A big Celtic welcome to our new goalkeeper, Logan Bailly, who joined from Belgian side Leuven yesterday, and to Nadir Ciftci, who was confirmed a Celtic player this morning, Ronny’s third and fourth signing of the summer. And it’s only 9 July!
Craig Gordon will be difficult to shift as Celtic’s first choice keeper but Celtic rested him regularly last season, his first back in action after three years recuperating, so Logan will expect a chance to shine and stake his claim.
Nadir Ciftci should be expecting the most difficult preseason of his career. The weeks ahead will be an intense step up from what he was used to at Dundee United, but if he responds he stands an excellent chance of leading the line on the third Champions League qualifying round, should Celtic overcome Icelanders Stjarnan. Next week’s second round game might come too soon.
Ciftci’s every move, kick, pass and, erm…. disputed event, has been watched by Celtic for months. They know as much about the player as it’s possible to know without actually employing him. They will also have had the opportunity to take references from Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong. In short, if we have another Pukki-Balde-Scepovic on our hands, we have more acute problems than simply another striker who didn’t work out.
For this reason, I’m sure Ciftci will deliver what’s expected of him.
Delighted to hear former Fifa executive committee member Chuck Blazer has been banned for life by the game’s governing body. Blazer ‘came to a favourable arrangement’ (I think that’s the appropriate phrase on these occasions) with US prosecutors when convicted of tax evasion, money laundering and bribery.
Unfortunately, Fifa’s structure, which gives the Cayman Islands, the Cook Islands and Comoros more combined voting power than Germany and Spain, encourages corrupt patronage to thrive. The money flushing through tiny countries in order to ‘develop the game’ ensures wealthy people are created, given powerful positions, from where they can be relied upon to vote the ‘right’ way.
Still, at least no one with Blazer’s rap sheet would be allowed to exploit the patronage to hand out blazers in order to wreak havoc on a vulnerable Scottish club (laughs away to himself for weeks).
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Auldheid
How do you know the base figures?
Thompson Twin
When you say ‘slicing’ the stadium do you mean closing sections of it? If so it is already happening and it may be that in the not too distant future further sections of the upper tiers may close semi permanently.
I think though that the huge economic downturn we have endured -some of us are still enduring it I can tell you- cannot be underestimated as being a factor in the downturn. We still played to huge crowds well into WGS’ time in charge I think and crowds realy only fell significantly once Mowbray came – and the Recession really bit.
I am not sure that I agree with many here that had we spent more money on players in the summers of 2012/3/4 we would be playing to bigger crowds on a week-by-week basis (though I wonder why the hell we bothered spending half the money we did on some of the puddings we signed). People have less spending money than 8 years ago in the world I inhabit and quite simply dont spend as much on luxuries as they did a decade ago. It was the same 35 years ago when our crowds fell by a quarter at the depths of the 80s recession even though we had a decent side and Scottish football had genuinely good sides.
I doubt Celtic will ever leave Scottish football in my lifetime as quite simply we have nowhere to go. Crowds may well not return to the levels they were 1998-2008 for a long time but I think Celtic may not quite wither as you suggest. I do not like everythimg Peter Lawwell does but he and his cronies do seem quite resourceful. I am not an optimist in mt own life and have a realistic view of what Celtic csn achieve at higher levels but I do not think we are finished long term either
Jimbo67
Auldheid:
Go back to your bolded post mate and count the “ifs” does that not in itself scream hypothetical.
It is just your best guess mate, it is just your best guess.
Unless you have access to contracts.
But then why so many “ifs”?
R Delia can count his ole blessings he’s not managing in North Korea, where Kim Jong – Un has had the manager of a terrapin farm shot , to ” set an example”
It wasn’t that we always refused to sign a Turkish player, it’s just that we couldn’t find one good enough to play for us. :-)
Sevcoexcuses.com
WEERON
I disagree that the comment implied racism. Simply that in a smaller country a dominant personality may face less scrutiny and opposition.
IMO of course.
ThompsonTwin
Sadly I have to agree.
Some recon is badly required, take the CL, I bet I could tell six of the last eight for next season, and hopefully their won’t be too many english, cos they are the key IMO, when they can’t make the latter stages, even with their obscene money, they will push for a euro league set up, I can see us in the second tier of two 20 team leagues, that would be bliss, but sadly I won’t be seeing it.
HH
I’ve had enough of the pretence mate, Imagined Factors are not facts and should not be confused as such. Guessed at factors without first hand knowledge are guesses… is that about right Auldheid?
Auldheid
17:50 on
9 July, 2015….
Thanks for the reply. I understand what you are saying. There are costs, and there are risks. These are quantifiable, as you have demonstrated.
I would say that the upside is quantifiable, too.
I just think that if we are ever to take a step forward, this is the place to start. I fully appreciate that I can’t say ‘if you do A, then B will happen’. The only people who say such things, are people who don’t have to live with the consequences of failure.
I think we have few choices. At some point, we are going to have to get a little bolder.
Thanks,
Ronnie
SFA Must Make an Example of Volatile Ciftci:
https://raillydecord.wordpress.com/2015/07/09/33/
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS…..
I think we will disagree then….:)
Germany tried to provide rewards for votes;
The USA had Chuck Blazer;
England had Stanley Rous (and others);
Sepp Blatter is not from the Caribbean;
Italy is a ‘big’ country in football terms. It has had a few known cases of corruption in its football world.
Whether in the world of football, business or politics, the west has no moral high ground from which to preach to its former colonies.
Gents, Ladies, time for me to go to bed, if only there were fifty hours in a day.
