I wrote in May that Jota (23) was more important to retain than Cameron Carter-Vickers on a permanent contract. At that point, the profile of both players was high after a successful term in Glasgow, we would not have been the only potential destination. It is a huge credit to chief exec Michael Nicolson and the club that they have delivered both.
Cameron was our best defender, a potential Celtic captain, but still, I wanted Jota more. Opponents fear him. He can take a ball when marked tightly and the defender will not lunge in to attempt a steal, knowing Jota has the ability to move ball and body before they have formulated a thought.
If an opposition team leave him one-on-one, they better not lose possession. He is Celtic’s most effective out-ball; left with only one defender to beat, he can turn defence into an opportunity to score faster than Usain Bolt could track back.
When Aiden McGeady signed for Hibs this week, my thoughts went back to so many great memories. Prominent among them, was watching him as an 18-year-old, bring his instant control to a 2004 Celtic-Milan Champions League game. No one else in the Celtic team had that ball control.
Jota has the same effortless control.
So what about the Magic Window, where Celtic have seen enough of the player to make their move, before wealthier clubs get involved?
Incredibly, Jota had only played an entire 90 minutes of a game only twice before joining Celtic, both cup games for Benfica against lower league opposition. The season before arriving in Glasgow was mostly spent on the bench, watching his Real Valladolid side fail to ward off relegation. He made 8 starts there and was hooked each time, adding 10 appearances from the bench.
Across his career, before joining Celtic on loan last year, he made 9 starts and 29 sub appearances in senior football. Magic window? More a magic letterbox. He had hardly put studs on grass.
Valladolid was clearly a wrong move. As we have discussed previously about Patrick Roberts, he is a creative talent and needs to be with a team that spends lots of time attacking, sides fighting relegation would be unable to get the ball to him enough to see the benefit of giving him a shirt. It was the classic square peg/round hole problem – one we should be on the lookout for again.
To know the value of the player, Celtic would have to uncover knowledge only visible at Portuguese and Spanish reserve level games. The resources required to cover this much ground is unfathomable through traditional means. You are looking at the result of very effective analytics.
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12 months is certainly a long time in football.
I suspect many were hopeful, yet understandably nervous, this time last year?
Now?
Quietly confident.
Still can’t quite decide what a good season would be. League retained and one of the cups?
Signs of improvement in Europe?
As a previous poster said (possibly An Dun, apologies if not) we’re improving from a position of strength. This hasn’t always been our MO
It wasn’t that long ago when the top tiers were covered.
Only 1st July but a very un-Celtic like summer so far. A most welcome change. Hoping that our Argentinian lad has a right hard mean streak to him. A bit of Passarella .
The squad as it stands is certainly good enough to retain the title but the last two title winners were very much underdogs/ no hopers heading into a new season. Title 53 will need to be earned.
A big season ahead for all the midfielders not called Callum McGregor. We start with a clean slate, who wants a jersey the most ? Centre Back cover required but might be worth waiting until the end of the window to get a top spec guy in on loan. Champions League should be a major attraction.
From this distance it looks like we are building a squad with CL ambitions, and for me that means avoiding the wooden spoon fourth place position. The draw is still weeks away, but anticipation mounting.
GENE on 1ST JULY 2022 1:36 PM
Can you pair give it a rest
——————-
Gene I would mate
But here’s the thing
I have not been called my moniker for over 2 years.
Never once
So I take it to the mod.
Mod sees it as childish, augments the abuse by asking for clarification on what post,even tho at that time I had asked some 7 or 8.
The mod allows the abuse to stand
Madmitch compounds abuse by making jokes of pressure hoses,
Certainly appears to have the nod and wink from above
Bask in the abuse
Bask in the anonymity
I have met many of here,called allsorts to my face and have a laugh bout it.
No hiding behind anonymity.
We have an in-house troll goin by yesterday as given free range to abuse.
He is a snug fit alright.
HH
SFTB @ 1.42
From memory / back in the day £53K was our magic number for season tickets.
Post 2012 our attendances faltered somewhat until we had the RD wilderness years and the LL Upper blanket.
However we seemed to jump up to 52K plus for BR1 / 53K for BR2.
Figures from yesterday suggested we were now looking to sell 55K plus.
Possibly because of the lack of a full scale TFOD2.1 away support or maybe extra demand.
One issue was PL flogging a job lot of season tickets to supporters clubs in the 6 counties on a “sale or return ” basis — they were accounted as paid for in the comments to one set of accounts and then because the money never arrived there had to be an exceptional item in the next years accounts.
PL and his smoke and mirror act — what a guy.
