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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Philbhoy. You aboot?
MWD
A very good morning from a calm ferry crossing from Islay. Delighted to have blagged my way on to the 7am ferry after yesterdays cancellations.
Plenty of time to get to Edinburgh Airport to pick up the Swedish relatives for the match tomorrow.
Any truth in the story that We are demanding the money for the huns tickets up front?
Makes sense to me
HH
How are the main roads Glasgow to Edinburgh??
HH
Morning all from gay Paree, temps du jour: wet and windy (11C max), but nothing like back in Aul Scotia.
One good thing about Swally’s skattergun approach is that it takes “terrrorist chanting” off the headlines… at least for a day, cos we’ll see it again tomorrow morning even though we will be “cleared” by UEFA today.
In other sporting news, Naismith – yes, Naismith – wants to compete at the Olympics with the GB team.
Seems he’s eligible for:
– Three-meter Springboard
– 10-meter Platform
– Three-meter Synchronized Springboard
– 10-meter Synchronized Platform
I reckon he could get gold in any of those.
CELTIC have demanded Rangers pay for tickets up front before allowing the Ibrox club’s fans into Parkhead for the crunch Christmas derby.
Record Sport can reveal the Parkhead outfit have broken with long-standing tradition by refusing to allow their bitter rivals to sell tickets to their own support on a sale or return basis for the top-of-the-table showdown on December 28.
The move comes amid growing speculation about the state of the Ibrox club’s financial health and because Celtic feared they might end up being left out of pocket for anything up to £350,000.
But despite a string of ongoing problems behind the scenes Rangers’ new owner Craig Whyte has rustled up the cash to avoid having an 8000-strong travelling support locked out of the biggest fixture of the festive season.
Neither club wanted to comment on the development last night but Record Sport also now understands Rangers will make a similar demand for cash up front before Celtic visit Ibrox for the second time this season on March 24 next year.
Sorry to have to inform you all that, having just driven past Castle Greyskull, it is still standing, in spite of Hurricane Bawbag’s best efforts.
Neil Lennon is (and always will be) a Celtforlife (*O*) says:
9 December, 2011 at 08:25
Ha! Nothing it seems is real in the Land of the Pound!
Pathetic huns.
Good luck and best wishes to all Celtic supporters.
Slan. :)
Morning all
Good to be back on CQN after 2 weeks on the Red Sea. How my flight landed last night God only knows. Pilot was obviously a Tim
Can anyone give me a quick update on how our performances were against St Mirren, Atletico + DU? Delighted to see we have pulled 8 points on them in a fortnight. I know the scores an scorers etc. I see the Huns are still cheating on and off the park with Fat Sally saying “How dare they call my player a cheat”
Oh the irony
Serge (10) Tommy Burns says:
9 December, 2011 at 08:40
Magnificent start to the day!
Def away now,delighted!
:)
Morning all.
BCC – that team will do me :-)
Serge (10) Tommy Burns, 9 December, 2011 at 08:40
Craig Whyte has rustled up the cash…
Oh, my aching sides !!!
“Neither club wanted to comment on the development last night but Record Sport also now understands Rangers will make a similar demand for cash up front before Celtic visit Ibrox for the second time this season on March 24 next year.”
That is one of the funniest lines I have ever read.
Apparently they want it now, before giving Celtic the cash for the December 28th game.
Brilliant. About as dignified as a naked clown at a funeral.
What are the odds of Boydiechenko showing up at AsbestosDome on loan in Jan ?
Only played one game for his bottom-of-the-league Turkish Galacticos…
Picking up skelfs,as an unused sub..
Could be brought in as a ‘Diving Consultant’,to give Aluko intensive ‘one to one’ coaching in the Dark Art..?
Meteorologists are linking the destruction of a wind turbine in Ayrshire to a sudden and precipitous drop in barometric pressure,associated with multitudinous sharp intakes of breath across Central Scotland,as Aluko was found Guilty As Charged…
Get in ‘roon ye,Mc#oist !
I love the bit where the Record informs us the Huns will also demand cash up front from Celtic on March 28!
If they are even in business by then…
Good move Celtic. Utterly humiliating for them.
CELTIC have demanded Rangers pay for tickets up front before allowing the Ibrox club’s fans into Parkhead for the crunch Christmas derby.
But despite a string of ongoing problems behind the scenes Rangers’ new owner Craig Whyte has rustled up the cash to avoid having an 8000-strong travelling support locked out of the biggest fixture of the festive season having personally attended the meeting between Sone Aluko and his bank manager where the advance was secured.