Have to strongly disagree with a line in the lead article
Ronnys 3rd and 4th signing of the summer…….. In case you hadn’t noticed summer hasn’t arrived in Scotland yet
Or seventy.
Wales up to number 10 in FIFA world rankings ….
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/33458794
they have had some good results of late for certain, but that seems pretty high
kitalba
18:32 on
9 July, 2015……
I understood what Auldheid was saying in his reply to me. That is, there are risks and costs. I understood that. I also believe that on the upside, there are benefits and risks.
While Auldheid’s response did not bring about significant change in relation to my point of view, I appreciate that he was looking at the other side of the coin. Not an unwise thing to do, in my view. Whether his numbers were exact, or even verifiable did not concern me. He used these as proxies with which to discuss a concept.
Phil Guidlad.
Mike in Toronto
10th in the world???
Wales have some decent players and recent results have been good,but 10th in the world rankings is a joke!!!!
HH
Auldheid:
Go back to your bolded post mate and count the “ifs” does that not in itself scream hypothetical.
It is just your best guess mate, it is just your best guess.
Unless you have access to contracts
Kitalba
I think you missed the context of the conversation.
Weeron suggested a £5M player.I added the wages as the kind a CL quality player of proven standard would be after, especially to play in Scotland.
If we are paying Scott Brown £25K a week and he is not good enough to assure CL qualification, then I don’t think £40K a week is that unreasonable.
The rest follows. If those figures are in the ballpark it suggests that whilst the rewards for taking on one player at that higher level are well worth it if over the period of his contract we qualify each year, it also shows that it reduces each time we do not and if we only have one player of that higher quality fate could play its part in taking him out of the equation altogether causing a significant loss.
I reckon we would need two to reduce the risk of non qualification but the loss occurs if we only qualify once.
Three players reduces the risk of not qualifying each year but at less profit if we do and higher loss if we do not.
I’m not even saying we should not take the risk I setting out how I would look at it if it were my decision to take. The popular one or the safe one for Celtic.
wee Rhona an’ her perfunctory “enthusiasm” for Big Nifty……
oh aye.
damo lennon
18:33 on 9 July, 2015
That’s very humorous. Writer missed a trick not asking for donations.
kitalba
Sleep well
.
Was in ML5 Celtic shop today asking about tickets for next Weds Stjarnan game, None and no info( had to do a bit on computer ):)))) ,though there was a new T-shirt just in stunning IMHO ,green white and gold with a Celtic player on the front kicking a ball wearing an old kit.
cant find it online to show it:))))
Auldheid
I missed nothing.
If you, or anybody, introduces ‘ifs’ into the equation then you are dealing with either hypothesis or gambling, or both.
IF?
IF?
IF?
Mike in Toronto
The qualies always do that. We got to about 9 after failing to get to Euro 2008.
You get marked down for losses(errors), bit like my French O Grade
I slept through 2 years of grammar then did my written in present tense and mumbled in an Outrageous Accent(Holy Grail) in my oral.
Got an A(band 1) which is 90 to 100%.
My teacher appealed my result as I should have failed!
Welcome to Paradise Nadir.
As Paul says, Ronny had watched him enough to know he has what it takes to improve the team and offer something additional up front.
His interview was impressive. Seems an intelligent young man. It will take a wee while before we start to see the best of him, it looks like he could do with a month of the Ronny diet and fitness regime.
Couldn’t we all eh?
coneybhoy …. ha!
when you said it was like UEFA/FIFA qualifying, I thought you were going to tell me that you slipped a 50 pound note into your teacher’s handbag, and volia… an ‘A’ on the exam!
Young STUART Findlay
Away out on loan to Killie
http://www.celticfc.net/news/8586
Leftclicktic
The ticket offices and ticket outlets at Celtic have my admiration in that they have been consistently useless for 5 decades.
Give me a month in Celtic as consultant and I’d have the attendance up 5000 per game.
Mike in Toronto
Unfortunately it was a bloke and his daughter was my swotty big sister’s mate.
That’s why I found out he went radio rental at my result!
PS
I can get by in France so something sunk in
Auldheid:
You always use the “IF” factor to support the board, your prerogative, me, I use the “IF” factor to support the ambitions of the Support.
How do you ever factor in who was right and who was wrong.
I’ve never know a spread sheet with passion, or emotion, or joy, or pain.
Factor in humanity and emotion into your spread sheets… it does not equate… simple it is because they don’t hurt.
“Yet each man kills the thing he loves,…”
Embdy know if Broonie is cool with Nidir signing for the Hoops ? Hope we don’t have a disgruntled captain
kitalba
18:57 on
9 July, 2015
Auldheid
I missed nothing.
If you, or anybody, introduces ‘ifs’ into the equation then you are dealing with either hypothesis or gambling, or both.
IF?
IF?
IF?
=============
Well in that case you chose to see it in a different light from which it was presented.
Not my problem. Its pretty clear to me the nature of the post, in fact my end para was written to try and avoid the direction you are taking the debate.
I’ll need to try harder or you can debate the factors which is what I was expecting from Weeron.
oops Nadir
Kitalba
Not being obtuse but spreadsheets sometimes sack people or ruin a business due to error.
I have built a capacity model for my company which shows who should shed and who should grow.
I use it positively to defend jobs but others would not if they got their capitalist hands on it
WEERON
No problem,bud. Your post explained the reasons for your dissenting opinion!
CONEYBHOY
Playing wi fire,having that on a piece of equipment! Hope you used the oul’ pincil and fag packet method…