JimDom
“The squad as it stands is certainly good enough to retain the title but the last two title winners were very much underdogs/ no hopers heading into a new season. Title 53 will need to be earned.”
——————————–
A hugely important point. You cannot win it by boasting of your pre-season squad strength. It has to be won on the pitch. Ange is acutely aware of this but some of us need to be reminded regularly.
Aff oot noo
For those like me that loved the unique angle footage the official site put out last season they’ve put together a best of Jota unique angle to celebrate the wee mans official signing and it’s really rather good…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3KPBaLzsdk&ab_channel=CelticFC
Uncle Jimmy,
Domestic Treble + Europa League winners + Vogue’s “most handsome first eleven in world football” title.
Anything less and it’s to the car park in May 2023.
Entitled are we csc
:)
HH
I spoke to two Clive Dunns while walking the dug, three days after Seville. Their haunted look was understandable.
Few weeks later the same guys had plucked up some bravado with the ol..’still the world’s most successful club’ claptrap.
So I’m just in from bumping into simmet and drawers again and after some independence chat, I slipped in news of our latest signing Jota, and how we are in great shape to become the world’s most successful football club in four seasons, or is that three?
Return of the haunted faces…
MM
Celtic limit season ticket holders ( the highest number in Scotland by some distance ) to 52K. Season ticket holders don’t, nor should they preclude occasional supporters.
It’s been this way since the stadium was completed, this leaves seats for away team supporters and the general good of the Scottish League in encouraging whatever supporter to go to football matches.
The bulk of the remaining tickets are sold out to Celtic supporters as per last year even against Ross County and other provincial sides. These tickets are snapped up by supporters that for a myriad of reasons can’t get to every game but will still want to see Celtic whenever possible. Money cannot buy everything and you definitely cannot buy the emotion of being a Celtic supporter, whether you’re inside the stadium on match day or not
Makes sense to me CSC
SAINT STIVS on 30TH JUNE 2022 1:36 PM
Last 5 seasons – Total season ticket sales (no.) – Annual report 2021
2021 -55,320
2020 52,457
52,520
52,229
48,723
AN TEARMANN
Gies a break mate
Am trying to help the blog in the best way that I can but no matter what I do someone is gona have their nose out of joint.
capacity – 60,334.
season cards – 55,300.
800 to away fans for domestic games including 2nd rangers.
leaving 4,200 seats for general sale in domestic games. all lisbon lions south east corner, or restricted views.
also allows 4,000 seats to be used for away support in europe and relocations for cl games.
i do like the ticket exchange scheme, we should put that in place, know its is petty but i hate empty seats at a “sold out” game.
SFTB- i got it….😁
MACCARGO on 1ST JULY 2022 2:07 PM
that pass,
Anybody know why we moved from 52k to 55k ? Was it because we lost the huns 7k ?
Are we planning to extend the standing in any way next season or as you were ?
Heard the big, bad bhoys ultars are also down by the away fans and the kids (and me when I can make it !)…
Wonder how that’s gonna work out next season….
HH
It’s quite ironic, but very welcome that this season we are not scrambling about to get players in for the qualifiers, maybes that cos we don’t have any thanks to having a superb manager >:)
Now if the suits are paying attention, they will see that building from a position of strength is the way to boost their already obscene bonuses, have a balance sheet to be proud of and give themselves a huge pat on the back.
Back the manager and I honestly believe we can do some damage in Europe, quality over quantity will reap benefits big time.
The money we are spending just now will be covered by last years sales, so in essence we will have the CL money as back up if you like, the most important thing to do now is to get some of the high wage earners off the books, hard I know, but the suits are well paid and well capable, we will probably have to take a hit of a couple of them, but you can’t win them all.
SAINT STIVS on 1ST JULY 2022 2:36 PM
Right??!! That right boot was a laser guided precision weapon that night.
Marc Mechenoua
@LeMechenoua
Christopher Jullien’s move to Schalke 04 is not completely ruled out. Discussions are continuing between the player’s representatives and the Ruhr club. Still no agreement between the two parties. #Mercato #Bundesliga
@GoalFrance
Welcome home Jota
login blah de blah
FRIESDORFER on 1ST JULY 2022 11:32 AM
David 66
Enjoy your well earned holiday.
HH
——–
Friesdorfer – Thank you.
I hope you enjoyed your break to.
I really do need this break as work is starting to get to me. It’s been a terrible few years and we cannot get staff to fulfill contracts and I take it personal also wanting to keep everyone else in employment.
But hey there are certainly people worse off than me so thanks again and hope to see you for a pint soon.
D :)
RIP Drew Busby.
