As I walked out of Celtic Park after the Leipzig game it occurred to me that we are a totally different football team than we would be without our three Japanese players. Kyogo, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda transformed Celtic three years ago and the trophies have flowed ever since.
Between them, the cost just shy of £7m, money that is almost within the reach of four clubs in Scotland. We signed them, because Ange Postecoglou knew them from his time in Yokohama. There is value in Japan, but since Ange, we have looked elsewhere.
Last week, it was difficult to avoid talking about Nicolas Kuhn, the breakthrough player across this season’s Champions League (so far). Nicolas signed in January and was cursed in some places by being regarded as a ‘project’. It took less than 6 months for his project to mature into a player we could struggle to hold onto.
There is a common thread between the players signed from Japan and Nicolas – City Football Group (CFG). Yokohama are a CFG member club, who also developed Mark Lawwell for a decade before he reunited with Ange at Celtic as our head of recruitment.
Mark Lawwell’s term also saw Paulo Bernardo join (initially on loan) and Alistair Johnston. He found Yang, Oh and Kwon, all three of whom are back in the South Korea national squad.
And, of course, Alexandro Bernabei, the left back currently ripping it up Brazil, and who we are set to make a packet on, as well as Tomoki Iwata, who is thriving at Birmingham. His hit rate reflected his development with the elite recruiment resources at Manchester City.
Before Brendan arrived in 2016, we discussed how those in senior positions at Celtic had only ever worked at smaller clubs. Brendan’s appointment broke the mould and Celtic’s football operation leapt forward.
The two we recruited from CFG elevated our operations further and were bang on where we needed to be as a club. Our identity and mission was clear, we find talent with elite potential and transform them into winners and Champions League players.
We still have an elite manager in Brendan. We have money in the bank and will continue to buy players. Going forward, they are more likely to resemble Adam Idah (£9.5m, English second tier, will not appreciate in value), and Arne Engels (£11m, German top tier, smaller appreciation likely), than Kuhn or Hatate.
As a consequence, our identity now is less sharp than it was a year ago and our growth potential is inhibited. The future lies in finding gold in places like Vienna, not the bench of an English Championship club.
The Ange Postecoglou – Mark Lawwell era demonstrated what you can find when an elite manager and head of recruitment work together. Listen out, you’ll hear, “How are we going to hold onto these Mark Lawwell signings”, as I did from one CQN’er the walk out of Celtic Park last Tuesday night. Still, those who want to spend money to stay ahead of the other lot, instead of operating at a genuinely elite level across the club, will be happy.
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Bada Bing re McInnes – cheers.
Questions yes but now for now?
Only if and when his blatant posturing for the R2ngers gig bears fruit.
And , IMHO, it is a simple single question played back often.
“Derek, are you still up to your knees in Fenian blood?”
Typo. Not for now
btw, when are we going to stop crosses coming into the box ?
Espanyolification test
the new article will be up at noon.
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naw it willnae be
last post pah pah pap pa
“Stephbhoy67 on 12th November 2024 10:56 pm
The worst type of poverty is that of thought and it is very prevalent.”
Another one for my Top Ten
Taurangabhoy
“Maybe if Hamas release any living children and women hostages, maybe all of them, it would give Trump less reason to support Netanyahu. How about both sides of the story.”
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I’m all for it.
Hamas should release all the Israeli hostages they have as they are unjustly held without trial. Estimates are that there are 101 such people held by Hamas.
And in turn Israel could release all the Palestinians they have jailed without an adequate trial with legal representation. At the end of June 2024, there were 226 Palestinian minors detained in their prisons on “security” grounds, 93 of them, merely for being in Israel illegally. In addition, at times, some Palestinians are briefly held in military facilities. The figures from the military are received with a significant time delay and provide no details regarding inmates’ legal standing. Each year approximately 500-700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12 years old, are detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system. The most common charge is stone throwing.
In total, Israel holds 4,450 Palestinians including a couple of hundred children, 30+ women and, in 2022, there were 530 Administrative detainees (that is those held without charge or trial).
The equivalent of the Israeli response to Hamas would have been if Britain had bombed the Divis Flats, Bogside, West Belfast and areas of Newry and Lurgan as the IRA were “hiding” there. If we wouldn’t allow it to happen to our own, we should not be happy to see it happen to those we see as “The Others”.
New article which is impossible to login to because of the adverts and no visible login link.
the new article will be up at noon.
