I think we all like Mikael Lustig. This week the defender spoke to the Norwegian media, expressing frustration at the lack of clarity surrounding his future. Celtic have an option to retain him next season, but in January brought in a hoped-for loan replacement, Jeremy Toljan.
Toljan did not work out but the club are clearly still looking for a new right back. I am not sure when Celtic’s option expires, but If they get a satisfactory replacement, Mikael will be allowed to leave, if not, he will stay.
This is the football business. It is harsh, even more so for young players released before they make a significant living from the game, of for those from an earlier generation, who achieved greatness and found themselves without money or a trade in their 30s.
Players will often talk about their “love” for a club, but that love is invariably wrapped up in a lucrative contract. The love becomes a fondness if offered a wage that would be regarded as spectacular to most fans.
I really like Mikael and I know we need cover for every position, but even the good guys sometimes have to wait under the terms of their contract for a decision, and they all need to move on one day.
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Congratulations to the Garngad grampa…
Midfielder Matty Willock opted to sign for Gillingham instead of Rangers. (Scotsman)
*BSR please note he didn’t SNUB the huns, he OPTED to sign for whodidyousay fc :-)
David66
Magic
David 66
Many congratulations and best wishes to all concerned. Welcome to the Celtic family wee Leyla.
HH
Chairbhoy were they not pipped by Gillingham yest lol
David66 congratulations on wee leyla ?
Congratulations also to Pauline Cafferkey,who gave birth to twins.she was the nurse who had Ebola and recovered
HH
BLANTYRETIM.
I’ll be in the B/V around 3.30pm today.
Congrats to David 66 and to pauline Cafferkey, a brave lady.
David66 congrats from a fellow grandparent. Anybody know what’s the story with the Polish RB who is/was allegedly signing for us? H H Hebcelt
When I have a look on newsnow celtic I see a lot of entries from various sites like Football Scotland, Celts are Here and 67 Hail Hail. Are any of these related to the Daily Record of The Sun?
Football Scotland and 67 Hail Hail had articles bemoaning Celtic’s slow transfer window on DAY ONE! When Celtic agree a fee with Motherwell for Turnbull I then see a bunch of articles saying “Does this mean the end for Ntcham at Celtic?”
Football Scotland also has an article talking about how Celtic can raise £50 million by selling Tierney, Rogic, Ntcham & McGregor. They believe Celtic would sell McGregor for £10 million!
It just seems like these modern football sites fall into the biscuit tin narrative. There’s no reference to the fact that Celtic have McGregor and Tierney under contract until 2023. Celtic are completely in control of the situation and don’t need money from the sales.
It’s well within Celtic’s interest to keep McGregor and Tierney for another 2 seasons.
The Scotsman has been prolific with churning out stories about Celtic players leaving…. It’s silly season!
CHAIRBHOY on 13TH JUNE 2019 9:02 PM
Hmmm very selective use of the facts there mate. The player made no secret that Celtic were the club involved and that at one stage it looked like he was offski:
‘In December I wasn’t starting any games and there was a £8 million move to Celtic on the table. It looked like I was leaving’
You actually seem to believe a tactic of ours is to get bids to this stage then pull out of deals!
What a fine reputation we would have with players and agents across the land if this was the case – no one would sign for us!
But hey its all a ruse to trick you. Paranoia is not always a bad thing but I think you are taking things a bit far.
Also, your argument below is one of the worst I have heard:
‘There are hundreds of professional football clubs in Europe, all with right backs. Is it airy, fairy nonsense to think Celtic should be capable of signing one.’
Yes there are, 10/10 for observation. Funnily enough, most of them are under contract. Most very happy. The list of available and willing to consider joining Celtic whittles the list down pretty rapidly, before we even consider that half of them probably aren’t good enough but as I pointed out earlier, any little nuance or complexity does not interest those whose shouts to ‘spend the money’ are never backed up with any specifics.
HH
TIMALOY29 on 14TH JUNE 2019 9:12 AM
Yeah the Scotsman have 2 separate articles up speculating that Turnbulls signing may ‘accelerate’ McGregors exit or ‘mean the end’ for Tom Rogic!
Slow news days, I suppose.
HH
If Res 12 is resolved in favour of the requisitioners will the Celtic Board be open to claims from minority shareholders over their failure to pursue the issue themselves?
