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Osmand gets Celtic back to plan

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

A recurring gripe I have had about our transfer business last season was the lack of players bought with development scope ahead of them.  £26m was spent on Auston Trusty, Adam Idah and Arne Engels. Arne might be able to nudge his £11m price tag up a shade, but I doubt we will see our money back on the other two.

Viljami Sinisalo and Paulo Bernardo (who signed permanently in August 2024) are the exceptions.  Viljami featured when Kasper Schmeichel was injured and Paulo featured less-often than during his loan season.  They came in with the right profile, but have yet to be properly developed.

With Callum Osmand, who joined yesterday from Fulham as a free agent, we have orientated back to plan.  Osmand (19) is exactly the kind of player we should be looking for.  Like Moussa Dembele and Matt O’Riley, he has come through the development system at Fulham, but believes he will see better opportunities at Celtic than waiting around looking for a gap to open up which will not be filled by a big money signing.

Time will tell if the scouting was good, if Callum will get the chances he has clearly been suggested are open to him, and if he can kick on.  A high percentage of all signings fail, but at least we appear to be working to a coherent plan.

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  5. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    This was one of the linked articles in Paul’s leader from January ’25

     

     

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-30805669

     

     

    The name of one of the two joint liquidators caught my eye.

     

     

    Now, Deloitte is a big company.

     

     

    Entirely possible there were several guys working there called Chris McKay.

     

     

    🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

  7. Chairbhoy on

    Celtic40me @ 7:11 pm etc…

     

     

    Not at all sure where we are going with this, let’s get some clarity, what I said about Nic Kuhn’s signing….

     

     

    “Chairbhoy on 2nd February 2024 12:05 pm,

     

     

    Well, obviously the “quality”, that the team wanted wasn’t able to be recruited this transfer window, so for me “working down the list”, wasn’t a viable option.

     

     

    We brought in a first team winger and a back up striker with pace and physicality that we badly need, without the loan to buy option it suggests unless the young man rips up the trees in the league head to head, he goes back to Norwich and we go again in the summer.

     

     

    Only twenty eight in the first team squad now and out of our fourteen playersout on loan, eight of them are development players.

     

     

    So good bit of housekeeping and let’s hope we really do start the planning the summer recruitment, we still need that quality for Europe.”

     

     

    https://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/ending-off-piste/

     

     

    Here’s what out Chairman said about our recruitment strategy in 2023…

     

     

    “Our successfully proven strategy has delivered stability and footballing success over many years and remains the same. We must balance the signing of players that can be developed and sold when conditions are optimal alongside the need to sign players who are able to make an immediate impact and deliver footballing success. The execution of this strategy is increasingly challenging owing to wage and transfer inflation, but this formula has underpinned both our footballing success and financial stability over a number of years now and it is vital that we adhere to it.

     

     

    Peter Lawwell – Celtic Chairman

     

     

    https://www.celticfc.com/news/2023/september/18/celtic-plc-annual-results-for-year-ended-june-30–2023/

     

     

    So has the strategy been tweaked, absolutely, is the strategy different – no.

     

     

    As for “when did things change”…

     

     

    You are taking Brendan Rodgers initial trust and support of Mark Lawwell and his recruitment prowess and make him eat his words….

     

     

    So yes, Brendan Rodgers was WRONG.

     

     

    Wrong about Mark doing a fantastic job.

     

     

    Wrong about having a pipeline of players that all fit

     

     

    Wrong about Gustaf.

     

     

    What was his crime? To trust the Celtic PLC Board and what they were conveying to him, once bitten eh!!

     

     

    Things changed when the reality hit, Mark Lawwell was totally out his depth, the recruitment model was not fit for purpose and the whole recruitment needed restructuring….

     

     

    ““So that told me the depth that’s required and I think that’s something that’s definitely required here.

     

     

    “We probably lost a bit of that in the summer and there’s no doubt we will need to restructure that. We have some fantastic players here and we want to add to that.”

     

     

    Celtic are restructuring their transfer approach following the resignation of Mark Lawwell, who was head of first-team scouting and recruitment, and lead first-team scout Joe Dudgeon.

     

     

    When asked if chief executive Michael Nicholson and others in the club hierarchy are all on the same page as him, Rodgers said: “I have got nothing but support from Michael and the people here.

     

     

    “But going forward we need to ensure the football structure is very much there and what it is we want to bring in.”

     

     

    https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cp0gg7vl4lvo.amp

     

     

    Again, nothing sinister, nothing mysterious, nothing underhand.

