The annual raft of idle speculation unsettling Celtic’s playing and managerial resources is well underway. One newspaper headline today proclaimed, “Celtic boss wants Canaries to approach him”, based on Neil Lennon when talking about moving to England saying, “There has been no offer, there has been no concrete phone call or anything like that, so I haven’t really had a decision to make on it”. Countless others have followed in a similar theme.
Neil Lennon has not really hidden the fact that he would like to manage in the FA Premier League one day, but none of the journos with pages to fill have any notion on his thoughts of dropping a division in England. In the real world, Neil is showing no reticence in pursuing team development plans for next season. We’ll be involved in Champions League football two months from tomorrow, the manager is busy on the matters in hand.
Best wishes to John Brown for his inspired attempts to take down Newco Rangers. More power to you, John, I hope you have any many lemmings lined up as possible. Some months ago the plotters had a notion that they would starve Newco shareholders into handing over the club for zilch, or £1 less than Rangers were sold to a liquidation expert for. It remains possible that Sevco will starve, but notions that there will be an outcome for the plotters which is more desirable than an existence under the current crew are fading by the day.
Don’t forget, we’ve Tommy Gemmell, live on the blog, on Friday between 13:00 and 16:00. He’ll be here to chat and answer your questions.
Issue 20 of CQN Magazine, CQLisboN, is out and enjoying great reviews. Click here to read for FREE.
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Morning CQN,
Bottom of the EPL Cardiff received more TV dough this year than Man Utd did for winning it last year….and this in the EPL which will not honour it’s pledge to pay 3% (iirc) – negotiated down from 5% – to the grassroots game.
Other than mediocre players and agents, exactly cui bono?
Mulgrew is the most under rated player we have IMO
!!Bada Bing!! 11:42 on 15 May, 2014
“Sevco mobiles not on Orange?”
Naw. Craig White changed the contract to E, E…
Sevco mobiles now on TIM.
[they just don’t know it yet…]
Atletico earned EURO50M from tv last year did they not? And they have an unpaid tax bill of around £140M. Reminds me of someone….., can’t quite place them…..
antipodean red
Charlie Mulgrew is one of us. He plays for Celtic. He is living the dream. He can play numerous positions and although he may not be blessed with a lot of pace he gives his all and I think I can count on one hand how many times he has cost us a goal.
Charlie has benefitted from CL experience. He will never be world class but he is Celtic class. He is a valuable member of the squad. He may not play every game but when he does he gives everything. If other players made the most of their ability as Charlie does we would have more than one trophy in the cabinet and another in the pipepline this season.
Regarding the Belgium match he was outstanding. I thought he was easilly the best player on the pitch.
LB
Greatest living Yorkshireman Chas Green changed the contract to EE bah goom
DBBIA/FSTruemanCSC
TBB
Thanks for that. I feel there are two elements to being able to organise for, but not guarantee European success. First of these is income to buy the better players; the second is a competitive playing environment to get you used to the standard. This was brought home to me in my own sport, where a top Scottish or English club side could lose to an average University team from a country where the Sport was taken seriously.
LiviBhoy
“How much do Sevilla earn from TV in relation to the English sides?”
A lot less than the English but Sevilla only went one stop further than us in winning (on pens.) the Europa final. They can attract players to their attractive league for wages which might be less than ours but players will feel they are in a bigger shop window.
“Could Celtic beat Hull City? I think they could. Could Celtic beat any team in the English top flight? On our day yes.”
Of course, on our day, we could beat Liverpool and Man City too. Trouble is Man City and Liverpool will win 8 times out of 10 against us and Hull could win two and draw 4 or 5 out of 10 against us. Being able to shade it against Hull does not make us probables for Euro success, though Fulham equaled our performance in losing in extra time in the Europa League final.
“Why get hung up on the money.”
Well I don’t accept the framing of the question. Whilst I am not “hung-up” about the money, I am aware that there is a very strong correlation between success at European level and Money. It is not the only factor, for sure, but its effect should not be diminished.
Like you, I want and foresee better Euro days ahead, but only if our circumstances change. It is impossible to go from recent and current SPFL playing standards to be match honed for Europe; we need a better playing environment with higher calibre opposition being a more regular occurrence.