AN TEARMANN @ 8:40 AM,
:))) Govan or Medway, the lad was spoiled for choice.
TRADITIONALIST88 @ 9:13 AM,
From my perspective we are not very far apart on the Castagne thing, you linked the Celtic Star’s – Celtic View. Here’s one from the Futbol blog, from early January.
https://thisisfutbol.com/2019/01/blogs/celtic-must-give-up-on-castagne/
Of course we later upped our bid but nowhere near what Atalanta wanted.
Here’s my point though. The Castagne saga is not a representation of good Celtic activity in the transfer market as you alluded too. It’s an indication of how we are failing.
If Castagne wanted a move and we had the heads up, why didn’t we go in with a proper bid and a good package to woe him to Celtic Park, hit it hard and early – He’s on a plane to Dubai early January, jobs a good’un.
It may have cost €10M but we’d have got a great right back who could be worth €12-15M already, saved on Toljan loan fees and wages. We might not have got him but it would have shown real intent and this was the only way we were going to close the deal.
We went for what we always do, what PL insists we do… go for value.
Create Value
Develop Value
Sometimes it’s not about that, sometimes all the players your looking at that represent “value” are tied to contracts and are happy. In which case you look for the best option available and pay accordingly.
There may not have been great “value” in €10M for Castagne but we could’ve made on the deal and had a right good, right back, which, despite what our CEO thinks, is what it’s all about.
Hail Hail
CHAIRBHOY on 14TH JUNE 2019 9:51 AM
The reason I mentioned Castagne was because the RB position was mentioned and Toljans name was cited as an example (can’t remember by who) of a failure in the market with no plan B.
Regardless of how the negotiations with Castagne progressed or how far they got, Toljan wasnt plan A, put it that way.
Regarding the best option available and paying accordingly, totally agree on that – we can’t have a full team of early stage developing talent, we have tough matches to win from July until May and need proven experience/quality as well.
Atalanta were within their rights to shift the goalposts, but if we are being strung along and we eventually realise that, its time to look elsewhere. If it gets to the stage you are being asked to break your own transfer record for a right back, I think a lot of the support would think those resources could be better utilised elsewhere.
Toljan didnt work out, but we weren’t the only ones who thought he had something – Dortmund with their array of talent paid £6m and one of the reasons we didnt get him permanently was because Napoli made it clear they wanted him in the summer.
HH
@ ERNIE LYNCH on 14TH JUNE 2019 9:19 AM
I’ve always thought the Celtic directors were playing a dangerous game with the RES 12 issue, but I don’t think there will be scope for them to be liable in these circumstances if the authorities (albeit in their own time) come to the correct conclusion.
Mahe (from last night)
“I aint going for that nearly insult ,, not one bit at all.
I will state clearly right now we were mislead and I firmly believe that. I assure you theres no insults anywhere as far as I am concerned .
Credit Cqn with too much influence? Thats subjective and can never be proved but I think it had the sway and pull back in the day to direct quite a number of fans in any actions undertaken and if you dont fair enough , we will disagree on that.”
—————————————————————————-
The reason it comes close to an insult, is that it attributes pliability and inhibition to the misled, BY SOMEONE or SOME PEOPLE. And it hints at greater perspicacity and insight from those who saw through it. I think that remains to be proven.
So, who, exactly, misled you? Canamalar, in backing your point, said he could not remember Paul 67 ever commenting on Res 12 ( and I, certainly, cannot contradict that view from memory) so, was it Paul 67 and did he do so by some form of persuasive and mind swaying “No Comment”.
Paul gave a platform to all those who wanted to discuss and raise Res. 12 and you, rightly, credit him with that. That is a very stupid way to mislead people and I don’t think any of us would credit Paul with stupidity.
So, were there posters on here, doing this Machiavellian/Svengali work?
Or, was there simply a range of honestly held views on the issue? The full spectrum from Tony Donnelly’s prediction that PL will eat up Res 12 and spit it out- through to Auldheid’s infinite patience and careful framing of the events, and all the way to the views of those who feel there was collusion between Celtic plc and Res 12 insiders (perhaps, including Paul67 in this conspiracy) to defeat, derail or exhaust Res 12.
