Remember Henri Camara? Martin O’Neill paid a significant loan fee to sign him 10 years ago, in the considerable wake of Henrik Larsson. Henri flopped and soon lost his place in the team but the weight of responsibility thrust upon his frame was considerable. No one could come close to filling the gap left in the Celtic team.
Nadir Ciftci would do well to consider whose shoes he’s stepping into at Celtic. Last summer’s striker signings, John Guidetti and Stefan Scepovic could hardly muster a start the second half of the season. Leigh Griffiths, who arrived 18 months ago, got the striker’s gig most weeks, but Leigh came to Celtic with as illustrious a heritage as Nadir.
Never step into a great man’s shoes, but Nadir’s not doing that. This is the perfect time for a striker to join Celtic, I hope he has the appetite.
I see the great and the good in the media are flogging lyrical at the prospect of a prodigy arriving from Madrid. None of this has come from Celtic. The player may become available at some point but I reckon it remains a hard task convincing Real his immediate future should lie in Glasgow.
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Need to hide after this suggestion of a song. Only oldsters will remember it. Johnny Rotten it is not.
Last night, I heard my mama singing a song
Ooh-We, Chirpy, Chirpy, Ciftci
Woke up this morning and Nadir had signed
Ooh-We, Chirpy, Chirpy, Ciftci
Chirpy, Chirpy, Ciftci, chirp
:-)
From Merlin’s blog (war-chest lost in transit perhaps?)
john james (@sitonfence) says:
July 8, 2015 at 3:00 pm
SS
I do not accept that we paid £200,000 for a player who failed a medical at Birmingham City. Whatever figure was paid was undisclosed to hide the fact that we have hired a dud who failed to establish a starting position at Kilmarnock. Weir’s complaints about a scouting system are disingenuous. The real problem is the package on offer to any prospective players, the one accepted by our three bottom of the barrel signings. The deal is £5,000 per week for 48 weeks, with no holiday pay whilst in The Scottish Championship. If promoted it rises to £8,000 per week, for 48 weeks, with a £25,000 annual bonus for every season club remains in the Scottish Premiership. A cynic might suggest that the £25,000 is less than the £32,000 they would have received had the deal offered paid vacations.
These deals, and the withdrawal of holiday pay, are the dictates of our absent chairman. No signing on fees will be allowed. No wonder that Eustace turned down this offer, although the spin would have us believe that he is training at Auchenhowie to prove he is worth £240,000 per annum.
Kiernan would have us believe that he jumped at the chance of £240,000 in preference to the £832,000 he would have received had he passed his medical at Birmingham City. The draw of working with Mark Wurburton and the excellent facilities at Auchenhowie was worth eschewing £592,000 in salary, excluding bonuses. This was his salary for the two years he was on loan to Birmingham City.
This is the austerity by stealth of a board with no money to effect change. They took out 11 players, ten of whom earned £3.84M with McCulloch earning a minimum of £864,000. They have stripped £4.7M from last year’s player budget, replacing it with £720,000 for three hires.
Of course, the lack of holiday pay will not affect Paul Murray. He and Martha have been house hunting in Edinburgh. Losing our AIM listing; failure to secure ISDX; failure to convince Sarver & Ashley to advance loans; in summary failure to fulfill any of the key performance indicators you might expect of an interim chairman has been no impediment to his lucrative salary and a new home.
Apparently his expenses from his NARSA trip would make Alex Salmond blush.
1968?
HH!!
Has Ciftci signed?
JJ
A not bad read…
MORE THOUGHTS FROM THE SOFA
July 8, 2015 · by Ralph Malph · in Humour, Latest
El cormaco has been musing again, and ponders the crisis at Ibrox
Firstly, thank you to any one who read my previous post about the future of Scottish football. I had every good intention of getting into a discussion on some of the very interesting comments left on it, but work intervened and I didn’t have the time to get back to it.
This piece comes with the same warning / disclaimer as the first – this is based on opinion, half remembered stuff from elsewhere and absolutely no independent research of my own. I read a lot online and listen to a lot of Celtic related podcasts, including the E Tims recent efforts to split the recently reformed Mogwai up again.
Good try Ralph.
I held off on Second Rangers stuff before, I m a Celtic fan after all and Celtic are always the priority. But with the Ibrox lads making much noise about how they are “coming” (they’ve been taking their time about it. Quite a few male porn stars would like to be able to hold it off for as long as they’ve been able to) I thought I d have a wee review of how things have been going since David King became, er, King.
So Second Rangers, the gift that just keeps giving, and giving and giving. They’ve had a little detour on the journey, but they are definitely coming this time, shedding 11 players in the process and replacing them with the superstars of tomorrow who have had a variety of not entirely glamorous stop off points on their own journeys to the very top so far.