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naw it willnae be
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telt yous
Opta stats say P67 only has a 9.6% truth rating when he says a new article will be up at noon
Whit’s the comments oan the new article daen Tam?
😳🤷🏼♂️💩😂
Just realised I clicked on the latest news article and the new article hasn’t been posted yet.
😣🤦♂️
Good afternoon all from ayr races. It’s a hard life being an elderly drunk. I try my best 👌
Back to Basics – Glass Half Full on 13th November 2024 9:44 am
Big Jimmy @ 5:07 am.
Congrats on your winnings. 👍
Visibly smiling as I read your post.
…………
Thank you for your kind words.
HH Mate.
Good morning from a somewhat chilly Ottawa….
Talk of ‘strategy’ is a bit premature. A strategy is the thing that is intended to help you reach an ‘Objective’.
So, we might be better off trying to reach clarity and agreement as to what our current Objective is.
IT SHOULD involve being in the Champions League every year. (IMHO). If that is in fact the Objective, then scatter gun hoovering up of cheap ‘prospects’ is unlikely to deliver us at the doorstep of the aforesaid Objective.
Being in the Champions League each year requires:
Being Champions of Scotland, however as we are about to see, this in itself is not enough. Until Scotland can repair its coefficient status, we must be prepared to win several tough qualification ties – while we are still in pre-season. To do that, we must be able to hit the ground running. So, selling people like MOR and replacing him with an inexperienced ‘project’ will see the team take a step back at the very time that we need to step UP.
Hence the need for us to pay big (as in bigger than the board wanted to pay) money for someone like Engels.
On the other hand, if the Objective is to get in the Champions League 2 years out of 5, then get Lennon Miller for half of the Engels money and slowly improve until we are able to win these qualifying ties.
So, before you engage Paul in a debate about ‘how do we get there’, make sure we are on the same page as to ‘where are we going’.
Away out for a walk in this crisp, cold day.
Weeron
spikeysauldman on 13th November 2024 10:10 am
btw, when are we going to stop crosses coming into the box ?
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we have only lost 3 goals in 11 league games.
the 3 centre backs, bar 10 minutes v aberdeen are all very consistent.
if i move further up the park though, and as brilliant as our two wide forwrds are, i really think they could cross the ball early, ah la alan thompson.
kyogo makes so many darting runs but doesnt receive the ball.
thats it.,
Why all the negativity?
We all know our business model . We have done good.
Replaced Jota, Abada and O’Riley without losing momentum.
The best since 2003. Maybees Aye.
HH.
wee ron, page 5 of the annual report.
————————
STRATEGY, THE BUSINESS MODEL AND OBJECTIVES
The Group’s objective is to be a world-class football club through our strategy and business model for growth focusing on three key areas:
(i) Core Business –
football operations with a self-sustaining financial model, relying upon: Youth Academy; player development; player recruitment; management of the player pool; sports science and performance analysis; and football success.
(ii) Development of the Celtic Brand
– incorporating the development of Celtic Park and the development of
international revenues.
(iii) Improvement in the football environment in which Celtic plays –
representation within football governance and administration at domestic and European level.
Celtic are a big club in a peripheral league. We cannot afford to replace the Proven Stars that we sell for big money with players of immediate greater or even equal ability. And neither can more advantaged clubs like Ajax or Benfica.
If the player bought in was of clearly equal or similar ability to the star you just sold, he would cost you the same or more money. That is not a trading model that can work. You abbot make the money up by one or two more successful runs in the Champions League. Most of that money will go in bonuses to players for achieving that and leave you with less to pay the wages of the better established stars you buy.
Occasionally through inside knowledge or good/lucky scouting, you do get an improvement. When we sold Josip Juranovic, an established player from the 3rd ranked nation in International football, we replaced him with a Canadian right back, that no one on here had heard of, and yet, he has quickly proved to be of equal ability, if not better but we got him before the lazier clubs had spotted him.
However, with the same approach, we signed a promising young Argentina left back, a J- league Player of the Year midfielder, a Swedish League player of the year Centre back and a Polish Centre back from the top Polish club. All were bought within the same template and with a similar “strategy”. But, from these 4, we only have one still with us, a perennial bench warmer, one was sold for moderate money and two are on loan. We would have happily seen all of them depart and all were tagged as Not Celtic Class. Yet, one of those non-Celtic class player is doing very well in the Brazilian league and is being touted as a possible cap for Argentina- dare I say it- a much higher level than Celtic.
