Reo Hatate was important to everything that worked well for Celtic last season. When he was injured, team performances dropped. He finds space to receive possession and can measure a pass into the opposition box with precision. As importantly, he shows up in big games with goals and assists.
Reports in Saudi Arabia this morning suggest interest in the player there. With three years left on his contract, Celtic can afford to sit for at least another season before feeling any pressure to sell their first-choice creative fulcrum. He will be 26 years old then, still with plenty in the tank, so there are lots of reasons to think a move this summer is unlikely.
There’s just one counterargument. Brendan Rodgers indicated a desire to increase the squad’s physical presence, a thought many of us share. We are usually shorter than opposing teams, with fewer players who can run for 90 minutes. If that is to change, churn has to happen.
Reo is 5’ 7” and more an artisan than a 90-minute gyroscope, both factors count against his chances of a move to England. When we sold Josip Juranovic we had backfill sorted. There is little chance we would sell Reo at this stage without a replacement lined-up. The story would have more legs next year.
Sorry to hear the passing of former Scotland manager Craig Brown. I had dealings with him a few years back, he was all that is said about him: funny, intelligent and humble. As a youth, he was on the books at Rangers but was very comfortable mixing with Celtic fans. He joked with me, “I was third choice left back at Rangers. First choice only had one leg and second choice was a Catholic!”
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Dopium
HH
Podium?
Thirdium
They will be selling Whiskey in Saudi before they see him there.
Nonsense.
Would that be the same Craig Brown who was recorded on singing sectarian songs down the phone to his mistress or am I thinking of another Craig Brown?
Paul, I second your comments on Craig Brown. I had lunch with him many times in the early 80s when he was manager of Clyde and a lecturer at Craigie College in Ayr.. He was brilliant company.
There is a lot of talk about who is leaving and some chat about who will leave. As is the case with Jota and CCV we have Hatate on a long term contract IF a club wants any of them they will need to pay top dollar/euro/dollar/riyal.
I know that Craig Brown has died and may he rest in peace but what sort of country is Scotland that, even with hindsight, that having a laugh at naked sectarianism is ok? I know his joke is self deprecating about his own ability or lack of it that he was behind a Catholic, but jeez!
That awkward moment when CQN is reading from a well known gossip page
GARYGILLESPIESHAMSTRING on 27TH JUNE 2023 12:04 PM
Would that be the same Craig Brown who was recorded on singing sectarian songs down the phone to his mistress or am I thinking of another Craig Brown?
Let he who has never sang sectarian songs down the phone , cast the first stone !
RIP Craig Brown. Seemed a nice, gentle, humble man when I met him, lots of time to talk to my son who was young at the time.
Victor was my favourite Celt for a long time, strength of two men as the same son used to say, but I think Ange’s football has made such an impression on me that I dont want to go back to big guys in midfield. The idea of going toe-to-toe and battling it out with big ugly Huns, who cheat their way to impressive athleticism doesn’t appeal.
The one caveat is that Brendan’s Celtic and his recent Leicester weren’t known for defending set pieces well. They had the worst record in the EPL last season and even after changing the CBS (he says it was a problem with the personnel not the coaching) they didn’t improve much
I don’t know the solution. A set piece coach didn’t help at Leicester so I hope we don’t see one at Celtic
“MCPHAIL BHOY on 27TH JUNE 2023 12:10 PM
I know his joke is self deprecating about his own ability or lack of it that he was behind a Catholic, but jeez!”
I found his joke :
a) Funny;
b) Critical of Rangers` sectarian policy.
GaryGillespie @ 12.04
I thought this nonsense might come up. What happened was that Craig Brown played the Sash on his answerphone as a wind-up to a Catholic woman he was dating. The silly woman went to the tabloids with the story to get some easy money. I had several conversations with Craig Brown. He did not have a bigoted bone in his body.
HOT SMOKED on 27TH JUNE 2023 12:38 PM
“MCPHAIL BHOY on 27TH JUNE 2023 12:10 PM
I know his joke is self deprecating about his own ability or lack of it that he was behind a Catholic, but jeez!”
I found his joke :
a) Funny;
b) Critical of Rangers` sectarian policy.
____________________________________________________________________
Fair enough, I didn’t on either count. Did he ever state in public that he was ashamed to be part of a football club with a sectarian signing policy, if he did fair enough if he didn’t then, my initial reaction stands
CQN Book Club………..
Diarmuid Ferriter’s ” A Nation And Not A Rabble”
From earlier- last I read,KT is on 90k a week at Arsneal……
Conversely P67, our trading model should hold that if the price is right any player can be sold at any time.
