When Mika Baur signed last month none of us expected him to be a prime source of goals, but his two goals in the last +6 hours action are the only occasions Celtic have scored in that period. That form has probably only reinforced the impression Germany manager Jurgen Klopp had of the player from his time in Bundesliga 2 last season. Mika is in the squad for the game against Serbia in Munich on Thursday.
Winning his first senior cap would be a huge achievement for a player who only turned 22 over the summer. It would also be a critical endorsement of Celtic. Attracting talented young footballers is a difficult task. We can tempt them with the prospect of Champions League football, but that might not be as convincing an argument as it once was. ‘Celtic players are on the Germany manager’s radar’ is a solid endorsement.
The word ‘pathway’ is used to describe the way a club promotes young players to the first team. The pathway to the national team, be it Germany, or Columbia, for whom Camilo Duran made his first appearance on the bench on Saturday, is just as important to a player in his 20s.
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Hola ?
Greetings
Just the two of us
I am guessing Baur will look a lot better once he is part of a proper, settled midfield and not the current set up which is a shambolic mess.
While being a pathway to International caps may ostensibly us lure young assets to Celtic Park, most of us would prefer the ‘Yer defo gonny be playing in the Champs League’ as a more attractive metric.
But no; wur suits continue to gamble that we might just have enough in the squad for the Champs League quallies (which we too often don’t win) with the Europa as a meagre compensation (where we also struggle to get anywhere near as far as the Ugly Sisters did a few years back). Where are our club ambitions ?
Meanwhile in Brisbane right now, a workaday Socceroos squad are 2-2 with Brazil with no more than an organised and competitive formation with ex-Celt, Jackson Irvine a workhorse in the centre of midfield.
At 33, Irvine could be an Aaron Mooy like calm head and grafter for our mercurial midfield line-up.
i think the biggest hinderence to us signing players we want isnt the lack of champions league football.
its the almost certain guarantee that if you sign for celtic you are very likely to have a medium to long term injury within 6 months.
Our prospects of Champions League football would be far better if the absolute useless shower that represents our club at board level actually gave a f**k.
omg jackson irvine youvee got to bee joking
What a few months he’s had, great experience for a 22 year old, a crash course in dealing with pressure and now three weeks with one of the best managers and training with the best midfielders.
With Benjamin getting a start and scoring for Sweden we should have at least two of our midfielders coming back with smiles on their faces which will help.
QUADROPHENIAN on 29TH SEPTEMBER 2026 12:10 PM
While being a pathway to International caps may ostensibly us lure young assets to Celtic Park, most of us would prefer the ‘Yer defo gonny be playing in the Champs League’ as a more attractive metric.
We would, but nobody can say that unless we sign them after the qualifiers which most of us wouldn’t prefer.
I want every player to win games for us personal development is secondary.
How many of that Hungary team played for ferencvaros who gubbed us but couldn’t win in Belfast?
That was my point.
Why are we not better equipped for the quallies? When we’re so abundantly solvent.
Why the ‘strategy’ to buy late; late enough so that we’re usually trying to make up for fluffing our Champs League lines?
Just stock the armoury in ways that virtually guarantee we’ll get to the CL from the quallies.
‘
PS: The Socceroos are standing up strong. The Brazilian play acting is a joke!
We aren’t even fit to get about the park, that is disgraceful from the fitness conditioning staff.
You mention Baur and Duran, but don’t forget about Colby Donovan who was called up by Scotland.
He’s done well since coming in for the injured AJ and has been probably our most consistent performer of late.
QUADROPHENIAN on 29TH SEPTEMBER 2026 12:41 PM
That was my point.
You’ve answered your own point.
By your logic the best players want to play CL football so they’ll wait until its guaranteed and go elsewhere when they wont get it.
The answer is in the article. Sign young players who we can turn into our best players, they’ll be in the door and fully integrated into the team by the time the summer window starts and the qualifiers come around.
Development isn’t linear, not every player we sign will get an International call up and will be a guaranteed first team starter after three months but if we can get enough through the door and into the first team set up we wont be so desperate for the sort of player who’ll instantly contribute in a qualifier and who will come without a guarantee of CL football.
Baur shoud be a key player next August, we need more of him
The word ‘pathway’ is used to describe the way a club promotes young players to the first team. The pathway to the national team, be it Germany, or Columbia, for whom Camilo Duran made his first appearance on the bench on Saturday, is just as important to a player in his 20s.
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The pathway doesnt really exist.
Celtic fans have no tolerance to let players develop over a time if it means dropping points or losing games.
Look at the hysterical over-reactions to getting beat by something called the Rangers.
Colby is only playing because AJ is injured. Read KTs account of how luck played a huge part in him actually getting the chance to play.
I did raise an eyebrow at some bloggers claiming Stephen Walsh didnt get a chance. Ignoring how often he was the whipping bhoy when he actually played.
His highlight for Celtic was scoring against the huns while playing for Motherwell, I need to find out did he get a league winners medal for last season ?
Same as Yang, our most consistent performer before he went away.
Its the long game but its a necessity if we’re to compete in the future.
https://x.com/Zeshankenzo/status/2104515041215361398
Has anything like this ever happened before McCoist is asked.