It is great to be nostalgic about The Lions but that was achieved in the days of slave-term contracts, pre-Bosman, pre-TV money, pre-multi-national teams and freer player mobility, and pre-The Big 5 leagues and elite Top 20 clubs. Those circumstances are not going to be re-instated. We need to adjust to a football world where Money is King and a competitive and financially rewarding playing environment is Queen.
Livibhoy 11.21
Excellent summary of who we are and where we are as a football club and community.
If I may add a philosophical point to this
” We all need to remember that and remain patient.”
I am a great advocate of patience but sometimes it draws our attention to what we hope will be a better future and away from what, for all its ups and downs and in whatever way it presents itself, is a wonderful “now”.
Maybe it is a feature of age that having used up a goodly share of whatever personal “now” that we have been allocated, we naturally focus more on the “now” we do have and less on any ” now ” that might be left.
It so happens that as a club and community we are enjoying the fruits of past patience, so whilst looking forward to more please, let’s also enjoy “now” as it unfolds one second after another.
!!Bada Bing!!
11:44 on 15 May, 2014
Mulgrew is the most under rated player we have IMO
———————————————————-
Charlie is a great player.
And, of course, a darlin’!
Where’s big Johann going? Who’s his replacement?
The biggest difference money makes to more prosperous teams is expectations. If Celtic sign a £2m player we expect hint to be a first team pick, if Chelsea sign a £2m player they would be in their under 17 squad..
bada,
And he loves the Celtic!
Auldheid
Any idea when the minutes of the forum meeting which was organised by JPT will be published and will they be disclosed to all or merely the limited number who were invited?
My friends in Celtic,
Modern football bears no resemblance to football even 20 years ago.
The whole financial structure has completely changed. It is no longer only a sport, it is big business sport.
Until people around the globe get fed up watching it that is how it will remain.
Market Forces have dictated this, just as eventually they will guide our destiny.
HH.
From the Belfast Telegraph:
Ten year old Lurgan boy Jay Beatty is a true champion and he has the medal to prove it. The huge Celtic fan, who has Down’s Syndrome, received a very special memento from Celtic’s title winning party at Parkhead last Sunday from Hoops boss Neil Lennon.
In emotional scenes after Celtic’s 3-1 victory over Dundee United, former Northern Ireland star Lennon spotted Jay and his dad Martin in the 50,000 strong crowd, walked over and handed his medal to the kid from county Armagh.
It was a wonderful gesture and was quickly followed by Jay’s favourite player Georgios Samaras carrying the youngster around the ground on the team’s post match lap of honour to roars of appreciation from everyone in the stadium.
Samaras was holding Jay in his arms when conducting a television interview in which he called the young lad ‘a friend and an inspiration’.
The scenes at ‘Paradise’ have become a YouTube sensation.
Proud dad Martin explained: “On Sunday we went to the game and sat in the front row of the North Stand.
“After the match Celtic lifted the Scottish Premiership trophy and did a lap of honour.
“I had Jay in my arms and suddenly Neil Lennon recognised Jay and waved.
“He was coming towards us and we thought he was just going to say hello and then his championship medal came off his neck and he gave it to Jay.
“We couldn’t believe it. It was an incredible gesture.
“Then Samaras came across and lifted Jay out of my arms and walked him around the ground and said really kind things about Jay in a television interview when he was holding him.
“Later on Kris Commons handed Jay his football boots. We went to watch a match and all this happened.
“It was very humbling. Jay was just delighted. This week he was showing his school friends Neil’s medal.”
The loving relationship between Jay and Celtic has been going on for some time.
“Jay is 10 and has Down’s Syndrome. He is Celtic daft. For as long as he’s awake he will watch Celtic DVDs or look at Celtic magazines,” says Martin, married to Aine.
They have another child, 15-year-old Olivia.
He added: “We can only get over to games though when the Celtic Lurgan No 1 football team, who are in the division two of the mid-Ulster League, aren’t playing because Jay is mascot for them.
“He gives the team talks and although I’m maybe biased being his dad I think his speeches are very good.
“It’s amazing watching a boy of 10 in front of 15 men telling them what they need to do.