The player may also have had his fill of the delights of the West of Scotland too (he really disnae like the scran)
Sure, we can chose to wait a year to sell a marketable asset, but the Saudi club may have moved on by then.
Will Reo have progressed, plateaud or regressed with us in that time??
Reo – like Ntcham – is a lovely mover. But, like Olivier – he can also blow hot and cold. Esp when it gets tasty.
As with managers, I shouldn’t get too attached to our players or else I’m investing in a future resentment.
TAKETHEMONEYANDRUN CSC
People are too easily offended these days.
Let them sing whatever they want in their own stadiums / homes and we’ll do the same.
The day i’m going to head into the house and start packing my bags and booking a ticket back to the old sod because a few thousand reprobates in ibrox told me to, is not going to happen.
People need to quit getting all hot under the collar about this. It’s not all about you.
Re. Craig Brown.
I did the old two-week residential coaching course at Largs in the mid-70s (funded by Eastercraigs) and Craig Brown was one of my coaches. Very knowledgeable guy, very supportive of all the candidates, good company and quite a sense of humour. Never picked up any hint of sectarian bias from him.
Now, Willie McLean, another of the ‘official’ coaches was a little sh1t, waste of space, had no time for ‘amateurs’ of any type (including then current professionals such as Wullie Young/Aberdeen, Jock Brownlie/Hibs, Gordon Wallace/Dundee). Thoroughly nasty piece of work. Gave ‘McLeans’ a bad name!
Ave Ave
Might have been posted already:
https://scottishfsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/sfa-fan-led-review-2023-06-WEB.pdf
Quite a read, which I’m only starting.
Quad,
The story is a nonsense.Already shot down in flames.The SMSM are just a joke.Whichever is up first in the morning, makes up some nonsense,or a Taxi Driver,tells them a rumour.They print it unchecked,God forbid they would ever check,the rest copy the nonsense,and print the same guff.
Loads of examples,but the Tillman one,really hard to beat.A Rangers paper!!!!!!!!printed that ludicrous story,and the Media ,like Sheep who had been hit on the head with a Breadboard,while young,gleefully copied and pasted.Drivel only demented lunatics would swallow.EG,Record,Sun,Mail,Scotsman,Herald.
Good quote from Craig Brown when manager of Motherwell,after the game where we rubbed them,he said”No one told me Celtic had signed Roberto Carlos”
Izzy’s first game.
Regarding Craig Brown .
I spent a couple of hours with him , probably around 40years ago. . He loved his fitba , and was a fan of many sports, who always advocated keeping fit and having a decent diet.
He gave his time for nothing and was very engaging company , in a group who were mainly very Celtic minded.
I’d describe him as a right good dude and there’s plenty who share the same opinion.
Craig Brown was born in Glasgow and brought up in Glasgow and Ayrshire.
Is there anyone in these areas who does not know or sing sectarian songs at some point ?
Let’s be pragmatic.
Im offended at people being offended.
🙂🙂🙂
The Good Folk of this Dear Green Place are a constant source of insight, opinion and humour……………
HH
Craig Brown. A we emeander.
I met him twice. and so impressed by him that I can recall to this day what he talked about.
First time was when he spoke at an IBM managers event in the old canteen, with over 200 in attendance.
This was during his Scotland times, and it was these motivational leadership speaker type events.
I was surprised firstly by his stature, broad, big, burly, not the school teachery soft spoken small type portrayed by the media when things went wrong.
But then even more impressed as he spoke for an hour, on management topics, on selecting “best person for the job” when picking a squad, getting teams to work different from their clubs, and going up against the best in the world. He touched on the challenges of putting people who compete against each other in england and at celtic/first rangers context was easily overcome quickly when you concentrated on all being scots together, and when Liverpool stopped buyings scottish players (a dig at the club clique?).
He spoke about Stein and Bob Shankly, his own career cut short by recurring injury, of the broken dreams of not making it even though he got a league medal with dundee. He spoke about not getting in the rangers team because he was up against baxter. not because he wasnt good enough, but there is always someone better, his annoyance there was Broon had to work on everything while Baxter bevvied , smoked and was on the randan anytime he could.
Now the biggie, he talked about his father being utterly opposed to him playing for rangers, because of the sectarian policy and being in amongst all that, and he must have been prompted on this one, a company like IBM employing everyone regardless of what school they went to was a testiment to why the old practices were wrong.
He was articulate, commanded the room, and exceptionally intelligent.
He did crack a joke that the worst part of going to Largs training centre was a fear of the car breaking down in greenock. So that was well received by me.
He got a standing ovation.
