This week’s Economist has a most curious article on the football business, entitled “Welcome to the beautiful game. Football clubs can easily be used as stealing machines. Here is an instruction manual. The stories are real, but most details are concealed”.
They assert, “It is a good time to enter the football racket. Banks are less generous and sentimental about loans. Tax officials are less lenient, too, as Rangers, a big Glasgow club, discovered”.
“Set up a holding company (or a nest of them) in a discreet jurisdiction, as many owners do, and you have a money-laundering and embezzlement machine at your disposal.
“Exaggerating the attendance at matches lets you run some of the dirty takings from your previous career through the turnstiles, turning them into legitimate income (this particular ruse works best if you buy a middling club, where games are not routinely sold out).”
They conclude, “Some national associations do a spot of due diligence on new owners, but this is unlikely to interfere with your plans.”
Brazil, Balkans, Russia, Serbia and Bulgaria all get a mention but there was only the one club got a name check.
Nest of holding companies in discreet jurisdictions, money-laundering, embezzlement, exaggerated attendances, dirty previous businesses!! Read it and weep, football fans, just don’t expect the blazers to watch out for your best interests.
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Is it just me, or does anyone else find that BBC Shortbread golf guy Phil Goodlad really annoying?
Stars
We are looking to organise a meeting at haydock, (or somewhere in the south). Would be great if you could make it across. I’d pick you up and you could stay at mine and I’d get you back to the airport on the Sunday.
Latchford, you might have hit the nail on the head there. We have Ledley & Brown on the club’s highest wages and imo PL et al have decided that no other players will ever be at that level as it goes against the new strategy. I think there is more chance of smaller transfer fees/ bosmans and salaries in the future. The next few weeks will determine our ambition in the transfer market, but have to give NL & PL their place to move us forward. Until that time its wait and see; at this stage i’ve become impatient and would have accepted McFadden & Doyle, i know, i know just want us to move forward thats all.
starry plough
22:21 on 14 July, 2013
An occasional start, or sub appearance, isn’t really giving players a chance. Giving a run of games, like he did with Forrest, is giving a chance.
Raymac-a true Celtic gesture.HH
Twists
Been doing well recently
picked up a 16/1 and 14/1 and 8/1 winners during the week.all just hunches (obvioulsy a few losers as well but those 3 kept me well ahead)
I have been promised some good word for Killarney on Thursday so I will text you as soon as I get it,will also post it on here
There’s a great buzz around north Belfast(excluding woodvale) at the minute, have been in Amsterdam,Barcelona and Seville following the Celts,have never felt excitement like this before a game. Fair play to the wee reds for their efforts. Will be a Fantastic occasion.
Twists
Miss P has Findog entered at Ayr tomorrow after withdrawing it last night. P Makin booked.
One for the heart…. Jinky with G. Lee up, must be due a win he ran his heart out last time.
Time for kip, night all.
HH
the departure of V Noring , mcourt, Gershon, miku, lassad, rogne, Ibrahim, keatings, slane, bangurra (LOAN) and murphy has given us the salary of rogic (CM), balde (CF) and vigil (CB), with a bit to spare. the sale of victor and hooper (very soon) will create more space and salaries for the team and celtic will recruit a couple of replacements I would guess. will they be any better than victor or hooper, I do not know, will they have the potential to be better than victor and hooper, I hope so, but you cant tell me celtic are not prepared I would suggest we only need another quality youngish forward and and creative spark in the middle of the park then we’ll be ready to go. p.s. the latter might impact on rogic’s progress and I think he’s going to turn into a right good player, if given the opportunity
celtic 2013/14: so far
Fraser Forster 25
Lukasz Zaluska 30
………………………………………
vigil 21
Kelvin Wilson 26
Charlie Mulgrew 27
Emilio Izaguirre 27
Efe Ambrose 24
Mikael Lustig 26
Adam Matthews 21
Marcus Fraser 19
Darnell Fisher 19
Jackson Irvine 20
Joe Chalmers 20
………………………………………….
Joe Ledley 25
Kris Commons 29
Baram Kayal 25
Scott Brown 27
James Forrest 21
Tomas Rogic 21
Filip Twardzik 20
Dylan McGeouch 20
Paul George 19
Milller 19
John Herron 19
Henderson 17
…………………………………………
Georgios Samaras 27
Anthony Stokes 24
balde 22
Anthony Watt 19
Bahrudin Atajic 19
K33-As i said mate,there is not many if any,that have left Lennoxtown and went on to greater things.I don’t have the answer my friend but i think it is a question worth asking.HH.
