Let’s get the badge kisser-thing sorted once and for all. We have seen enough of them come and go not to be taken in. You can set your watch by them. I don’t believe in a hierarchy of Celtic players, or supporters, based on proclaimed affinity. You are at Celtic because you want to be here, fan or player, and that’s enough.
Kieran Tierney has been a highly paid and respected professional for four years. He mixed with others of the same ilk, as well as some who know they are out of their depth at Celtic. The latter cherish the term of their Celtic contract, the former all wonder what level they will be able to reach in the game. All of them. To the best of my knowledge, no Celtic player has rejected circa £75k per week to remain here.
I don’t know what his medical advice has been, but if you read about chronic osteitis pubis, you get an insight into where an athlete’s head may be when he has a persistent injury that is not responding as hoped.
“Osteitis pubis is a painful degenerative condition of the pubic symphysis, surrounding soft tissues and tendons…. It is currently considered as one of the most debilitating pain syndromes for athletes. Although the condition is considered self-limiting, it often requires stoppage of sporting activities for several months, representing a significant problem especially for elite athletes.”
Kieran got this move coming off the worst season of his professional career. We will see if things improve, or go downhill, this season. Consider what advice his agent would have given him right now. None of this forms part of the public discourse, instead we got a clumsy social media comment about being out with his pals while Celtic are playing a crucial qualifier.
If we are serious about making progress as a football club, we need to take our player trading onto another level. That means everyone has a price and we should be ready with replacement options whenever a value offer arrives.
If you think selling your top player for £25m is a bad day at the office, imagine your challengers selling a single player for that sum, and how transformational this kind of money is. Trading is as much a part of success in the elite game as tactics and fitness. There are no sacred cows, because eventually, the most sublime talents perish.
We should always be ready to make a deal. See how it is done in Portugal. Or look at Ajax, who were going nowhere, then discovered how to trade, sold €72m of talent in 2016-17, €73m in 2017-18 and reached the Champions League semi-final in 2018-19.
Multi-treble winning Brendan Rodgers is not a talent spotter. He added Scott Sinclair (whom he had worked with) and Moussa Dembele (a John Park recommendation) to Ronny Deila’s squad. If we are going to spend significant sums of money this summer, better to have Neil Lennon with his hand on the tiller.
It felt like a bad day when Brendan left, but now I am sure it was for the best. There is no telling the damage Brendan and Lee would do with this kind of money. Kieran was great, the best left back in decades, and yes, he should have stayed for 10, but I’m already feeling pretty neutral about him leaving.
At Celtic, we love our history more than any others do, but football is all about tomorrow. Time to get busy writing the next chapter.
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From previous thread:-
TRADITIONALIST88 on 9TH AUGUST 2019 8:57 AM
“Not sure where you think you are…”
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Not sure whether you’re deliberately trying to wind me up or just generally being a smart arse.
Either way mate, geez peace!
Is Bolingoli-Mbombo a Rodgers signing? Certainly looks like one from P67 perspective.
The manager had the last say on who comes in? Aye right it’s a lower turnover version of Man U.
So are you saying that we have offloaded a potential John Kennedy scenario here Paul?
Melbourne – so do I bud.
My thoughts are focused on the meeja agent-provacateurs. The player indicated is only an example.
To preserve our sanity a wee realisation of what will undoubtedly happen from a media perspective might be a handy barrier to the inevitable guff………..
If it’s not Cal-mac it’ll be the next best Celtic player – the point, remember is to weaken Celtic.
How it’s achieved is largely…immaterial.
An in-depth discussion on what really motivates young millionaire athletes nowadays is above my pay grade!
:)
HH – and stay happy ‘n’ rebellious buddy.
I really don`t know if Sevco have improved or not. I do know that the MSSM promotes the idea that they have.
Cheerio for now.
JJ
Hot smoked – yep, agreed.
It must sell those things called papers and get them clicks in……
The latest worsest………kulprit appears to the be The Hootsmoan.
HH
BANKIEBHOY
Good on you mhate!
SID1888 on 9TH AUGUST 2019 11:11 AM
Ye gonnae flounce off again if no one gets you a ticket for Ibrox in 3 weeks ffs
HOT SMOKED on 9TH AUGUST 2019 11:16 AM
I really don`t know if Sevco have improved or not. I do know that the MSSM promotes the idea that they have.
___
I dunno. 4-2 away from home in Denmark is something to shout about to be fair.
But they didn’t look too smart against Killie so I wouldn’t start worrying too much.
Pretty low to suggest KT is cashing in because he is concerned he might not recover from an ongoing injury issue. Actually it’s disgusting. The boy poured his heart out on social media, it certainly was not a clumsy post. Maybe he just wants to test himself at the highest level and reach his potential. Not everyone is a money grabbing mercenary.
MULLET AND CO 2 on 9TH AUGUST 2019 10:42 AM
The difference with Ajax though is that they spent the money. How much cash do they have or did they have after the close of each transfer window?
