Living so close to England it’s easy for us to get drawn into the ways and processes which prove effective south of the border. SPL clubs all scout there, more often than not trying to pick up physically robust scraps discarded by the lower leagues, or troubled souls looking for a sixth chance. Scottish clubs are full of players who have failed to make the grade in England.
When Motherwell were looking for a manager a year ago I heard one of their directors say they hoped to get someone with experience of the English lower leagues, as this has proven to be an effective place for them to network in the past.
Problems with the neighbours works both ways. It’s too easy for English clubs to use the loose change part of their budget to scoop up anything that looks like promising talent from the SPL. While most players will earn well in England, few enjoy the career progression they hoped for.
They do things differently elsewhere. When was the last time teams from Cyprus or Switzerland badgered an English League Two side for their surplus talent? Developing football teams is difficult but a good top level plan helps. One of the most encouraging aspects of Celtic’s top level plan is that it meets criteria that match our place in the world. Recruit talent from the right markets, at the right age and price. Some money has been spent in England, but not much, and those who have arrived from there look decent value.
If Celtic are to match the recent Champions League achievements of Basel or Apoel Nicosia, players like Izaguirre, Kayal, Wanyama and Ki, who pitch up in Glasgow from what appears to be beyond the horizon of the English, will be crucial. Just as those players at Basel and Apoel, they arrived here within an affordable budget and appear to have the talent required to compete at the level Celtic aspires to.
11 years ago we bought Chris Sutton from Chelsea against competition from other FA Premier League clubs. He was soon joined by others at the peak of their ability and reputation, all relatively low-risk signings. We had a few years in the sun but it was neither affordable nor sustainable.
We’ll know soon enough if the current crop of players trying to establish a reputation for themselves have what it takes to win the league and compete in Europe. Good top level plans can still fail in execution, but I’d rather this strategy than send my cash down the M6.
Issue 5 of CQN Magazine is due out next week, let me know if you would like to advertise, celticquicknews@gmail.com.
Read CQN Magazine for free online here. Subscriptions to the online copy are discretionary but you can contribute here. Old-school hard copies are available here from Magcloud.
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The bould b’hoys says:
9 December, 2011 at 00:24
respect to you for owning your illness like that – and whatever works for you, I say – the major thing is that people are more open to the world about the condition – as the experts seem to think that is the key – folk get support better that way – or at least they would be protected from negative impacts from those who are ignorant.
I take an interest in Depression as my uncle suffers and I’m pretty close to him. I probably benefitted from it – inasmuch as he struggled with it in his 30s when I was a teenager and he took me everywhere with him – probably found it easier to talk to a younger nephew than others. 2 places he took me regular – Celtic Park and Shawfield – I’m not mad on the betting but I owe him a lot re Celtic – we still talk most weeks ..and nearly always about Celtic!
Good luck with it ..
The Bould B’hoys
My wife says she’s suffered a Bawbag for years, I cannae think whit she means !
The bould b’hoys says:
9 December, 2011 at 00:32
My daughter told me tonight that today’s hurricane has been christened “Hurricane Bawbag” by Tweeters/Twitterers – thousands of them. I can just visualise Fiona Bruce, Jeremy Paxman and Andrew Mann talking in 6 months time about ‘the effects that Hurricane Bawbag had on Central Scotland.’
Any Celts in or around Cambridge Circus tomorrow lunchtime…fancy a beer?
Goodnight to all Celtic supporters and take care of yourselves wherever you are.
Heard a councillor being interviewed by Shareen Nanjiani on Scotland Tonight (STV) referring to Hurricane bawbag – had to rewind to make sure i heard right..!
Cults ,
Shereen ???
Sure it wasn’t Mary Marquis ?
Ach drat..
Any Celts in and around Cambridge Circus today (Friday) around lunchtime…, fancy a beer?
HH
M
Ticgaz
You’re probably right…both rubbish!
Folks –
Just in from the pub. Won the darts tonight, through to the semi-final of the League Cup.