Now, there is nothing wrong in signing players no one had heard of, we do it all the time now, but when they are bigging up signing a young guy into their development squad from a club below non league, it smells of desperation ( and beer and p*sh). And when their new keeper is talking about Champions league and getting in the England squad you either laugh or wonder where you can get your hands on what he’s been having. Then every former player of Rangers Mk1 still alive comes out saying how great everything is looking, Chris Jack and Matthew Lindsay are tumescent, the RST are going all in with King and you know there is the pungent smell of BS floating about.
moonbeams
There was an anecdote, about I think Khrushchev, probably untrue, but illustrative I think of how Second Rangers have approached their problems to date. It also illustrates how this approach only has a finite period of time during which it is useful
The story goes that when Khrushchev came to power in the former Soviet Union he was told that in his desk he would find two envelopes, Envelope 1 and Envelope 2, to be opened in sequence when he ran into crises.
Several months later he ran into his first major crisis, and remembered the envelopes. He opened the first envelope:
“Blame everything on the old regime, and promise better times ahead”.
“Great advice ” thought Khrushchev, especially given that he was succeeding Stalin, a man with much blood on his hands.
So Khrushchev averted the crisis by blaming it all on problems he inherited from the previous leader, but assured his people he was working to fix the mistakes.
Of course some time later, after Khrushchev was well established as in control, came a second major crisis, too far after the fall of Stalin to be able to blame him. Khrushchev remembered he still had the second envelope. What strategy could he employ to extricate himself from the mire this time?
When he opened the envelope the message was short but the meaning was clear:
“Sit down and write two letters”.
Not having the “a big boy did it and ran away” excuse any more there was nothing left for him to do but get out of Dodge, passing on the same advice he’d received to his successor.
So let’s look at “Kings Revolution” to date, the problems they’ve encountered and the strategies they’ve used, to see if they were given the same letters handed to Khrushchev….
3-4 months on from the day Christopher Jack proclaimed “the rebels have won””
What have they won ?
they have…
… Lost their listing (but *cough* are working hard behind the scenes to be re listed). This of course was the fault of the old board, which did in fact still have a listing while they were in place. The delisting was not imminent until the change in board make up, but still easy enough to pin on the old board.
….Lost their NOMAD. Likewise, the reality is that the old board had a NOMAD and were publicly warning that the new board with King on it would not be able to gain a NOMAD. The strategy? Yes, you guessed, it was the old boards fault and a new NOMAD was imminent. We’re still waiting incidentally.
….Tanked their share price. Due to the delisting shares are available now to buy only by sending in a stamped addressed envelope and a blank cheque payable to David King. This of course is also the fault of the old board and their mismanagement leading to the delisting, and not the active agitating by Kings followers and the criminal record he has.
….Had it confirmed that their noisy protests against the old board cost them their auditors. Despite Deloittes making it very clear that they walked away because of the threats to their staff (they don’t say from whom but the SoS & Union of Fannies were protesting everyone and everything connected to the Ibrox club in the same time period at the behest of King & co, to drive down the share price and deliver the “club” to them). So far they are still blaming “legacy issues” aka the Khrushchev approach on this one too, and not being called out on it by the fine press pack that follow Scottish football.
…..Narrowly won a vote to resist paying back Sports Direct its £5m. If I were one of them this would be my biggest concern, not the money per se, but the fact that club badges, logos etc everything (except the delightful fans) that mark this club out as “a” Rangers is in fact not under their own control. But this is “a good thing” of course. And is not a loan either, Timmy. People in business just want to give the cuddly bears millions of pounds, cause you know, they re the peepil n that.
Shunsuke Nakamura freekick v Manchester united. 2006.
Sorry for the non football theme.
I was up in St Andrews today.
I thought the Old Course would have been all cordoned off but people were allowed to walk about it.
The undulations on the First/eighteenth fairway were incredible. It doesn’t really show in the telly coverage.
One pro player was having a practice round. He hit three shots off the eighteenth tee, each one landed within twenty feet of the green. Shots most of us can only dream of.
Saw a young guy wearing the full new away kit, it looks really smart.
justafan
I don’t follow tennis so I wouldn’t know, interesting though how English speakers often misjudge sportsmen and women giving interviews in the second language:))
Maybe he should smile more, nothing the West of Scotland sports pack love more than A Cheeky Chappie:))
o.g.rafferty
So they do have something in common with Mike Ashley – zero hours contracts!
HH jamesgang
And another…
SS
Thank you as always for an interesting post. The fact that there is more truth from the CFC-facing commentator than in the inept, less than erudite contribution from someone purporting to represent the best interests of Rangers (yes, another one) does not in any way surprise me.
