Alexandro Bernabei (24) joined Brazilian side Internacional yesterday for a fee in the region of £4m, providing a small profit on the fee we paid Lanus for him 2.5 years ago, although there a sell-on clause is likely to consume that.
Not every player will work out at Celtic, but ensuring those who do not make the cut leave at a fee consistent with what we paid for them is a critical part of squad management. The Americas have been good to us in this respect, with Giorgos Giakoumakis and Patryk Klimala both heading over the Atlantic for a higher ticket price then they arrived with. Giorgos only spent a year at Atlanta before the MLS side doubled their money when the striker went to Mexico.
There is a fair chance we will bring in a left back with a different profile from Alex this month. If so, the returning son will be celebrated as befits the best left back we have seen in 50 years. There are, however, strategic worries.
Signing players at their peak, when their value has already topped out, is a short-term play. It all you are interested in is this season, or next, you will be happy with this route. You and I are here for the long haul, though. We know how hard Celtic need to work to compete in the Champions League every year and what we need to do to stay ahead in Scotland.
I want to see a Celtic team full of Nicolas Kuhn and Arne Engels-types. Players we have worked hard to find and can bring to Scotland before their profile has reached critical levels. We will not keep many of them for long, but that will only make it easier to attract the best talent next time.
We have talked about Brighton owner and savant Tony Bloom a few times. On Sunday, Brighton won away at Manchester United for the third season running. They had three different managers for those wins and (including subs) used 33 different players.
Brighton are ruthlessly dedicated to plan. Bloom sets the strategy and the managers accept it or move on. Abundant transfer profits are ploughed into ever-improving scouting, higher wages and transfer budget. By contrast, we have a more short-term outlook. It will deliver domistically, for a while, anyway. Others will make more progress.
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An Dun I totally agree. I’m delighted that’s we are still in control and not reliant on others at this stage. However not taking all 3 points tonight would be a bit of a disaster, any decent performance with no stupid mistakes should see us through.
On the Saturday 27th June 1931 , Celts travelled up to Toronto to play Ulster United and secured a win (1-3)
Celtics opponents were the Toronto Ulster United but since they were enhanced by 5 players from The Toronto Scottish –including Billy Somers, the son of a famous Scottish international (could this have been Peter Somers?), and Davie Weir who had played for Glasgow Rangers before coming to Canada, also were described as United but might have also been referred to as Toronto Ulster/Scottish.
Here is the trophy from that tour.
https://sentinelcelts.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/292-755×1024.jpg
Huge night and great opportunity for us. We must win.
Really objectively we will never have an easier set of opponents than this. We really should set ourselves up for a strong qualification from such a group.
Domestically
Villa 8th
Leipzig 5th
Atalanta 3rd
Young Boys 9th
Zagreb 3rd
Dortmund 10th
Brugge 2nd
Only Slovan top their home league.
This is our time and chance. 2 wins from the next 2 games would make up for failure in Zagreb.
From memory we’ve drawn two games at home this season (Aberdeen and Bruges) and won all the others?
And we are 2-1-0 at home in the Champions League.
Very impressive. Credit to the group.
Lots to be positive about for tonight.
B78 – I hear you and accept the data but I don’t subscribe to the “easy” headline.
This has been pushed since matchday 1.
“Celtic have the statistically easiest set of fixtures of all 36 clubs” was the cry.
Based on what statistics? Coefficients.
It’s a far more complicated picture.
Balancing domestic and CL schedules has become a bigger deal and much harder.
Narratives are subjective
“Celtic thrashed by mid-table Bundesliga side”
OR
“Celtic beaten by Champions League Runners up”
“Celtic escape with a lucky draw against out of sorts Italians”
OR
“Celtic secure impressive point against Europa League Champions”
“Celtic finish easy campaign against coefficient lowly Villa”
OR
“Celtic face an in form Villa who much fancied Arsenal couldn’t beat at home recently”
Shock news ! …….Scottish red top talks up Swiss team in order to undermine Scottish team !
A few mentions of Dinamo Zagreb this morning, which is fitting.
Put simply, if Celtic beat YB tonight and Zagreb lose away to Arsenal, then Celtic are guaranteed a play-off spot.
Zagreb would need at least a draw tonight to take it to a last match decider, but with a GD 5 worse than Celtic’s
(oops, hit “post” by mistake)
…Celtic’s destiny is most definitely in their own hands.
Just win tonight, even if only by a scrappy last minute goal.
Great signing by Brendan as Kasper puts pen to paper for another year.👍
Burnley78, but what were our opponents’ league positions at the time we played them?
Dortmund might be 10th now, but I’m pretty sure they were 3rd or 4th when they played us. They were in much better form when they played us than they are currently.
Getting excited now! 3 points please bhoys.