BW @ 2.38
Big Bad Ultras heading your way — hopefully that is not our street theatre group with their monogrammed sweatshirts and their penchant for fighting with a darts team full of pensioners.
Be afraid / very afraid …
Or failing that boot them up the erse and tell them their tea is oot — FM style if you have the Port accent.
I blame the welfare state.
And the fact that men in general now can type / buy their own moisturiser / own trolley cases.
So don’t rule out CJ ruling the bundesliga at Ruhr club Schalke
Needs some work
I never knew where Schalke was before now, still don’t really. Ruhr Valley
I think Schalke come from Gelsenkirchen (Sp) but could be wrong.
THEORIGINALSADIESBHOY on 1ST JULY 2022 3:04 PM
Reminds me of Ski Sunday – Ron Pickering and Franz Klammer and all that
TOSB
Just looked them up and you are correct. I also noted they won the Uefa in 96/97. We got pumped on aggregate 0-4 by Hamburg that year. A season a lot of people remember fondly but we were a mess in team balance/tactics (IMHO) and won zilch. We had looked great the year before. Just shows how well Jannsen did the next year from scratch and Ange last year
MODERATOR1888 on 1ST JULY 2022 2:33 PM
AN TEARMANN
Gies a break mate
Am trying to help the blog in the best way that I can but no matter what I do someone is gona have their nose out of joint.
=========÷==========
Give you a break?
Why?
I asked you how many times to delete 2 posts?
How many is a normal request.
You gave a green light to abuse yesterday to abuse.
Infact by asking which post after 7 or 8 requests
It appeared you were joining in too on the road to rejecting my requests.,as I said last night your not stupid.
Not to worry,abuse got its way
Madmitch is the blogs anonymous Torbett.
Delete and put the nose out of the abuser.
Don’t enable it.Thats what your did yesterday
So sorry mate,based on your decisions yesterday
Keep giving the thumbs up and nod to an anonymous troll,you don’t need a break.just carry on as normal,givin thumbs up and nods to those who abuse
Don’t be fed up,you wurnae abused.i was.And after repeated requests you stuck with the blogs inhouse troll and abuser.live wi it mate
Or if at CP come over and meet myself,an offer made to The blogs Torbett continuously over last 2 years
No interest in attending
Prefers trolling
Prefers anonymity
Prefers abuse.
……and a thumbs up from you
HH
An Tearmann, I deleted your comments with that reference. The man’s victims have written here before about what they went through and how it feels when an equivalence between that abuse and things which are petty by comparison.
Whatever you think of others here, there is no equivalence between what they write and that man’s crimes. CQN has to be a safe and welcoming place for his victims. Any mention of his name better have very tight context or it will be pulled.
The mods have to deal with people with personality issues streaming out of them, who will find ways to circumnavigate whatever rules exist to spread their toxins. Please support them. This is not negotiable.
Schalke from Gelsenkirchen are one of the best supported and followed teams in Germany. Obviously Munich are way out in front but Schalke can, surprisingly rival Dortmund with actual fan following. It won’t feature in any list of social media followers on Facebook, Tim Tok etc; as it hasn’t had much recent success. The last of their titles was in 1958 but they were very successful during the Nazi years even mentioned in the dialogue of Das Boot). They have won one less title than Dortmund but two less than fellow fallen giants Nürnberg.
On the Forbes list of most valuable football clubs they were ranked in 2019, 14th ahead of Inter, West Ham and Roma but have since slipped out of the top 20. They have a membership scheme with over 150k members and average crowds of over 60k.
Tim Tok should read Tok Tok but I may have stumbled on a new blog name there
Oh ffs, I forgot that shower of shite were fouling the highways tomorrow😡. As my Mum still says “hanging is too good for them”.
TET
It is a double edged sword. One of the reasons we have signed up and re-signed loanees this season is because we have automatic CL qualification. I don’t seek to detract from Michael Nicholson’s efforts but some of our players might have waited until the CL qualifying process was completed before putting pen to paper.
If we lose out on automatic Group Stage entry, for whatever reason, we won’t see such early clarity on signings again, even with Ange and Michael preferring it was so.
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX 3.48.
Aye, probably.
P67
I fear that you have more work to do.
My thoughts are that a line has been crossed and it needs to be curtailed for all the reasons you gave and probably some more.
My only comment be that I am surprised how some / sorry one individual will cross social norms all to easily to try and score a point — in anger is one thing / bad enough.
Cold calculated repetition is something else and much more worrying.
As they say — everyday is a school day.
SFTB @ 3.41
Schalke 04 angle — any thoughts on starting up a membership scheme for the club?
£10 per year — base membership with a vote for a member’s director?
£10 per month — some sort of media membership to include CTV?