Listen to his answer which suggest it has, but not to same scale.
A bit like saying ” she is a wee bit pregnant”
Good luck to Mika on Thursday.
Already I think he looks a very tidy midfielder.
Not a world beater but, as mentioned by an earlier poster, has the potential to be a valuable cog in an effectively functioning midfield.
Promising.
Was glad to see Kasper get even just a few minutes at the weekend.
Sometimes, a change is as good as a rest.
Saint Stivs on 29th September 2026 1:02 pm
How dare you. The Celtic support are infallible.
Down with that self examination sort of thing.
“We can tempt them with the prospect of Champions League football, but that might not be as convincing an argument as it once was.”
Hard to believe when we’ve got World Class administrators pleading our case. 😜
SAINT STIVS on 29TH SEPTEMBER 2026 1:02 PM
“Colby is only playing because AJ is injured. Read KTs account of how luck played a huge part in him actually getting the chance to play.”
Yang was written off and was being sold last Summer and was only kept because we count find a replacement. God knows what we would have ended up with if we had. Now the team doesn’t seem to be able to function properly without him.
now aaron mooy what a player
dessybhoy on 29th September 2026 12:38 pm
How many of that Hungary team played for ferencvaros who gubbed us but couldn’t win in Belfast?
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It would seem that the answer is one: Attila Osváth. Most of the players who played for Hungary play for Liverpool, RB Leipzig and Union Berlin among others.
Nygren does not play in midfield for Sweden. He plays as part of the front two in a 442 formation.
I get the complaints about recruitment, we’ve been over that a million times. But it’s not all been terrible. We have a young guy who is possibly about to make a Germany debut, Nygren scoring for Sweden, Duran called up for Colombia, Mheuka looking terrific for England v France U20s etc. Yes there are gaps we’ve all discussed, but with a bit of hard work and restructuring our playing system to suit the teams we play against we can work around this – if McInnes can… etc.
We have at least some of the parts for an iphone 18 being managed by a someone who is more comfortable with a nokia brick – he never stops telling the world about that. And yet no news for over a week since he fatally undermined his own position. Another mess.
From the Article
” We can tempt them with the prospect of Champions League football, but that might not be as convincing an argument as it once was”
Pains me to say it but that , while accurate, is a hell of an understatement.
We haven’t qualified – other than automatically which isn’t coming back any time soon – for 9 years.
Most young players will still have been at school when it last happened…
We haven’t qualified – other than automatically which isn’t coming back any time soon – for 9 years.
………………….
Can I ask, how many times in the 9 years have we failed to qualify?
Auldheid on 29th September 2026 1:08 pm
https://x.com/Zeshankenzo/status/2104515041215361398
Has anything like this ever happened before McCoist is asked.
Listen to his answer which suggest it has, but not to same scale.
A bit like saying ” she is a wee bit pregnant”
——–
May I be the first to resurrect the old “Cognitive Dissonance” accusation, a favourite round these parts a while back?
He can’t help himself – utterly incapable of saying anything remotely negative about ‘Ra ‘Rangers
Joes 11
according to AI – no reason to doubt it – 6 times
These are the seasons where Celtic entered Champions League qualifying and were eliminated before reaching the group stage:
2018/19 – Lost to AEK Athens (3rd qualifying round)
2019/20 – Lost to CFR Cluj (3rd qualifying round)
2020/21 – Lost to Ferencváros (2nd qualifying round)
2021/22 – Lost to Midtjylland (2nd qualifying round)
2025/26 – Lost to Kairat Almaty (play‑off round)
2026/27 – Lost to LASK (play‑off round)
TLWiO
Thank you. That is a very poor record.
VALE BHOY on 29TH SEPTEMBER 2026 1:34 PM
Nygren does not play in midfield for Sweden. He plays as part of the front two in a 442 formation.
He does sometimes, it depends on how they are lined up. Potter changes formation a lot.
He wouldnt have played last night if Isak was fit, he’s behind the four they play in midfield, maybe he would play there if he didnt have better centre mids ahead of him.
Without watching the game I couldn’t say whether he was a success, his goal was a tap in from a corner, but perhaps it’s something we should be looking at.
Good for Celtic for him to come with a goal under his belt though, no matter where he was playing.
joes11 on 29th September 2026 2:15 pm
Yep – 6 years we could have been seeing Europe and maybe the world’s best players with our own eyes.
Leaving that aside and looking at it from purely a monetary standpoint I’m not sure what the net financial benefits of CL qualification are ( allowing for any Europa League money to offset the lost CL income and that the figures bandied about each season seem to swing from about £20m to twice that) but as a conservative estimate that would appear to be at least £120m in lost revenue.
That’s a staggering amount – and it may well be a lot more.
Its not a recent phenomenon – we’ve failed to qualify 15 times out of 18 in the last thirty years
Probably only Arsenal would have been favourites to beat us.
We beat Helsingborg, and scraped past Shaktar Kharangdy and Hapoel Be’er Sheva by a goal on aggregate.
Chat GTP missed Astana in 2017/2018 for some reason.