You have only to cast your mind back 8 months, as Celtic tried to convince Ryan Christie to sign a new contract, to know the threats posed by teams in the English Championship to a Scottish club trying to retain their players.
Hard cash is required and not just for the one player you are trying to convince to re-sign, there is an entire wage structure to consider. There are a multitude of reasons Newco needed to beat Celtic on Sunday, but for their players, no issue is more important than who they sign their next contract with.
Three of their starting line-up against Celtic are going into the final year of their contract: Kent, Aribo and Jack, as is substitute Arfield, unused sub Helander and injured Morelos. A further three of the starting line-up are out of contract next month: Goldson, Balogun and McGregor, along with loanee Ramsey and unused sub Davis.
McGregor (40) and Davis (37) will almost certainly retire. Balogun (33) is likely to accept any contract. Goldson has made it clear he will leave next month, while the other six will look for improved contracts or be prepared to run the clock down on their time at Ibrox.
Champions League qualification would resolve all these problems. Instead, they face a rebuild. This is not impossible. Between Edouard, Ajer, Christie and Frimpong, Celtic raised over £40m, money which filled the cashflow gap with enough left over to buy a title winning squad.
Newco are trading at a substantial deficit, money raised from the sale of Patterson and departure of their management team will go some way towards this, but there is unlikely to be anything left over to build a squad with. They either sell at the top of the market and buy incredibly well, or downsize. Or, of course, just keep spending until an ‘event’ happens, like Oldco.
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Why, hello Wednesday! Great to see you again. All downhill now.
One down… two to go
Well played apple👏👏👏👏
https://twitter.com/collectcelticfc/status/1511397055549300743?s=24&t=ayTSB6uRuSNYAvq3HkLn_g
DD and Tiger
Talking of Christie, i think we get a couple of million if Bournemouth get promoted
Paul67
Hope you’re not tempting fate
PRESTONPANS BHOYS
The early bird……
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Sounds like “newco” are in a bit of a mess then. All the more reason (if any was needed) to completely ignore what is happening there and create our own vision and ambitions.
What would Roger Federer have achieved in tennis if all he had wanted to do was be a bit better than the next best guy in Basle? Or if one of his advisors had told him not to bother trying to compete against better players because it would be ‘too difficult ‘?
Thanks Paul and points well made.
Wonder kid Diallo also disappears in May 22. You may have forgotten they had him!
Just one wee correction – Arfield’s contract is also up in May 22 and he will be 34 in November. I suspect he will sign again for any money, being culturally conditioned to do so.
!!BADA BING!! on 6TH APRIL 2022 12:06 PM
Talking of Christie, i think we get a couple of million if Bournemouth get promoted
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That’s a wee bonus, they are looking odds on to get there too, well ahead in second place with 3 games in hand over 3rd placed team.
Their 3 most marketable assets – Aribo, Kent and Morelos are currently 25 years old and have 1 year left.
Their next contact is potentially the “big one”. Even bigger with a juicy signing on fee with minimal / no fee to TRFC.
It’s a massive bind they are in, in terms of squad management, for sure.
Changing attitudes within the support — the “youth” of today …
The growing viewpoint — in response to a general degradation in the behaviour of the support both at home and away — that if the TFOD2.1 mentalist wing can get away with it then so should they.
Was such a viewpoint ever open-ended and after Sunday is it still open ended?
Not a great place to be with the huge rise in identity politics and the mainstreaming of the coked up zoomer vibe and the huge change that allowed general anti-social behaviour to be accepted — Thatcher’s children are now too old and insecure to call out the wallopers in the young team as more than once they did back in the day.
So hopefully all the shenanigans of the TFOD2.1 mentalist / not so mentalist wing with their cod hard men acts and their bottle throwing will mean that attitudes change within us.
First up for a chasing would be the “The Fa**ies” and their monogrammed sweatshirts and their desire to fight pensioners with plastic chairs — they are beyond parody and need to be reminded of their absurdity on a regular basis.
Then it would be the turn of the coked up zoomers / buckie bhoys / wee ersewipes to be shown the door — they are attention seeking wallopers who try stuff on at P/head that they won’t be allowed to do in the house.
And that includes ridding the songbook of its fascistic overtures — no more Sean South worshipping — and ridding the songbook of the omnipresent militaristic / commando comic vibe that goes against the ethos of the club.
And then you get the bigotry and the triumphalism that sounds more and more like green hunnery rather than support for the team.
Sunday was a wake up call for them and us.
