Over the last few days of the European transfer window I was keen to find out what business Ajax would be able to complete (what Milan and Barca did is of scant interest). Between Friday and yesterday Ajax lost two players, Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen moved to Tottenham, and yesterday, Belgian defender, Toby Alderweireld joined Atletico Madrid.
Both were big players for the Dutch champions, who could realise €20m from the sales, but attempts to sign Ola John from Benfica and Eljero lia of Werder Bremen failed, instead they paid Heracles Almelo €2.5m for midfielder Lerin Duarte.
The Amsterdamers had a frustrating final few hours of the window. No doubt potential targets were worried about having to face three huge teams in the Champions League. In a difficult group, this is what counts as a break for Celtic. Only five games into their league season and without Champions League qualifiers to use as a yardstick, the group stage will come early for Ajax.
Living adjacent to an over-monied behemoth has considerable drawbacks as even our top clubs struggle to retain teenagers in the face of English lower league competition but such a rich market can also bring enough transfer income to make the difference between feast and famine.
The English Premier League spent £445m on transfers outside England but apart from Celtic and Hamilton Accies, who between them will earn around 4% of that total, I don’t think anyone else in Scotland got a piece of the action.
Nurturing and selling talent to England has to be a strategy for dozens of clubs here. Paying (for them) top wages to players who are no longer able to gain employment in England can only be considered a waste by comparison.
[calameo code=0003901713852289beccb lang=en page=92 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
742 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- »
SFTB…..
I Find It Interesting That Since Your Return To This Sainted Blog…..
You Have Twice Referred To Your ‘Enemies’….
As ‘Pigs’….
All Very Charming,And I Have A Healthy Admiration For These Most Intelligent Porcine Quadripeds..
However…Certain Notorious Religious Texts Routinely Refer To Christians And Jews As ‘Pigs And Apes’…..
You Haven’t Gone All “George Galloway” On Us,Now…..!?
http://vladtepesblog.com/2013/08/30/george-galloway-bloviates-without-a-care-in-the-world-for-facts/
Mickbhoy1888
Is that through Celtic’s allocation, or from Amsterdam ticket agencies? Been to our last two wins in the Dam. Would like to make it 3 in a row.
From The Scotsman
CELTIC will have to play the home legs of next season’s Champions League qualifiers away from Parkhead, with Murrayfield emerging as a possible alternative venue.
Celtic Park is hosting the opening ceremony for the 2014 Commonwealth Games on 23 July and the likelihood is that the pitch will have to be relaid before it can be used again for football.
Glasgow 2014 staff reckon it will take “weeks” before the playing surface is ready for Celtic, and the Scottish champions will be forced to look for another ground. Hampden and Ibrox are also out of the running because they, too, are Commonwealth Games venues, so the home of Scottish rugby is being considered.
Celtic played their first home game this season on 23 July when they met Cliftonville in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. Eight days later they played host to Elfsborg in the third qualifying round.
If the Parkhead side are to participate in next season’s competition, it is likely they will enter at the same stage as this season.
Celtic have accepted they will have to play the second and probably the third qualifying rounds (Q2 and Q3) away from Celtic Park but are hopeful their home pitch will be ready if they progress to the play-off stage.
A Celtic spokesman said: “In the event of Celtic’s qualification, Q2 and possibly Q3 would be played away from Celtic Park. We are presently considering possible venues for these matches.
“We would of course plan to be back at Celtic Park for the European Play-Off rounds, if successful, and the start of the season.”
Manager Neil Lennon stressed last week how important qualifying for the Champions League is to Celtic, both financially and in terms of prestige.
Around 58,000 were at Celtic Park for the Play-Off round match against Shakhter Karagandy and helped create a raucous atmosphere as Lennon’s side overturned a 2-0 deficit, winning 3-0 to qualify for the lucrative group stage.
Lennon later described the result and reaching the Champions League proper for the second successive season as “the greatest thing I’ve ever done in football”.
Last season’s run to the last 16 of the elite competition earned the club £22 million in television and prize money. This season, they will receive £14m for reaching the group stage to go with the £1.8m for participating in the Play-Off round. By contrast, if they’d lost to Karagandy and dropped into the Europa League they would have been guaranteed just £1.87m.
The stakes are incredibly high and Celtic will be mindful to avoid anything that threatens their qualifying prospects. Murrayfield is the biggest stadium in Scotland with a capacity of more than 67,000. Celtic are unlikely to need a stadium that size for the early qualifying rounds. However, there appear to be precious few alternatives.