Using the term ‘rhats’ as opposed to the UOF/SOS/Union Bears use of rats, and when they have access to a dictionary, quisling, suggests that we are not dealing with anyone of substance. Or perhaps that’s what he wants us to believe and is ‘dumbing down’ to deflect from his own PR leanings. The truth comes in the statement about Stephen Kerr at Level 5 and his control of the tabloids. James Traynor is continuing to feed Radio Clyde, Derek Johnstone and anyone who will listen, but he had a real go at Jackson and Ralston when their clever internal politics paved a path for his departure from the Record. Accepting that Whyte was a billionaire with wealth ‘off the radar’ should have led to a much earlier denouement to his mainstream media career, but prior to packing his carboard box of office effects and chin supports, he let rip at his insolent former subordinates. Mr Kerr is a much more savvy character than Traynor could ever be.
As for the post on King, there is one fatal flaw in the analysis. Keeping King out of prison was an expensive enterprise. He even employed leading QCs to challenge the authority of The Serious Fraud Office and HMRC in Guernsey. To mount this challenge in The High Courts Of Justice Chancery Division would cost a minumum of £3-5M. Only someone as stupid and as inordinately arrogant as King would have taken on the SFO and HMRC. He lost. His funds remained frozen for 7 years.
King states that his legal bill during his ‘pariah’ years was 50M. He did not state which currency he was referring to, which led me to initially believe that he was referring to Rand, until I had a look at his appeal to the Pretoria Supreme Court. The total cost of this enterprise, to King and the state, was £40M. King lost and picked up the state’s costs.
Then there is his arrest and imprisonment on racketeering charges with MICROmega CEO Iain Morris. Their bail was expensive as was their alleged use of an underworld figure in an attempt to apply pressure to some individuals in the CPA, and when that failed, it’s interesting to note that the state’s case collapsed as their expert witnesses failed to attend court.
Some people have called King a psychopath. He is not. He has a white ‘colonial’ attitude that never accepted the post apartheid elevation of former ethnic minorities to positions of power and influence. He thought he could take them on and crush them. He failed.
In another post I calculated his net worth as circa £6.9M or £4.4M if he actually paid for his shares in RIFC, which many have reason to doubt because of exchange controls. The money behind Oasis is not King or his family. It is another individual, most likely to be Gordon Taylor or Douglas Park.
Finally there is the £50M family trust myth to debunk. His daughter, in whose name the 76% family holding in MICROmega was registered during King’s pariah years, has recently been appointed to the board. She does not have a portfolio of disparate shares. She is the nominee of a group that has acquired a number of smaller companies in South Africa.
King has spent career on the wrong side of the law, with 328 charges being acquired over the tears. He has allegedly defrauded four of the six major banks in South Africa. He could not raise one rand from any bank in RSA. His reputation precedes him.
The CFC-facing blogger has missed the repatriation of the King owned Hong Kong company NOSA. He was forced to transfer it to South African ownership and corporate governance. This led, on inordinately thin trading of less than 11 trades per month, to an exponential growth of 462% of the share value. For two individuals that have lied about their accountancy qualifications for decades, there can be little doubt that when it comes to creative accountancy they have few peers.
If my analysis of the facts exposes the Messiah Mantra, then please continue to put your head in the sand for the next seven years as you await vice-chairman Murray’s patient plan to challenge for titles. Are King apologists satisfied with the rag tag out of contract individuals from Alvechuch FC turning up at Auchenhowie? Are you seeing any over-investing? Has anyone seen the business plan?
Even one of our favourite former sons has claimed that the new board are not throwing money at the squad. This is a euphemism for austerity.
So detractors, I suggest you stop playing the man and if you have the intellect, take on the facts.
Dallas Dallas
The old course is a public park
Oooops. 8))
As regards following a great man…. nearly impossible, but it can be done. When Liverpool sold Kevin Keegan, they replaced him with Kenneth Mathieson Dalgish, late of this parish. But of course that was well in the past, which is another country.
I saw Rod Laver play golf one time. He played right handed. Like the only time I’ve ever seen Maradona was a brief flash outside the Randolph Hotel, just before he spoke to the Oxford Union – not that they would have let me in, of course. Strange that you never forget these things, even if the context is out of the ordinary.
Still hot in Italia.
Some orcs still buying into the king bullshit that every penny received in ST money will be spent on the team haha, they must think the bills don’t need to be paid ( again)
Some really stupid zombies kicking about HH
PaisleyBhoy, the chirpy chirpy cheep cheep song reminds me of the stickies singing where’s your Charlie gone to that tune at us in the 1983 Glasgow Cup Final.
I agree about Naka’s goal v Man U as our best Champions League section goal.
Honourable mentions must also go to the passing moves leading to Liam Miller’s goal v Lyon and to the other Miller who played for us, his second goal in the Champions League when we beat Benfica three nil at Celtic Park.