Agreed Paul..they were “all in” for this season.
Warch out for Dave king playing a huge role in picking over the bones
We have been saying “Newco are in trouble” for years and they still manage to ” pull rabbits out of assorted hats”. We’ve now beaten them twice on the park – that’s where our focus should lie unless they are doing something illegal.
I’m not interested in their ‘ducking & diving’. There will always be a *Rangers, in one form, or, another – we just have to beat them.
MADMITCH @ 12:31
——
I agree 100% with your post – so too should the vast majority of the support.
They don’t hand out titles on the 6th., of April. This league has still to be won, and why oh why is a Celtic website writing copy about a team that we’re “not half of”, tells its own story that does, por cierto.
UK establishment now firmly Tory led with the BBC is full voice — huge much needed fanfare about the violence being perpetrated against the civilian population of Ukraine by the Russian military.
All a bit scripted / all a bit “griddy” / all a bit focused — worse went on in Libya / Sirte but it never got mentioned as it went against the narrative in play.
Then you have Yemen — civil war with outside help fighting a proxy war.
Plus the smaller but ongoing issue of some elements of the IDF carrying out target practice in Gaza / West Bank — which leads me onto the biggest local issue.
Military violence against civilians — in the main unarmed — in the Ukraine highlighted / shouted from the rooftops.
Military violence in the 6 counties against legally proven unarmed civilians — every effort now in play to make it disappear.
Not good — and hopefully they will be reminded about this rampant hypocrisy.
All true Paul.
Just as missing the ten hollowed out our squad – remember how thin our line-ups were at season’s start ?
Unless you have an oligarchic or sultanate sugar daddy, peaks and troughs is the way.
And it’s their turn – again.
If they get to Champs League via the Euro route, predictions of their demise will be premature.
Me – and others – have commented how there’s a near systemic approach to keeping the blue corpse alive. Mystery donations, offshore contributions, odd bit of player trading.
I’d love to be at their funeral service.
Just as happy to be regularly pulling the plug out the life support machine as we just did on the weekend.
Meanwhile in worse news; my O55 season has derailed in the last training session before Sat’s first game.
Ironically, a QUAD strain !!
What was the most difficult of the two games.
The Tony Macroni
Grayskull.
Both gave us three points, but one game prompted parties all over the place.
I have seen street parties in Scotland, England, Ireland, Spain, Turkey, USA, NZ, Australia, South Africa, Norway.
That is the list I have witnessed on social media no doubt there will be more.
We not be half of anything but we sue as hel@ like to win a Glasgow derby.
HH, we never stop and the journey continues
ST in the main stand gone up to £707.00 Senior Ticket £404.00
Great view but very little else for that money. I’ll still renew, that’s not the problem. The lack of actively trying to make things better, ie larger TVs above our seats, is the problem. The last time I asked I was told that they needed to be watertight and they couldn’t do that, I asked how they made the ones that are there now watertight or the large screens at each end never ever did get an answer :)), por cierto.
JHB on 6TH APRIL 2022 12:35 PM
There will always be a *Rangers, in one form, or, another – we just have to beat them.
You are right of course , I have long since given up on the fanciful idea that they might disappear altogether .
I would now settle for them being so weakened that they would languish forever in the lower divisions . I might not even object object to meeting them in the odd cup competition so that we could run up a 7-1 type score.
Jhb
No rabbits – just confetti share issues
My fone may have a mind of its own, but it canny spell.
Hollow, Hollow. Wasn’t aware of their squad situation. Pleasant reading indeed.
On the downside, just I manage to find a dark corner of my mind to park the horrors of last season you go and mention Shop Window Christie.
Please stop.
Newclub had a clear strategy to buy experienced and physically tough players to stop the 10. They succeeded in that aim but don’t seem to have many youths ready to step up yet and don’t have players in the saleable sweet spot in terms of age and proven ability other than Morelos and Kent.
I can’t see Morelos ending up in England, maybe a lowly Serie A team
Kent would suit the English style and a Burnley or Brighton may take a punt
Madhun for SC Semi final
Bada
Never in doubt – either him or beaton
Gene
I hope the Vale Directors etc are aware of how many Celtic supporters now take an interest in their team because of you !
It was all of these considerations that made me so nervous about Sunday. The Idea they might be rewarded for unapologetic financial doping the sequel, sickened me.