So,some “Americans” are racist.
And, amongst the racists, you will find members of every racial group.
Ulster-Celt
22:33 on 14 July, 2013
Well said mate.
Belfast will be the safest place on earth for Celtic supporters next week.
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson told CNN on Sunday: “I remain stunned at the decision. The department of justice must intervene to take this to another level.”
He said “the American legal system has once again failed justice”. But he also appealed for calm, saying anyone seeking to “compound our pain with street justice” would do “damage to the innocent blood and legacy of Trayvon Martin”.
Rights activist Al Sharpton said the verdict was “a slap in the face to the American people”. He compared the case to the beating of African-American man Rodney King by police in 1991, which sparked widespread rioting.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It is because they have Catholic Schools in the U.S!
Kayal33
With the league being a priority and the CL becoming ever more important, the senior players would expect to be first in line and for me bringing through one or two a season seems decent to me and then perhaps in league cup games blooding some more but to give players an extended run seems to me then that a senior player has to drop to the bench etc etc
So where do they get this run away to Ross County then you get a load of folk schreeeching if we drop points and how the traveling support deserve better etc..
We seemed to have a few decent youngsters for a couple of seasons now and getting them in to team that is expected to win every game is maybe harder than it seems, I don’t know my main concern is not Lennoxtown to be honest it’s putting a team on the park for Wednesday that can get a result..
Che
Findog ran last night…I should know..I backed it. I said to Chris, it needs moved up to 7f or get a bit closer earlier. Keeps giving away 3 to 4 lengths in the early running. Off the same mark tomorrow, it’ll be there or thereabouts.
The Zimmerman trial reveals allegorically the entitlement mentality of all Americans.
From the NSA spying on every country in the world under the auspices of Home Security to the poverty trap underclass pleading Civil rights in vain to stop the Grand American incarceration scam. All the way to the gun nuts who just want to blow your head off.
They all have their own American dream.
Usually ends in the lottery.
On the topic of lotteries how about that Celtic vision? embdy?
16 roads
Indeed.trouble in one street. Who cares. The travelling Celts will be safe as houses, plenty of support if needed.Let’s be honest Antrim road/c’ville rd will have never witnessed anything like it.
Kayal33, i think we are hung up on the lisbon lions & the quality street kids but as a poster earlier said are we better not dominating the scottish market with our financial might? The crowd that went bust were lucky to show a £14m turnover on players that passed through their academy since it opened which i was surprised at. If we were picking up the best talent from our market then develop & sell them on, i don’t think as a support we have the patience.
I thought last year was a great opportunity to play youngsters and these few years will be our best opportunity to do this, but after the uproar after a few bad results & under par performances, why would NL put himself through the same aggravation?
Good evening fellow Celtic fans.
Really worried about Wednesdays game, with Neil Lennon stating we are nowhere near our best. My own view is we must set up not to loose the game,keep it very tight at the back and if Sammy can give us one of is European performances we might just get a result. Fingers crossed after 4 defeats and 4 poor performances we are do a good one.
In my opinion the problem our youth players face is the same as those of virtually every other team in Britain. Sky money is killing their chances of making it. Before that in Scotland, anyway, it was the huns spending money they did not have. Man Utd were fairly successful in the 90’s when they brought through youth players but how many youth players do Man U bring through now? Probably the only team to continue to do so to any real extent these days is Arsenal. Sky money is actually destroying the chances of home grown talent developing in the UK, that’s why I think it is unlikely that England will win another major international competition, ok I know they stole the last one ;-)
There are too many mediocre players being brought in from other countries and being paid top dollar for basically not doing much more than turning up on a football pitch and wearing a particular teams colours.
So is having a youth system a waste of money? Sadly, the answer is probably yes but it is not the fault of the youth players or the youth coaches it is the system that has been corrupted and I can see no change in that for the foreseeable future.
starry plough
22:41 on 14 July, 2013
A youth set up that produces one or two first team squad player per season is utopia!! We currently stand at one player in four years. As a squad we’ve had too many players who are never going to threaten as a first team regular (last season Paddy, Rogne, Lassad), too many players brought in on short term loans with little chance of them signing permanently (last season Miku, Gershon) and all this does is stop youngsters getting a chance. Would we not have been better playing Fraser, Irvine, Watt, McGeouch etc, rather than give these guys game time when resting first choice players or to cover injuries. We dropped the points anyway, if it happened giving a couple of bhoys a chance then it would be far more acceptable than using squad player who will never be first choice.
latchford
22:08 on
14 July, 2013
Excathedera44,
When you read examples, such as yours, regarding our fans from all locations attending hoping for a result,it makes the importance of retaining the brand name and reputation increasingly important.
