You can be sure Peter Lawwell was not working on contract renewals for Scott Brown, Jozo Simunovic and Callum McGregor last month, as the transfer window reached is climax, but 14 days after it closed, all three have signed new long-term deals.
Scott’s keeps him at the club until he turns 34 in two years. Jozo is contracted to 2021, when he will be 27, while Callum this morning also agreed to stay until 2021, when he will be 28.
Callum is a fascinating case study in player development. After making a substantial impact on the right wing, his form faded, but he has been reborn in central mid. More than anyone else at the club, he has an ability to instantly bring a difficult pass under control. This affords him that valuable commodity: vision.
I’m not going to tell you Callum is as good as the PSG players we saw on Tuesday, but he is the only player we have in the mould of their midfielders. They also fire the ball around with precision and control. Aiden McGeady had this ability in abundance (none of his Celtic contemporaries did). I’d like to have seen the Green Garrincha in a central role.
My sense is that we may have struggled to re-sign Jozo if questions didn’t hang over his knee. His ability is comfortably worth an eight-figure transfer fee and far higher wages than Celtic could afford. The player’s proverbial Achilles heel may bestow long-term stability in Celtic’s defence.
Celtic gambled on signing him two years ago – and let’s not forget the comments pages here were full of angst, as a regional Guardian journalist expressed astonishment that we’d gone for what he viewed as such a limited talent. We are in a place where we need to take a few chances. This one paid off.
I fully expect Scott Brown will sign one more Celtic contract to see him through his mid-30s, when thoughts at the club will turn to succession.
Win tickets for Ibrox
Celtic sponsor, Intelligent Car Leasing, have given us two tickets for the visit to Ibrox on 23 September to raffle for Mary’s Meals. You know the script:
Over 3,000 children in Malawi and Liberia eat a school meal each day because of the money raised by CQN’ers.
You are improving lives, educating a generation in some of the most deprived locations in the world. School attendance has increased an average of 30%, literacy and numeracy skills improve. Life-long opportunities are enhanced.
To enter the raffle, answer this question:
Which Belgian team will Celtic face in this season’s Champions League?
Please donate a minimum of £5 to this MyDonate page. Then forward your confirmation email with your answer in the SUBJECT LINE to celticquicknews@gmail.com
Many thanks to you and Intelligent Car Leasing.
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CQN went behind the scenes with BT Sport at Hamilton last Friday evening and this is all covered in the new CQN Podcast which is out now and includes an interview with Chris Sutton…
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This boy who ran onto the pitch. Here was are days later and the lad is getting from all sides. The youngster was just pissed up and drunk on booze. Youths these day simply can’t handle it! Well done to the whippersnapper for owning up in court. I understand the stripling was in tears. Young Master Hatton will have learned his lesson following that court appearance! The young buck won’t make the same mistake again. No siree! This little pup will be on the next ferry home with his tail between his legs.
N.B. All chump references intended for hilarious comical effect. We all know he’s not a feckin wean. Christ on a bike…
Babason 9:57
Have you seen how they spell Cologne, no wonder they lost the war :0)
Big Packy
If I lose my seat due to stand closure I’m going to sell my ticket on eBay.
MWD
Koln fans singing the ” The Bonny Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond ”
Heard it all now.
Are Cologne signing Loch Lomond?
Boo 1-1 now
Gluteus equalise.
1-1 smacked in
The Arsenal fans respond with “Arsenal Arsenal” :O)
JOBO BALDIE on 14TH SEPTEMBER 2017 10:04 PM
Bhoys and Ghirls thanks for all the advice re cavity wall insulation. Mixed reviews but I think the ‘no’s’ have it. If it aint broken, etc. By the way I did know that it wasn’t a scam and is apparently government funded. But the line that swayed me was ‘the cavity is there for a reason’.
————————
If every ‘line’ was true and accurate, there would never be any kind of improvement/development/upgrade. I always had reservations, but have had it installed for over 10 years, without any issue.
Thanks to all you bums who replied to my cheek(y) post ;))
mwd keep posting pal hail hail.
JOBO
Just been reading back and saw your post earlier , don’t do the cavity wall mhate , i’m talking from experience not a good move !
Dedicated to Baba the Bum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivybD98Nnoc
Koln chant sounds like Paul McStay, Paul McStay :)
What a goal Sanchez
2-1 cracker
TONYROME
Will do mhate ! E’s glass topped up as we speak ! See you soon big mhan HH !!
Goal worth the admission fee, even at Arsenal prices….
Tontine@9.38
You have mentioned some wonderful players there.
Its hard to believe that there isnt a decent Scottish centre half in the professional game. Coaching is meant to have improved but hard to find evidence. Could there be too much coaching?
MACJAY…
Gassy arse mi amigo. ;))
“She said ‘Bum Bum the baker is dead’…”
Marvellous.
Jobo- agree with VP, no difference, giving it out free as government signed up to enviro stuff and didnt meet numbers
Call of Juarez
There is a plethora of clipboard coaches whose sole contribution is to minimize talent.
They talk a good game but have zero ability to implement or educate.
Also only Celtic have any chance of developing a decent centre half with the standard of refereeing in SPL. This will be despite the refereeing.
As no English clubs are looking at Scottish talent beyond Celtic i just do not see the opportunity for a young centre half having a proper learning environment.
