Occasionally an innocuous comment left here can stay with you for years. The day following the 2005 defeat in Bratislava someone wrote, “I suspect we’ll find an injury in Nakamura’s fitness test”. The player was scheduled to sign imminently, but with Champions League income looking unlikely, doubts emerged that Celtic would pay the money.
Soon others expressed doubts that Shunsuke would want to come, but within 48 hours of that defeat, he was sitting in front of the media at Celtic Park. I was there, among a gaggle of Japanese and Scottish journos, when one of the locals asked why the prospect of being without European football didn’t put him off.
Shunsuke handled the question perfectly, “I am not here for six games of football, I have signed for Celtic and hope to play here for many years.” Rumour has it that not everyone in the dressing room back then was equally as enthusiastic about life in Glasgow.
I’ve heard lots about Wakaso Mubarak in recent weeks, he appears to be a genuine talent, as well as being spirited. What is most appealing about him is that he wants to be here. This deal would not have happened if the player was not absolutely committed to coming to the club, and making his stay a success.
Back in August 2005 we didn’t know what we were getting with Naka, and I’m not going to burden Wakaso with a comparison to a player who turned out to be a transformational legend, but we need players with big personalities who can walk into the dressing room with the determination to be there, just as Naka did.
Welcome to Celtic, Wakaso. Be yourself and you’ll love Glasgow; Glasgow will love you too.
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Whilst bitterly dissapointed with the result, the reality is that i’m kind of glad we didn’t make it through, with the current crop of duds we could have had some right beating’s which would have damaged our reputation even further.
Let’s hope he can improve a feckless forward line.
Didn’t come on yesterday, I was scunnered enough as it was,.
But my tuppence worth on Ronny Deila is he should be given until at least the turn of the year to sort things out.
Sacking him ow is utterly pointless, which is what Celtic would have been at the end of the CL group stage with the current squad.
Greenpinata, we’ve been planning for the future for years now by signing loanee’s.
James Forrest is praying for The Unconquerable Oscar Knox
Enjoy your blog and your musings, even if I don’t always agree with them :-o) made a wee contribution today about the same as the annual one to this blog which is to cover the CQN magazine.
Hopefully we can get back to reasoned debate on the blog, maybe the new striker (hooray) and the Ghanaian winger wont be the last signings before Monday.
I would keep Pukki, I think he has something to offer but if we get the right offer then he can go, Balde I love the big fella but he has no football ability that I can see, who scouted him? Please get him off the wage bill before Monday.
Van Dijk should be told he’s going nowhere unless silly money is paid >£10 Mio, get Commons re-signed he’s a class player.
Lets hope the board are listening to the feedback which they get from the supporters forms, which I recently sent back.
By and large I think they do a reasonable job under the circumstances we are in, but player recruitment last year let us down big time. Needed to invest the cash we got for Hooper and Wanyama much better than we did.
I am sceptical that Peter Lawwell acts as defacto DOF Neil Lennon would never have stood for that. I also remember the press conference when Derk Boeriggter signed where Neil was waxing lyrical that he had been looking for a good “lefty” for a while so that doesn’t say to me that he was out of the loop on that transfer.
Sunday’s game next challenge.
Mon the Hoops!
RobinBhoy
The contributors on here who complain about the articles content also have a platform .
When they use it to personally abuse then that’s not adding to the debate.
Criticism is fair enough, however there are some who’s “contribution” is so unrelentingly negative and abusive , that they really should take a pause , and ask themselves a few home truths
Are they successful in their chosen career
Do they have a track record of unbroken excellence in their business decisions
Do they understand fully the challenges of running a business of Celtics size and with the unique challenges posed by the Scottish football environment
Have they ever negotiated £multi million contracts for anything. Do they really understand the fragility of the process
Or
Are they the type of people who know nothing of the points above , and just feel a need to vent any time things go wrong
It is a fair point to point out Nakamura had not signed before the debacle with Artmedia but then went on to be a great player for Celtic and make a mark in the CL.
It is also fair to point out Mubarak is NOT signing full time at this time.