Celtic attracted crowds of 30,000 and 40,000 for the matches against Cliftonville and Elfsborg and no other available Scottish football ground could accommodate such numbers. The biggest club grounds are Easter Road (20,000) and Pittodrie (22,000).
Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park would be a handier venue for the Celtic support but its capacity is just 18,000.
The opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games will feature the athletes’ parade, with up to 4,500 participants from the 71 competing nations taking part.
A Glasgow 2014 spokesman said: “Glasgow 2014 is committed to returning Celtic Park to its pre-Games state as part of the Venue Use Agreement.
“Glasgow 2014 is developing contingency provision for an alternative venue for the fulfilment of the club’s competitive 2014 fixtures that are scheduled to be played at Celtic Park during the period of the organising committee’s use of the venue should that be required.”
The east end of Glasgow is undergoing major redevelopment and regeneration as a result of the Games.
Celtic Park is situated at the heart of the action, with the athletes’ village currently being constructed nearby. A stone’s throw from the ground are the new Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and the Emirates Arena which will host the cycling and badminton events in 2014.
Murrayfield has hosted football before, with Hearts playing a number of Uefa Cup and Champions League qualifying matches at the ground between 2004 and 2006. The Edinburgh side first played there against Braga in a Uefa Cup qualifying round match in season 2004-05 after it was claimed the pitch at Tynecastle was too small for European matches.
Murrayfield was also the venue for Hearts’ and Hibernian’s friendly matches against Barcelona in 2007 and 2008 respectively.
Almost 58,000 watched the Hearts v Barca match, the largest crowd to attend a football game in Edinburgh for 51 years.
Celtic playing home games away from Parkhead is not without precedent. They made Hampden their base for the duration of the 1994-95 season while Celtic Park was rebuilt. However, taking their games to Edinburgh presents a new set of challenges.
While Murrayfield’s capacity more than meets Celtic’s needs and its proximity to Haymarket station is a bonus, playing in Edinburgh would mean an 80-mile round trip for the majority of the club’s supporters.
The Games will also mean Hampden becoming a football-free zone for the best part of a year. The national stadium is the athletics venue for 2014 and will close to football in November.
The playing surface will be raised and an athletics track constructed, reducing the capacity to 44,000. It means this season’s domestic cup finals and semi-finals will be played at alternative venues.
Any Scotland home games after November will also be played elsewhere.
HH
acoustamatix
00:27 on
4 September, 2013
If you cannot beat them, boss them I always say.
Lets see how it develops.
TSD
You may be among us but you are not of us.
I don’t know if your Ampleforth attendance qualified you for the gig of proselytizing to the Celts but nothing else fits.
How do you get away with the reporting back to the people that like to wear the same uniform?
Der Fuerher: “Another month, TSD, and still no converts to our glorious cause?”
TSD: “Nein, Herr Fuehrer”
DF: “Good, we’ll soon have double figures”
Bet you’ve not earned your bonus this year.
Delaneys Dunky @ 01:13
I sat in the front row of the cinema. At times I felt I was on the barrier at a gig. At other times I felt I was in the crowd or on the stage. It was much colder than being at a concert but a lot less smelly. Would have been better if the volume was louder. It was an excellent capture of a typical Morrissey concert. It will be released as a DVD but I would recommend you try and see this on the big screen if you can.
Andy Murray playin’ in an orange Shakhtar top, ties it at 2-2 – first set in the US open QF
Morrissey the 23rd
Thanks for that review. Will certainly try and catch it on a big screen. Will certainly be adding it to my DVD collection on release. Just worked out that it’s 29 years since I first saw The Smiths in concert…… Scary!
TSD’s post. One of the most bizaare posts I’ve ever not really read. Can we not ban this guy and his crazy right wing alter/moronic ego? I mean what does it take? Cmon guys lets get rid of this cancer.
Oh and Kojo. Im in the US. I will fly anywhere anytime to punch you in the face. Sorry guys i cant stand the SOB.
Whinhallkev
I am fairly new to this site. Enjoy the Celtic chat and banter. But this guy TSD? Is he on LSD?
SFTB
Can I send you my email address through Paul.
Just wanted to chat offline about something you raised
Paul will vouch for me.
HH
Sorry about that. I should know better but the amount of crap the two post is mind boggling. I mean the self indulgence and idiocy of that last post makes me — yes– want to smack
kojo in the face. Oops here we go again. Im really a non violent person!