If we tried to replace Matt O’Riley with someone of similar abilities and attributes, we would be paying £100m for Cole Palmer, £50m for James Maddison or £30m for a Morgan Gibbs White. Alternatively, we would be taking a punt on a prospect with growth potential, which is what we did with Arne Engels. He has a good skills set but is not as potent a goal and assist threat as Matt- yet!!
So sometimes they hit the ground running as AJ did. Sometimes they look good straight away but then have a slump and grow again out of it- like Reo Hatate and sometimes they look bad and then surprise us like Larsson and Kühn, and sometime they look like they are doing fine for us and then we sell or loan them- Iwata & Jenz. And sometimes they rarely get a chance to show anything on the pitch because the coach does not like what he sees on the training ground or elsewhere- Nawrocki & Holm.
Transfer fees, like the price of milk and food, are going up and what we got for him £6m once- Hartson, Lennon & Sutton, now will barely buy a prospect like Lennon Miller
The transfer fee is a gambler’s market. Most other clubs would say Celtic have been quite astute in this market but no one will say the record is impeccable because there are no infallible gurus out there. Mourinho, Ancelotti, Ferguson & Wenger have a whole string of duds in their record of trading players. So has Brendan.
Not all of the guys who did not make it here are duds who wouldn’t make it anywhere. As Bernabei is about to show us- there was always a player in there. At a lower level- there is a player in Kwon too. A good match day and train ground coach can cover a lot of the gaps in your established squad. I remain surprised at how cheap the market is for coaches when they influence is far greater than any “Star Player” is on any team.
Some very interesting posts there…
THE RETURNOF WEERON @ 2:51 PM,
That’s exactly the point, and it is a bit odd to state something is outwith a strategy when the strategy is not that detailed.
T’wasnt going to get involved in this latest spat for that very reason, however this comment from last week, I posted as reply to a lead on another blog.
It is relevant as it shows our off piste spooky signings aren’t that off piste or the least bit spooky…
…“Without dragging the debate out, a few things to consider.
There was no doubt a difference to our summer transfer this year but consider this…
“Our successfully proven strategy has delivered stability and footballing success over many years and remains the same. We must balance the signing of players that can be developed and sold when conditions are optimal alongside the need to sign players who are able to make an immediate impact and deliver footballing success.” ~ PL
Did our transfer activity in 2024 really deviate that much from the model?
We sold high value players – Abada 10mn, MO’Riley 28mn
We bought Trusty, a Centre Half, age above mid Twenties – like Christopher Julien only slightly cheaper
We paid a lot for Idah, a prospective centre forward – like Odsonne Edouard only slightly cheaper
We brought in an older experienced midfielder McCowan, to bring stability and options to the centre of the pitch, not unlike Mooy
We brought in Bernardo an ex-loan proven prospect from Benfica, not unlike Jota but very much cheaper
We brought in an senior Goalkeeper, not unlike Gordon and Hart
So not really re-inventing the wheel here – just a much better mix.
The real difference for me is Kuhn and Engels, instead of paying 20 mn for prospects – Hyeok-kyu Kwon, Marco Tilio, Hyun-jun Yang, Odin Holm, Maik Nawrocki, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Luis Palma.
We paid 13 mn for two prospects who were meticulously and thoroughly vetted, and their background, technical ability, personalities and future prospects were carefully looked at.
There immediate usefulness and “fit” for the squad considered, they backfilled the high value players we sold – in other words we looked at those young players value, rather than their price.
A hugely important sea-change and a area of recruitment we must ruthlessly pursue.
Hail Hail
played a game of ‘spot BRRB’ at the Ayr racin today.
didnt spot him.
though to be fair i dont know what he looks like 😄
BRRB – hope you done better than me – i had the same number of winners as the number of handsome huns i seen. 😄
BRRB – hope you done better than me – i had the same number of winners as the number of handsome huns i seen.
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and the number of ‘new articles’ that P67 put up ‘at noon’ 👌
Chairbhoy
What metrics, other than team selection by Brendan Rodgers, makes Luke McCowan, an older experienced midfielder, and Luis Palma a prospect?
Luke McCowan- 26 yrs old- 3 years at Dundee, one in the Championship, and was never capped by Scotland at any level. He has 2 goals in 8 appearances for Celtic.
Luis Palma – 24 yrs old- experienced in the Honduras Top Division, USA 2nd tier league and the Greek Super League- capped 24 times at under age levels and with 16 full caps and has scored 7 goals in 32 games for Celtic.