We will wait and see if Scepovic actually does sign – that would be a better comparison with Nakamura.
KevJungle – it’s time for “Save Our Celt’s 2″
12:12 on 28 August, 2014
The Celtic world is so bad that, even I canny be bothered moaning about them anymore.
So, I’ll just say this…the sooner the huns come back – the better coz, I’m missing the
“Jingle -Bells” song at ne’erday.
Celtic fans are ‘rebels’ by dna/design so going by that….we’ve slipped into slumber coz the huns urny there to keep us on edge – every rebel needs a tyrant.
Oh, and hurry up with the standing-area.
Bye
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
I cannot see how going backwards into the sectarian fest will help Celtic, or fix Scottish football. The return of R*****s will actually finish me. I have vowed that I will stop going to games if they are back in any serious form. IMHO it is the whole sectarian baggage that stopped Celtic being invited into a bigger league.
davidopoulos
Whether you you agree with his way of expressing his opinion or not , cultsbhoy does have a point .
Are we just going to ignore Tuesday night and hope it gets better or are we ( Paul ) going to address the failings at the / our club .
Actually Naka said “I’m here for the challenge of Rangers”.
givehimthemoneypetercsc
I assume I am included in those at whom your post is directed.
I have nothing but respect for Paul Brennan and the efforts and sacrifices he makes in keeping this site going.
However I do think that while he is admittedly attempting to find a positive slant in the current trying circumstances, his lead article today is poorly timed and somewhat misses the point.
Another poster commented that in terms of 2015-16 CL preparation Mubarak and several others may not be here.
Not giving PB a hard time but would like to see – given he has the ear of the SSM – some sense of acceptance of concerns.
traditionalist88
12:19 on 28 August, 2014
‘See all this guff about the bigot pound, what are we supposed to do, just not turn up if/when we have to play the newco?’
##
It’s not guff though is it, otherwise you wouldn’t be getting worked up about it.
In an ideal world Celtic FC would make it clear in an official statement that so far as the club is concerned sevco are a new club, and as such have no claim on the former club’s history or accumulated titles. A clear, unequivocal statement to that effect.
That would remove a lot of doubt from the minds of a lot of us.
Chances of it happening? Vanishingly small. Draw your own conclusions.
Oh welcome to Glasgow Wakaso. If you manage to avoid the curse of the Celtic winger you should only be with us for 18 months.
Mini MWD – Dad, can I get the white Celtic away top?
MWD – Aye. (MWD says AYE) What name do you want on it?
Mini MWD – LOAN
MWD – you might be better with OPTION TO SIGN.
Celtic FC – Building for the future or failure?!
MWD says AYE
After last year’s debacle against decent / semi decent opposition I don’t think we are ready for any more humiliation in the CL. Hopefully we can get a decent draw and gain some experience / confidence from the Europa.
Welcome to Mubarak and I hope at least one more, possibly two.
Now Ronny can push ahead with HIS style of play instead of switching back & forth.
Initially though I would have concentrated on getting ALL players up to fitness levels required then set about changing style of play.
I’d snap that Maribor midfield player up in a nano-second if we get any hint that he is available, plenty that can be shown the door.
Maybe memory playing tricks on me, but I think it was Beattie & Maloney that sparked the fightback v Artmedia…..so why not turn to young guns more often, a mistake opting for Efe over Denayer (Understandable) but clearly a mistake….learn from it.
welcome Mubarak to the celtic family
Aye, give it to Paul in the neck because he didn’t slap up a hastily-contrived ‘we deserve better’ article to validate your current whiny mood.
He’ll be hurting more than you.
The current malaise needs more than a 500-word article to address it. Maybe something expansive, more fluid – like a whole blog, for example, where you can post your compalints and prospective solutions and debate with others.
Oh, hang on…
GivehimthemoneyPeterCSC
12:28 on 28 August, 2014
‘To those having a go at Paul because he tries to see positive stories give him some respect!
Ok we got beat by Maribor, you still wake up a Celtic fan…life could be a lot worse’
####
The problem with your attitude is that it almost guarantees that life as a Celtic fan IS going to get worse.
