I’ve been looking for signs for an inflationary bounce in English football. The next Premier League TV deal is still 12 months away but at this stage before previous TV deals kicked in, clubs started spending ahead of themselves as they looked to secure a piece of the lucrative new deal. In particular, I’m keen to see how central defenders are valued.
Today news broke that West Brom agreed a deal with newly-relegated Hull City to sign central defender, James Chester (26) for £8m. Chester has 11 months left on his contract at Hull. Three years in the English Championship and 45 Premier League games over two seasons was enough evidence to induce modest West Brom to pay the asking price.
It would have helped that three other Premier League clubs, Southampton, Aston Villa and Newcastle, were also reportedly interested, but no one is making false claims for a lad who has not troubled the scouts of England’s top clubs. He’s a modest player who is able to sign a pre-contract in January. This is a spectacular fee, passing between two modest clubs, for a central defender.
Consequences for us? We’ll see.
I’m doing a State of the Club article for Friday, as we do the day before the league campaign starts. So far there’s a flow to the words. A solid result on Wednesday will reaffirm that, whereas a reversal would, frankly, deem a satisfactory assessment inappropriate.
So much turns on these next few games, Champions League qualification, squillions of pounds, and sure, the State of the Club. We’ve come through a few iterations of acceptable levels of performance over the last 20 years, since winning our first trophy in six years. Younger readers will never appreciate how precious a 1-0 Scottish Cup win over Airdrie could be.
These days it’s all about the treble and Champions League group stage qualification. The loss of a cup would be an annoyance, but Celtic need to be part of the Champions League.
Our friends at Magners have offered a pair of Premium seat tickets for the Jock Stein Stand at the opening league game of the season on Saturday. To enter, all you need to do is email me with the name [IN THE SUBJECT LINE] of who we play that day, celticquicknews@gmail.com
If you’d like to donate £1 to the CQN Mary’s Meals school kitchen appeal, help towards what would be our fifth kitchen in Malawi, you can do so here:
Entries close at 6pm this evening, so not much time.
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dena29
09:54 on 29 July, 2015
tonydonnelly67
09:48 on
29 July, 2015
Y’all ready for this :)
http://youtu.be/JXyE6IQhlW4
Now your just making it worse.. :-))
am going to miss that tonight ……next one I am not missing dont care what it takes this is killing me ….
C.O.Y.B.I.G.
HH
Actually yer right sorry, never thought.
Here. http://youtu.be/AK6feeUuZ30
The combined effects of mescaline and Kiwi Parade Gloss:
“Which of the following [FFin’] clubs are we bigger than?
Porto
PSV
Dynamo Kiev
Benfica
Feyenoord
Galatasaray
Pantahinaikos
Olympiakos
Sevilla
Schalke
Monchengladbach
Steaua
Werder bremen”
——
“Them all with Benfica being No2.”
——
“All of them in my opinion”
——
“Benfica are the only one who comes remotely close but they are very close.”
——
“All of them No questions or doubt”
——
“There’s not one club from that list that could generate so much interest for a European final far less a fourth tier league game.”
——
“I’d say we’re more well known in world football than most, if not all, of the teams mentioned.”
——
“Until one of these sides takes almost 150,000 people to a European final or has 50,000 people at a fourth tier league game then its all b*ll*cks.”
——
“We’re up there alongside Man Utd, Barca, Bayern, Juve and Real Madrid. I know we’ve had our problems and haven’t exactly set the heather alight in Europe but we’re still a massive, massive club. Anywhere in the world you go, any football fan you speak to, they’ll all have heard about us”
——
“Is there any other club that can generate 330,000 views on the subject of a £250,000 transfer from Hibs. Astonishing”
——
“I think the 25k that travelled to Barcelona was a record for the group stages”
——
“We need 3 sets of audited accounts before we can get our rightful place back as giants on the European scene”
Game day!
