Minutes before the stock of Japanese football rose to unparalleled levels, Celtic confirmed the signature of their fifth player from the country (subject to clearance). Left sided central defender, Yuki Kobayashi (22) will join when the transfer window opens in January.
Yuki was first choice for Vissel Kobe in the season just ended and spend 18 months in the topflight when Ange Postecoglou was in Japan (a year of which they were city rivals), so he is a player Ange will have personal experience of.
Celtic fast becoming the easiest place for Japanese players to settle west of the Sea of Japan, so the normal caveats of a young player moving from a different continent, not even sharing an alphabet, should be tempered. Still, he is at least two years younger than any of our other Japanese’ were when they arrived in Glasgow. We all need time to settle.
He becomes the youngest of a young central defensive pool. Stephen Welsh is six months older, Moritz Jenz is 23, Cameron Carter-Vickers is 24 (for another month), leaving 27-year-old Carl Starfelt in what would be considered prime for a central def. He is also the only leftie, a clear advantage.
My one concern from his stats is his height: 6’ 1”, the smallest of a relatively small CD population. Let’s hope he can leap like a Newco commercial contract (unerringly from file to Court of Session). A decade ago we went into the Champions League as the tallest side in the competition – and qualified for the knockout stage. Am I alone in being concerned or has football moved in a direction I’ve missed?
It is highly unlikely Yuki will see into too much strenuous action before the title is secured this season. Ange often tells us how new arrivals need many months before we see the best of them. The challenge will be to find his way into the starting line-up as next season kicks off.
Delighted for Daizen Maeda and his Japanese teammates back in Glasgow on their historic national team win over Germany yesterday. They might want to chill their jets before facing Spain, we don’t want too many scouts looking east.
Another day, another day in court for Newco. Elite Sports went to the Court of Session to force Newco to disclose sales figures achieved by Castore since 2020 in a £9.5m action against the club for failure to perform a retail deal signed in 2018. Elite, themselves, failed to perform their retail activities for Southampton, who ceased thier partnership on Monday. Perhaps as a consequence, Elite were unable to meet their obligations and went into administration yesterday. That £9.5m will be eyed by administrators seeking compensation for creditors (and their own fees, of course). An Elite director secured a floating charge over the company assets in September.
Dave King was the man in charge when the Elite contract was signed. Douglas Park must wonder what the world would be like if his “She’s a lovely runner, Sir” charm could be extrapolated across thousands of football fans. £9.5m on top of the £8m recently noted for Sports Direct, jeez! I think we should shamelessly join the campaign to get Dave King back in charge.
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Saint Stivs
These are great Celtic days and they are building something before our eyes.
Sadly some folk don’t seem to want to recognise that and enjoy them. Entitlement and immediate gratification are words which spring to mind.
No point in sharing your evidence to those who don’t want to see it. Just enjoy and take pleasure in it.
Imagine what it is like to be a Hun right now. Losing it on the field and civil war off of it….after so much promise last year.
does the new signing mean that Jenz will be surplus to requirements and return to his own club in the summer at the end of his loan deal.
SAINT STIVS on 24TH NOVEMBER 2022 1:18 PM
I’m almost certain you can find it on a boxed set called “The Peter McDougall Collection” (funnily enough) and it’s on the 5th disc where he is interviewed along with Jon Morrison
The Herald fauning over clarence.
Ffs
No Laxalt in the Uruguay squad – there’s a surprise 😜
THE BLOGGER FORMERLY KNOWN AS GM on 24TH NOVEMBER 2022 1:13 PM
‘Can anyone hazard an (intelligent) guess about what King is up to?’
Some say his knees, others say his neck.
‘ before the title is secured this season.’ We haven’t won the league yet. VAR refs at this very moment coming up with new ways to stop us. main one being not bothering to use it if they know it gives us a penalty or a goal
Paul67,
Having no friends that are Rangers supporters or as others prefare “huns”, I have absolutely no interest in Rangers over and above that of say St Mirren.
Your obssession while committed will seem rather odd outside the sectarian world.
By the way Romaji would suggest you under estimate the Japanese just as much.