Next time was at largs, we were there for our friday night bounce games out of ibm, several junior players played with us to keep fit in close season. They were also starting on the coaching badges, Broon knew them by name, hand shakes and compliments, and that humble thing of taking time to chat.
So all in, one of lifes good guys, and not in any way bigoted at all.
SS- I will look at him differently now.
I’ll add my voice to the Craig Brown Appreciation Society.
He presented my team with medals and was guest speaker at this Minority Sports Event at a time when he was manager of Clyde and a lecturer at Craigie College. He tailored his speech to the occasion- giving credit to Volleyball and Basketball as providing him and Andy Roxburgh with a template for Coach Education that was lacking in the much better funded Football world.
I played with teammates who attended Ibrox when they had a chance and others who favoured Celtic Park and a few “neutrals”. There was no exceptionalism in either group- you had good, bad and indifferent in all those groups. Some of the guys I got on best with would still sing the Sash at the drop of a hat but they’d be on your side in the face of any outside bluenose aggression. Most of us who played in teams that weren’t segregated must have experienced this.
Yes, when they were in groups together, I dare say the songs became a bit more threatening but, equally, when we get together our chants and singing can offend them too. I don’t believe Craig Brown was a bigot; not even close to one. But he was moulded by his background and I by mine. But there’s a vast middle where we can get on.
ziggydoc
Have to say I am disappointed but not surprised by the document produced.
In amongst the pious hopes and unfunded aims, there is an undercurrent that just says- we need to level down Celtic and Rangers.
I am appalled that a sentence like this :-
“There is significant data that shows that Scotland’s most successful period in European competition came when we
had a larger league structure.”
could be given utterance with any dog-whistling hint at causality.
We’d be just as accurate in concluding that Scotland’s most successful period was:-
in pre-Internet days
When Soviet Communism was strong
& When Smoking and drinking at work was allowed.
They are going hard on the redistribution of wealth angle and limiting foreigners in our game. This will only succeed in levelling the competition within Scotland whilst increasing the gap between us and clubs on the continent, not encumbered by this desire to get back to the 60’s.
The Scottish Fans Association is basically The Tartan Army at prayer. Their solutions are and will remain positively anti-Celtic.
Ziggydoc
I didn`t read the article ( they send me e-mails which have `educated` me on what to expect from them) .
This ( From SFTB`s post :
“There is significant data that shows that Scotland’s most successful period in European competition came when we had a larger league structure.”
suggests nothing has changed.
Ben Stokes in response to the report on sexism,racism,classism and elitism in cricket:
“”I am Ben Stokes, born in New Zealand, a state educated pupil who dropped out of school at 16 with one GCSE in PE.
“I needed help with the spelling and grammar in this speech and am currently sitting here as the England men’s Test captain.”
I paticularly liked the honesty of the second sentence !
Ben Stokes – top man – honest with massive will to win.
“MCPHAIL BHOY on 27TH JUNE 2023 1:24 PM
Did he ever state in public that he was ashamed to be part of a football club with a sectarian signing policy, if he did fair enough if he didn’t then, my initial reaction stands”
I know what you mean and I am still at a loss as to how some otherwise excellent people could/can support that Club when they were so openly sectarian.
I know it`s an old cliche but it really was the case that , growing up in Glasgow, my best mates were supporters of the dark side. The same guys would listen to ( and agree with ) Socialist speakers talking of how all working people should stand together . Even so, they would be at one end of the ground hating us and we would be at the other hating them.
Football and support for one`s team is sometimes difficult to comprehend but , in a nutshell, I am saying that it is possible to side with `Rangers` but still be a decent human being.
Fair comment Hot Smoked
Don’t know who posted the link to the SFSA document – but thank you.
Biggest question it posed in my head …
… Did Gordon Marshall save that free kick up at Pittodrie?
Second thought.
“I must be getting more cynical as I get older”.
Am routinely suspicious of contrived imagery.
One image ticked a few feelgood boxes
– image in sharp focus
– multi generational
– smiles all round
– hot food in clear view
– glorious sunshine
Supporting the team identified must be a heavenly experience
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
Sftb
Can’t agree that the Tartan Army are anti Celtic
I was a member of the travel club for years and it is a rainbow set of fans
I gave up Scotland games in the late 80s due to the ‘pay at the gate fans’ but that is a different beast.
I got a new lease of life as a Scotland fan in the 90s with the TA. I am in a WhatsApp with loads of mates who support Scotland and we have great craic around Jags, Dundee , Aberdeen as much as Celtic and Rangers stuff
I haven’t come across a hun who goes to Scotland games since the 70’s, maybe the ones I know are just mean 😉