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Lessons to learn from Pukki mistake

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

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. Cowiebhoy on

    Dennytim – bloody Norah was heading there

     

     

    If it’s the one in his mid 50’s now, that’s my cousin

     

     

    If the ex President, and now touching 80, that’s my Auld Da, his maw ( my Gran) was a Binnie from Denny

     

     

    Hail Hail

  2. jamesgang on

    dennytim

     

     

    23:47 on 20 June, 2015

     

    Cowiebhoy

     

    New a john McCabe a bowler from cowie any relation

     

     

    ——–

     

     

    Was he a handsome, urbane, delightful, charming bassa?????

     

     

    HH JamesGang

  9. thomthethim for Oscar OK on

    Roy,

     

     

    Not sure about Tully in the background of the pic, but it is Willie Fernie (bows the head), in the foreground.

  10. Cowiebhoy on

    Dennytim. Should have added

     

     

    My Dad didn’t really play bowls, was President of the club (known as the Vatican in Cowie) for about 30 year mind

     

    My uncle James played though with his Bhoy John

     

     

    Right definitely away, Highland show early in morning – allegedly

  14. dennytim on

    Cowiebhoy no it was the one in his mid Fiftys but maybe no your Da as well did he have big side boxers

  18. petec on

    Summa of Sammi….

     

     

    23:50 on 20 June, 2015

     

     

    .

     

     

    Have We Re-Signed Sammi Yet..?

     

     

    Summa of BringBackSammiMaldiniCSC

     

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     

     

    I love your thinking, sitting here thinking about what you are saying….. I think you are Barry White.

     

     

    Hoping to get a response from ernie tomorrow, who I think is an excellent poster on CQN.

  19. THE EXILED TIM on

    No had a chance to read back as yet, so sorry if already posted.

     

     

    This is some of the biggest heap of pish I have had the pleasure to read in many a long time, enjoy mi amigos.

     

     

    HH

     

     

     

    D’Artagnan’s PhotoD’Artagnan

     

    Today, 08:23 PM

     

    It was a familiar routine. With wife, and soulmate of lifetime retired to her bed, George knew the protocol. However this evening would provide a slight deviation from the norm.

     

     

    He broke the virginity of the Macallan 43 malt, with a respectful nod to acknowledge the craft and expertise of the “alchemist”. A handful of ice cubes into the crystal glass laid the foundations of a simple, yet unbeatable combination.

     

     

    He shuffled, assisted by his Prestige walking stick, over to the bottom drawer of the cabinet in “Georges Room” and from there he withdrew a simple cardboard box, designed to protect against the ravages of time. From within said box he then removed an old scrapbook carefully and expensively encased and preserved within a Melinex protective cover. Some things are valuable, but memories nonetheless are priceless.

     

     

    Opening the first page the image of Harold Davis stares back at him. It is of course deliberate, and one hopes future generations of George’s family will realise the significance of Harold’s place in that scrapbook. A man who overcame the odds to achieve greatness, those odds skewed against him due to service to his country, yet who still managed to encompass everything pulling on a light blue jersey encompasses. Sometimes the word “Legend”, quite simply, isn’t enough.

     

     

    The following pages are testament to our greatness, stilled images of history which have resulted in anything but stilled celebration. The Caldow penalty against England, Brand , McMillan and Wilson, the strike of the Super Dane (Pre-Laudrup!) which lifted the Scottish Cup in 66, and the wonder of “Slim Jim”, a 16 year old ending a 4 year famine in the League Cup Final, Barcelona , Wee bud sitting on the ball, the dunes of Gullane when “character” and “determination” were our watchword, the magic show which was Davie Cooper, the Souness revolution, the Prince of Denmark (“Brian, why are you so good? [copyright Jim White]) 9 in a row, the pages are endless, and apologies to those which have been skipped over such as the spirit of the Rangers team which came back from 2 down at Hampden to scupper Wuilie Pettigrew’s dream.

     

     

    The latter part of the scrapbook is not quite so reminiscent or enjoyable however. Images of Craig Whyte, his catastrophic reign, and our subsequent treatment at the hands of others adorn the pages. One wonders why this period of our history should be kept rather than ignored.