Hail Hail
BSR at 12.44
Scirea, a class act indeed
Platform boots could be the answer to our height problems.
https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/corporate-documents/statement-takeover-panel-cold-shouldering-david-cunningham-king
Dave King still has one year of his cold shoulder left
RC
“does the new signing mean that Jenz will be surplus to requirements and return to his own club in the summer at the end of his loan deal.”
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That’s up to Ange.
If he feels it’s worthwhile paying the agreed fee in the current circumstances. Moritz would have CCV (by a mile) and Starfelt (marginally) ahead of him and he would be vying with Kobayashi and Bosun Lawal to get Starfelt’s position. Given his selections, thus far, I would have thought that Stephen Walsh and Dane Murray have more to worry about.
I think Lenz’s fee is small and probably half-paid by the time we complete a year and having 4 or 5 CBs is not an overload considering injuries and suspensions during a season. But, only Ange knows. Maybe he has another CB in mind that would save us from paying the agreed fee for Moritz. As far as I can see, Moritz has performed relatively well for. young guy in his breakthrough year. He is tall and mobile and can make a pass. I’d keep him unless better is available.
Fred Colon
Hi mate,see the 69 EC final,what a player Scirea
Celtic40me
Bobby Moore,what a player,outside Celtic my fav player.we played his testimonial 3-3 early 70s I think.
HH
BURNLEY78 & SAINT STIVS,
If the clique have run out of proper things to have a pop a Celtic supporters for, Dave King is back in town
Got to be worth a moan… now the live updates have gone for a bit…
Hail Hail
Morning from Ottawa, everybody.
A few thoughts….
First, Paul has every right to comment on things on the south side. None of the media will do that. So keep on doing what you do, Paul.
About our CB’s….none of them are giants. We do need to be stronger defensively. Whether these 2 observations are linked, I’m not sure.
Our major weakness is in transition. Good teams win the ball deep in their own half and put it on our next 6 seconds later.
Back to cb’s….I feel sorry for Welsh. Ange doesn’t play him unless he’s the last man standing. Yet, we hang on to him so we can meet UEFA’s requirement for home grown players. Same with Scott Robertson. These guys are having their careers strangled for administrative reasons.
And finally, as has been mooted earlier on the blog, I’d be surprised if we kept Jentz at the end if his loan.
I hope that everyone has a good day. No real football at this time of year. Crazy.
Chairbhoy
Your list of goalscorers and timings says it all.
Game lasts 90 minutes.
6 chunks of 15 minutes
Shocking stats for the 2nd of six sixths
(16 – 30 minutes)
2 goals scored !
Abysmal. Shocking.
We’re being short changed !
“Nurse”
“Yes”
“I need to go the toilet”
“Again? Didn’t you go between 16th & 30th minute of the match when Celtic weren’t scoring?”
Apologies St Stivs and Chairbhoy
SS provided data.
Which I enjoyed
I like Jenz as well; confident, which is a huge asset in a CH. I think Welsh’s confidence has waned for whatever reason
(Not very) good too see Times’ Michael Grant’s unbiased reporting on the Japan win – in an article about Celtic’s new signing.
“Japan pulled off its startling group E triumph in Al Rayyan. Maeda started the game to make his ninth international appearance and thought he had scored the opening goal only for it to be disallowed because he mistimed his run and had strayed offside. Only when coach Hajime Moriyasu made five second half substitutions, including taking Maeda off for the winning goalscorer Takuma Asano, did Japan rally from a goal down to pull off their come-from-behind win.”
Choirboy
Obsession is a term often thrown at us by Sevco supporters who resent us taking an interest in their financial wrongdoings and cosy relationship with refs.
As you know, I have disagreed with you before on the “sectarian” term. It is lazily used in this country to refer exclusively to the safely sneered at “sectarianism” that involves Protestant v Catholic or intra-6 Counties stuff. It excludes all other forms of sectarianism- anti-English feeling, political ideologies and rivalries, anti-semitism or anti-Muslim feeling , intra-Muslim theological rivalries and even violence by Sri Lankan Bhuddhists against the Tamil minority.
Scottish defined Sectarianism is the safe haven, occupied by Partick Thistle supporters who look down on Sevco supporters chanting FTP and Celtic supporters singing FTQ before they remember it’s FTK now. Meanwhile Thistle fans can sing FYP and FYQ cos they’re doing it ironically. The Tartan Army can give themselves a bye on Sectarianism because anti-English sentiment and chants are just a political position.
