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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31003
Wear you wearing them in the 35-18 defeat?
VP
You’ll just need to stay there.
jimmci
Roll your trouser leg up!! That might work.
……..he’s oan his tip toes n he’s now at 5′ 8″ n a wee bit
jude2005
I bought a battery for my daughter’s Toshiba satellite L300D from Amazon for £15 last week.
Good Afternoon
Bought my Dad one of those new kindle yokes and looking for a few suggestions for books to download for him.
He’s not into “soccer” as he calls it, more a GAA man so any autobiographies or any factual interesting books normally appeal to him.
I’ve download the Steve Jobs Autobiography – Beside on the list was “here’s the situation” – a guide to creeping from the guy off jersey shore – tempting!!!
ait, oh yes wait a minute mister taxman
Wait, wait mister taxman
Mister taxman look and see
If there’s a royal pardon from Thornhill QC
We´ve been waiting such a long time
Since we disputed the tax and the fine
There must be some word today
From Mr Thornhill so far away
Please mister taxman look and see
for the royal pardon, royal pardon for we
I been standing here waiting mister taxman
So shamelessly
For a credit shark or loan from a debtor
Saying we´re off the hook so easily
Please mister taxman, look and see
for the royal pardon, from Thornhill QC,
We’ve been waiting, a long long time
Since we disputed the tax and the fine
So many days has passed us by
with us not paying PAYE or even NI
We didn’t accept the offer from Leicster
waiting for the royal pardon letter
You gotta wait a minute, wait a minute
You gotta wait a minute, wait a minute
You gotta wait a minute, wait a minute
You gotta check it and see, one more time for me
Wait
Wait
Wait
Deliver the letter, the sooner the better
Wait
Iafan
Ta.
Vog Lucky B!!!
jude2005 is Neil Lennon \o/ says:
At work mate :O(
Paul67 et al
Three weeks in Glasgow and already a fully qualified diver? That is some going, still when you have wee Ali as a mentor anything is possible. Where are Rangers going to get that creativity, (I think that is what they call it), on Saturday? Who is going to take a dive at Easter Road?
Lads what a hoot below check this out.
Some questions people will be considering after Aluko ban.
By FF.com
Updated Thursday, 8th December 2011
Rangers RSS Feed
Another bad day for the SFA under The Transparent Mr. Regan.
Given that the last person to be given a ban for simulation under these new procedures was later cleared – and this after his own asst. Manager had acknowledged the player had cheated (1) – what do we make of today’s SFA decision to uphold the two-match ban for Rangers’ Sone Aluko?
Is it worth noting that Hibernian striker Gary O’Connor – the man of whom Bobby Brown told the nation on Sportscene: “It was a dive and we got a wee break there” – is someone that national coach Craig Levein is very keen on welcoming back into the international fold once his ‘personal’ problems are concluded?
Should we be asking who was on this panel of transparent men who – and let’s be very clear here – reviewed the incident and found clear evidence to suggest the player had cheated, when the footage available is – at best – inconclusive? The panel have to be sure that the referee – who was in a good position – was conned and that the available materials can, beyond any doubt, prove that the player dived. How this can be accomplished with the video and stills evidence presented beggars belief.
But, as this decision cannot be appealed, it doesn’t matter who made it or why they made it. That’s it. Get it round ye, Rangers.
At what point are Scotland’s officials – and you’ll remember here they weren’t best pleased last season – going to consider the intervention of the Compliance Officer, Vincent Lunny, to be more of a curse than a blessing? Those in the game who are in favour of action – specifically that taken against the Rangers player – claim the CO is merely correcting a mistake or amending a decision somehow ‘missed’ by the official. The official didn’t, however, miss anything – he was in perfect position and gave a penalty. If the CO is to make a point of looking at moments in games where a referee may have made a mistake then there are a good number in recent weeks he appears to have been too busy to consider: why, for example, did we see a Greek player fake injury to get a fellow pro sent off, and why did said player spend several minutes on the field seeking treatment for an injury that did not exist?
Why, after the clear precedent established in the O’Connor case, was the case against Rangers upheld?
Clearly, it’s not because of institutional bias, but nor is it because the evidence in the Aluko matter is clearly more substantial than in that of the Scotland international O’Connor. It’s dangerous to try to get inside the minds of some of those paid to talk and write about Scottish football (see, for example, Matt Lindsay of the Evening Times’ hysterical tweets today) or indeed those with a legal background (witness John Paul Mcbride’s remarkable recent record and most notably his comments on juries) but it’s hard to come up with a sensible reason.
Perhaps Aluko simply isn’t one of those players with whom pundits have an affinity. He’s non-white, and, although born in England, is from a Nigerian background, so to all intents and purposes is a ‘Johnny Foreigner’ and it’s always been the perceived wisdom amongst the red-tops and the idiot phone-in culture that the foreign players, with the silly names, are more likely to cheat. The fact he seems a personable chap and isn’t someone for whom controversy may as well be a middle name – see the ludicrous O’Connor – clearly doesn’t penetrate the minds of some.
