Lessons to learn from Pukki mistake

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Teemu Pukki’s permanent move to Brondby for a reported £500k is good business for a player who never came close to commanding a regular starting place at Celtic.  While we did well exiting him from Celtic Park but his arrival two years ago is worthy of review.

He came from Schalke as a 23-year-old, having been at Sevilla as a teenager and scoring slightly better than one in two in Finland.  Even his Schalke stats were decent, 8 goals in 7 starts and 30 appearances from the bench, which for a sparingly used young player is around the mark expected.  On paper, Teemu looked a good fit for us, so do we have anything to learn?

For a start, being able to score goals in the Bundesliga does not guarantee you will be able to translate this into an even better scoring rate in Scotland.  We have made similar mistakes when recruiting strikers from Spain in recent seasons.  For all our lack of financial clout, delivering in Scotland is not an easy task.

There is a whole world of potential issues around psychology, motivation and appetite, which I regularly hear cited about players from people in the game.  For the most part, I reckon these are excuses to bridge the unexplained gap between expectation and outcome.  You get the odd indulgent nutcase, but most players have an overwhelming sense of their need to maximise their commercial value by delivering on the park.  I suspect Teemu is no different.

Whatever the reason behind him not fitting at Celtic, the exercise cost us not only the £1.5m net loss on transfer fees, and wages paid, but more importantly the failure to kick on from reaching the last 16 of the Champions League in season 2012-13.

There’s a truth in the game which has stood the test of time: only people who watch a player week-in-week-out know his true value.  Schalke fans would have told us things about Teemu which we can tell others about John Guidetti.  John will pick up a club keen to exploit his untapped potential.  A year from now they will be a little wiser.

Our lesson: scouting is the only important part of recruitment, stats, references and YouTube clips don’t count.

Our friends at Magners have offered us two of the new Celtic away jerseys.  It’s another fantastic offer from Celtic’s main sponsor, my thanks to them.  In order to win, answer the following question:

Which team won this year’s Premiership Play-off final 6-1 on aggregate?  Put the answer in the SUBJECT line of your email to celticquicknews@gmail.com

Competition closes at midnight TONIGHT, so get busy, these are two great prizes and there’s less than a 12 hour window to win them.

And………….. while you’re entering, you might want to kick a pound or two towards our Marys’ Meals Malawi school kitchen appeal.  Thank you.

And #2, if you enter, check your inbox for a response over the weekend.  There’s a home shirt unclaimed from a similar competition last month!

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  1. roberttressell & lennon n mc….mjallby

     

     

    Thank you, know you guys post a lot of good stuff, some get upset and disillusioned when their posts don’t seem to be appreciated regular posters like yourselves just get on with it.

     

     

    But it’s very nice to be acknowledged especially by fholks you have a lot of respect for.

     

     

    Have a great night.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  2. This MiT chhap of whom you speak.

     

     

    He sounds okay.

     

     

    We’ll look after him.

     

     

    HH JamesGang

  3. Vinnie – you still in Blackpool? Or do i have the wrang wan? :-)

     

     

    Can you play well? My curse is that i can hold a song but can’t hold an instrument :-(

     

     

    My bros often out-brother me at family get togethers with their musical ability and it pisses me off! :-) I’ll outshine them wan of these days!

  4. glad simeone else remembers slut.with his wee celtic top on..he used to follow the ball with his head…of course i was worse..i was watcging the dug!

  5. JimmyQuinnsBits on

    Vmhan,

     

     

    Ah, you’re showin your age, with all that Ovation covetousness… nice tone, but twas all about the volume with those things, and the action was murder and not really fixable

     

     

    And the Gibson Les Paul… don’t get me started, probably one of the most over-rated guitars ever made… heads and bridge were terrible, out of tune all of the time… great pick-ups though

     

     

    Man, I wish I could play the guitar ;)

  6. mike in toronto on

    Hrvatski …. and you are graciously omitting the part of the story where I got lost driving us to the club (even though I had been there a hundred times before) … so that we nearly missed the kickoff!

     

     

    Was my pleasure mate!

  7. Dallas Dallas where the heck is Dallas on

    Jamesgang, I don’t think a former poster on here would have been a race relations officer. Thankfully, we no longer see his posts on the blog.

  8. Played my wee Bhoy some music vids the other night to take him through my life.

     

     

    Duran Duran. They were the 1 Direction of the day. Aye. Ok.

