Brendan Rodgers will hopefully see Daizen Maeda at Lennoxtown earlier than planned, as Japan’s World Cup qualifier in North Korea has been cancelled by the hosts due to “unforeseen circumstances”. Fifa have yet to decide if the game can go ahead at a neutral venue but that is currently considered unlikely.
Reports in Japan suggest the cancellation is due to the outbreak of an infectious disease in the country, streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, which is deadly and makes international travel unnecessarily risky.
Daizen is a nailed-on starter for the important games after the international break, so having him back early and focussed on the priorities ahead is important.
I’m not having any “a bit steep” chat about Paulo Bernardo’s reported €7.5m asking price from Benfica. The player only recently turned 22 and has the core ability we should be looking to turn into a top player – just as we did with Matt O’Riley. This is the going rate, anything less than that and you’re not taking a talent out of Portugal.
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MAJESTIC HARTSON on 24TH MARCH 2024 3:56 PM
Stephbhoy, good post 👍
Once in 10 years ain’t bad 🤣
Joe
Aye fair enough. 😂
Not sure if it was mentioned anywhere else but credit to the HWEU CSC for another enjoyable Tommy Burns Supper on Friday night.
Good night B78?
Peter latchford belly was there
A Good noght by sound of it.
One Malloy and Nally were there,pics look good
HH
Another foundation event at Crowne Plaza last night too.
HH
Good evening all from the Vogue. A great Celtic pub. I would recommend this place to any Tims who are visiting the greater Glasgow area. Apart from that Garngad ruffian.
1)Name of PC in OOR Wullie.?- MURDOCH
2)Scottish Knight,one of the main leaders during the First war of Independence? WALLACE
3) Daniel Wroughton are the first two names of this English actor? CRAIG
4) Town 12 miles north east of Kilwinning ? LUGTON- FOR JOHN CLARK??
5) Former racing driver,died Hockenheim? CLARK
6)Former British heavyweight boxer with Claudius middle name? LENNOX LEWIS
7)Leicester City full back in 1961 English FA cup final? DON’T KNOW
8) 2 caps for Scotland and Scottish cup winners medal in 1959 with St. Mirren ? GEMMELL
9) American socialite and wife of former King Edward V111? WALLIS & SIMPSON
10) MSP for Glasgow region assumed office 2016 ? DON’T KNOW
11) Born Ireland,6 times British champion jockey ? KIERAN FALLON
12) Popular song at New Year’s eve? BERTIE AULD LANG SYNE
SFTB
Aye, you googled the answers. Penalty sevco! 😂😂
An Tearmann 12.56
No I wasn’t there.
Fife was well presented though .
TT
I enjoyed reading the contributions from TINYTIM on 24TH MARCH 2024 12:48 PM and the reply from STEPHBHOY67 on 24TH MARCH 2024 3:27 PM.
Each well-argued post contained interesting facts and opinions and was free from the tedious and gratuitous name-calling aimed at our main rival and shareholders and board of our club.
There was quite correctly some criticism of those who run Celtic – it was constructive. There was also an acknowledgement of the Ibrox club’s recent record compared to ours (last four years), even though their acquisition of funds and financial sustainability is always the ‘elephant in the room’.
Each post ends with a thought-provoking summary statement. TINYTIM says: “There is no doubt that over the last 4 years we have mismanaged our financial advantage”. – and in the case of STEPHBHOY67 – “The good news is we are very much in the financial driving street regardless of the outcome of this season, the bad news is the board are very risk averse and to change their approach might prove difficult.”
I would not use the word mismanaged as TINYTIM does referring to our obvious financial advantage, but I agree domestically we have not strengthened from a position of strength after a treble-winning season, however would a league and cup double justify the approach to some extent, after taking into account the injuries to key players at key times?
Stephbhoy67’s point of the board being risk-averse cannot be disputed, but begs the question, do we want more gung ho approach as favoured by Ibrox regimes for over thirty years– do we go ‘all in’ and are we prepared for the consequences if it fails? We only have to look at the examples of Chelsea, Man Utd & Everton to see that spending enormous sums of money does not guarantee success.