Leftclicktic
Send me that link you spoke of earlier please.
If CR or sannabhoy can’t help you can get the email add from Paul.
Paul charge a retainer for this.
HH
WhinhallKev
He/They are offensive a scale that is poisonous. The only reason that it persists is that many now just scroll by because they know what to expect. They do so in the tradition that if you don’t engage with them they will just go. Now that they “talk” to one another, well anything is ripe for them.
In addition many of the non USA posters/lurkers don’t understand the nature of the filth that one in particular puts out. Anti Islamist, anti left wing (what he thinks is left wing) and pro the most extreme right wing nuts that walk upright.
For those in the UK would be if he wrote up Nigel Farage and Nick Griffin
sftb some good posts today and acoustamatix I agree
To infiltrate and dominate or to kow-tow that is the question.
To participate in a more noble vision or to legitimize their established corruption?
To contribute in a meaningful way or to bring Campbell his tea and kit kats.
To get a piece of the hun pension plan or just insider information for the donut.
Tim will tell. No he wont.
Ooops sorry. posted in error. heres the remainder.
…Nick Griffin as the best men to take Britain forward. Seriously promoting their policies and publications. At the same time denigrating those propose something more human.
If it were these British politicians and similar extremists he would be found out very quickly.
HH & KTF
whinhallkev
03:04 on 4 September, 2013
Trust me. We’ve all been there. :)
WhinhallKev
There is a recurring theory that its the same schizo posting :)
Just remember though we’re a tolerant group. We are an encompassing forgiving group us Tims. Smarter than the average bear.
…and i thought Gattuso had showed up at Ibrox again
http://www.lovellchronicle.com/2013/08/rangers-kill-aggressive-black-bear-at-campground/
in the last 10 years Stoke have over spent £88m to stay mid table EPL
whinhallkev
Apart from language and overtly racist remarks, there are little or no restrictions on what drivel is posted here. Some of us with long experience of driveling are used to being ignored and occasionally challenged. However that does not stem the drivel.
The answer is to either engage in healthy respectful banter, admittedly rarely if ever happens, or more commonly exchange insults or scroll on by.
Surprised that you’re over here as I always assumed you were in the bosom of my home town.
M McGill
It is coincidental that you mentioned Gattuso. Two of the zombies I work with were saying earlier that, Peralta their new Honduran galactico was a harder version of the Italian thug. Saying he would break a few legs this season. I said to them “You mean the new Greig.”
“Greig’s our greatest ever player.” came the reply. Oh how I wet myself laughing.
DELANEYS DUNKY
An article along those limes im ome of the rags yesterday.
Nicky Law,former trialist,was being interviewed.
If the guy’s a thug,he’d fit in better on the terraces wi that mob,but no-just watch the media pushing him as the new cult hero.
Plus ca change…..
BMCUW
Law. You mean the new Gazza.
Even the Clydebank fan in my work is laughing at them. Good times to be working among them :-)
Delaneys Dunky
04:32 on 4 September, 2013
I heard a rumour that Palermo are going to fire him so it may not be so far fetched. :)
After he broke his leg in an Old Firm game, Bobby Lennox was asked, “When did you know your leg was broken?”
To which he replied,”John Greig was 5 yards away at the time!”
Where are all the Ozzies tonight?
Betcha they’re debating the pros and cons of 18th and 19th century Aborigine asylum seeker laws
DELANEYS DUNKY
That’s the one! Personally I rarely wind up huns of my acquaintance.
Well,not overtly.
The knowing smirk is enough for them!
M McGill
I forgot he was there. He signed Laughable for Palermo. Obviously a good judge of a dud. :-)
BMCUW
I try to avoid the wind up myself. But occasionally it gets you through a boring nightshift. Did you hear that their first team got humped 3-1 fae Hibs reserves last night. But it was only friendly. Different story when they drew wi Newcastle :-)
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/10651129.We_belong_to_Glasgow_____sort_of/
Gotta laugh at this-especially the last two paragraphs of the “bolded” second article…
DELANEYS DUNKY
I didnae realise it was their first team-and Hibs reserves.
Spin that one,jabba….
BMCUW:
They really are sticklers for the rules those English rugby authorities. Thankfully the footballing authorities take a more, ahem, imaginative approach in Scotland…
:-)))
Good morning friends from a dry and much brighter looking (and mild) East Kilbride.
Possibility of playing Champions league qualifiers at Murrayfield in 2014 , anybody heard about this ?
Obviously need to win the league this season first :-))))