Normally much more than us
Timaloy29
I think NL would be tongue n cheek with his remark regards more wingers , just my thinking ,I also think giving Sinclaire a one year deal would be in case an offer was made for him but again i may be wrong . Would be happier if we signed some toughies . People would think i was an aggresive person .far from it , i just want to see us being able to stand up to the thuggery that we are subjected too . MON sides ,
especially the side of 2003 was my cup of tea .No one bullied that team . NL should know what’s required to combat the hammer throwers, but presently we seem to prefer the WEE tanner baw style players , but sadly i dont think we will win at the lavvy with a team full of battle shy players , and an arena filled with a baying hate filled mob , to much for our wee bhoys i fear HH
DAVID17 on 9TH AUGUST 2019 11:32 AM
It would be naive to think that money didn’t play a part in his decision. Or that a possible chronic injury might encourage him to test himself at a higher level sooner rather than later
The probability is that there were a number of things that led to him going, some more important to him than others, and that those that Paul highlighted were amongst the most important.
These things are rarely black and white and it’s just Pauls opinion
Maybe Sinclair said GIRUY,,I’m happy here and not going to the Championship…
Paul 67
I made the same point re the nature of KTs injury as strong factor in a change of his direction on Twitter yesterday.
There is nothing like reality for causing a rethink of previously held beliefs.
6 yrs at £x is fine but if it might only be 2yrs then 2 yrs at £x+y seems a safer bet.
BADA BING
Wish Kieran had said that lol.
H.H Mick
Auldheid…,
Can you see the arsenal medical team supporting such a gamble?
What I seen of the other night is that Elhamed was solid, has good pace doesnt get caught with the ball over the top as he has the height to head it, Boli on the other side was too far up the pitch, seems to want to get rid of the ball to quickly, he too has good pace and with coaching hopefully will learn the position, I think he will do fine in the league here, Centre midfield out numbered and have only Scott Brown to give us power, McGregor doesnt get invloved in tackling at all, attacking wise we could have scored more by learning when to shoot or pass, hopefully just rustiness.
A tough hard Centre midfielder or 2 for me, another striker if Bayo cant be the third option, cover in both full back areas. Plenty of attacking options.
Please no loans without an agreed fee on an option to buy.
MM..,
For all we know KT has been saying it since the close of last season and it took till this week for the board to sicken him enough or convince him to change his mind.
His statement looks to me to be written by the Plcs PR dept in an attempt to make both look like it was a big decision for both.
Can you tell I don’t trust them one bit 😀
CELTIC40ME on 9TH AUGUST 2019 11:40 AM
He has passed a medical at a world class football club and signed a 5 year deal. The injury speculation is nonsense and unnecessary.
I don’t doubt the money on offer was attractive but I genuinely believe he wants to play at the highest level. It’s not as if he was on a pittance at Celtic.
CANAMALAR IT LOOKS LIKE OCD OBSESSION on 9TH AUGUST 2019 11:46 AM
Auldheid…,
Can you see the arsenal medical team supporting such a gamble?
___
Aaron Ramsey, Danny Welbeck, Jack Wilshere & Alex Oxelaide-Chamerlain were all injury prone.
I managed to go to the article instead of an advert! Been a few years since that last happened.
You can’t really trust any of it. Arsenal PR, KT’s PR & Celtic PR are all trying to shape the story.
My theory is that the club wanted him to go because they were worried about him getting worse with injury and driving the fee down.
He was happy to go for the challenge & the money.
Legends for not leaving?
Hypothetical as it is – no club ever tried to buy James Forrest, or Scott Brown for £25million. Furthermore if Leicester had bid £20million for Callum McGregor, I reckon he would have been away down the road like a shot, possibly with Peter Lawwell driving the car to Leicester himself.
Celtic would sell anyone, even the manager if the price was right.
CANMAN
You’re a straight talker and i admire that, the bhoy has made his decision
it’s hurt us all greatly, but Celtic go on thanks to real legends.
H.H Mick
Timaloy29,
Did they turn up for an arsenal medical with an aggressive degenerative condition as described on here?
16 ROADS. on 9TH AUGUST 2019 11:53 AM
Agreed.
But this is the first time a club like Arsenal has come in for one of ours. They are objectively a bigger club than the usual suspects who sniff around our players (West Brom, Southampton, Norwich etc.)
Paul
I’ve got a bee in my bunnet that’s been buzzing about with increasing energy in recent seasons, and your leader has only agitated it further.
“…selling your top player for £25m… imagine… how transformational this kind of money is.”
Celtic closed the year to June 2018 with £42M cash at bank.
By December Cash and Receivables had increased by a further £7M. In February we received an unbudgeted £9M for the management team.
While trading results will be loss-making for the year to June 2019 (Europa League versus Champions League), gains on disposal will more than backfill the losses, and cash and liquidity will again be greater year on year. I’ll hazard a guess and say we closed the year to June 2019 with £50M cash at bank.
We’ve now taken £25M from Arsenal for KT, paid in one immediate instalment, adding further to a historically unprecedented cash levels.
Even factoring for recent player purchases and staged payments on last seasons purchases, Celtic’s current cash position is largely* equivalent to one entire year of operating cost. And we’ve got a 50:50 chance of getting into the group stages of the Champions League. Were we to do so, the cash position might* exceed the total revenue for the year.