There is no doubt that the treble, or, a League and League Cup double will rejuvenate the Ibrox club and the financial methodology in achieving it will be ‘brushed under the carpet’, or, a narrative of ‘ends justifying the means’ will be proffered.
If indeed we have unfettered access to the kind of funds published over the last year, i.e. £70million and £67million in the bank at certain times, is the only answer to use this money in a ‘splurge’ and to hell with the consequences – a la Ibrox – quite a conundrum
Sorry – I meant to add that there is a very good informative piece by Celtic By Numbers on the go at the moment – some surprising detail. HH
Stephbhoy67
Good post
🍀TT
Darwin 5.57
In hindsight mismanaged is probably unfair .
I feel that we haven’t capitalised or financial advantage as best we could .
As for going gung-ho with our finances ,I’m not advocating that either .
My very first sentence states that I believe that DD will not change strategy .
All of the monies we have will not be earmarked for players .
The CBC sexual abuse case ,the hotel and development of barrowfield and potential retail / food and beveridge expansion on the stadium footprint ,will all take a chunk out of our nest egg.
TT
i doubt any of us would really want to see us spend 40 million quid, not that it would ever even be a thought.
but what i want to know is – are we going to spend decent money on players in the summer that would allow us to be at least a bit competitive in the champions league group stages if we get there?
or are we just going to be lambs to the slaughter while the plc rakes in many millions from the ticket sales and tv rights?
i would like to know that before i spend 200 quid on the 4 home games!
Darwin 6.02
Any links?
TT
and because of the home cup registration scheme they link your chances of getting a scottish cup semi/final ticket at hampden to you buying euro tickets
another plc scam
Chairbhoy @ 5.56am
OK – a bit more clarity emerging now.
You are citing as evidence of the Quality, Professional and Football oriented people we need, and Ange and Brendan are the only ones you named. You had, however, inadvertently cited, Ronny Deila as an example too in recruiting Kris Ajer. Do I conclude that he was professional in this one instance but presumably won’t be defended as stolidly for Tyler Blackett, Carlton Cole or Alexander Tonev etc;
So let’s limit your exemplars to Ange & Brendan. I still don’t know if you would be prepared to include WGS and NFL in that list but I do know that the majority of Celtic supporters, unlike me, would not accept them as worthy of that respect- I remember what was said about them on many Celtic blogs. There’s no doubt in my mind that Ange & BR are very good coaches and they have made purchases that show they know a good player.
Brendan got us Dembele, though he was definitely a “Moneyball” purchase. Ange got us Jota.- both examples of good buys and they both have more transfer coups to their credit. BR had Sinclair and maybe Paddy Roberts and Ntcham as successes. Ange brought Hatate, Maeda, Iwata, Mooy, Giakoumakkis, Hart, Starfelt, Johnston, Scales, Juranovic, Abada, CCV & Kyogo.
But Brendan got us Gamboa, Kouassi, De Vries, Compper, Olly Burke, Toljan, Benkovic, Benyu, Hendry and Lewis Morgan. Ange’s failures in the transfer market would be Kobayashi, Siegrist, Haksabanovic, McCarthy and Bernabei.
Anyone fairly judging that can see a very convincing case for allowing Ange access to the transfer budget unchecked but a less convincing case for Brendan.
But the truth is – they both operated without full control. All targets were agreed between Coach (a football man), Scouting Department( football men mostly) and The Board rep (usually CEO).
Ange worked with Dom McKay (briefly) Michael Nicholson & Mark Lawwell (and allegedly his dad)
BR worked with Peter Lawwell and Lee Congerton for a fair spell.
So which of that trio were responsible for the good buys and who was responsible for the bad? The support tends to blame PL for the bad and credit Brendan with the good. It is unlikely that PL recommended Doris De Vries or Christian Gamboa from the bad list and Brendan definitely signed off on Benyu, at least.
In my world, and I think it’s the real world, Brendan was a quality professional working with quality professionals (PL had many years experience in the job before BR got here) and as a professional man himself, he sought out Lee Congerton because he considered him a good quality professional.
So, who is to blame for the bad buys. Brendan certainly made side of the mouth comments to create and consolidate the perspective that it was the fault of the Money Men, that he had “too many wingers”, after Shved proved to be a Ukrainian without the talent we expected. Even so, BR has gone on to buy himself even more wingers now (Yang, Tillio, Palma and Kuhn added to the existing bunch of Forrest, Johnston and Maeda).