Up in Glenfinnan just now, what a crackin wee place
Intermittent wifi… Have we got Cifci now, and wots the news with Odegaard
Ta mucho
can i have raspberry on that champions league ice cream
Ive heard it, brilliant, the road to seville dvd is equally as good with the commentary and the couple of thousand celts going off like a nuclear blast! John almost looks surprised he’s scored as he goes running over to them!
Dallas…
Minds me of my ma…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSNSTerj2Kc
JQinBITSinGlenfinnan
Forget Odegard. We are just a weapon being used by his agent/Dad to twist Benitex’s arm.
Ciftci being …well..shifty about the personal terms…so nothing there yet as far as I’m aware.
Talks resume tomorrow, but the Evening Times says the man himself was at Lennoxtown today.
HH
dallas dallas where the heck is dallas @ 21:28 on 8 July, 2015
I thought I’d heard it before at the fitba’. Scrap that idea.
dallas dallas where the heck is dallas
The Liam Miller goal was the first – but not the last – time I screeched in joy and scared the living cr&p out of one or both of my kids.
My daughter was less than a year. She was 18 months when she calmed down. Me too!!
HH jamesgang
I see sumdae on the Hotline wanted to give big Jon Daly a try at Celtic. Some people eh??
re: tennis …. one of the most overlooked players of all time … Pancho Gonzales …. before Laver turned pro, Gonzales gave Rosewall (another one i liked) some right thrashings….. as he did with Laver after he turned pro in ’62 (right after RL won his first slam, so presumably was at or near the top of his game …)….
but, having considered all of the submissions, including Tallybhoy’s fine point about Ms. Giorgi, I conclude that the three greatest tennis players ever are:
1. Rod laver
2. Roger Feder, and
3. Gabriella Sabatini (swoon!)
Blantyretim, thanks for that.
I was unaware the Old Course was a public area.
St Andrews was jumping unsurprisingly.
Only sizeable town we have been in over the last five years with no pound or budget shops in it.
It was a really good day up there apart from seeing a sticky wearing one of those five star tennents emblazoned blue tops as we passed the bus station.
Osbourne’s announcements, as expected, were awful today. Your workload looks like it could explode over the next year.
It will be interesting if the amount of HMRC investigators increases considering the imbalance between the numbers of those investigating tax fraud/evasion to the number of investigators the DWP have.
According to the Evening times the Cifti talks have stalled on the players personal demands further talks will take place in the hope of getting a deal concluded. H.H.
JimmyQuinnsBits
I have asked the same question re Ciftci. No reply.
As regards Odegaard (!), I think that is a fantasy.
JJ
mike in toronto…
Bjorn Borg…surely?
Ah! Sabatini!!!
Maria Bueno – most elegant lady tennis player ever.
Sipsini
Did Borg win any other of the Grand Slams?
What about Sampras? His record is phenomenal.
JJ
JoeFilippi, I wonder if Matthew Lindsay or Chris Jack from the Herald/Times wrote that about the Ciftci talks LOL.
Each show no bias towards us nor the fourth most sucessful, after us, Queens Park & Thistle , Glasgow football club.
Dallas Dallas
Think I need a change of career.
For what it’s worth.. And I don’t post much… I think Cifti and his agent big Pierre have played the long game here. I think there is a class player in there somewhere. I believe he will be unearthed at Parkhead and do well. On both a domestic and international stage. We will make money on the deal as will Pierre and the player. Us getting the best out of him is a plus for everyone. What’s not to like. Could have had 5 Lubos for that money…. Aye right… Those days long gone. We unearth gems. That’s the deal.
J F H
You wd expect that if Pierre van Hooijdonk is about!!!
RWE, Jungle Jim,
Thanks for the response
Odegaard was always an outside bet it would seem
Appreciate the views on bringing on our own youth instead of developing an RM player. But I do like to see entertainers at Paradise and the boy, to my limited viewing, looked a bit gallus
HH
Dallas Dallas. I think this time there may be some truth in it as it was supposed to be announced this afternoon that he was a Celtic player and it didnt happen they just spoke about Fridays game and the new keeper.Big Pierre is nobodys mug and he will know we want him signed before the CL deadline for players so he will be negotiating hard I would imagine. H.H.
sipsini /jjhs .. was a big borg fan at the time … off the top of my head, he won 5 wimbledons and 6 french, but never won the US or Oz (and only played Oz once (it at all) I think), so his record just doesn’t hold up …. and, personally, met him a few times, and he was a bit of a jerk … dropped way down in my estimation.
sampras was a great player, but never won the french (or even made the final, I believe) and his GS record has been eclipsed by RF
Junglejim…
Borg won many French and Wimbledon titles but lost all 4 of his US finals. At the time of his career the Australian tournament had fallen off the Majors Tour (I don’t know why tbh)
Sampras never won the French never got to a final even.
HH