     

     

    Adam Ant. That’s a bit mad.

     

     

    Toast. Why did they have stupid songs.

     

     

    Specials. Ghost Town. This was when the country was troubled and divided. Like today?

     

     

    Dad. Can you play a Celtic song. Let The People Sing. With the words. Wee mhan sang along the whole thing.

     

     

    Tears. Snotters. The lot. Yip. He was fine though!

     

     

    HH JamesGang

  9. I teach guitar, have done for 24 years get my email from Paul and i will get back to you, if you have the time or inclination.

     

     

    Hail Hail.

  10. Delaneys Dunky on

    James

     

     

    I know a place, where we can carry on!

     

    Robert Nesta Marley 1945-1981. RIP

  11. Dallas Dallas.

     

     

    I really don’t miss such posts.

     

    Had a weird situation visiting a great aunt while in the US as a teenager tearAway.

     

     

    She’d left depression scotland in the 30s and had become the nanny to the Rockefeller family.

     

     

    By the time I met her it was 1989 and she was in a retirement home. Cared for by a black nurse with whom she prayed but didn’t see as an equal. Worried my pierced ears meant I was a fag and was sure the EU and Pope were about to deliver Armageddon.

     

     

    She gave me $50 as a parting gift.

     

     

    What could I do with such hunnish blood money?

     

     

    I bought a Boston Celtics jacket of course! Cos the Big Mhan upstairs like a chuckle!

     

     

    HH JamesGang

  12. mike in toronto on

    ArtofWar …. Talk talk …. great song, and great video. Like the Weezer one (island in the sun, I think) … liked them because of all the animals….. and yet I never liked Sevco!

  13. JimmyQuinnsBits on

    Vespacide,

     

     

    Sorry bud, it was tongue in cheek, i’ve played guitar for years… Just not very well! ;)

  14. art of war

     

     

    23:12 on 19 June, 2015

     

    ..,.,.,,,,,,,

     

    Still there Ao war

     

    I’m just outside Blackpool and working away until I retire in about 4/5 yrs.

     

    singing and playing is all good, if ye like doing it then 100% fair play for having the balls, or other bits of course if yir a lassie :>)

     

    V

  15. Lennon n Mc....Mjallby on

    chairbhoy

     

     

    I’m just a moonhowlin’ bampot,geez peace!

     

     

    ;)

     

     

    HH

  16. Delaneys Dunky on

    WITS

     

     

    My growth stopped at 6 foot, 32 years ago.

     

    Started puffin at 14. Que sera! :)

  17. ….pfayr supports weeoscar

     

     

    23:23 on 19 June, 2015

     

    Proper spelling ..it’s the way I was taught.

     

    ……..

     

    Evening PF

     

    I’m slightly pissed that yer spelling is bang on tonight, ye got a spellchecker I could borrow (smiley)

     

    V

  18. JimmyQuinnsBits on

    Vespacide,

     

     

    Those Ovations… I remember being desperate for one back in the late 70’s early 80’s… I’m sure they were about a grand back then

     

     

    Got a Takamine now… Think they are great value… 500 smackers in todays money and the tone is the best I’ve had… Wouldn’t pay the money for a Martin

  19. mike in toronto on

    my lovely lady has called to say she has finished work, so I am off to pick her up…. have a great evening, lads.

     

     

    Cheers

  20. mike in toronto on

    Art of War … the talk talk one? I remember when it came out … it was made like that. anyways, better run.

     

     

    Cheers,

  21. That was my first attempt at marketing JQB, I guess I need to work on it a bit. :-)

     

     

    Hail Hail.

  22. I’ve got a really cheap primark T-shirt that is a big image of Bob Marley in a track suit dribbling a ball, dreadlocks falling out his hat.

     

     

    Few weeks ago the nephews four year old was in the house,

     

     

    Me on the couch, Marley T-shirt on,

     

     

    The wee man

     

    Starts singing, you are my Larsson, Henrik Larsson.

     

     

    Pointing at me.

     

     

    I had a wee intake of breath.

     

     

    God love him , port onions

  23. JimmyQuinnsBits on

    Vespacide,

     

     

    No, with 24 years playin, i’d guess there should be a few taking you up on the offer.

     

     

    Best thing you can do, next to the obvious, is learn an instrument. A pal for life

     

     

    HH

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