I saw “Japan first country to qualify for 2026 Word Cup” and quickly clicked on the line-up for their win against Bahrain. Neither Daizen Maeda nor Reo Hatate made it off the bench.
Japan top their group with 19 points, Australia are second, nine points adrift. Reo and Daizen did not get into the team because Japan have an ever-expanding talent pool of excellent players to choose from.
Celtic used links to City Football Group to align with the Japanese market in 2021. Ange Postecoglou, Koygo, Daizen and Reo came and transformed the club. The years since would be unrecognisable without this influence from Japan. Despite this, Japan is no longer on our radar; Korea has also slipped from our scope.
We had First Mover Advantage in 2021. The value available may not be exactly the same as then, but it feels like we have walked away from the richest seam of talent we have seen pull on Celtic shirts in decades.
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The Japanese CF must be some player, if he can keep Maeda out of the team.
How do we know it has stopped ?.
Happy Friday all!
Despite this, Japan is no longer on our radar; Korea has also slipped from our scope.
—————–
nonsesical comment.
if analytics is a software game, then every player in every league is on the radar.
get back there and korea and get a few more prospects and keep the conveyor belt turning.
Also kissed a few frogs from same market along the way Paul
Our Japanese radar went to Spurs.
Really?
We bought six in the following order (spacing indicates separate transfer windows)
Kyogo – huge success
(We also missed Mitoma by a whisker)
Maeda – huge success
Hatate – huge success
Ideguchi – didn’t work
Kobiyashi – really didn’t work
Iwata – a close one but didn’t work
Don’t know about others … but I see a pattern here along the lines of that pesky law of diminishing returns.
Ange’s nose gave us an edge.
That served us well until it didn’t.
Slightly confused by this article
We had hits and misses from our far east transfers.
Did we gave an active scouting network there or was it just the little black book of Ange?
If the former, why don’t we still have it? If the latter, it was never sustainable and had key man dependency.
Our Portuguese signings have been pretty effective of late.
As others have said, our recruitment and development needs to be a blended model. Lots of harking back to a single defined source on here of late.
Very strange
We have a scouting team , we surely don’t need Ange’s personal knowledge of Japanese players to identify targets ? A properly organised scouting network should cover all areas of the globe where there is talent to be found .
I think it is another subtle dig at our manager, methinks.
Dearie me
Maeda never got into the team because he is injured
The Mark Lawelll love in continues- nothing to do with Big Ange. Bungo wept
I would totally agree that we need to be more pro-active in Japan
20 years ago we had a very high profile in Japan with Naka and we let it slip.
We must avoid repeating this mistake, but I would suggest that making it twice woukd be a strategic board level error as opposed to an operational “current manager ” error.
In terms of seams, John Park hit the mother lode when he found Virgil van Dijk, Victor Wanyama and Fraser Forster. Unfortunately, John couldn’t recognise a Striker if it hit him in the haw maws with a mouldmaster.
i am still puzzled why ange never came infor any of them for spurs
Watched last Sunday’s game again tonight.
It’s clear Brother Steven and the Officials (decent band name?) aided and enabled the Huns dirtier side…
First half, Barron clattered x2 bhoys without reproach.
Hatate was called offside when fouled by Balogun, when he was onside. The offside decision meant no foul or booking was awarded. VAR did not correct the false offside.
McLean also warned Diomande ‘no more’ then allowed him to foul Engels on 40mins. Same with Tavpen.
And on 77, he warns Propper (already booked) about manhandling Rocki, then allows him to do more of it, without sanctioning him. Then Lawrence assaults Daizen (rendering him unfit for Japan duty); no punishment.
All this shite adds up and allows them to use the dark arts to stymie our game and flow.
That said; we were pretty shite.
The sooner AI is incorporated into VAR to make bias-free machine learning decisions and we can sack the masons in the black, the better.
Meanwhile prospective signing Kieran Tierney doesn’t start for Scotland last night,…..
While journeyman Celtic full back, Tony Ralston does….
It’s a funny ol’ game Saint
Anyone at Ship Bank?
If the strategy Paul, is buy young and cheap, how does our recent Japanese biz fit that model so snugly?
Most of them were 24-26 when signing; if BR tried that you have a quick conniption.
The younger one (Kobayashi) has found his feet in the Portuguese 2nd divi !
The J-league types are nice, often silky, fellas but IMO what they often lack is mongrel, physicality and height.
