The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
After Neil Lennon resigned we discussed how Celtic have recently appointed managers to address the most glaring deficiency of the previous boss. Gordon Strachan bought in value markets, whereas Martin O’Neill pretty much bought players who appeared on Match of the Day or Sportscene.
Despite his success, Gordon was manager of Celtic, not the leader of the club; there was always some distance between him and a section of the support. As a consequence, we next appointed the guy who ‘invented’ the Celtic huddle.
Tony Mowbray was close to our hearts, but he was also a flop of a Celtic manager. People inside the club knew this from the first week he was there when he asked to spend close to £4m on Marc-Antoine Fortune.
Tony was out of sync with scouts and coaches. How do you fix that? You appoint one of the coaches who saw it all happen.
Neil Lennon didn’t have many obvious deficiencies. If we were to ask what his weakness was, there would be a range of answers.
Perhaps as a consequence, we’ve gone out with a clear remit: our manager should be intelligent, technically capable, insightful, and have a progressive and modern approach to the game. He must dovetail with the infrastructure we have worked so hard to build up, and be in tune with strategy.
All we know today is that the criteria for the job was correct and our man matches that criteria.
Ronny is one of the scientific innovators in the game who has had the ‘Moneyball’ tag applied. Back in 2009 I wrote about the books, Moneyball, and the football spin-off, Why England Lose (now re-launched as Soccernomics). I also put a copy of Why England Lose into the hands of a senior decision maker at the club.
The point about Moneyball and this type of analysis cannot be abbreviated in few short sentences, and it is certainly not as prosaic as ‘buying low and selling high’ – that’s old news now, which makes it a dead topic as far as Moneyball is concerned. The Michael Lewis book which did so much to publicise ‘sports economics’ was actually titled, Moneyball – The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.
The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
The game is unfair because others have more money, or more experience, or more sympathy with officials, or whatever your circumstances dictate. But most sports are also full of enormous inefficiencies.
Football clubs are hostages to ridiculous forces, just listen to the names within the game who urged Celtic to appoint a well-known name in order to put bums on seats. Some clubs do this – put a ‘name’ in, in the hope they sell some tickets, without realising there are enormously difficult football games ahead.
The football industry is top-heavy with fools with big budgets who don’t know what they are doing. Celtic’s job is to build a team who can compete at an ever-higher level in the Champions League. To get there we need a ruthless conviction against the inefficient nonsense which paralyses the rest of the game.
In 10 years I’ve never once agreed with a Celtic managerial appointment. I welcomed Gordon, Tony and Neil while saying the board have made the wrong decision. All of these appointments are risky, there are no guarantees – for short-term or long-term success. Guru managers don’t exist and Ronny has years of work ahead of him to build Celtic ever-higher, but I couldn’t be happier at his appointment. Eye on the prize…. it’s all about winning.
Welcome to Celtic, Ronny, you’re going to love it here, but keep your kilt on.
All of this and 300 Celtic fans at the CQN the Lisbon Lions gig in Greenock tonight! Hold me back!
Lladro replica World Cup trophy
My thanks to Liam, from East Kilbride, who donated his prize memento, a Lladro replica World Cup trophy, commissioned by the Spanish FA in 1978, and acquired by Liam in 1982. It will be auctioned on Saturday with proceeds going to our Mary’s Meals school kitchen appeal. You can get involved in the auction, or keep an eye on it as it happens, here. The auction takes place at Great Western Auctions, on Dumbarton Road.
Visit the CQN Bookstore to get Tommy Gemmell to sign your personal copy of his tome, All the Best.
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“whereas Martin O’Neill pretty much bought players who appeared on Match of the Day or Sportscene.”
Wow amazed at the Paul/ Peter
You just wrote off an amazing team
The team that went to Blackburn and liverpool and wiped the floor with them
I was for the new manager till I saw what PL thought
1m in wages to a CEO
Time for a reduced Salary contract
A time when we should be welcoming our new manager and our CEO leaves a bitter taste in the mouth
A couple of points here
1. If we sell foster and replace him with Gordon then all the funds must go to new manager
2. If we fail to qualify for CL then CEO cash cow must come to an end
GivehimthemoneyPeterCSC
“Norwegians do not typically smile or start talking to a stranger on the bus. It is not considered rude to behave as such”.
My Ronny is is for a shock
awwwright Ronnie Bhoy and been greeted like a long lost family member by thousands :))))
Welcome to Paradise, Ronny! Just the kind of imaginative appointment I was hoping for….brace yourself for the rollercoaster!
T4
this is an old history lesson but history is taught for the very simple reason that history tends to re-present it’s self in the hope that lessons can be learned from history.
In the interest of history and re-learning i am happy to listen to Neil Lennon’s view as I am any other manager from our past.
It does make me wonder though, that if Jock Stein was still alive how is reputation would have suffered in this internet age from any comment he might have made on our club.
MWD says AYE
Justafan ipad thick fingers and thicker head I will stick to Ronny. How do ewe pronounce it anyway.
Italy?!
Ffs! Who did we beat in Lisbon in 1967?
HH!!
Take the pen Ronny,you have a fresh page in our continued history to write.
you and your focus has our 100% backing
good luck and god bless you.
HH
An T
Hey Ronny, you alright with an extra 50p a week on top of your agreed salary for the no. 2 position to do the managers job?
MWD says AYE
hoopslegend-in -waiting Ronny Deila is 1.8888888888888888888888888888888888888m tall [approx].