     

     

     

    Listen to the short interview posted by Saint Stivs @ 6:59 pm,

     

     

    It is Brendan Rodgers talking amongst other stuff about recruitment and player development.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  8. BelmontBrian on

    Nite y’all,

     

     

    A wee trio of tunes from a lady who made my teenage years more bearable throughout those cold winter nights,

     

     

    Happy 80th birthday Debbie Harry.

     

     

    Blondie – Heart Of Glass

     

    https://youtu.be/WGU_4-5RaxU?si=C4ArRbD3cLRhA26d

     

     

    https://youtu.be/WGU_4-5RaxU?si=C4ArRbD3cLRhA26d

     

    https://youtu.be/uWhkbDMISl8?si=g1Lfe8OXb6KiPuS_

     

     

    Blondie – Dreaming

     

    https://youtu.be/TU3-lS_Gryk?si=QeEGX039OIF0Pxn4

     

     

    Stay classy,

     

     

    Tell your friends,

     

     

    It’s good to be Tim.

     

     

    HH

     

     

    Brian

  9. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    Correction to my 8:26pm post.

     

     

    It was 10½ years ago.

     

     

    Perhaps I shouldn’t pursue a career with Deloitte.

     

     

    I doubt they’d have need of a guy who subtracts 2015 from 2025½ and comes up with 11½ …

     

     

    … actually, come to think of it …..

  11. BelmontBrian on

    Nite y’all,

     

     

    A wee trio of tunes from a lady who made my teenage years more bearable throughout those cold winter nights,

     

     

    Happy 80th birthday Debbie Harry.

     

     

    Blondie – Heart Of Glass

     

    https://youtu.be/WGU_4-5RaxU?si=C4ArRbD3cLRhA26d

     

     

    Blondie – Hanging on the telephone.

     

    https://youtu.be/uWhkbDMISl8?si=g1Lfe8OXb6KiPuS_

     

     

    Blondie – Dreaming

     

    https://youtu.be/TU3-lS_Gryk?si=QeEGX039OIF0Pxn4

     

     

    Stay classy,

     

     

    Tell your friends,

     

     

    It’s good to be Tim.

     

     

    HH

     

     

    Brian

  13. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    Saint Stivs earlier – brilliant post. Respect.

     

     

    Brendan praising Mark Lawwell ?

     

     

    And, in his autobiography Brendan praises Mark’s Da !

     

     

    Maybe your onto something.

     

     

    Maybe there are no factions among the Celtic Executive Leadership after all, just guys who go quietly about their business?

     

     

    Boring.

  14. Saint Stivs on

    Back to Basics – Glass Half Full on 1st July 2025 8:52 pm

     

     

    in all mu business life i knew many executives, and indeed board members who didnt really like each other,

     

    but when the business results are succesful and all the outcomes in all departemnts are contributing, it is difficult to brief against someone with “we would be better if he didnt do that thing and did what i tell them”.

     

     

    i am beginning to come round to DD just banged their heads together and said, do what you are each good at, and support the business.

     

     

    post pandemic, maybe Celtic plc dont want to ever not have a seasons worth of cash onhand.

  18. scullybhoy on

    BRRB

     

     

     

    https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ficdn.thecelticstar.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F04%2Fimago0007655770h.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=c61d74e8317bcb63dc6cc83a13c02f8dcdb325a38dd3ed8286609cfa7b8cfa10

     

     

    https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/1a7d3156ec81613e3795f1a34f1e6fb5

     

     

    https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FFRQWgWpXoAE_OTD.jpg%3Alarge&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=529879324f69c601b8ef41a6b89d81754cc22d81cf8b570da6bcc87e384ee462

  22. Burnley78 on

    Delighted to see so many on FF utterly despise their former idol Murray. Finally the penny / pound seems to have dropped.

  23. Burnley78 on

    Chairbhoy

     

     

    For someone who never goes near Celtic park you seem to spend your life using whatever twisted logic you can find in justifying any decisions which find fault with our board and support the current manager.

     

     

    It seems so odd. No one can really say we have bought well yet in BR’s current tenure. Perhaps the Finnish goalie but I would hesitate to say Bernardo Idah Trusty McCowan Engels would represent value or indeed give us a return.

     

     

    Returning KT and the other new signings unknown. Perhaps we will know more in 2 windows. Losing Taylor for zero was clearly not a good outcome and does not reflect well obviously.

     

     

    Hopefully Maeda won’t follow him out the door.

  24. scullybhoy on

    celt55 on 1st July 2025 10:01 pm

     

     

    Stevie Chalmers just scored the 4th goal.