I know politicians and Boards want to frame debate if they can. The charge is a reasonable one to make; it is the absence of evidence for it that causes me the difficulty in joining you on the “enlightened” side. People who want to frame opinion tend to reach for Promoted PR and subtle censorship or undermining of the alternative view. When Fox News want to do down the Democrats, they do not give them air-time to allow the Dems to advance their own arguments. No- they interpret and slant Democrat arguments by themselves. Pravda did not even bother with that level of effort; it preferred simple denouncement of alternative views as lackeys and traitors.
Well, CQN allowed support and views on the Res 12 debate- it did not censor, or shape any sheep-like mass into accepting anything, because there is no sheep-like mass amongst our support.
So where and how, Mahe, were you, specifically misled? And by whom or what group? And what is the evidence of that misleading?
Yesterday, you suggested that we should all be making up our own minds on the issue but this argument hints at disappointment that there was not a lead from some kind of Pope, or worse still, a conclave of bishops on CQN deliberately spinning to hide the truth from you.
CQN did allow the platform for fans to inform each other about such things as crc’s fundraising efforts, the Res 12 debate and the efforts of FAC and the Celtic Trust, amongst others. It did not insist anyone take part and it never sought to prevent anyone taking part. If anyone believes they were misled, then as a grown sentient adult, you should accept that you allowed yourself to be misled or even, misled yourself. It is juvenile thinking to say, I went along with it because nobody on CQN showed me an alternative way.
———————————————
“I would have had us on the streets with pitchforks. The front page should have been opened up and the pensmiths should have went full steam ahead and moved the masses into action.”
—————————————-
That sounds a bit SWP/Permanent Revolution type of thinking, there.
CQN, and all the other Celtic blogs, provided you with a platform to do all of the above. And yet, pitchforks were there none.
The absence of pitchforks had the square route of sod all to do with any denunciation of pitchforks by the leaders on CQN or any of the other large Celtic blogs, and there are and were many of them.
It was only due to the lack of enthusiasm for pitchfork action. It takes time and energy to galvanise people. Mass responses do not come easily. You often have to start with a small action group and hope it grows. Or, alternatively, you can stay drinking in the back bar, hoping “the revolution will start tomorrow or next week or when the drink runs out, because, well, it’s a lot of effort isn’t it, and I don’t see that guy Paul 67 doing anything to help, so why should I? Basically, it’s all his fault for not telling me what to do and how to do it.”
Any failures in this regard are all our own- they cannot be palmed off on to scapegoats. We own our own actions or lack of them and are equally to blame, If you wanted pitchforks and I did not fancy them, the absence of pitchforks cannot be laid at my lack of enthusiasm for them. You still had the option to turn up with a pitchfork.
Why didn’t you? Why haven’t you? Why wait until September?
Sometimes, our argument holds sway because it is convincing and compelling. Sometimes true arguments are suppressed by dictatorial means or drowned out by competing, well funded mass media bought opinion.
Both the Scottish Independence Referendum group and the Brexit Group blamed the BBC for being biased in giving them a fair platform, and they both had good evidence for this.
Yet, one group won their ballot, despite the BBC’s unfairness, and the other group did not.
I am not convinced that Brexit had any more sound economic reasoning behind it than the Indy Ref movement had, but it, sure as hell, had better organisation, better analytics and IT, and a better understanding of how to persuade people through their hearts rather than their heads.
I was not a supporter of Brexit and I don’t blame them for the failure of my side of the argument; I blame our side for not being convincing and energetic enough.
And I blame us, all of us, if we get Res 12 Wrong (though Auldheid, canamalar and Morrisey can still hold their heads up higher than most of us)
Was CQN/Paul67 quiet on Res12?
