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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ST STIVS
Got it in one!
:-)
PHILBHOY, HH ya old git.
why we need academy graduates to compete in europe.
the always excellent and informative moravcik67
=================
https://twitter.com/Moravcik67_/status/1542887572552261632
1. Euro squad stuff.
With the signings of Bernabei and Jota, here’s some tweets about where are with our European Squad for next season.
Because of our automatic group place, we have until 2nd September to register our squad. So still plenty of time to add to what we have.
2. First up, how it all works.
We can Register two squads of players with UEFA – List A and List B.
List B is pretty straightforward. We can use if for any player born after 1/1/2001, who has been with us for 2 years since their 15th birthday. So it’s for the youngsters.
3. If a player can go on List B, he goes there. It frees up a space in the main squad.
In the past we’ve been able to include guys like Edouard, Ajer, Welsh, Johnston, etc, on List B. But we don’t seem to have many 1st team ready youngsters who qualify this year.
4. List A is the main squad. We can register 25 players on it, but there are restrictions.
It’s easier to look at it this way. There are 3 types of player that we can have in List A
– club trained
– association trained
– Anyone who isn’t either club/association trained
5. Simplified definitions…
For Celtic, a club trained player is one who was at Celtic for 3 years between ages 15-21
An association trained player is one who was at any other Scottish club for 3 of those years
The rules are a bit more complicated, but that’s the jist of it.
6. Of the 25 player squad
– 4 places are reserved purely for club trained players
– 4 are reserved for any combination of club or association trained players
– the other 17 can be filled by anyone, including either club or association trained players.
Moravcik67
@Moravcik67_
·
21h
7. We lose any places reserved for club/association trained players that we can’t fill.
So, for example, if we only had 2 club trained and 3 association trained players we could only register 22 players – as we’d be 3 club/association trained players short.
8. Just now we have the following
Club trained (6) – Forrest, McGregor, Ralston, Welsh, Hazard and Johnston
Association trained (4) – Bain, Turnbull, Taylor and McCarthy.
So we have enough for the full 25 man squad. How much some of them would contribute is up for debate.
StB @ 12.10
Growth agenda — we agree.
Main stand rebuild — we agree.
To me that project requires Bond financing.
Scale = £100mill as a plug number / possibly more.
The hotel needs a re-design — the current design is honking.
Museum = We agree in that we desperately need one.
Art Gallery = We need one / cheap to fill.
Another round of bond financing?
Additions to the training estate should be able to be financed through normal trading.
We manged to waste £10mill in two poorly planned transfers in 2020 so we can handle that sort of spend.
Rubb style indoor pitch / clearspan @ 80M plus = £3mill spend / £5mill spend?
My thoughts are that we should be aiming for two similar structures — L/town and B/field.
We run two training facilities and to me both should have one — they both face the same weather.
My thoughts are that we should provide a focus to each site:
L/town = Youth academy / U19 site.
B/field = First team training ground.
We also have the Ladies / U19’s / B team to fit in.
Not sure if the B/team should train at the same location as the first team.
Some teams do / some teams don’t.
Regarding youth development we / Scotland desperately need more indoor pitches.
To see U13’s / U14’s trying to play measured football in the middle of a December storm is a crime against children.
Consequently if the First team have one then so should the Youths.
Plus it would help our carbon footprint — mini-buses shuttling between the Campsies and the Clyde is a waste of time / effort / CO2.
For the record that well known building guy CRM — Weegie of some repute back in the day — could offer a solution to a low cost indoor environment — he might have tried to do too much with his new high tech roughcast at the HH in H/burgh but the structure that has been put up to protect the house offers hope for indoor pitches.
Similar frame and roof to the Rubb style post tents but the walls are mesh instead of engineered synthetic canvas — lets in air for circulation but takes the rough of the wind. Any issues and the mesh sizing could be looked at.
It might allow a grass pitch to grow indoors with the help of some lighting rigs.
Failing that we just go back to 3G or 4G “turf”.
Allows play in more natural conditions than a posh tent
Finally anyone who offer Customer Relationship Management will get a tutt tutt.
Then would come the B Team stadium !?!
The Crownpoint upgrade vs the search for the new Helenvale,
And then you would have the Ladies and P/head Juniors to worry about.
That plot in front of the Emirates is looking very tempting.
We don’t play enough football.
Stx2 @ 1.59
Does that me we should not sell MJ and we should have tried harder to hold onto KD?
Our homegrown roster is very bare at the moment.
We might have the numbers but we don’t have the quality.
AMcG = Not Hibs / he should have been our CL punt?
SPL trained — LF from the sheep / AC from Luton?
BRRB
And good day to you, Sir!