But the poorly-defined term “sectarianism” can reach ludicrous levels of free-floating applicability when it is applied to all and each reference to “Rangers”. An Arsenal fan referencing or taking delight in the financial or sporting difficulties of Tottenham or Liverpool or City would not be accused of sectarianism. So- why introduce the term here?
Celtic and some form of Rangers have won over 85% of all top league titles in Scotland since they began. They have won 100% of titles in the past 37 years. Who else should we concentrate on? (apart from ourselves, of course).
Is there a single Celtic site that eschews all mention of Rangers? Is there any objective study that states CQN is uniquely “sectarian” because it “obsesses” about them? Have you tried any measurement of how often your preferred site mentions Rangers or the goings on at Ibrox, compared with CQN, or is it just a gut feeling? Phil Mac covers a lot of Ibrox stuff- is he too to be tarred with the Sectarian brush? Have you dug up BMCUWP or Mahe or other SC posters every time Rangers or Ibrox is referenced. Auldheid would be having a sore time of it, if you did.
I am suspicious of people who say they have “no interest” in Rangers. It is tooo cosy a position, a level of Partick Thistle virtue signalling.
I am very wary of what the Ibrox club are up to. I have good historical reason to be aware and informed about them. They are too dangerous to ignore. From their “establishment club” position they have influenced refs and administrators, making our game a cesspit of cheating at times; they are a long way away from their Victorian beginnings as a Corinthian offshoot of a rowing club and they have been since near the end of WW1.
Fred Colon
Scirea best sweeper I’ve seen
In summer 1989, Scirea visited Poland as an observer to watch Górnik Zabrze, against which Juventus was to play in the UEFA Cup. On 3 September 1989 a car carrying him collided head-on with a truck near Babsk. The car carried four canisters of gasoline in the trunk (a common practice in Poland at that time due to frequent gas shortages), which exploded upon impact, killing Scirea along with two fellow passengers
@wiki
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL @ 2:25 PM,
No worries, that was a good post from SAINT STIVS but the fact remains, and it’s been reiterated in this World Cup – you need striker(s) that can bury their chances.
If Angeball is to work against better teams taking our chances are fundamental.
Japan v Germany 4 shots on target 2 goals
Saudi Arabia v Argentina 2 shots on target 2 goals.
Hail Hail
Ffs this game would get football stopped. 🙄
CELTIC RISE TO THE OCCASION IN TESTIMONIAL
WEST HAM UNITED 3-3 CELTIC
Bobby Moore, England’s captain, will remember his testimonial match last night at Upton Park as one of the great occasions of his life. Celtic, the Scottish champions, put on a display of the football arts worthy of such an evening, winning themselves a host of new friends and admirers.
West Ham are disciples of attacking football, and on the heavy ground they met the European past masters of attacking football at their peak. The score does justice to the efforts of both sides in an encounter that turned the green surface to an earthy brown long before the end.
Celtic should have won the match. There were two palpable misses, one by Lennox in nine minutes and one by Johnstone in the dying seconds. But both players must be forgiven for otherwise turning in a display that breathed of quality.
The first half belonged to Celtic, who moved sweetly forward with Johnstone causing havoc in the middle and Hughes was his usual awkward self amongst the sorely pressed West Ham defenders.
Lennox made amends for his early miss by scoring in twelve minutes but six minutes later Hurst headed home a good goal from a massive cross field kick from Moore. However Johnstone added a second for Celtic to conclude a sparkling passing movement.
For the early part of the second half Celtic were very much in command with Bobby Murdoch dominating the midfield. But West Ham were determined to give their captain his full reward, and 17 year old Ayris, showing real promise on the right wing, lobbed home an equaliser in 63 minutes.
Celtic came storming back downfield and, in another minute, Connelly who had been a stalwart in the attack, thundered one in from 25 yards off the left hand post.
Celtic slowed in the closing stages and Best headed an equaliser for the third time from Hurst’s cross. Wallace, who substituted for Hughes, came close in the remaining seconds and then came Johnstone’s dreadful miss. Only a yard out from goal and with no one blocking his path, he skied the ball over the bar.