Danny Wilson was touted as the new Baresi when huns sold him to Liverpool and without the aid of Scottish refs he proved to be the diddy we knew he was.
If a young centre half played in another league and played the same way he was allowed to by Scottish refs he would be lucky to finish a single game.
Dallas
There are a few bhoys looking forward to meeting MiT in Glasgow on Saturday.
I feared for Villarreal tonight when Astana equalised. Two quick replies settled the nerves. Dreadful start to the season, but two wins against R Betis and tonight has them back on track. Was nice seeing the two Celtic Submari banners tonight. One with Celtic crest. The other banner had the crests of Villarreal, Saint Pauli and Celtic. Left wing alliance.
FAN-A-TIC on 14TH SEPTEMBER 2017 10:59 PM
Call of Juarez
Danny Wilson was touted as the new Baresi when huns sold him to Liverpool and without the aid of Scottish refs he proved to be the diddy we knew he was.
If a young centre half played in another league and played the same way he was allowed to by Scottish refs he would be lucky to finish a single game.
*when Elvis, at one time touted as the new guff, went tae Coventry he only lasted 9 months he amassed an incredible amount of cards. His manager Ron Atkinson said at the time he would have tae realise he is no longer at eyebroke. Pretty much says it all.
If you placed a bet on whether Traynor was lying, you would lose.
They are not Liquidated, they are IN Liquidation ; i.e., they are clinically dead but the Death Cert has still to be signed.
TontineTim ,
Thanks for he info re the game at Shawfield.
I was also at the game in Dunfermline when the two cups were on display.
I had broken and dislocated my shoulder a few weeks previously and drove to the game with my left arm in a sling. Thank God there weren’t many there that night!!
Cosy Corner Bhoy,
I got engaged on Holy Saturday 1969. I met my beloved in the Argyle Arcade, where I emptied my pockets on a jewellers counter.
We then had lunch in Sloan’s and, as she wanted to wait for the engraving to be done, so s to show all her mates in the Nurses’ Home.
I did the decent thing. I left her in town and met up with my father and his pal in the Clarendon Bar, before going up the road to Firhill.
Scott Sinclair
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/sep/14/golden-goal-scott-sinclair-plymouth-barnet-2007
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=omyLC2iGuOM
TT
Dick Guff the Kelvin Walkway cruiser also had an illustrious career in England. Said naebody ever. :)
Oldy but a goldy …
Any news on the amount of after game drug tests in the SPL?
How do the numbers compare with last season?
From memory figures from a few years ago were incredible.
An average of just over one a season suggested we were not taking the issue seriously.
Not sure if this has improved recently or we continue to pay lip service to the issue?
Consequently feedback appreciated.
I am old enough to remember the 70’s TFOD with JW in charge and the papers were pushing the jungle fighter angle and his pre season training stints at — from memory — Gullane Sands and how this training effort was their secret weapon that kept them out in front.
All so paper friendly — lots of pictures — plus the “Protestant” work ethic angle to play to appeal to their WATP attitudes of physical and social superiority.
Just a memory to me from the decade the world has forgot.
My thoughts at the time were they had the brawn but we searched for skill.
And then came Argentina and the problems that a certain ex TFOD player — WJ — had with banned substances. Was the Gullane training angle just a cover story for performance enhancement out of a syringe that had become routine in Govan?
The TFOD were desperate to end our run.
The bought big, they sacked managers, they enjoyed MIB help.
Would that desperation extend to every form of performance enhancement?
Breaking news
N Korea ‘fires missile from Pyongyang’ – 10 mins ago
Japan again warns its citizens
Madmitch
Synchronicity. I had just posted about sniff guff. ;))
Dallas, Delaney’s
been a great trip so far… too many highlights to name them all, but the CQNers I have met would be at the top of the list .. a few I wasn’t able to meet, but I was probably a bit unrealistic with my time … but, just means I am going to have to come back!
Looking forward to seeing some old friends and meeting some new ones in Glasgow
Cowie
These North Koreans are intent on stopping 10 in a row!
Pray for peace time.
Jobo,
“‘the cavity is there for a reason’.”
So were thatched roofs and lead pipes, but technology has advanced in recent years.
For what it’s worth, we got our attic and walls insulated about four years ago.
I know what EK is like in winter, as I lived in West Mains and Greenhills for seven years.
However, I now live on the Wild Atlantic Coast of Donegal, where the wind doth blow and the rain doth rain and we are mighty glad that we doth got the job done.
DELANEYS DUNKY
Are you suggesting Dicky Guff’s career was in the toilet when he went down to England.
MiT
Looking forward to meeting you on Saturday.
Good win against Ross County and we will all be in fine spirits.
HH
The cavity is to stop the damp from transferring from your outer wall to your inner walls, it’s not lead pipes or thatched roofs.
Filling you cavity may make your house warmer, however in a country where it rains 13 months of the year you are going to get damp. Without the cavity the damp hits your inner walls.
…..if we have to continue the fight against corruption, lies and cheating alone, and without any support, moral or otherwise from any other club.. am I being childish or petty by thinking we should not support any other club in Scotland, either by away support, player loans, and by providing the minimum requirements for training, hospitality and gate split on cup games… we’re propping up Scottish football, but in a legitimate, financial and honest way… should we become selfish. ?