Play for the jersey,100% all games.
What game was the first time ever the penalty shootout was used to determine a winner in UEFA European club competitions and what game was the first time a UEFA final used the silver goal rule?
the whole debate about lennoxtown academy is silly, it is used for the first team who train there most days. the youth teams play there and it cost very little to operate those teams. I know people always saying its no producing, but it is producing simply not always to the required level for celtic. over the last 5 years celtic have stepped up another level with regards to training the best kids and hopefully that pays better in the future. but in the mean time if memory serves me right the academy has given us
mcgeady 9.5 million
McManus 1.5 million
malony 1.5 million
burchell 500k,
creany 350k
marshell 750k
caddis 350k
fazus fee will be anything from between 500k to 2 million
Kenny he would have been at least a 5 Million pound centre back
forrest currently in the first team
Charlie left and returned (product of our youth system)
donnolly 10-15 goals a season from right wing before leaving
so who have a missed and how much did we receive?
Ulster-Celt – Big time.The New Lodge, Ardoyne,the Bone.Not to forget the Bawnmore Zulus.It will be powerful.
The West is the best though. :p
http://www.belfastceltic.org/images/TullyBelfastCeltic1947.jpg
raymac
22:24 on 14 July, 2013
Hamiltontim–if you need a lift or anything else contact me at Raymac16@gmail.com.It‘s one of two I have so I’ll just remove it if attacked by any outsider.Same for others going to the match.Room for 4.
—–
Lovely gesture and incredibly thoughtful mate. I’ll email you just now.
stephbhoy
22:55 on 14 July, 2013
think we got £1m for Beattie from Swansea
16 roads
The west? I wouldn’t even phone it. :)
UC
latchford
I imagine I wouldn’t be the only one on here that would be disappointed if Hoops was leaving only for money. My reading is that a contract is on the table, and if that doesn’t make Gary the top paid player at Celtic then something is wrong. Then again Roy Hodgson would not even include Hoops for the friendly against Ireland despite him looking fit and strong in the Scottish Cup Final. Problem for Gary though is that he will get his chance to play in London, but it will be at QPR not his beloved Spurs, because Harry will up the ante. Spurs’ loss mind you.
Raymac
It’s coming back ‘Notification Failure’. You can get me at hamiltontim@hotmail.co.uk
Thank you again.
Kayal33
I thought Watt and McGeough got plenty of chances last season, both were also injured if I remember correctly and didn’t Fraser do his ligaments or is the sun getting to me?
I know what you’re saying it drove me mad to see us bring in laon players and then not play them what’s the point in that and some players seem to come and go at clubs not just Celtic without the fans even getting a real look at them!
There’s a lot of impatient people watch Celtic and post on here I for one can envisage the carnage on here if Lenny’s plays the Yoof and we get humped!!
Hx2
I got soal but I’m not a soldier!
Anyway
Thanks to TNT Chris 1888, PF Ayr and T4, Big John for a great night at the races
Love
The Boy Jinky & macjay1 for Neil Lennon & Margaret McGill
Not really wanting to get into racial politics of USA but I allowed myself to be wound up by the gruesome twosome. Will try to be more humorous for you next time,Mags.
Kayal33
so that’s another million made from the academy, I am sure it pays for itself and very occasionally it gives us a star. it would give us more stars if the club/ managers stopped this 2 players for every position nonsense. look at barca for fuck sake. they don’t have two players from every position, they have the best 16 or so players they can afford and if they get injuries they promote from within their own academy.
that is what celtic should be doing as the increased opportunity would lead to increased competition, drive and determination from the young players and the young players would also benefit from working with high quality older players. squad player quickly lose interest and offer little in the way of competition.
I read posts from The Singing Dick and I think what the f*** is this guy really a Celt or an irritating troll that can’t be kicked off the blog, then I read posts like Raymacs to Hamiltton Tim and I say to myself what a wonderful Celtic world.
Starry, regarding playing the youths, I reckon if Lenny had won the treble last season we might have seen him play the youth team in the entirety of this season’s League cup competition the way Arsenal and Man Utd do because they see it as a lesser competition that is getting in the way of the Champions League. Lenny possibly/probably sees winning a treble as the next step forward and a way of writing his name into the Club’s history books giving him legendary status. Just my opinion.
am off for the night hope you all have a good week bhoys and ghirls
hail hail