     

     

    Spot on.

     

     

    HH

     

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

     

     

    JOE were you at this game?

     

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeaScHQwDS4

     

     

    I hope BRRB is tucked in his bed. Might catch you tomorrow.

     

     

    HH

  25. Chairbhoy on

    Burnley78 @ 10:13 pm,

     

     

    For someone who has actually lived in England in a way I find it odd you don’t understand the hundreds of thousands of Celtic supporters from all over the planet.

     

     

    Of course on the other hand you may well do, as you don’t have the same pop at your brother in arms Celtic40me.

     

     

    It’s just any excuse to play the man when you don’t have a coherent argument isnt it?

     

     

    I dont believe for one minute that you think the signings post Mark Lawwell are not much better than Mark’s

     

     

    And like I’ve always said – I have no great urge to come on here and down anyone.

     

     

    So if you stop the bull about the wonderful, infallible Board and the Lawwells, no one will have to point out the reality of their limitations would they?

     

     

    Hail Hail

  26. bournesouprecipe on

    Chairbhoy @ ages ago

     

     

    Think the plan is Kyogo’s replacement, Adam Idah, Callum Osmand.

     

     

    Daizen Maeda not signing another new contract isn’t the key, as he’s already signed up for another two years and there has to be an acceptable bid, in the first instance.

     

     

    We’ve already got Nicolas Kuhn’s replacement in early with Benny Nygren, three central strikers is enough given BR never deviates from one up top.

     

     

    HH

  27. Chairbhoy on

    Bournesouprecipe @ 11:01 pm,

     

     

    Yes, very true, really happy with the transfer window so far, the experience and physicality we have added will be huge.

     

     

    The Meada scaremongering is typical.

     

     

    The idea that Daizen walks out the door on a free this window is laughable.

     

     

    But some folk don’t let a fact get in the way of good scare story.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  31. The hand of God on

    Logged on to read back but there was nothing to read , changed days on here.

  32. Big Jimmy on

    HORSE RACING ” TIP” ?

     

     

    Here is another ODDS ON Horse in the future for those with at least £500 lying around to have a Bet with…

     

     

    GOODWOOD Wednesday 30th July….3.05 Race.

     

    QATAR SUSSEX STAKES…The Horse is called ” FIELD OF GOLD” at odds of 4/6 ON.

     

     

    Do NOT say that you haven’t had plenty of warning, as this Horse MIGHT WIN !

     

     

    Its so easy to ” TIP” Horses that are odds ON, as my ” TIP” on Sunday ( TIME TO TURN ) WON at odds of 1/10 ON.

  34. Chairbhoy on

    Morning BRRBs…

     

     

    Enjoy the saunter…

     

     

    We bit less scorching in the Chilterns today.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  35. GuyFawkesaforeverhero on

    Reading this morning about Newcastle fans buying 10,000+ tickets for this month’s friendly, I took a look at the seat plan to see which parts of the ground are available today. Upper deck North Stand and 110 & 111 are on the go. Any of these sections filled by Geordies would have an odd look to it.

     

     

    It took a week or so after the original sales for our season ticket seats in 143 to be released. We’re looking forward to the match. Couple of summers ago, the Athletic Bilbao testimonial for James Forrest was one of the top games at home all season.

  36. vale bhoy on

    See the Scottish justice system is giving Wee Jimmy Krankie’s ex legal aid. Did they impound his mum’s campervan?

     

    What the actual fuck?

  37. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    Chairbhoy last night …

     

     

    “So if you stop the bull about the wonderful, infallible Board and the Lawwells, no one will have to point out the reality of their limitations would they?”

     

     

    CB – genuinely I have no desire to get between you and B78 on this one.

     

     

    Reading back Saint Stivs life experience of dealing with execs … I circled back on your post which included the above.

     

     

    Forget the Lawwells for a sec.

     

    (Some things were not done well – accepted)

     

     

    Forget we are a football club for a sec.

     

     

    Anyone looking clinically at Celtic’s corporate performance alone?

     

     

    Could be justified in thinking our board are indeed “wonderful”

  40. The hand of God on

    Celtic fans want the best possible team within reason on the park and the stadium to be in good condition obviously lots of other things to consider for the board and I think almost all would concede that they are doing a good job making money but £70M or so in the bank and season ticket prices increasing every year, mines cost £797 and they sneakily removed 2 games from the season card 2 years ago.Why are they stashing away all this cash, don’t they pay corporation tax or something on it I’m hoping they spend some money on players this season before they sell whoever is next to go.

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