Woohoo! Fingers crossed for a comfortable lead to take into the second leg…
Meanwhile, here are a couple of new pieces.
One on the Scott Allan saga, and one on an amusing advert in today’s Record…
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/knowing-your-place/
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/a-portent-of-doom/
Have a great day!
tonydonnelly67
Your a bad bhoy :-)))
HH
Nice touch
@FCStjarnan: Good luck tonight @celticfc – you’re on a mission #RoadToMilan #ChampionsLeague
HH
Ceres Arabs retweeted
11h11 hours ago
Charles Green RFC @CharlesGreenThe
Scott Allan should just liquidate himself, rename himself The Scott Allan, and sign on for free.
TBB, superb their excited now… Stings paying to get in though
The Battered Bunnet
10:00 on
29 July, 2015
No but I would say that it’s a lot more straighforward for a club the size of Livingston to utilise more cutting edge ideas. Are there any clubs with stadia the size of Celtic using it?
Also if you’re buying them online, then surely print at home is better option than having to collect at ground. If you haven’t a printer at home, the local library or internet cafe or maybe even at work, would still probably be more convenient than queuing.
I got my tickets at approximately 10pm last night and I have them in my pocket. No need for queuing.
White dog….. Cheers man
lymmbhoy
10:09 on
29 July, 2015
Nice touch
Definitely is ……….Hope they are right
HH
https://mobile.twitter.com/Saggydaddy/status/626144725712637952
Mon the lions
Monaghan 1900
“We need 3 sets of audited accounts before we can get our rightful place back as giants on the European scene”
OoOPS this guy will be atop a bonfire next 12th:)))
Stringer………
superb!
:)))
Modren Tap2 Innovate system is rubbish.
Far inferior to the Spinal Tap Innovate system.
DBBIA/StumpyPepysCSC
In Hong kong here.. Great city
Any one any idea where the match will be shown here ?
Many happy returns to ole Cadizzy; and for yesterday, ole Subterranean.
Looking at the gamews so far this pre-season there as been a few players each game that have performed well below their level.
Biton against Rennes, for example, first half. Johanson in a couple. Armstrong in others.
If that happens tonight we in for a tough time. If they all hit top form then we could put the tie to bed. Easy as that.
The things you rely on are the thing that need to work. Gordon against Juve at home. Who would have thought!
So step up Gordon, Brown, Johnanson, VVD and Lustig – no slip ups.
The players you hope are as good as you hope have to be as good as you hope.
Biton, Armstrong, GMS and Boyata.
And the players you fear might sell the jerseys need to make you look like a big woman for being scared
Izzy.
And of course players need to score goals and while the argument is Griff or Ciftci others will gets chances and need to put them away.
So it’s easy. Every player hits their top form and take their chances and we’re into the next round.
Off out to town now to start my pre match warm up. Question is what to wear? – It was winter temperature on Sat even when the sun shone.
Hail hail.
Come on you bhoys in Baggy Green!
So far this Ashes series has not been too dusty.
jinkynewton
Enjoy the zoo.
whitedoghunch knows his restaurants. That looks a belter!
LB
dena29
I’m a bad man :))
Just before I go!!
The mighty Glasgow Celtic are playing tonight.
Why are some talking about Championship clubs?
Get a grip!
Hail hail.
tonydonnelly67
10:23 on
29 July, 2015
dena29
I’m a bad man :))
definitely a bhoy :-)))
HH
Catch you later bhoys
HH
weeminger
I didn’t get the option to print off the tickets I bought on Monday. Required a trip into Celtic Park yesterday and a 40 minute queue in the drizzle to pick them up.*
*My fault in the sense that I missed the ST deadline on Sunday night.
Further, why the need to print anything? Old economy.
Masty
All well buddy. Canny wait till tonight. Work dragging. :)
Ginger & BMCUW
A labour of love! :))
Aye mate,no Stefan for me but I know Ronny will pick him!