2-0
Maeda and Kyogo 🤞🏼
Bigchips,
I’m pretty sure at the time reading on here that Dortmund were not playing well and had lost a couple of games against lowly opposition just prior to playing us.
–
I am so looking forward to the match tonight, especially as I have missed most home games for the last 3 months due to a chest infection and then an operation which went well. I have never missed so many games in that length of period in my life. What a night to be able to return.
Remember only Slovan was seeded below us in this group. “Disappointing” draws with Dynamo and Brugge were against higher seeded teams, significantly so in the case of Brugge. Yes, we could have maybe got a win out of one or both of these but, equally, we could have repeated past habits of losing a late goal to leave is with nothing.
However tonight 3 points are a must and we need to take risks late in the game if we are not in a winning position.
Kyle Vassell states what Celtic fans were doing in the stands during win v Kilmarnock
Wed 22 January 2025 09:30
Amir Mir
Celtic fans ‘hammering’ players during Scottish Cup win
It wasn’t so long ago that Brendan Rodgers was critical of the Celtic fans for getting restless during the win over St Mirren.
Just before McGregor scored, Vassell stated that the Parkhead faithful were ‘hammering’ the players from the stands.
On paper and stastictics will show an away draw in Zagreb was a very commendable result.
But having watched the game i feel we could have got all three points.
I realise we had our game plan and it worked. However we must react dynamically and an unexpected opportunity was there.
To me it was an opportunity missed.
Anyway. On we go.
COYBIG
HH.
Some noise this morning that we’ll be priced out of the Louie Barry auction.
My gut reaction? Good.
With their penchant for cooking the FSR books, English Premier League clubs are increasingly looking for silly money for boys who’ve never troubled the first team squad.
No sour grapes here.
I’ve no doubt there is a reservoir of value in the EPL youth ranks … but, unless out of contract (which clubs studiously avoid happening) … we can’t afford the asking price.
Value needs to be sought elsewhere .. including Scandinavian clubs.
Meanwhile, Kasper Schmeichel has paid tribute to Brendan Rodgers after extending his Celtic contract until 2026. The 38-year-old has been a smash-hit since replacing Joe Hart in the summer. He said: “I am really happy to extend my contract with the club. I have had a great welcome and have loved every minute so far at Celtic and I am really looking forward to the next period at such a great football club.
“We have already enjoyed success this season and everyone at the club is focused on delivering more. It has been great to be working again with the gaffer and to be part of such a brilliant dressing room, and I wanted to be a part of this going forward. As ever, we are all really together and fully focused on bringing our fans as much success as we can.”
With no connection whatsoever to aforementioned sour grapes ….
Kyle Vassell works for Derek McInnes.
“I thought we had them”
You keep thinking that mate, and keep plugging that line to your DR place man.
We’ll keep winning matches and trophies.
Speaking of which – data centres are commonplace now.
Organisations can save money and hassle by using a centralised facility provided by a 3rd party which looks after their needs and those of other clients.
I wonder if football clubs could save a bob or two by consolidating individual trophy rooms into a single central off site facility?
Surely Kilmarnock and Brighton would be interested?
I think I’ve found the perfect site to host such, with loads of capacity to meet their needs.
A disused public telephone box in Bradford.
Ange’s group that had Liepzig and Shaktar was an easier route to CL knock out than this year’s set of games. We finished bottom under Ange. A win tonight is progress.
Burnley78
WGS team that beat Man U to qualify for the CL knockout stages in 2006 was not a team filled with young prospects .
It was mostly filled with experienced seasoned pro’s .
None of which were bought as prospects and were developed into better players by WGS ,then sold for multi millions.
With the possible exception of Boruc.
Boruc ,Telfer ,Balde ,McManus,Naylor,
Nakamura,Lennon,Sno,Jarosik,Zurawski,JVH.
Were the 11 than finished the match.
WGS did well for us ,but the strategy was not one of finding an unknown golden nugget,developing them ,and then selling them on .
TT
BELFAST JOE
If you are about, I just want to say thank you for the Celtic books and videos! Your gift though, is still behind the desk in Reception?
Back to Basics – Glass Half Full on 22nd January 2025 11:42 am
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Excellent post.
HH
TINYTIM
CQN has entered the modern world of alternative facts recently.
Re transfers etc.
Watched the Liverpool match last night. Thought the Lille no. 7 was outstanding. Definitely worth a look.
HH
RIP Garth Hudson. Another great gone.
We’re Neuchatel Zamax an ‘ easy ‘ team?
Were*
Good luck tonight Celts ..we will be kicking every ball with you .Be professional and focused and tonight is ours 🍀. Remember heroes and next level transfers are built on games like these..there is no bigger stage ..as the moniker says carpe diem 💚
new article posted.