Which Europa League pot are Napoli in ?
Fed up being labelled a selling club.
Fed up with players signing, supposedly, to play in the champions league.
Let’s get back to signing people who want to play for Celtic first and foremost…ok I know most of them are Scottish and, supposedly, inferior to far-flung players… Most of our recent buys should be far flung!! Of course, they weren’t signed by our new manager.
I go to watch football on a weekly basis, not for a few European games. How many years have we actually been successful in Europe. Rather, most years we get shown up, then revert to the weekly bread and butter of reality. We won’t get better until all of Scottish football gets better.
thecyclist @ 12.33hrs.
I used to be of the same opinion regarding loan signings.
However they are now an integral part of football and we must utilise all the tools at our disposal.
Just like the qualification to play international football ref grandparents etc. It is now an accepted and valuable part of football. Just ask Callum McGregor.
Ultimately it makes no difference if a player is loaned or bought if the mega bucks of the EPL come calling, the outcome is the same.
I do think that too many loan signings will not sit well with the strategy of buying young and cheap and selling on for a profit..
Unless of course our strategy is changing which many have been calling for.
HH to you.
FourGreenFields
Do we need an article on it? I think we are building quite a collection of views ourselves already.
With all due respect to Paul, his articles are not the beginning and end of this blog.
10 years of CQN and we have posters flouncing off because after a bad result you don’t like an article?
Cultsbhoy, really?!?!
Things arent right at the club right now.
on the field only hard work and team spirit can sort that.
Thatbis the most important thing right now, stability.
Then time for assessment.
Then implement changes, or at least adjust the strategy, not wholesale, but add in a bit more flexibility.
Anyhoos, back to work.
It’s grey, wet and miserable up here.
Suits the mood of the blog.
Smile ffs, yer Tims!
We lost a game, not our Club.
BTW as a Catholic living in the North of Ireland I must say that I would really miss the Marching season imagine how boring our summers would be.
When the R******s kept their place in the league structure that was it for me, along with 5 mates we chucked it, no more giving money to a corrupt organisation, and i’m still of the belief that they are actually in a better postition than us, look at it this way WHEN they are promoted to the SPL and back fighting for the title, loads of our fans will refuse to go, but they’ll be there with full houses of sectarian bile while the chairmen of most clubs while be rubbing their hands with joy, ours included no doubt. This blog along with a few others have laughed at the state of them, telling us their deid etc, propaganda as usual, well one more year to the return, not for me it won’t, as my name suggests, i’ve now gone on to pastures new at the weekends.
Davidopoulos
12:42 on 28 August, 2014
‘With all due respect to Paul, his articles are not the beginning and end of this blog.’
###
They do however let us know what the board would like us to know, and that’s helpful up to a point.
GlassTwoThirdsFull
12:36 on
Mubarak said he was here to challenge Motherwell
Lets all ignore the elephant in the room.
I think we’ve gotten a little bit hysterical this season. Yup, there’s a problem with our downward slide, and we’ve run out of fingers to count the missed opportunities where the board could have stopped it.
But I grew up supporting this club when we couldn’t expect to win the league. Had you told me then we’d have our rivals buried, be on course for 10 in a row and feel let down because once every couple of years we didn’t get into the Champions League?
The very fact that we’re so upset right now is evidence in itself that we’re doing brilliantly over the long term. Keep the board and management on their toes, absolutely, but always keep the faith.
Some amount of flouncing going on………….Quite pathetic really.
Go have a word wi yersels guys.
Constructive crit is good, we all have our ideas about what’s broke and needing fixed but personalising stuff, and insulting fellow Tims for having a different take from you is out of order.
Financially, we have a need to sail close to the wind but I feel we are hugely underperforming lately on the tranfer IN department.
With our style of play, and the amount of chances we create, we need a poacher of goals, a big unit who can head the ball and hold onto it to play off. Go find one, preferably two. We’ve enough wingers and midfielders.
And don’t rest them before big games, we need them confident and scoring.
See all this inward reflection about where Celtic are going wrong…
Take a step back and look at the bigger picture, could it be the fans who turn up are frustrated with a product that can’t be fixed with a wee bit of tinkering.