Brendan also managed to make comments suggesting others were responsible for the failure to land McGinn, Castagne & others. It was a viewpoint accepted by many but, I saw it as self-excusing and buck-passing. The idea that all or any of these refusenik targets were gonna come here if only we offered a little more or made more effort to persuade them is fanciful. You have to look at this in the context of McGinn actively stating that Steve Bruce made the worthless promise that he was buying him as a first team starter whereas the excuse maker had only stated he was a good squad addition. I don’t have to take McGinn’s word as the honest truth about the reason for his choice but he was not blaming PL for not loving him enough or offering him enough.
Brendan at Liverpool and Klopp currently accept that you don’t and cannot leave the football decisions to managers/ coaches who will be temporary employees. They are temporary because, if they are successful with us, they leave to better things, just as the players do. And if they fail with us, they have to ry and restore their career and NFL suffered heavily for this.
So, in my world they are all equally to blame for both the good and the bad buys. Only Ange has a high hit ratio in his signings. Brendan doesn’t – neither here nor at Leicester. Neither did WGS or NFL. All of them can point to inspired signings who did well for us and/or brought us in money. Neil’s eye for Wanyama, VVD and Forster should put his and PL’s judgements and the then scouting teams in credit too.
The only conclusion I can draw is that, even good quality professionals make many mistakes, whether they have a low-ish budget at Celtic, a middling budget at Leicester, or a big budget at Liverpool. The good quality professionals there at those clubs have a hit and miss rate similar to ours. Therefore the good, quality professionals do not guarantee anything. They are only as good as their last signing and it’s just too easy and lazy to say the “football” guys get it right more than the money men. They need each other and they need to be a team. A temporary manager will always want more buys to enhance his team win ration and his career prospects and does not care as much whether they leave you in a good financial position. The money men can be too one eyed about preserving the balance sheet and risk aversive. That should lead to some creative tension and a resolution to the benefit of the club- if they are team players. But if someone’s ego on either side, gets in the way, the club suffers. Even if they both have Quality Professional egos.
In the end, asking for Quality Professional and more Football minded approach, is not ambition or a plan; it is just a wish that we all share. You cannot remove the risk factor in competitive sport. You can create a team identity and a club philosophy but it must align with your position in the food chain. You cannot convince as a lion, if you are a gazelle in a lion’s costume and you cannot behave like an Elite club, or even a 2nd tier club from Portugal or the Netherlands, when you are just a big club in a peripheral league. We should always strive to be the best version of ourselves but we should remain a version of ourselves. Fur Coat and nae knickers is not a quality professional look in most professions.
Seen a couple of Ireland related docs. mentioned earlier.
Will add another if not referenced before.
Mentioned on Talk Sports this morning funnily enough.
‘North Circular’, filmed in black n white, with the focus on some of the stories, the folks, the music, the campaigns and the struggles (saved the ‘Cobbleston’ pub eg) in and around Dublin road of that name, directed by Luke McManus
Only heard of it from ‘The Warm Up’ a Sunday weekly, 11am-1pm radio show which usually precedes club football. Thing is the presenter prefaced it by, and I am paraphrasing here, typical misery etc, before launching into an improvised Irish ballad/lament on the lines of “Oh the potatoes are dead, the British army is coming, to burn our homes down” sung as you can imagine in mock tone. Shocking to hear actually.
Bad enough you might think, but no it gets worse, the pronouncer himself is Irish, Barry Glendinning, also of The Guardian. And not only that, the film itself was being shown in the Curzon Cinema in Soho London at 3pm this afternoon, followed by a Q & A….
Hosted, you guessed it, by the very self same Barry Glendinning….
TINYTIM on 24TH MARCH 2024 6:21 PM
Darwin 6.02
Any links?
TT
——————–
Happy to oblige HH
https://www.celticnewsnow.com/news/big-unit-ball-master-or-both/568679/?latest
SFTB,@ 6.39
Not many bad ones,right enough,
Fantastic post.
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 24TH MARCH 2024 6:39 PM
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Enjoyable and interesting reading. Many well-made (and backed-up) points – food for thought for some? – I hope so.