     

     

    Because adversity and willingness to overcome insurmountable odds reveals the true character of the Rangers support. “No Surrender” is much more than just a match day historical soundbite – rather it is given both legitimacy and credibility by our willingness to refuse to succumb in the face of adversity.

     

     

    The pictures in the latter of part of the scrapbook show Sandy Jardine rallying the troops on the march to Hampden, newspapers cutting displaying our ability to sell out stadiums even in the lowest of divisions, our capability to cause the cancellations of matches in our desire to “follow follow”.

     

     

    Broadcasters such as Adrian Durham don’t talk about regimes – instead they gaze in wonder at a support who refuse to give up on the club they love. Just to clarify, because it really, really is important, that’s people like you and me they are talking about.

     

     

    When we were down we found few (if any allies) but our unconditional love for a club called Rangers caused us to rally round her. We defied the odds, we defied the sceptics, we defied those who hate us and conspire against us, but most importantly we achieved this alone without the help of others. Other than truth and justice courtesy of the courts this has very much been a lone sojourn for the Rangers support.

     

     

    We really need to move on in order to effectively tackle the real enemies of our club. We need to overcome the angst of “boycotter” versus “non boycotter” and recognise ourselves as one support with different viewpoints who all had the best interests of the club at heart. Because believe you me neither the boycotter nor the non-boycotter would wish to see our club dead. But our enemies would.

     

     

    As George turns the final pages of his scrapbook and sips the last of his Macallan, the closing page shows a newspaper cutting from yesteryear, where the great William Struth castigates the Ibrox kit man, after the latter suggested, if necessary, we could borrow from our opponents that day – Clyde – should the need arise. There then followed a stern lecture on how Rangers should and never will rely upon others for their survival.

     

     

    If we are to be self-sufficient and reliant on no-one to ensure our survival, then at the very least we need to be united in purpose. If you don’t believe me, at the very least trust our guiding forefather.

  24. jamesgang on

    dennytim

     

     

    23:54 on 20 June, 2015

     

    Jamesgang

     

    No he was a bandit on the bowling green

     

     

    ———

     

     

    Young cowiebhoy’s a bit of an auld bandit himsel!!!

     

     

    Night dena my dote!

     

     

    HH JamesGang

  25. Cowiebhoy on

    Oh, and not to be forgotten with Jamesgang

     

     

    More comebacks than whoever :-)) I’m away now

  32. jamesgang on

    TET!!!!

     

     

    He broke the virginity of the Macallan 43 malt, with a respectful nod to acknowledge the craft and expertise of the “alchemist”. A handful of ice cubes into the crystal glass laid the foundations of a simple, yet unbeatable combination.

     

     

    ——–

     

     

    So this is a story of a stickie who waits till his Mrs goes to bed then tries to get Leary with a glass bottle!!!!

     

    The goats of the neighbourhood breathe a collective sigh of relief!

     

     

    So old Struth wouldn’t let them borrow a goat or a goalpost from anyone. Fast forward to another club in 2015 and they’ll borrow n steal another £5m without even a thank you for the last £5m!

     

     

    Progress. Unattainable to those stuck in the last decade of the 17th C!!

     

     

    Hope your cave is a place of joy for you.

     

     

    HH JamesGang

  33. petec on

    16 roads – Celtic über alles…

     

     

    23:58 on 20 June, 2015

     

     

    Most underrated band in history:

     

     

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef1nJWtkprU

     

     

    SeamusShayGivenCSC.

     

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     

     

    Delighted you had a great Time over in the Good old US of A.

     

     

    Thanks for sharing that track.

  35. jamesgang on

    Cowiebhoy!!!!

     

     

    Don’t go to the land of nod.

     

    Instead go to to Edinburgh Airport. Sammi’s coming home to Paradise and he wants YOU to collect him!!!!!

     

     

    HH JamesGang

  37. paddybhoy1888 on

    Doc,

     

    If you can get a flight to Murcia on Fri I can pick u up at the Airport pay for lunch and you could get the same plane back

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