I’ve been in business in some form or another for 30 odd years, and in all that time I have never known or heard of a business accumulating cash to such an extent over such a long period. Those that have generated surplus cash have returned it to shareholders.
Beyond the requirements of day to day funding and business risk management, Cash in the bank, of itself, does nothing. It’s inert, dormant. There’s no point to it.
Cash needs to be applied to the business; it needs to be used, invested to create further growth.
In Celtic’s case, that means capital projects that increase income, and player acquisitions and wages that drive performance on the pitch.
We can see some signs of this in terms of the recent fees paid for Edouard and Jullien, but it’s modest in comparison to the accumulating cash.
I entirely understand the risk inherent in relying on gains from player sales to fund the football budget, but equally I’ll point out that this is exactly the model Ajax apply, the same Ajax you have used as an example in your leader: their operating budget exceeds their revenue, and the budget is (more than) balanced by selling players, despite the risk in any given year that they may not have coveted players to sell.
In the past 10 years Ajax have generated €277M in gains from player sales, backfilling a trading loss of €148M.
That Bee in my bunnet is this: £25M from the sale of KT is NOT transformational. Any transformation comes only from using the money, and to date, Celtic have not been inclined to.
Cash doesn’t win trophies. Players do. What’s the plan for the cash?
TBB
16 roads..,
I think that the point of the article, it’s now a pod thing that we can’t/won’t hold on to our best players. Irrespective of how much is in the bank we should be settled that the game is now about dividend returns for corporate investors. Investment is about increasing the Plc value.
CANAMALAR IT LOOKS LIKE OCD OBSESSION on 9TH AUGUST 2019 11:57 AM
Timaloy29,
Did they turn up for an arsenal medical with an aggressive degenerative condition as described on here?
___
I wouldn’t suggest that Celtic know for sure he will never play 40+ games a season again.
But I imagine as Paul has suggested, there are certain risks associated with his condition. Ultimately, medicals often are a matter of opinion and maybe Arsenal’s doctor has a different opinion to ours.
It’s all to do with risks. If KT had another season like last season, we wouldn’t be able to get 25 million for him. Eventually, we’d have to sell him for a smaller fee or losing him for nothing (assuming he wouldn’t ever sign a new deal). I believe the board are risk-averse and wouldn’t risk £25 million on KT’s health over the next season or two.
Time will tell if the risk was real. We were in a strong position with him on a long-term contract and see no other logic to selling him now.
I’m still more annoyed about the Boyata situation. Botched his replacement, turned down an offer that was generous and lost him for nothing. I don’t think he provided good enough performances to justify keeping him and losing 9 to 10 million.
KT left because he wanted to. He says he has achieved his dream and now was being professional. The club didn’t need the money and wanted him to stay. When the player wanted to leave, Celtic set a high figure and refused to budge from it and they got it.
I hope we se the money wisely and spend it on the squad
Is it right we have taken in approx 70m in
Last 3-4 years
The money coming into the biscuit tin has been great
But never had our club needed a director of football more
Our investment and planning has been woefull
Peter Lawwell been all over it
Either leave Peter or take a back seat
Sure keep your hand on the tin and Keep is from debt. But give surplus cash to a football director ( all of it ). And away and plant roses beside your drive way
Time to smarten up
Pod eh good even
TIMALOY29 on 9TH AUGUST 2019 11:59 AM
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They know that they are buying quality, at a reasonable price.
Virgil was top class, and so was Moussa.
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CANAMALAR IT LOOKS LIKE OCD OBSESSION on 9TH AUGUST 2019 12:05 PM
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Fergus McCann made us a PLC – Don’t think there was an alternative at the time.
It is what it is.
HH. 🍀
Feeling more down than I expected about KT’s departure to the obscenely rich PL .
Being right on the door-step f the PL makes us more vulnerable to the greedy bassas.
However we do the same to smaller clubs …grapping their best players , so we have to accept it when it happens to us .
The battered bunnet
Star post if the year *********
The issue we have. Is we have a cost cutting CEO. It’s what Peter has always dine with his career. From Scottish coal to Celtic park
He is the wrong person with the wrong policy to take us forward The cash will wittle away with lack of CL and a return to posters on seats :(
I can speak from first hand experience having the same medical (or very similar) challenges. Mine ended in a catestrophic failure that had me out of walking for months, running for years and football 3 yrs… And i have not fully recovered. Was training hard at the time for a 15mile hill run, kept getting recurring groin strains, niggles that woudn’t go away and they couldn’t determine what was causing it. Then crack…. couldn’t even lift my leg, day 2 couldnt get out of bed for weeks. Then MRI determined i have kam impingement of the hips (1/4 men from West of Scotland have this btw) and the accute crushing / twisting / damage to the pubic sympysys. Hell and back, And ultimately was told it could recurr as it all stems from hip issues. Now I don’t know KT’s details, but if iwas in his shoes, the uncertainty around this area and long term prognosis… take the money now…
Cluj game on Free Sports, 553 on Virgin.