“It has really brought his speech on and it’s great to see everyone in the team treat him with such respect.
“Jay is besotted by Samaras and met him when Cliftonville played Celtic at Solitude in the Champions League last year.
“The day before the game at Solitude Jay was invited down to watch the team train.
“Neil Lennon came out and spotted Jay and allowed him to take the training session.
“I have to say Neil Lennon, Samaras and indeed all the team have been amazing to our son.
“We got a call one day to say that Neil was back home at his mum and dad’s house in Lurgan and that he wanted to meet Jay, so we took him there which was incredible.
“He’s also been on the team coach singing Celtic songs which have been captured on YouTube.
“He’s become a bit of an internet star and the number of people that recognise him is crazy. He doesn’t look at himself on the internet though… he’d prefer to watch Celtic v Ross County from five years ago!
“There is a big rivalry between Rangers and Celtic but lots of Rangers fans have told us it is wonderful to see Jay doing all this, which I think is fantastic.
“When Jay was born we didn’t know how he was going to be treated, but the people of Lurgan from both sides have been wonderful.
“My wife runs a cross community charity called Downs and Proud for people in the Lurgan. Portadown and Craigavon areas and there is a great spirit around the place,” added Martin.
setting free the bears supports Res. 12 & Oscar Knox
Some great responses.
Sevilla can only attract players if they want to go there. I think we have seen a change in players signing for big clubs just to sit in the stand. Players want to play. Sevilla have allowed them to play.
Celtic have recognised the wrong players in the summer Sevilla maybe got the right ones or they were already there. That is the margins for success.
I accept they are in a better league though. Nothing we can do about that currently.
I’m not sure you can say regarding English teams how many times a season we could beat them and how many times they could beat us. Not getting into the whole money situation regarding IF we were in the EPL we would have X amount etc. I do believe that if we played Hull City for the FA cup on Saturday with current squads we would beat them.
The other sides we will find out when we play them.
Take your point on the Lions BUT we should always strive to repeat that as much as possible. You don’t forget the club ideals and I believe it can be possible again. Anything is possible if you try hard enough.
Thanks for the discussion.
LB
my first thought for eating in Helsinki would be http://www.postres.fi/lang/en
a wee star and they serve Musar.
If anybody is heading over I will speak to some cooks over there
for more places.
GCT,
Not sure of your proclivities :) but I left Tesco Mobile for 3 as they allow ‘tethering’ of the phone to a laptop etc for data usage.
DealBreakerCSC
Billy Boy
11:41 on 15 May, 2014
‘I don’t want to fall out with anyone’
######
Billy Boy
20:48 on 26 April, 2014
‘Neganon….
I live in Scotland which is a fantastic country and will improve a thousandful when we get rid of Unionists like yourself.’
Billy Bhoy 05
“As I mentioned yesterday I have never seen such yobbish behaviour from Yes voters.”
You should try reading the Herald (or any Scottish media) blogs’ reader responses whenever there is a Yes/No story. Try Twitter too and you will see it.
However, we tend not to see yobbish behaviour from people where we agree with their point of view. For the record, some of the criticism directed at you has been OTT but you need to acknowledge that what you consider to be a valid argument (lining up No voters with the OO, BNP and UKIP) is deeply insulting to some of us on here. No voters have been insulted too but whataboutery will not determine the outcome.
As for not understanding why anyone could vote against (so-called) independence, did you not admit that you were once a Labour Voter at one time. Unless you are well over 100 years old, then you did so at a time when there was the alternative of voting for an SNP candidate who was committed to a policy of Independence for Scotland. You may not have understood yourself.
Livi bhoy makes an excellent point when he says that he wouldn’t like to see a CFC team winning the CL with 100,000 to £200,000 players.
It probably is unavoidable to get to the latter stages of the CL, but we could do things like stopping shirt sponsoring (especially drink companies), stop affiliations with any gambling companies, ramp up our social responsibility and charity programmes, if we actually believe CFC is more than a club, and not just a commercial enterprise with catchy marketing slogans (like Barca).
We could also, if we wanted, make it obligatory to include a youth player every year for example.