I am not arguing about who currently looks the best bet for Celtic- that’s another argument – but definitions about prospects and established are being stretched here. David Turnbull had more top flight experience than Luke and commanded a heftier fee but he fell short of breaking out of his “squad member” status. Luke has yet to do this too and, though I like what I see, I see no guarantees that he will not be squeezed out by better players, as Iwata was.
So, I cannot see a “sea-change”, amidst an admitted undefined “strategy” and your own recognition that no wheels are being re-invented, and on the basis of one transfer window. When you and we lack a definition, have a small sample of evidence, and a shoehorning of people into categories where McCowan= Mooy, then we are reduced to reading runes and not weighing evidence.
SFTB…..
When our Irish ancestors came to Scotland way back in the day, they weren’t put onto boats by ‘zio people traffickers’ covertly pushing the kalergi plan ie: the infiltrate and destroy instructions which today’s arab invader plants are being sent to non arab countries tens of thousands of miles away when more local arab countries are bunged from zio bankers to not take these poor invaders.
Our Irish ancestors were not all young men of fighting age or they would have been correctly seen as invaders and ordered to go back and get the women and children that these male cowards had ran away and left behind to fight the cruel British genocidal scum who were stealing Ireland’s food resources and selling it around the world.
But that didn’t happen did it? No it didn’t. Our ancestors came as families fleeing for their lives.
Maybe stop standing on a stool with your fingers in your ears shouting….
“I’M NOT LISTENING TO YOUR FACTS CAUSE YOU MAKE ME LOOK LIKE A FOOL.”
There are no boat people apart from the dozen or so crisis actors who are driven to the beach at dawn for a photo op [ a decade ago ] which is played on a loop and utilised by the lying media who infrequently tell you that some boat people died to keep your docile attention to generate sympathy from unthinking suckers.
Who killed the innocent children in England during the summer?
https://x.com/UnityNewsNet/status/1851579039686840706
Weak docile simpleton packed Timdom just has no clue.
Remember guys, The ghirls are playing Chelsea tonight in the Champions League at Parkhead.
Of course its always better to support in person, however its also on TNT 1 tonight.
COYGIG
Most of the New Right Alpha Males that I have seen are fat , lazy INCEL dunces that still live with their maw but complaining that black people and women are stopping them from getting work and getting laid.
The FogHorn New Right’s all Whine, all Whine, as Alan Hull once said
i note two articles regardsing stadium expansion, the celtic blog and the celts are here, some obvious points that demand for seats are there, that existing seat holders dont always attend, that corporate boxes are in demand and indeed sold out ………….
but then woefully undercalling the engineering required, the real costs (i estimate of £150m for the low cost solution) and the timeline involved.
i see a crystal palce type expanion, two yerars work, around £200m spend, and no disruption to exisitng seating.
someone suggested building a 2nd tier corners on the main stand, these would net be able to see all the pitch unless the roof was off the main stand.
there are solutions, there are cash reserves, but the willingness to do somethiing, welll …..
so even though the strategic imperatices are laid out in black and white, someone will come on a say but what is the strategy.
dearie me
the cost of doing up the main stand will be massive, even if it was just to modernise it and not necessarily increase the capacity.
can it be justified?
can it be justified not doing it?
nae idea!
so even though the strategic imperatices are laid out in black and white, someone will come on a say but what is the strategy.
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yeah but corporate bollox talk from a boardroom doesnt necessarily mean thats what they will actually do.
anyone working for a PLC will know that!
2 weeks tonight I will be doing my usual lucky (for this season) CL routine :
Early Tea at Coia’s. Over for a pint at my pals bar The Palais and watch the first half of the early game….hoping Red Star beat Stuttgart.
Early to stadium and catch the end of the early game and before going out to savour the atmosphere build up from 25 mins or so pre kick off.
The game v Brugge is massive. It will be every bit as tough as the Leipzig one. They are a Pot 2 team who unlike Leipzig who travelled to a massive domestic rival 72 hours prior to playing us the Belgian champs will play the second bottom team in their league 96 hours before playing us. They are also fired up with belief after their first victory over an EPL team.
A win for Celtic would be transformative. It would assure post league CL status. It would guarantee a minimum of 9 Coefficient points from this season but in reality be a platform for 20-25. It would show that we are no ‘one trick pony’.
It’s clear this season could be a real ‘high watermark’ for us and a win in this game gives us a really strong chance of top 16 with an easier play off tie. A win could also set us up with confidence to get a result on our day trip to Zagreb and remove another monkey from our backs.