BR wants players, I think, in the mould of Fener’s Sofyan Amrabat; and a snip at circa 20mill.
Now he looked really imposting v the buns.
PS: for Vice Captain – why not Daizen ? He’s a model of onfield application and the status may just convince him to hang around for a bit longer ?
Bring back the Mikado…
Glendalys
City Group were already working that market that’s how we got Ange who was also already there, a bit like
City group were in the East Asian market
City group heads up at Celtic
Ange was in the East Asian market
Ange joins Celtic
Ange, City Group and Celtic in the East Asian market.
Then they all fell off the radar, and now we just use Brendan’s book ?
💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤 CSC
I think Paul suffers from a variant of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Can anyone guess the name of the variant ? 😂
european qualifier in august away kit
https://store.celticfc.com/products/celtic-hawaiian-shirt
Saint Stivs,
Is that a clue that we are headed into another new Transfer market???
Sean
Strapline
CQN in unhinged rant as believes too many recent signings are completely occidental
Glenowen on 21st March 2025 1:35 pm
It’s the orientation of Paul’s stance on Brendan that bothers me ! -))))
It’s dangerous to read between the lines when one has few facts to go with a functioning cortex.
The dreaded CD and all that.
… but here goes anyway.
A regular theme of Paul’s is the recruitment strategy and concerns about its retention.
I assume Paul has a bit of an in to someone senior at Celtic … but I’ve never met Paul and I don’t know for sure.
IMHO, the regular contributor who appears to align the most to Paul’s stance is Burnley78.
(B – if I talk out of turn here, feel free to correct me)
I assume B78 has a bit of an in to someone senior at Celtic … but I’ve never met him and I don’t know for sure.
The trend gives me pause … and makes me suspect there is a genuine fault line (and possibly a battle going on internally for hearts and minds) in relation to recruitment strategy.
With no evidence whatsoever BTW.
If (big IF) some of the above is true?
I hope it does not get in the way of coherent recruitment in the summer.
Final point – I genuinely wonder if this would be such a topic of discussion if
a. We had not signed Adam Idah at all
OR
b. We’d paid £5m for him / not up to £9.5m
OR
b. He’d turned up fit and played really well.
Quality punitry 👏😂
Just out of Estadio Nacional, a truly emotional experience
Yawn….getting tedious now
Meanwhile Jim Ratcliffe is scratching about for Lawwell and Hardy’s phone numbers, to head up Man Ure Recruitment next season
BADA, did you not mean Jim Rat Cliffe?
I like exactitude where possible.
Ave Ave
“Can somebody tell me where Anges book has gone,
We’re not signing any Japanese Bhoys
Ooooh we miss our Japanese Bhoys”
Adam Idah is a big tall high-tower striker who has not had a single ball played to him to suit his stand out strengths since he has arrived at Parkhead.
AI scored the winner vs the Huns in SCF feeding from a shot palmed out by Hun GK.
AI is the type of striker that Danny McGrain would have been as a full back if he too was shackled to a tippy tappy system which the reality packed Jungle would have quickly booed down or booed aff the park!
Brendan has been found out by the Huns and he must be privately praying that a wee tooled up Bawwy dizny get the Hun job coz sentimental Celts will demand BR removal and that is probably why Neil Lennon has been told to warm up at the Pars waiting for the text from Daddy Lawwell…it’ll be after all Celtic season tickets have been sold out.
Season tickets = fans have no power = the worst trap ever.
Thatcher has created a society of sheeple since she seated fitba stadia.
Only the WPB will set you free…from yourselves.
Ach well….
OJ.
I tend to agree with you about Adam Idah. Why buy a 6 ft plus striker and never cross the ball in the air. I watch Adam even comeback to the halfway line to get a touch on the ball as we are building it up and then if it does go wide, the guy has to make a 50 yd run forward. I think we have played some great fitba at times this season, but I also feel that every now and again, route one is an option. Sometimes I wonder how different we would be if we had two upfront, playing off of each other. You very rarely see 2 up front from anyone these days. Sutton and Larson were exceptional. Loved watching one, dovetail off of the other, and to have John HArtson there as well, wooo, spoiled rotten we were.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c204yvv1eexo
Item: One Government
Bought
And
Paid
For
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 21ST MARCH 2025 3:12 PM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c204yvv1eexo
Item: One Government
Bought
And
Paid
For
*actually it was a country bought and paid for
Boondock Saint
was introduced to Stewart Kerr at the Irish Club on Monday seems to be a nice young man.