I thought we looked a far more dangerous team last week when ciftci played
behind griffiths. Get two goals up then bring Johanson on to keep it tight,one more on the break on job done! Easy peasy this management lark.
QF
………..because thems an’ thur predickament is really funny.
(You’re welcome!)
HH.
* predicktive text!
Just ordered and printed my ticket took 5 minutes, wee bit more expensive, but hey ho..its the celtic.
Better than a line up :)
The Battered Bunnet
10:29 on
29 July, 2015
I tell you what, it’s totally not obvious how to print your own tickets. It’s not until you get to the payment page and it’s hidden in a drop down marked ‘internet charge’.
How does your way work for multiple tickets? Does 1 code allow say 3 entries, or does the phone have to be passed along?
Of course with your method, those without smart phones would still have to queue. Maybe there’s not a combination of smart card reader and QR code scanner that we could use to replace the existing smart card reader/ bar code scanner.
It would be a big investment anyway and maybe right now the business case isn’t there.
The old Rfc1872 were NEVER ‘giants of European football’. Probably only 15 to 20 clubs at most can lay claim to that boast. The huns were NEVER one of them.
Celtic were, between 67 and 72. And that my friends Is what killed them, trying to emulate by cheating, what Stein achieved fairly and gloriously.
They’ll NEVER get over that.
The Battered Bunnet 10.29, Masty 10.33
First off, thanks to all who offered to collect my tickets and wait for me outside the stadium tonight, much appreciated.
Re printing tickets at home, I bought mine last night but faced with the prospect of missing kickoff, and therefore the ticket office being closed and consequently losing the tickets, I bought a couple of train tickets for my son and his girlfriend so they can get to Glasgow and up to Celtic park in time to collect the match tickets. £43 for two singles on the train.
Imagine how thrilled I was to discover, on the very final page of buying my Celtic tickets, that – at the bottom of the page, in small print, on the right hand side – there’s a wee box that suggested a drop down menu; the second option of which was a print at home option.
As they say in Dundee, eh wiz beelin.
£43 spent unnecessarily on train tickets.
Oh – and a further £1.75 to print the tickets on my paper, on my printer, using my ink – all of which I had already paid for once.
Ok I should have bought tickets last week but circumstances blah blah blah.
Please Celtic, have a word with Ticketmaster to make it clear on their ticket pages that, once you have paid for your tickets online, you will have the option to print at home.
And note to P Lawwell Esq – the £43 I spent unnecessarily on train tickets is £43 I no longer have to spend in the Superstore.
Harumph!
What I meant to post was this:
According to the Scotsman,
“Derk Boerrigter faces uncertainty over his Celtic future and is ‘looking for other options’.”
Fine by me…
weeminger
Feeling like a right dumpling now, along with Fieldofdrams, that I didn’t see the Print at Home option – having looked for it at the time…
For clarity, it’s not my system, and I have no attachment to it, other than looking at it for EKFC. There is no system investment though as I understand it, scanners being provided to gate stewards for the purpose if required.
Dunno how multiple tickets work. Presumably either as you suggest, or the Q Code could be forwarded to other phones?
1 good thing about our side now is that there are a lot of players capable of scoring.
It wouldnt be a surprise if GMS, Johansen or Armstrong stuck one in the net and Broony and Biton are capable of doing so as well depending how far forward they get.
Virgil can score from open play by coming forward, direct from free kicks and with headers from corners. Lustig, Boyata and Efe are all a threat at corners too.
Up front Griffiths is now always likely to get 1 and while Ciftci is yet to get off the mark….goals will come for him too.
Think we are in good shape that way.
The Battered Bunnet
10:55 on
29 July, 2015
I’m not having a go, I’m genuinely interested in how it might work. I would suggest that we change one turnstile per section to be QR code only and ST only.
The print at home option is very difficult to find. It should be an option when selecting your tickets, not hidden in the checkout process.