With already eliminated Young Boys coming to Glasgow fresh from hibernation in mid January and then Villa fighting on both PL and CL front in late January it is not ridiculous to see us in a really good place and even lightening our work load by getting the 16 points opta suggests are needed for top 8.
The Brugge game is indeed massive.
This could be a really special season for us all. Great times to support Celtic. Huge credit to all those who got us here.
Only 10 more sleeps until Tynecastle !
Saint Stivs, thanks for this.
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STRATEGY, THE BUSINESS MODEL AND OBJECTIVES
The Group’s objective is to be a world-class football club through our strategy and business model for growth focusing on three key areas:
MY RESPONSE to whoever at Celtic who wrote this:
A World Class football club is one that regularly competes for the Champions League. We are not there. We are nowhere near there. There isn’t an ounce of evidence that we are trying to be there. There is a world of difference between an organization that complies with the law and relevant administrative regulations – and a World Class Football Club.
Chairbhoy on 13th November 2024 3:42 pm…..
Thanks to you too.
This caught my eye….
‘“Our successfully proven strategy has delivered stability and footballing success over many years and remains the same’.
My response, with a basket case like sevco as our ‘competition’, we could have this level of footballing success without getting out of bed.
The objectives and targets that our board speaks of are easy to reach (and easy to obfuscate if we don’t reach them).
Proper targets should (again IMHO) should be easily understood by our fan base, and have meaning to the fan base, and would be things that the fan base would want:
Something like:
Champions League participation in 3 out of 5 years.
Knockout stages at least 2 out of the next 5 years.
Those who run the Club are setting a very low bar. This allows them to get up at the AGM and declare victory.
That’s me for the day.
Weeron
SFTB totally agree that Israel should release detainees. Completely against international law. We all need to suggest solutions, acceptable compromises, small steps and big ones to end this war. Back the Israelis into a corner, back the Palestinians into a corner they will just keep on fighting and innocents will pay the price. We need more voices that stop pointing out his bad each side us and focus on what better might look like. We are all Jock Tamsons bairns.
Saint Stivs on 13th November 2024 5:17 pm
Re: the 2nd tier in the corners: I may have mentioned that.
1. Build 2nd tier on both corners.
2. Remove the roof of the South Stand.
3. Seat the south standers in the 2 upper corners.
4. Build a 2 tier South stand.
5. If the Board felt that 78,000 seats were too much, they could use the upper corners for big screens or Hospitality seating, or a mixture of both.
The BIG risk to the Club is that issues arise that cause some or all of the South Stand to be closed – at a time where we are not ready to begin construction.
Better that we deal with it when it suits us, rather then when Glasgow City Council shuts us down.
Weeron
SFTB totally agree that Israel should release detainees. Completely against international law. We all need to suggest solutions, acceptable compromises, small steps and big ones to end this war. Back the Israelis into a corner, back the Palestinians into a corner they will just keep on fighting and innocents will pay the price. We need more voices that stop pointing out his bad each side us and focus on what better might look like. We are all Jock Tamsons bairns.
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it has went so beyond that narrative.
obviously folk need to stop getting slaughtered for starters.
thats a given.
then netanyahu, biden, starmer, sunak and many others should be put up in front or the war crimes court on charges of genocide, then jailed.
not just ignoring it – they are actively carrying it out for that maniac.
sunak and starmar were and are using billions of our taxpayers cash to slaughter children.
and we dont have a say in the matter.
democracy? eh, no!
SPIKEYSAULDMAN Tangata whenua are doing just fine with there Hikoi. They March from the far north to Auckland and this is how they keep the pressure on the centre right government in NZ. A small populist party in the coalition negotiated a deal with National to put up a bill rewriting Te Teriti, the treaty. The main party watched the sentiment of all New Zealanders and after finding that the majority were opposed to this they pulled their support. The bill is dead in the water but Maori collectively want to make sure there is no going back with this Hikoi. So yes I support it. No they don’t need me on the walk. They are doing fine. Tell me how flying flags and walking through Glasgow will bring peace to the Middle East.
This century Celtic has won forty-one honours, almost 60% of the total available. Enjoys an unbroken history that makes it the most successful club ever in Scottish football. By a country mile is Scotland’s most financially successful sporting organisation.
Someone, Somewhere within the club must have had at least an inkling of what they were doing…..and not only in Summertime.
I suppose it can be difficult for some minds to grasp simple facts. I find it easy and I never forget about it. HH