It’s not a difficult question to answer: https://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/persistence-beats-resistance/
And the rest of this stuff
Before I go ‘aff oot’ (kevj hope you’re ok)…
We used to do a summer holiday book list…so, because he’s in the news just now, I wish to give a plug to Conservative candidate Rory Stewart…this boy is posh, born in Malaysia, son of a diplomat and educated at Oxford/Eton…but what a lot he has crammed into his 46 years. The two books of his I have read are, Ocupational Hazards, about his time, aged just 30, governing in Iraq and The Places in Between which is the book I wish to plug…this posh lad has cojones de acero. He walked across Asia from Turkey to Bangladesh…3,000 miles or so. Two years it took him…The Places in Between covers the journey from Herat to Kabul in Afghanistan…it is an extraordinary tale. He writes beautifully, his descriptions of his surroundings, the mountains, villages and the people are so vivid…it gives a great insight into the land, customs and culture of a people we don’t know very much about…
If you’re looking for a good holiday read you won’t go far wrong with this book…
And I hope he kicks Boris’ arse… :-)
TRADITIONALIST88 on 14TH JUNE 2019 9:15 AM
TIMALOY29 on 14TH JUNE 2019 9:12 AM
Yeah the Scotsman have 2 separate articles up speculating that Turnbulls signing may ‘accelerate’ McGregors exit or ‘mean the end’ for Tom Rogic!
Slow news days, I suppose.
HH
______
Yeah.
I don’t think there is anything more to the Leicester City story Other than “Brendan Rodgers used to be their manager”
Arsenal fans on twitter have convinced themselves that Tierney is coming as well. Mad.
Rory the Tory….
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/09/rory-stewart-if-we-want-change-we-have-to-face-reality-conservative-leadership
He’s a Tory but he’s a wee bit different to the others…
@ TIMALOY29 on 14TH JUNE 2019 11:01 AM
If we are going to sell anyone we should be pushing for Ntcham and Rogic. Obviously we shouldn’t sell anyone unless we re-invest the proceeds.
TBB,
I’m still waiting to find an article penned by P67, while its all well and good that P67 did not censor discussion, allowing discussion on the hottest topic in Scottish football at the time that was related to Celtic on a Celtic site, was simply good business for its exposure to and and views from MSM alone, a win win for P67 without any risk as long as he kept shtum.
As I said, P67 did not support Res12 as far as I’m concerned, this should have removed him from the information loop except for that which was published on his site by of the team, he should have had less knowledge than any of the signatories yet the Plc kept him up to date with more information than those they publicly stated they were partnering the Res12 team.
Allowing Celtic related discussion and potentially newsworthy initiatives to develop on his blog is a no brainer surely? The exposure derived from the Res12 initiative alone would have significantly increased the value of the site.
CQN Book Club?
Heartily recommend The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan. Also his short story collection A Slanting of the Sun.
THE HANDS CANT HIT WHAT THE EYES CANT SEE on 14TH JUNE 2019 11:04 AM
@ TIMALOY29 on 14TH JUNE 2019 11:01
If we are going to sell anyone we should be pushing for Ntcham and Rogic. Obviously we shouldn’t sell anyone unless we re-invest the proceeds.
________
I think there’s s good chance that we will lose Ntcham. If that’s the case, I definitely wouldn’t want to lose Rogic also. Both fall into the category where they could be more consistent but they are also game winners (the likes of which don’t exist at any other Scottish team). We’ve went without both for long spells this year and maybe think we can do without, although our performance were pretty turgid sometimes. I think Rogic is far more settled with us than Ntcham and given that, I’d much prefer he stayed. I’d also love it if Ntcham decided he loved it here and turned in brilliant performances every week, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.
The Rat for McGregor and KT is just a lazy journos staple these days.
I’m amazed that after all these years we still get spooked by the MSM’s headline grabbing nonsense. They know ‘nuthin…
Our chance of 9-in-a-row is killing them and their diminishing readership. You only have to look at FF to see the impact it has on the gullibles chance of winning the pre-season cup.
Ziggy…,
I doubt N’tcham or any other player for that matter will be too impressed by the treatment being handed out to ML, its hard to see many players developing any loyalty to a club who will mess you around and dump you like a used rag when they decide your no longer useful to them. The Plc are operating exactly like a Plc and we should no longer be fooled by the “more than a club” mantra, this kind of treatment actually implies “no even a club” just a dividend developer.
Julian Assange
@ ZIGGYDOC1 on 14TH JUNE 2019 11:23 AM
Out of the two I would probably prefer to keep Ntcham as he has more potential, although I think he is more likely to leave. He has had a disrupted season through injury and being played out of position to accommodate others.
Rogic is a good player on his day, but his day is too infrequent. Also, he seems to have perpetual fitness issues (a bit like Paddy McCourt). I also think Rogic struggles at a higher level in Europe (I can’t remember him putting in a top performance in either the CL or Europa league) because of his fitness/lack of pace.