CRM’s HH @ H/burgh — from the guys who made the mesh.
He really was a top bloke when it came to design stuff plus his wife was probably even better.
The GSofA board should be in prison for the mess they have made of his Garnethill masterpiece.
MG — what a complete erse / plus she wasted the Tube.
https://www.alphamesh.de/en/the-hill-house-box-helensburgh-scotland/
MG — the female equivalent of PN aka Mahatma.
*HOLD*
https://store.celticfc.com/kits/home?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=home_kit_22_preorder
MADMITCH on 2ND JULY 2022 2:21 PM
MG — the female equivalent of PN aka Mahatma.
###
I’m guessing Maud Gonne and Paolo Nutini.
Am I close?
…!!BADA BING!! on 2ND JULY 2022 12:32 PM
Goram dead
POR CIERTO on 2ND JULY 12:48 PM
Goram’s died (58) por cierto…
That’s both of them then?
T
EL @ 2.54
Warm bordering on tepid.
MG ex GSofA high heid yin.
PN ex indy band loving ealy hipster who holidayed in Nicaragua picking coffee.
BMcL was also involved but he does not talk about it incessantly.
Andy Goram passes on their bigot walk day.
Deaf ear…………………..
GENE on 2ND JULY 2022 10:41 AM
Emeraldbee
Let’s face it if it was easy to login we’d have some right plonkers and trolls posting 🤭
Very funny (but looks like a fair few of them have worked out how to do that!) 😀😀😀
(Sorry for tardy reply- was out counting butterflies on Langlands Moss, south of East Kilbride).
EMERALDBEE \O/ A DOUBLE NINER!!
A noble cause.
Tobago Street on 2nd July 2022 2:58 pm
…!!BADA BING!! on 2ND JULY 2022 12:32 PM
Goram dead
POR CIERTO on 2ND JULY 12:48 PM
Goram’s died (58) por cierto…
That’s both of them then?
T
——————————————————————————————
BRILLIANT 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
crawford allan, head of refereeing on radio scotland just now,
he couldnt be any more chinless wonder “blazer”.
sounding like a posher but weaker pat nevin intellectual boys brigader.
A weaker Pat Nevin….😁
followed by a leigh griffiths live interview, i think he comes across as really nerve wracked, quavering voice,
he will be 32 in august.
admits he took “summers off” and only now has learned the lesson that talent alone doesnt cut it,
and he is at fighting weight again 74 kilos.
just hopeful to find a club.
and lacking self confidence, working alone, watching all the pre season. people might say i brought it on myself, and people say i deserved it.
very honest, but to me he sounds fragile.
MODERATOR1888 on 2ND JULY 2022 12:22 PM
Fairly large orange walk in ayr today
Buses of huns everywhere and police “escorting”
Stay away from the town centre and beach area
Didn’t realise you were a coastal Bhoy…or were you just down for the walk ;)
I assume it won’t be a Catholic funeral.
LG,
Brendan was brilliant with me, i got injured often, started easy season well, but once injured i got low with it, but talking with him he could still make me feel like messi.
MG- Muriel Gray
Mahatma Gandhi
I don’t know if this has been mentioned yet as I haven’t read all pages of the blog but I was heartened to read on Celtic News Now (which I know is often click bait rubbish) that the Twitter guy who broke the news about Julien’s possible move to Schiller and agreed fee of £3m if the loan was to be made permanent has indicated that Celtic are in talks with Souza to try to secure a one season loan deal with the option to buy if successful. We are hoping to take him to the Austrian training camp next week. It would be great if this was true.
Andy Goram – outstanding goalkeeper.
Not such an outstanding human being.
Schiller* grrrr Schalke
BURNLEY78
Received a bottle of the Eden Mill fusion whisky today for my birthday 👍
Sad to here the comments from LG today.
Even sadder that it has taken him to the age of 32 to realise for himself what was obvious to everybody else all those years ago.
I hope he can find a game somewhere and shows his talent on the park — he does have quite a lot.
His goal against Anderlecht in 2017/18 after “Champion the wonderpass” will live long in the memory — precision finish with a control that had you thinking he was wearing slippers.
ON to KT to LG to goal with a lot of shaking heads from the opposition.
DB @ 4.27
Do you work in the Fire Brigade?
MG is well known in those circles.
Seemingly she is a big fan of the Prodigy.
Firestarter on repeat …
Where’s ma coat?
AIPPLE on 2ND JULY 2022 3:04 PM
Andy Goram passes on their bigot walk day.
*As Ronan Keating once sung, “you say it best when you say nothing at all” so lets no demean ourselves in commenting on that creature, aye both of them.
Where ye left it
Paolo
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gthUy-E31Kc