What must also be cleared up is the lineage of a complaint: as it stands, and perfectly legitimate under the SFA’s own guidelines, it can go as follows:
Someone listening to the radio (not even watching a game) can text or email a radio station and say “Player X dived, that’s scandalous” and said radio station – in this case, Radio Scotland this past Saturday – will read it out and make it a talking-point during Richard Gordon’s half-time summary. From there, said radio station and those who Tweet will pick up on it and the incident will – of course – be placed in the highlights provided by the BBC for online viewers and the fifteen people still watching Rob McLean try to stir someone into conversation on Sportscene (McLean’s tweet trailing Sportscene on Sunday was all about the Aluko ‘dive’ and how he hates diving).
Listener>BBC Radio>BBC TV>CO
Now, that would of course be fair enough but there’s a huge problem here, as anyone who follows the editing of the highlights will be aware: What if an incident isn’t in the highlights or the BBC don’t fancy pushing it? Is that it? Does that make it less likely to be “brought to the attention” of the CO?
The answer here – unless you really believe Lunny asks for and then studies the full tape of each and every SPL game every weekend – is YES.
I’m not sure, in light of recent developments, that we should be at all comfortable with having to rely on the decency or the editorial judgement or independence of someone who is entirely unaccountable.
No doubt people will come to their own conclusions regarding the Aluko matter (and many will not only be wondering about O’Connor and about other missed incidents but noting how many times a player could be booked for diving during a game until he would have run up the equivalent of today’s sentence) but there are wider considerations which lead to deeply troubling conclusions for the SFA and the ability to offer transparency and a system which is fair to all member clubs.
Rangers must not be slow in responding and noting their own concerns. Those who have previously complained most loudly and vociferously have, after all, been duly rewarded.
(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15160202.stm
Curly
Unsure if anyone answered, on the slow train home.
Anyway, the Ho Wong next to the big BT building on the clyde is outstanding. Not been in a couple of years tho’
hh
Jude2005
http://www.laptop-battery-shop.co.uk/index.php
Scary journey home there but made it!
Rather windy in East Kilbride although, on the plus side, it’s a bit warmer than of late!
Jobo
glasshalffullCSC
philvis during Hurricane Bawbag:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBem3x7G6bc
jude2005 is Neil Lennon \o/ says:
8 December, 2011 at 13:45
Its big Sami’s fault!! Thats according to—– waddell/ keevins/ dalziel/ darL king(billy)/jackshun/leckie/parks/traynor/mclean/burley/ and the rest of thems!!!
Oh I and I’m loving it, be prepared for the old feet stamping the night lol.
ßjmac ® °¿° 13.54
My Wife and I’s favourite resturant in Glasgow. We go there every time we’re over for a game.
The P O G.
Ta will try that.
Aluko found cheating, so that penalty decision is deemed false and therefore the goal scored by said cheating should be rescinded.
If the huns were to win the league by 1 or 2 points then yet again, we would be cheated at a considerable cost to our club.
V
HH
hen1rik says:
8 December, 2011 at
For me it was a blatant cheat…
In normal circumstances when a penalty is awarded the ref will run to the touchline to avoid confrontation….If you watch the incident again you will see that said ref hangs his head low and dawdles to the touchline…Body language told me that he new it was never a penalty kick…
Discipline the feeker…
The met office have issued a severe weather warning and in particular to watch out for falling masonary.
Rangers have refused to comment.
hen1rik
lol. Love Rangers fans when they’re in Hyacinth Bucket mode.
Purtikulurly, in that regard, ken whit a mean.
Just off the golf course…..outward 9 played at 18 under par….inward 9, 46 over par….just don’t understand my game….wan minute great ….next minute rubbidge
I am Neil Lennon on a celticrollercoaster says:
8 December, 2011 at 12:59
Afternoon Bhoys
Just a wee note to say that tomorrow marks the 2 year anniversary of our CQN friend, Kano getting home to his family, thanks to the kindness and generosity of CQN and indeed the Celtic family.
—————————–
Could I suggest a wee name change is in order to commemorate the 1000.
So the huns not having an AGM in 2011 and no signed off accounts
Is that legal ?
Hail HAil
Could some of the ‘seekers of truth and justice (for all)’ on here please explain the difference of the two dives between Gary O,Connor of Hibs and Sone Aluko?
Give me a valid reason to say ‘fair enough’.
LoL, please please have wee daryl and Gordon daziel on the phone in tonight.
Oh the irony I can hear their feet tapping from doon here in Greenock.
hen1rik says:
8 December, 2011 at 13:53
Lads what a hoot below check this out
like reading the mainstream media
funny that
truth4767 says:
8 December, 2011 at 14:03
Gary has God on his side…
There a change of name to celebrate Kano 1000
Ahahaha a hun trying to suggest that in general,people think if a player is black and has an exotic name,they tend to be thought of as guilty.
So why did he refer to a ‘Greek’ whom he reckoned was guilty,could he not pronounce his name?
Truth
Did Aluko dive?
YES/NO (PLEASE DELETE AS APPROPRIATE)
truth4767 says:
8 December, 2011 at 14:03
it will even its self out over the course of the season
truth4767 says:
What Dive?
truth4767
Gary had his appeal paid for by his club, he isn’t Juventus class, and his quashed appeal isn’t part of an evening-up process due to finish in 2134.
“@Hullbhoy: @trixipie Potential fines and suspension of share trading on the PLUS stock exchange.”
Off out to take the waashin in. Its 500 yerds down the road mind!!
Tell me if I am wrong.
Did the hun get a penalty for a man diving ,and receive an extra 2 points,
they may not have got.
Whit the fu are the scumbags moaning about?
Hun
The difference is your stinkin club has