Problem is, any of the suggestions above will weaken our competitiveness in the short term. I’d gladly have this than see a cider company soiling the hoops though. Sure I read there was 3 million deaths from alcohol last year – we’d be more socially responsible putting adverts for heroin on our jerseys than cider.
Livi Bhoy
“I’m not sure you can say regarding English teams how many times a season we could beat them and how many times they could beat us. ”
The answer is guesswork. Informed guesswork, I hope but I don’t think my predictions would be too far apart from how the bookies would lay the odds.
Brilliant post Ritchie. Many thanks for sharing it.
Two men drove us on to defeat the Shaktar dungheap last year: Commons and Samaras.
What a pity one has gone.
new article posted.
philbhoy
11:23 on 15 May, 2014
DBBIA
Ah, the Death Star!!
Just waiting to see how ole Louis got on with his appraisal before I make my move.
………..
Philbhoy… I’m closer to 44, moves that is, and still short of you by a couple of years……
Wouldn’t saddle my worst enemy with that poison chalice..
HH
On the ole Indyref debate, if/when Scotia says Yes!, the most pressing issue will surely be the appointment of a titular head of state, and also the job title of said designate.
I’d like to see SuBo appointed as inaugural Maximum Leader.
If nothing else it may bring Pebbles back to the blog….
billy bhoy 05
11:41 on 15 May, 2014
Do you really believe that things WILL change for the better in respect of the poor, the unemployed, the homeless, the sick, the disadvantaged irrespective of whether or not it’s a Yes or a No vote….. If it did, it will be the first time in my lifetime.
Horsey stuff here bhoys …..off running shortly so will check in later and see if anyone has any fancies, news or general chat.
…..and one thing I’d still like to try and get off the ground at some point is a wee syndicate. If anyone is interested let me know and we can look at costs but I think it’s reasonably to say that a ” lease” deal ( assuming we got say 20 members) would be about £100 PCM, whilst a purchased horse would be about £500 up front and £100 per month. (. 1 year deal then decision to drop the lease deal, or, flog the horse)
Any thoughts?
TnT
Thought I would pop over and check you weren’t at the wind up sending me back a thread :-)
I haven’t ever owned a horse butsit is something I would possibly consider as part of a syndicate – interested to hear more.
Cheers,
BJM
Twists n Turns – I’m always interested in anything horsey. I was involved in the MerseyClyde Partnership but it was one of my rich friends who funded the exercise. Two things it taught me were what a money pit the whole thing was and how fragile the horses are. So sorry I wont be in the syndicate but thanks for Maybole Lass (probably wrong) the other day and I’ll have a couple of bob on the Commander tomorrow.
Phyllis
Ha…absolutely no problem. I love the thrill of ownership and the wee bit extra info it brings but definitely not a sport to get involved in to get rich:-))
Bjm
We shall see what interest there is bud. Maybe , just maybe get enough for a wee season , or half season lease. Would prefer a Scottish trainer to let the punters see the horse more often but I guess it depends on the location of potential members.
Right….trainers oot furra run…..
TnT
What is your preference fie the horses – jumps or flat ?
Or does it not really matter to you?
I like both but my preference has always been the flat – love to see a horse going flat out at top speed and thought Frankel was a thing of beauty when it powered away from the field.
Having said that always look forward to the big jump races / meetings – Cheltenham festival, king george on boxing day :-)
Anyway – with regards to the syndicate are you thinking only CQNers or a broader church?
Cheers,
BJM
BJM68
I was lucky enough to see Frankel in the flesh at Newbury two years ago in The Lockinge.
Wow.
What a machine,utterly effortless acceleration.
Got gubbed,bad day at the office as far as I was concerned.
But went home delighted.
BMCUW,
I am hugely jealous – only ever saw Frankel on tv.
I really enjoy going to the races, in fact me and a few mates formed a turf club which we save into and bet from through the year and it pays for a weekend away to an English racecourse each year, been doing it for about 5 years now but always try to stay away from the really busy meetings – when it is too busy I thknk the day isn’t as enjoyable.
Even when we get along to the Scottish meetings we try to avoid the real big / popular ones – went to the Scottish Grand National for the first time last year and am really glad I went but doubt I will go back.
Cheers,
BJM