WEST HAM UNITED – Ferguson McDowell Lampard Eustace Taylor Moore Ayris Lindsay Best Hurst Greaves
CELTIC – Williams Craig Gemmell Murdoch McNeill Brogan Johnstone Connelly Hughes Hay Lennox
Referee J Finney (Hereford)
Paul 67
“My one concern from his stats is his height: 6’ 1”, the smallest of a relatively small CD population…………… Am I alone in being concerned or has football moved in a direction I’ve missed?”
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I don’t know what you have caught and what you have missed on trends but there is not a lot of support for the view that a good big yin trumps a good wee yin.
Here is one of the few statistical analyses I have seen between height and football success:-
https://soccerprime.com/premier-league-average-player-height-all-teams/
Not a lot of support for the theory there. We are not a Basketball nor a Volleyball Team. There is room for all. In earning transfer money- the average sized Tierney and Juranovic will have fetched us more money than Van Dijk did or Boyar would if we sold him when we had a year left on his contract
Fred Colon and BSR
I assume Scirea was in the Juventus team at CP in September 1981 (1-0 : Murdo). He tragically lost his life in a car crash in Poland in 1989. He and Bettega – players of the very highest class.
Mazzy
He did indeed grace Parkhead along with Liam Brady Tardelli Bettega Gentile & co
I was there CSC
ZIGGYDOC1 on 24TH NOVEMBER 2022 12:23 PM
I’d definitely like more height in the squad, if they’re good enough. 6’1″? I doubt CCV and Welsh are as tall.
#######
Totally agree ,been hoping for that for ages , if we could only get a Roy Aitken to look after our loads of wee Bhoys.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL @ 2:25 PM,
Also, in our games with Real Madrid we had twelve shots on target, we scored one goal and that was a sublime free kick.
If we are to progress in the reformatted UCL we will need to take points at home against the better teams, that means taking our chances.
Hail Hail
Boyata- not Boyar- think he was a film star
The huns can content themselves that Colak has scored one more goal than Kyogo ……….. having taken twice the number of shots.
or that they have over 100 crosses more than celtic.
oh and penalty champions.
SAINT STIVS on 24TH NOVEMBER 2022 3:11 PM
Unlike the wee man at the golf Open championship ,( who has to wait until the winner is obvious before he starts engraving) , The Ibrox engraver can prepare the penalty championship trophy several seasons in advance . He’s probably got a shed full of them .
Chair
Not sure where the miserable f…s who moan on the live up dates are just now.
I always think they resemble the miserable moaners at the ground who think it will help our team to project their anxiety by abusing every bad pass but what do I know.
There are plenty on here who like to moan and complain about stuff they have no ability or track record of ever having done themselves.
Folk with no accountability but plenty of negative opinion. Plenty of Armchair QBs. Easiest role anyone ever played.
SFTB
” I am suspicious of people who say they have “no interest” in Rangers.”
I don`t believe them.
Hot Smoked
Is there a “Rangers”? 🤔😂
Well me am delighted with our team and esp our strikers, thing is, if they took all the chances that were made for them, they wouldn’t be playing for us, it’s really no rocket salad, they would be playing elsewhere.
In Ange I trust
Good evening all from the New Road Inn. Last night in Blackpool. Back to Glasgow for a meeting with the Shipwrecks on Saturday. How I suffer for my art. 🙄
Back home in Franklin Tennessee and quite intrigued by us being linked with Alastair Johnston. I saw quite a lot of him playing for Nashville in the MLS. He is quite quick and loves a good sliding tackle. The thing that impressed me most was he has an engine much like most of our current players. Nashville fans were surprised that he was let go and surprised at how little he went for.
The Nashville coach (Gary Smith) is the antithesis of Ange. Smith is incredibly conservative and demands that players play to his instructions. Daniel Rios was sold from Nashville to Charlotte a year ago. In his first press conference he stated that he had to get out of Nashville as he is a striker and was told (allegedly) by Smith that his first job was to defend! I feel that Johnston was constrained by Smith’s borefest tactics and had to get out like Rios. I can completely see what Ange sees in Johnston and why he is interested.