In isolation we have a million and one problems, we win the league at a canter which breeds apathy, we canny nail down at seat at the big table, even if we did we won’t seriously compete regardless what magical coaching/purchase formula and business model we adopt.
It is tired and boring and stretches far off into the future…the same old same old.
Change the manager – that’ll work. Naw, get a fitness coach. What about hunners of loan signings to save cash. We need a strategy to maximise revenue – get wi-fi in the stadium. Four strips a year for the weans. Try summer football. Send the youths to England for a year, put holy water in the tea, buy a brick, get a striking coach, bring back the Green Brigade, naw – shoot the Green Brigade. Hang Peter Lawwell.
Whatever you do, keep feeding money into the machine, because if you don’t then………..
….then what? Seriously, what will happen, will it all go wrong?
That must mean everything is actually ok, so stop greeting and dig deep. Keep investing in the status quo.
Even Ronny Deila will win the league at a canter so what is the big panic? Is it cos we never got the group stages? So what, missing out on the £16 million every odd year in three is to be expected and can be managed so we are told. So there is no need for all this consternation in the grand scheme of things.
Just bide your time till we get more money next year.
The key is managing expectations, but how do you manage the expectations of fans who pay to see you compete, not just make up the numbers in the fantasy land of the Champions League? And why turn up every week to watch a procession in the SPL? Every other week will do, then maybe once a month till it slips so far you question the outlay for a season book at all.
For me, that is the key.
People eventually get fed up knowing we ain’t getting very far in a competition that is not really geared towards wee teams upsetting big teams. That doesn’t pay and profit is the only reason the Champions League is set up the way it is. Big brand superstars on the telly right to the end. But the punters who actually press through the turnstyles are getting bored. Very slowly I admit, but the attraction is getting stale.
So what to do? No idea but I see Sepp Blatter will get re-elected unopposed for another term because Platini is happy with the great job he has at Uefa. So it’s more of the same for now. Cash is King and a sporting chance is a poor second. To hell with punters who are fed up.
Nice
Or maybe wi-fi in the stadium, underlapping fullbacks with bovine testosterone injections and holy water in the tea will overcome and this post is really just a pile of mince?
Paulw
Thanks for your usual well contructed article. On reading some of the sarcastic responses I do not know why you bother. This site is getting worse with more and more cybernet hardmen. Keep up the good work, with your level headed non personal approach. Cheers Jim
Squire Danaher 12.36
A very good summation of the feelings of the genuine supporters.Knowing Paul as I do, he will not be fazed by the comments he feels are not from true Celtic fans.
Paul sorry about the extra w don’t know were that came from.
I had post 67 anaw :-)
If you go to a shop and hand over money every week but leave with nothing then you are getting done, that’s how i feel about the club, taking money every week from it’s “customers” but giving nothing in return.
HH
Traditionalist88..
IMO turning up to see Sevco validates their existence. The SMSM are desperate for it because then ” life is back to normal” for them and the years of cheating, discrimination, lies, facilitation were worth it.
You welcome Sevco, you welcome another 100 yrs of cheating..
Sevco should not exist. Ask Spartans about it.
I ll never go to a Celtic v Sevco now. You become complicit in the charade by turning up. Playing into the hand of SFA,SMSM etc.
That’s me, though. Others will differ in attitude & I accept that..
Celtic forever!
HH
cultsbhoy
12:16 on 28 August, 2014
I’m taking a CQN holiday….
This blog used to have genuinely objective critical analysis of Celtic. Now it reads like a mouthpiece for CFC Board.
There is greater analysis of Hunco Board than there is of our own Board.
I’m out….!
______________________
Mind yer arse wi that door on the way oot, c ya.
williebhoy@ 12 39 .
” I d snap that Maribor midfield player up in a nano -second ”
Ibraimi ?
He spent last season on loan at Cagliari . Cagliari tried to buy him at the end of his loan period but withdrew when they learned how much Maribor wanted .
Italian rumor mongers have linked him with Inter and Lazio and claim that moves will be made after Maribor exit the Champions League