MSM Questions at Ronny’s first press conference:
1. You will be aware of Rangers’ (holding company) liquidation and how they re-formed as the same club, subsequently being relegated down the divisions as punishment (even though they had already been punished enough). How much are you looking forward to the return of the Old Firm games?
2. With Celtic doing so badly in last season’s Champions League, how much does Celtic need a strong Rangers?
3. How disappointing was it to miss out on Kenny Miller?
4. Does it bother you that you were fourteenth choice for the job?
5. Did you not consider holding out for a job in the best division – the Championship?
6. Are you looking forward to pitting your wits against Stuart McCall and Derek McInnes?
7. Will it be difficult to qualify for the Champions League without Fraser Forster and Virgil Van Dijk?
8. How boring will the season be if you don’t qualify, with not having the challenge of Rangers?
9. Are you looking at this as a stepping stone to the English Premier League?
10. Is there anything else you can tell us about yourself, so we don’t have to look it up or make it up?
11. Final question. Do you by any chance know who is behind Blue Pitch Holdings?
BBC live stream of Celtic press conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaSXn7XoaiI
Tallybhoy
12:46 on
6 June, 2014
Welcome Ronny.
If you want to take yer top off carry on!
HH!!
Taps aff ? That new one ? Aye.
tallybhoy
12:49 on 6 June, 2014
Lol…sheepfc…:)
Norway and Greece…final answer…:)
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Banana and Tuna – how can you say that on National Donut Day!?
Tomorrow is National Jelly-Filled Donut Day. One hopes that there is a National Jelly and Ice Cream Day.
The things you look up in the close season..
Welcome, Ronny.
Keep reading Tallybhoy
Bite! I obvioulsy did require that smiley even thhough i was only kiddin abourt needing it. You feel foolish now? :-)
MWD says AYE
***We have a winner***
Congratulations Gordon.
Despite a baws up from the host with the toast, you guessed Poland and Greece.
Gordon_J correctly identified that we played Olympiacos, losing once and drawing the other, as we’ve never played a competitive european match against any other Greek teams, then Greece is one.
Poland being the other with the same !D and !L record against our only Polish opponents, Wisla Krackow.
SydneyTim
Fraser Forster is still a Celtic player, and you’re getting your retaliation in now that all of the funds from his sale be given to a new manager??
William G Stewart is our guest adjudicator for the day and he saws naw to East Germany and Sevconia without rebuttal.
For the record, Celtic have been teams from Norway (1), France (4), Italy (4) and Slovakia (3).
Welcome to Celtic Ronnie, got a good feeling about this guy.
Looking forward to what he could bring to our club.
Top Norwegian facts -part 2
Dying is illegal in Longyearbyen, Norway because the town’s small graveyard stopped accepting bodies after discovering the permafrost prevented the bodies from decomposing
In 1251, Henry III of England was given a polar bear by the King of Norway. He kept it in the Tower of London, on a long chain so that it could swim in the Thames.
Norway has a minimum security island-prison where inmates are almost free to do as they wish. The criminals prisoned there are among Norway’s worst, but it has the lowest rate of re-offending in Europe, if not the world
In 2008, Norway knighted a penguin
Got to love the internet!
Welcome Ronny.
YNWA
phil01
12:44 on
6 June, 2014
Jock was an achiever with clubs other than Celtic when he returned to Celtic Park.
The confidence and anticipation on his return were borne out by his achievements.
phil01
Was Jock not the boss when Dunfermline got to the quarter finals of the Cup Winners cup in ‘62(?) also boss when they beat Everton and drew 6 – 6 with Valencia?
Someone better tell Ronny it’s a yellow for taking your top off and sin die for full kit removal
morrissey the 23rd
12:50 on 6 June, 2014
BBC live stream of Celtic press conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaSXn7XoaiI
Messi and Sammi in advert on youtube link
How long until the first “Ronny is a love rat”, story from our estemmed MSM journos? You can guarantee they are digging up everything they can at the moment. Ally demands to know.
Igc
Argentina
Tallybhoy
12:49 on
6 June, 2014
Italy?!
Ffs! Who did we beat in Lisbon in 1967?
HH!!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Indeed!……LOL
Hero of Telemark first heard about Celtic when he and his younger brother were out collecting bog myrtle on the banks of the river Skien.
The young fellow slipped and fell in; luckily his cries for help were heard by none other than Anthony Stokes, who happened to be passing en route to see Jørleif Uthaug’s famous ‘Amphitrite’ natical sculpture.
With no regard for his own safety the bold Anto dived in and rescued the lad, bringing back on shore where he safely treated his incipient hypothermia.
While they were waiting for the ambulance Anto kept everyone’s spirits high by showing them how his new hair weave would make him even more proficient in the air next season.
Press conference coming up now on SSN.
HH
Thanks IGC…
Incidentally I didn’t “guess” !
I was actually at the game in Krakow which we lost 2-0.
The result was bad enough but unbeknown to me a local fly man managed to slip me some German Occupation Zlotys (1939) in my change.
It caused great hilarity from the bar staff when I tried to buy a round with them!
and another bite. this is fun this game.
MWD says AYE
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/27731306
@kerrydalestreet: possible live stream via http://t.co/rLmLO5h11e
Or sky sports news live coming up.
I am off to Paradise
Hail hail
Gerryguk7. PL has form in ensuring his personal income (1m last year No reduced salary there ) is Increased by selling and not investing in the team
No more AGM balance sheet transfers
SSN now
Ronny wearing a nicely tailored suit.
HH!!
I’m guessing 2nd q will mention “thems”
HH