My mucker and me are booked into Mings on Sat evening, thanks for all the recommendations.
No doubt we shall be in the Beer Cellar or BBs later in the evening.
H x 2
Cyrul
So Kayal sees Celtic as a stepping stone to a club with a smaller stadium and an inferior version of YNWA. Wish he’d paid as much attention to the club that pays him at the start of the season!
Beamish…
What have you heard mate?
hamiltontim
Has ruined the effect of my Beamish!
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/288810/Kayal-happy-at-Celtic-but-with-an-eye-on-Premiership?
Beamish
Cheers for that. Nothing attributed to the player himself I see.
Get back to yer pint, Celtic hold all the cards here buddy.
Kojo
The drugs don’t work?
Got to disagree there.
If my wife was not medicated she would have tried to kill herself again.
She was in hole and could not see a way out.
That is my eternal shame.
koo,
did you really say “the drugs dont work ”
really really :o)
your mental, the type of mental that makes arithmetic hard copyright somebody on here) one of the funniest things I’ve enj
CELTFORLIFE 0218
I do not wish to open any old wounds on what is a deeply sensitive subject,but sometimes the most difficult part of dealing with depression is in realising that you,or a loved one,is suffering from it.
Even after being diagnosed,due to the illness’ cyclical nature,it is very difficult to recognise when a bout is in the offing,or the depth of one which has struck.
IMO,physical ailments are much more simple to deal with.
Also,IMO,there is no shame in not realising that your wife was ill in this way. The trick,as I’m sure you have found,is to be there as a punchbag and a sounding-board. And a reliable source of strength at short notice.
I hope your wife deals with this,and I hope you can too.
Am no a billy am a tim,
night night :o)goood tims
Sorry If this question has already been asked,
should the SFA not rescind the notice of complaint against Jim McIntyre now that his comments are actually justified?
Hmmm. Somethings afoot.. SFA upholding Aluko’s 2 match ban that sends Sally into a tizzy.
Methinks these SFA technocrats smell blood in the water.
If Celtic dont bury them on the 28th then I cant see beyond it much.
The hun institutions are under attack and they are awe confyoozed.
I’m offsky till after the new year.
Yippee! I hear most of ye yelp ( especially Ernie).
My New year revolutions are:
Salutations to the GB
Hope HMRC get them
No Lawwell jiggery pokery during Jan
Best of luck to Lenny
and an away boycott.. stop funding the scum will ya?
Be on your best behaviours till Jan. Laters my fellow CQN’rs
Hail Hail
Whew. All alone.
Man, the blog looks big from in here when everyone’s gone to bed.
To sum it up folks –
uneasy evening on the ole CQN;
Kojo, the Vegas Jock with the Dick Van Dyke does Glas Vegas accent made a well-enough meaning archetypal gag about depression which irked a few who have had first-hand experience of it.
Thereby flew insults and rebukes and counter-condemnations and harrowing accounts of immediacy and the pendulum veered towards flippancy on one side and almost hand-wringing distaste on the other but no-one actually reached any extremes of spite or hatred and the evening’s conversations generally read with all the comfort of a cross-country caravan ride on a timeworn mattress with one harsh bright bulb with which to illuminate. No grudges will be held but I imagine the subject avoided in the near future.
Peppered between bouts of venom and fruitcake-ness the Huns got a mention or two for their perma-rage and some random snippets of interest wree thrown in from time to time.
Tune in again tomorrow (today) when it is expected football might get a mention.
And now the weather…
Hurricane Bawbag blows out. Govan remains uncleansed. Next year HRMC will provide some tornados;
The weather-variety tornados. Not the air-force variety tornados. The Huns didn’t pay enough taxes to build them…
Sandman Is Neil Lennon says:
9 December, 2011 at 04:13
Gotcha….hey Sandman that was such a refreshing post..thanks! Enjoyed it immensely. Kojo (and others) inspires such negatiivity on here but then I ( and others) have the same effect on their ilk too. What to do? Its a blog. I think you should post more often.