CANAMALAR IT LOOKS LIKE OCD OBSESSION on 14TH JUNE 2019 11:34 AM
…
_________
From what we know on the Lustig situation, I agreed it’s pathetic. Irrespective on how good you think he is nowadays, even to have the continuity and his experience for the CL qualifiers we will face very shortly would be worth keeping.
Nice to to know that one of our key playmakers and internationalists is valued at about the same as an EPL journeyman’s shinpads.
Ziggy..,
I was specifically discussing your idea that N’tcham may have developed a love of the club, I expect the ML mess will enlighten many of our players as to what to expect from the Plc, which will make negotiation using the “club like no other” mantra an impossible sell. Players who had loyalty will now have to reassess their position and whether their love of the club is of greater import than their potential to earn at a club who will pay more and be treated the same at any other Plc.
The fallout could lead to players like KT reviewing their assessment of the rewards available and the likely treatment when things take a bad turn. Does KT want to end up being treated like ML, I doubt it, does he believe he will be, I expect he now has doubts he needs to think about.
Julian Assange
I do not agree that we have treated Lustig badly.
He has been very well paid and indeed has been one of the top earners at the club.
Clearly any new offer to him now that he is nearing the end of his playing career will be way below what he was earning in his peak.
It is nothing more than common sense.
Priority signing is rightback and centreback in that order. Ntcham is likely offskie, shame he was injuried so often last season. We will get good money for him. Rogic may go but again It would take good money same goes for sinclair.
It would take silly money to agree to mcgergor, forrest, k.t or eduard leaving and i dont see celtic going down that road unless the player says he is willing or wanting to go.
People writing off bayo and leigh g annoys me. Bayo came in and got injuried, he is adjusting to scottish football. Leigh g had mental health issues and have undergone treatment, he will likely continue to have some input, lots of People live and thrive in their profession depite such issues.
HH
CANAMALAR IT LOOKS LIKE OCD OBSESSION on 14TH JUNE 2019 12:00 PM
I think the only change will be us finding it difficult to insert the one year option into players contracts as players and agents wise up to the fact that they could lose out on other contracts if we dither up until the contract end then decide we don’t want to exercise the option.
Or at least we may have to give notification by a certain point before the termination of the initial contract.
HH
CANAMALAR IT LOOKS LIKE OCD OBSESSION ffs ML was a very good player and over time his wages increased until he got 24k a week as his ability declines the club want that to be reflected in his wages. ML has been good for us and we have been good for him.
If any player wishes to leave celtic it will be for game time or more money or new challenge. Footballers are likely the rest of us, they look after selfs…
LAZYDYNAMITE on 14TH JUNE 2019 12:05 PM
I do not agree that we have treated Lustig badly.
He has been very well paid and indeed has been one of the top earners at the club.
Clearly any new offer to him now that he is nearing the end of his playing career will be way below what he was earning in his peak.
It is nothing more than common sense.
__________
“A club like every other bugger”. We may not know the full story with Lustig, but it appears we have him a bit in limbo. As fans we like to like/love some key players. We have history in not treating very well, guys who have been heroes to the fans. Jackie McNamara and even Jock Stein are examples.
@ STEPHBHOY on 14TH JUNE 2019 12:05 PM
Not sure if people are writing off LG and Bayo, but I don’t think we can necessarily rely on LG given the past year. On Bayo, it all seems a bit uncertain. Was there ever a confirmation as to his injury and the extent of it? He was signed in January and didn’t kick a ball but for a sub appearance for the next 5 months (and that is during a period when we had 1 fit striker at the club).
Pre-season should give an indication as to whether Bayo is in Lenny’s plans.
Weebobbycollins
Rory Stewart
Don’t be kidded, this guy is a dyed in the wool Tory. Uber establishment. He knows fine he has no chance of winning, so he spouts all this “compassionate Tory” stuff to get himself noticed. He faithfully trotted out the Govt line on the tv and made himself look a bit of a tit. This is him boosting himself outside parliament.
Player at latter end of his contract wants a new contract with a sizeable wage.
Club think player is deemed not a first team pick next season and finite amount of money better spent on a new player instead.
Player naturally unhappy that he didn’t get his way.
Don’t see the problem here. He’s unhappy but club right to prioritise with the bigger picture in mind.