. Portuguese Pedro Caixinha was recruited from Qatar before being sacked a few hilarious months later. I expect this experience made the Newco board averse to a left-field candidate.
The reality is, it is impossibly hard to get a managerial appointment right. Even the biggest clubs in the world with the most experienced execs repeatedly get it wrong, so don’t think you, me, or Billy across the street has a font of wisdom on this subject. Nor does Douglas Park, though, as we will soon find out. Whatever Beale’s talents are, they will not touch the side of Newco’s structural problems.
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Luis Chavez has had 2 fantastic free kicks and he’s still with a Mexican club
If Wendy Craig had married Jack House , she would be
Wendy House.
If Isla St Claire had married Barry White divorced and married Bryan Ferry she might have been known as Isla White Ferry.
Maybe not
Another Mexico”goal” offside
If stevie nicks had married william shatner she would be known as syevie shatner nicks!
i’ll get me coat
stevie
Mexico have 3 minutes to get a deserved qualification
Poland have been playing with a flat back six.
GARYGILLESPIESHAMSTRING on 30TH NOVEMBER 2022 8:34 PM
Danny Murphy thinks Poland should be getting themselves more yellow cards.
Seems to think fewer yellow cards means they haven’t been trying hard enough.
Tosser.
—
Get more yellows says Murphy as Poland sit on the cusp of qualifying thanks to having fewer yellow cards than Mexico…
Instead- Saudis score
Saudi score.
Poland through.
Is there no end to this folly?
Real shame for Mexico- loads of energy- they were determined not to die wondering
Gon the polska
DD would be delighted
Leftclicktic
Aye indeed. Garry would have loved it.
Team v Aberdeen. Should be interesting.
More unfortunate wedded combinations
https://www.liveabout.com/funny-but-truly-unfortunate-wedding-name-combinations-1923766
VAR “is working”, insists Ian Maxwell, although the Scottish FA chief executive admits there are concerns over speed and communication.
The technology has been in place in the Premiership since 22 October.
Across those 30 matches, 19 penalties have been awarded, with 17 spot-kicks coming from the 63 previous top-flight games this season.
“It’s working,” Maxwell told BBC Scotland. “It’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing.”
He added: “We had a call with Premiership managers and chief executives yesterday and showed them the statistics, showed them the improvement that it’s having in terms of decisions.
“What we are actually finding is that we are spending more time talking about less wrong decisions than we had before VAR.
“I understand that it’s been a high-profile introduction and it was always going to take time to settle in, as it has in every country it’s been implemented in. The challenges we are facing are no different to anybody else.
“We’ve seen at the World Cup a number of decisions that have been questionable and the referees using it have been doing so for a lot longer than we have.”
Several managers have complained about lengthy pauses as video footage is assessed, while supporters are often left in the dark about the nature of reviews.
“I would disagree that they [fans] don’t think it’s working” Maxwell said when asked about those criticisms. “I’d say they have issues potentially with the time it takes, potentially with the communication opportunities we’ve got within inside the stadiums – and those are challenges we need to face.
“But when you take a step back and look at the number of decisions that are made pre-VAR, the number of decisions we’re getting right now, that statistic has increased in line with the standard that we’ve seen across the globe.
“We’ve not done this on the cheap. Clubs have invested significant money and we are comparable with the vast majority of leagues across the world.
“We have a gold standard set-up. The difference is we don’t have as high a number of cameras as a World Cup has [a minimum of six compared to 15-18], but the Hawkeye technology is the same all over the world, the software is the same, the hardware is the same.
“Fans will get used to it and players will as well.”
Good read, sorry if posted before.
https://keepup.com.au/news/the-inside-story-of-ange-postecoglous-celtic-move-and-why-they-wanted-him
Not a wedding name story but the lead singer of The Seekers was born as Judith Cock. When she was destined for a professional singing career she was told “you can’t use that name”
“But I like Judith” she replied.
Further to the conversations earlier.
I see Celtic are putting on a free shuttle bus service from Airdrie train station to the Excelsior Stadium on Sunday for the Ladies game.
Well done to all concerned, but we should have our own facility at our spiritual home.
COYGIG.
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 30TH NOVEMBER 2022 8:19 PM
If Beyoncé Knowles had married Roy Castle … she would be Beyoncé Castle.
……………………………………………….
:0
:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Poland a dreadful fitba team.
2 Decent players; Goalie and striker.
The rest…………………. terrible and do not deserve to go through.
Mexico are very unlucky.
im not too sure there are many hard luck stories in a group stage where you play 3 games
mexico had a goal difference of -1 after their games
so i dont get why they are unlucky
try score more goals
Given the recent issues with the multi monikered posters, it seems apt that BBC4 is showing re-runs of
“The Singing Detective” tonight.
Maxwell is another Masonic placeman, lauded by our former CEO….
If Penny Lancaster married Jimmy Choo…..?
Good night all from the Queens Park Cafe. Sleep tight ya rascals. 😴
AN TEARMANN on 30TH NOVEMBER 2022 1:17 PM
Thanks for your reply. I’m with you, I’d prefer it was dropped altogether.
HAIRLIKESPAGHETTI…
I was more trying to understand the apparent glee from throwing it in the huns face they employ a guy called Mick. An Tearmann and a couple of others tried to help me on that one.
You thought I – and others – were just having a pop at Celtic fans. I wasn’t.
But I hoped we were better than that kind of lowbrow pesh.
——
Smashing result for all us Aussies. The football backwater according to many meeja and non-meeja types in bonnie Scotch land.
PS, I missed the transfer window move of the Madster to SC.
Loan deal or permanent deal; what was the fee ?
Usual sites are now saying that Giakoumakis is leaving in January
SFTB
Hope not , he is our best striker HH
SFTB- South Korea striker linked as a replacement….not Bang Wan Inn unfortunately…
South Korea standout Cho Gue-sung is reportedly a transfer target for Premiership champions Celtic.
A quick look at a headline on Newsnow made me chuckle.
It was from the hootsman.
Three Australian players praised in headline.
As is obligatory – the Celtic connection is always mentioned last … Mooy’s name appearing after that of a guy who doesn’t even play in Scotland.
Absolutely pathetic behaviour.
Quick look at circulation figures is instructive.
The rag in question is now down below 9,000 paid copies on average per day.
That is not a typo folks.
Less than 9,000.
PS – the daily R***** ?
Less than 65,000.
Tick tock.
Bada Bing
As long as he isn’t Jist Wan Fit.
Bada
You’ll notice a wee upswing hunsRbrullllyint CelllicRshoit narrative with the return of the prodigal orange slicer :-)
———
Glad the Saudis got the goal,feels better than going through on least yellows.
HH