The level of players and position of said players we need is the same regardless of the outcome of this season. We don’t need to go all in and risk being another rangers, Everton etc. we can do it within our budget. we have enough young players with potential now. we need a core group of 5 experienced players next season. Gk, lb, lcb, centremid and forward etc
Evening all.
Despite having enough in the budget, we should try to get it to stretch as much as possible and we should be making scott mckenna our priority signing for left centreback to partner ccv.
LETS ALL DO THE HUDDLE on 24TH MARCH 2024 6:20 PM
i doubt any of us would really want to see us spend 40 million quid, not that it would ever even be a thought.
Why not? The team needs a rebuild,and to get to competitive in Europe, we need ,good scouting, better players, and pay better wages, that’s where we are at,£40 million into a £80 + bank balance is nothing, plus we could get £20 mil plus for O’Riley….there is no ambition with this Board to get to the next level IMO HH
Parkheadcumsalford
And a great good evening to you anaw. 😊
i doubt any of us would really want to see us spend 40 million quid, not that it would ever even be a thought.
Why not? The team needs a rebuild,and to get to competitive in Europe, we need ,good scouting, better players, and pay better wages, that’s where we are at,£40 million into a £80 + bank balance is nothing, plus we could get £20 mil plus for O’Riley….there is no ambition with this Board to get to the next level IMO HH
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we lose in european games against teams that have a fraction of our cash, income and fan base.
i think thats the dilemma we need to sort out.
they always look bigger, fitter and faster than we do.
why?
BRRB,
The only way I can change pages is to make a comment. Wierd but there it is.
This very minute I’ve become a grandfather again. So proud of my daughter who has endured 8 and a half moths of pregnancy hell with HG – Hyperemesis gravidarum
*****^^
Last week Melvin Udall and ( I think) Maestro recommended a couple of red wines and I’ve just opened the Argentinian Malbec – lovely.
Reminded me of the days WHITEDOGHUNCH was THE connoisseur of fine wines and fine dining. I’ll raise a glass to Bryan tonight – although it won’t, sadly , be the Lebanese Mansur he was so very fond of.
Grandson is now 4 minutes old!🍷🍷🍷
SCANIEL
Congratulations ,best wishes to the wee mhan and yir darling daughter💚
Scaniel…well done to your daughter and your grandson. Rightly proud you are.
Congratulations Scaniel. So pleased for you and your daughter. You must be very proud.
I see the Govanhill luddite 🍺has been on tarnishing my good name.
The Vogue bar, we used to beat them in Sunday Amateur League many moons ago when I played for the Dry Dock, Sunday Amateur = Sunday pub league🤣🍺
2 x Good Tim pub’s sadly only 1 has survived, The Vogue.
I might get Jeeves the Butler to drive me over for a pint 1 day.
D. :)
An T
It was a really good Celtic night on Friday for sure. Plenty there knew the history.
From the wee booklet we got it showed the commitment of the HWEUCSC. Not started like many when the going was good in the 60s or 70s. It was started in 1984. We won 0.5 trophies per season in their first 16 seasons. The contrast between then and the last 8 seasons (I choose that as it was when our Glasgow rivals bounced back to the top tier) we have won 2.25 trophies per year in that period.
Credit to those who stuck to it and kept this club going in the tough times. It was great to read through the clubs history from then.
I appreciate for some on here the 2.25 trophies average this past 8 years is not enough but for me these have been amazing Celtic times. A rival fan base resurgent and bouncing back and we have put them in their box. 18 trophies to their paltry 3.
Still despite this we have many on here who personally think they could do better than those who run the club. Or at least feel they deserve better. Imagine for a minute 16 seasons and just 8 trophies with only 3 league wins.
Scaniel – Congratulations to all.
D. :)
Tremendous news Scaniel, health and happiness to you all. X
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Re the red wine, was it not the Lebanese Hochar he enjoyed? Maybe the best wine I’ve ever had. £20ish a bottle so a rarity for me but much nicer than the £30 bottle from the same vineyard.
Scaniel
Congratulations brilliant news 👏 💚
https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1eaKbgPrmavGX?t=ZN5LaXl6PFKwkII0Zkkc-w&s=09