Good morning CQN
my “fast” train was cancelled again this morning.
I ♥ ScotRail
hh
bjmac
Morning all from an overcast but eerily quiet North Ayrshire. The sooner that bloody Jet Stream gets back to its old route, the better.
BlantyreKev
I heard a rumour the Ticket Office got a call from a Mr Aluko yesterday, asking to buy 8,000 tickets for the game on 28th
hh
bjmac
Good morning from a chilly MK.
This morning gets better and better, Cameron gets the bums rush and McCoist got some of the same …….ha ha ha
Bjmac
No news on the BIG tax case. You will hear before me according to my source.
BelfastCityCelt
&
Sixtaeseven
It gets better by the day!
Hearing they want early kick-offs for the remainder of the season so that they dont have to use the floodlights.
murdochbhoy says:
9 December, 2011 at 09:07
Good morning from a chilly MK.
This morning gets better and better, Cameron gets the bums rush and McCoist got some of the same …….ha ha ha
share
Naw,pal.
Cameron gave the bums the rush.
More power to his elbow.
Morning,all.
It’s probably been mentioned already,but HURRICANE BAWBAG has it’s own WIKIPEDIA page.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Bawbag
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a lighter note,my sister’s favourite film character when she was a kid was MARY POPPINS.
Well,yesterday,as she left her office near Prestwick Airport,her dream very nearly came true.
And she didn’t even need an umbrella!
clunks says:
8 December, 2011 at 23:38
‘I don’t know a lot about depression so I apologise in advance.
What makes a man fall short of what he was put on this earth to be? Is it a form of depression or mental conditioning? Does depression have to be clinical?’
You’re probably talking about personality traits rather than depression.
Serge (10) Tommy Burns says:
9 December, 2011 at 09:11
Joking aside look out for the state of the Ibrox pitch in the New Year, use of the lamps that grow the grass has been slashed from the budget. I know from a mate at Celtic that they are very expensive to run. He tells me that the budget for the Celtic grounds staff in total is the same as Arsenal’s budget for running the lamps to keep their pitch perfect all year.
I think the Celtic staff do pretty well to be honest.
Kojo ?
He’s not the Messiah….
Just a Very Naughty Boy !
I would have expected Celtic to have demanded a further sum from Rangers as a deposit against the inevitable vandalism that weill be suffered in the LL stand on 28th.
Blantyrekev
It would not suprise me to see the Ibrox pitch look like a mud in the New Year. It will suit their style of play.
The Staff at Celtic do a remarkable job, Up there with the best.
I remember looking at the pitch the day we beat Aberdeen 3-2 when Big Jan scored at the death, It had been raining for days & still looked like a Bowling Green.
BlantyreKev – Hail Hail to the Kano Foundation – CELTIC have demanded Rangers pay for tickets up front before allowing the Ibrox club’s fans into Parkhead for the crunch Christmas derby.
Ha ha ha.
I’m loving it.
Make the deadbeats pay. I hear they’re installing a powercard meter at Ibrox today. (thumbsup)
Wee name-change for the weekend to keep Googybhoy happy-well,I might have a trip to Manchester in the New Year-AND also because I think it’s a good idea.
A wee tribute to Kano-hope yer daein’ fine,bud-and to the committee who do such sterling work on his behalf.
That sterling work is the type of action that our club was founded on. We ignore it in favour of mammon at our peril.
BlantyreKev
Any idea when the normal lights go oot on the HUN.
MWD
BlantyreKev
Don’t know what i did there but that should have said…look like mud or look like a mudbath.
BlantyreKev
Good stuff, I look forward to hearing the GOOD news.
hh
bjmac
PS You and BRTH kissed and made up?
Does David Weir still qualify for his winter fuel payment? (thumbsup)
If you owned a pub/hotel and the same crowd of revellers came twice a year and damaged your premises, insulted your regulars with songs and menace, would you A/ Take the booking (asking for payment up front) then invoice them for the damage caused or B/ Just inform them they are barred?
Rangers want money from us up front? On what possible basis?
I mean it’s not as if we have a string of court cases against us and a judge has said that we might go bust, is it?
Moonbeams WD. \o/ Kano 1000 Supporting Neil Lennon 100%.
Any idea when the normal lights go oot on the HUN.
They already live in perpetual darkness.
Quite right celtic
Nay money nay tickets Mr whtye
Or see you in court if you think you can pull a fast one you charlatan