TheOriginalSadiesBhoy –
You say you don’t like people “ganging up” on kojo. So when does justified criticism become ganging up on someone?
If I come on to CQN and say, for example, Scott Brown is never a Celtic captain because he isn’t up to the job, I’d expect a lot of people to agree with that assessment, but I would be sure to attract a few dissenters. Claiming that Scott Brown does not deserve the armband is hardly an outrageously controversial statement in the current climate.
However, what if I claimed that Scott Brown should never be captain of Celtic because he is not a Catholic? I might find one or two in agreement, but I’d be sure to be pilloried by a large number of posters for airing such a nefarious view, and rightly so.
My question to you is, when does the barrage of attacks on me and my opinion step over the line from justified criticism to “ganging up” on me? Is it 5 comments? How about 10, or perhaps 50? When someone makes a controversial statement on CQN, should there be a set limit to the number of different posters who are allowed to challenge and attack that statement, after which the subject is deemed closed?
Furthermore, does “ganging-up” only apply to certain posters, while others are, shall we say, fair game?
I only ask because you are the one who has introduced the term “ganging up” and as a frequent poster on CQN, I’d sure love to be acquainted with the rules.
Thanks in advance.
Hail Hail.
GCT
I apologize I haven’t had the time to read back through the blog tonight like I usually do. Who is ganging up on you? Send me their names. The basterwards.
PS. I am a big fan of Scott Brown and think he is a great captain.
Maggie –
Nobody is ganging up on me.
kojo was being criticised by a good number of posters for something he said and TheOriginalSadiesBhoy accused people of ganging up on him.
I used an imaginary comment by me as an example to illustrate my point.
Have a great Christmas and a riotous New Year Maggie and see you in January.
Hail Hail.
ok my last post in 2011
Good morning friends (where is everyone?) from a now dry and calm East Kilbride. And, as always, may I wish you all a Big Happy Friday.
Jobo
Home Alone?
Off to work. Hope somebody’s there.
Jobo
MudCSC
Hmmmmmmm…
Not sure if this question has been already posed,but…if the St.Mirren defender with the long arm,did pull Aluko’s arm back,they why did Aluko fly forward as opposed to falling backwards.
It defies the laws of physics/gravity.
Contemptable huns.
St.Mirren = Dunfermline,obviously.
Heavy, broken cloud lowers over a dark, cold North Ayrshire this morning.
Did my heart good to read McCoist’s whimpering yesterday.
Has the old magic gone?
B.C.C.
Mate,
Huns are as huns do.
All predictable,except that this time they`ve been called to account.
Level playing field?
Remains to be seen.
Hae ma doots.
Sally publically calls into question the review panel
i expect him to be called to account for such behaviour
they would pursue Lenny
Top of the morning from a dark, dull, but not windy Fife.
Lets hope the snow stays away and we get a good day for the visit of Hearts.
The cheery glow I have no matter how dark and dull the weather is though comes from the angst of Ally. The cheeky chappie is not so chirpy it seems.
Well hurricane b*wb*gs has blown out my 45 year and my forty sixth begins with peace and calm and a wonderful poem from my son and some nice smellies, shirt and T from my wife. Life is ticketyboo.
My next pressie is a comfortably humbling of the Huns sans les euros to Ibroke.
But now to work:-(
The fat,bloated,former game-show host is angry?
Good.He wouldn’t be a hun if he wasn’t angry,would he?
Anyway,enough about the angry mob for the time being.
My team to crush their degenerate,equally contemptable cousins on Saturday,at our resplendent arena:
——————FF—————–
—Matthews—Glenda—-Dan—-Chuck—-
——————-67——————-
Jamesy———-Kayal——–Sammy—–
————–Stokesy—–88————–
Let’s hit them for at least 6 Lenny!
Belfast City Celt
The Laws of Physics do not apply in the twilight zone that is Mordor dontcha know!