As you describe it, they have no margin for error in their rebuild. Then you add in:
– SDIR settlement
– Sydney Cup penalty
– Reduced transfer receipts for guys near the end of their contacts (as per Christie)
– Celtic being financially strengthened relative to them
They’ve got their work cut out. Lovely.
Bada
I have noted in the past that our players seem to get on quite well with Madden.
Interesting set of facts presented Pablo
If you believe the hype (I don’t but give me some rope) …
…. Their most valuable assets are Kent, Aribo and Morelos.
If not sold in August, their value reduces significantly.
Time bomb stuff.
One of the reasons I like CQN so much is the almost casual way one can acquire knowledge (from Paul’s leaders and the subsequent contributions).
In this instance I previously thought Balogun was young and bang average?
I now know he is old and bang average.
Added to this is the perplexing problem for sevco and their players as to why no one seems interested in them. We know from experience in the Scottish league if you have a genuinely good player on your hands you’ll be lucky to keep them out of the influence of scouts and agents beyond 2 seasons. Dembele, van Dijk and Wanyama were all well scouted and poached for considerable fees after 2 seasons. Tierney, Ajer and Edouard all managed 4 seasons but with varying extenuating circumstances (Ajer was a prospect and spent his first season out on loan, Tierney was a youth prospect, and Edouard’s first season was a loan).
In contrast, Aribo is currently in his third season at sevco; Goldson, Kamara and Barisic are all in their fourth, Kent his fifth, and Tavernier has seen the best years of his career go by at 30 and now in his seventh year. In fact the only player who has left for any (allegedly) considerable fee is a youth player, who external parties managed to scout extensively without much first team action. If anything this last fact demonstrates that EPL clubs are willing to consider sevco players, and having done so for whatever reason have declined to make any moves.
What this amounts to is a squad coming to the realisation that playing for sevco is not the springboard to the next footballing and earnings level they were hoping for, and the best they can probably achieve now is to run down their contract and earn a decent salary as a free transfer (eg. Goldson). From a footballing perspective, we need look no further than last season to see what effect this can have on the motivation and application of a squad of players.
GDT – I think they could easily disappear if it ever dawns on their thick fans that they have a one in ten chance of winning a league. They are built on a triumphalist superiority complex that has no foundations.
Even the title they won last year was gifted to them by Celtic imploding on an unfashionable scale, something we’ll hopefully never see for a very long time (if ever).
Ugh, reminding myself of last season again. I’m away to lie down.
My friends in Celtic,
Our season tickets are not cheap. For many, especially families it is a major commitment. Generally our disposable income is the lowest for decades and we have the highest tax burden since WW2.
However we will still sell circa 53 k for season 22 /23.
We have many families at Parkhead these days, we promote ourselves as a family club and we like to stress we are a club for all. The environment has changed, for woman and children it is a safe day out.
We know the 700 neanderthals will cause mayhem. They are incapable of acting like normal human beings.
So why invite them.?
Why jeopardise the safe environment of the families who have taken our ticket sales to record levels. ?
There is no conceivable, coherent argument to invite them to our home.
HH, we never stop.
“The Rangers” the Leicester City of season 2020/21, por cierto
What happens in Braga tomorrow night will give an insight into the collective Ibrox psyche. As P67 says, many of them will be focusing on their next contract, not in a Castore shirt. Judging by a couple of callers to SSB last night, their support have also been kicked in the guts by Sunday’s result. Will they sell all season books for 22/23 ? Questionable I would guess. Having “jurnyed” from Brechin hedges to a we-stopped-the-10 season, and now possibly facing another few years in our rear view mirror, that would make for one disgruntled bear. Enough to want to attack CCV on the Ibrox pitch. That is one crazy bear. And there are lots more of them.
As a few on here have already mentioned, Celtic should focus on being the very best we can be. Recruitment has been the key this season, from the manager to the pitch. Get it wrong and we could have another 20/21 season. Don’t get too triumphant before the silver has been collected, or too far ahead of ourselves. KT was not here for the 10, Brendan was not here for the 10. Hopefully, Ange enjoys living and working here and can get something good going in Europe again.
You’d imagine that at this stage, Kent, Morelos and Aribi will be away, very soon.
I can’t think of any Celtic player in recent years that allowed his contract to tick down to a year and then committed long term to us – Stuart Armstrong signed for another year and was sold the following summer, everyone else except Boyota was sold.
Boyota was our costly miscalculation and thankfully our only major asset that walked for free. They face a difficult summer with these guys able to listen to precontracts from the end of December, it would a real shame if any of them did a John Souttar…