The incentive for Brendan Rodgers and his players is clear, beat AEK Athens and you will face either Malmo or Vidi (known as Videoton until earlier this year) in the Champions League play-off round.
Malmo, who are 16 games into their league programme, will be slight favourites to make the play-off round. They beat Romanians Cluj in the last round and Kosovans Drita in the first qualifier.
The Swedes were eliminated from the second qualifying round last year by Vardar of Macedona – a stage which did not offer the compensation of a Europa League entry.
Vidi recorded the result of the last round by eliminating Ludogorets Razgrad 1-0 on aggregate. They overcame Maltese and Estonian opposition a year ago, before recording a remarkable away goals victory over Girondins Bordeaux. Eventually losing 4-0 on aggregate to Partizan Belgrade.
It all went wrong for Celtic three years ago when former player, Jo Inge Berget returned to haunt us for Malmo. Berget scored twice in the Champions League play-off first leg at Celtic Park in a 3-2 Celtic win, but the Swedes progressed after winning the return 2-0.
Malmo changed manager in June, appointing Uwe Rosler, who was sacked by Fleetwood Town in February, Not a conventional route to Champions League glory.
There are pitfalls if we approach the tie as ill-prepared as we were in 2015, or as Bordeaux were last month, but AEK are by far the strongest team we will face in order to reach the group stage.
It’s all about Celtic Park on Wednesday; the hugest or hugest games.
468 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- »
Basic point is agreed that the Venezuelan economy is down the Swanee and there is no defence of any dictator involved in my point.
It seems a proper explanation of the true state of the Venezuelan economy is beyond the wit of a Daily Mail journo or they feel it is beyond the wit of their readers.
Can you imagine that if eggs cost what they said and other daily foodstuffs were equally costly, what the exodus and famine would be like? Why are they so quick to depart from the truth even when they have a serveable story of “failed left wing state” on their plate, they have to over-egg it.
Anyway, other work calls and AEK will be taking over my “worry space’ for the next wee while.
It will be a tremendous achievment if we get through this round AND the next but I expect it will be dismissed, like a good James Forrest performance, as only to be expected, while we sharpen our knives for our next failure.
GGH, your point is well made, although how that correlates with loan players being paid by the parent club is interesting. Definitely not a bitter Arab, a very decent man. HH
Alasdair Maclean glad you caught it , rivetting stuff. Do’nt always agree with Michael Stewart – and that’s how it should be, think Willie Millar and him are the two best pundits on radio at the moment. H H Hebcelt
Are we due a sell on income from Fraser Forster?
Having had a look at our transfer activity since the day Brendan Rodgers arrived we have spent £5m net if you include the Virgil Van Dyke sell on.
If we sell Boyata and possibly shed some squad players for income as well as possible windfalls like Fraser Forster income we would be in a positive net spend position to tune of £10m.
This is without considering other income such as FIFA payments for player participation at the World Cup.
I assume our Turnover to hit +100m or thereabouts this year. I also assume that wages will have gone up as a percentage of that turnover. I can’t see how wages will have gone from say £30m to £50m so wages to turnover ratio should have improved. I would hazard a guess that average wages would be near the £20k per week so wages would be up in the mid £30ms.
Draw your own conclusions.
MULLET AND CO 2
I thought i read wages in last figures at £55 MIL
Sure a lot of CL bonuses
£ 12 m for Boyata?
We’re gonna need a bigger balance sheet !! -))
JawsCSC
Perspective of FFin’ “Motherwell fan”:
“I’m ashamed of the game in Scotland now… recent events in Scottish football have actually made me ashamed of the game up here.
From a non [Sevco] point of view, I can see the hatred spewed towards your club from all angles. I sit and cringe at Motherwell v [Sevco] games at the abuse hurled at your players from a large section of well fans and its happening at every ground now.
Also from the media and the officials,they are not hiding their sheer hatred towards Rangers, all orchestrated by the mob from the East end.
The way I see it is that the hatred aimed at [Sevco] is an attack on the Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist community and fans of other clubs who are members of the PULSE community need to wake up and see this.”
————
“Scottish media is the real disgrace. How they sleep at night with the downright lies they print is beyond me.”
[No argument there, Sammy.]
————
“Every single person in my homeland (myself included) who did not attend a bigot factory, needs to think long and hard about what we’ve allowed them to do to our culture in our country.”
————
“You have no idea how refreshing it is to hear it from a non [Sevco] fan.
I’ve recently been in the company of an Aberdeen fan and a Dundee United fan and both gave the same opinions of just being scunnered with it all and the game being run for the benefit of the tarriers.”
————
“Sunday afternoon Jon Flanagan went over to collect the ball from a young boy who was standing beside his father at the game, for a throw in.
When JF gets over to him, the boy throws the ball away much to the delight of his father and those around him. An innocent bit of banter you might say, and on the face of it, it is.
However I also take myself back to my first Rangers game, Rangers versus Patrick Thistle (5-0 April 1996). Partick Thistle walked out onto the pitch that day and as a 7 year old boy I stood up and booed them. My old man gave me a clash and told me not to as it’s disrespectful.”
————
“I believe another [Tim] was appointed too the SFA coaching system yesterday, absolutely disgusting.”
————
“If I was younger I’d get the hell out of here” [You’re never too old, Sammy.]
————
“It is disappointing that none of our ex players have the b***s to tell it how it is and are too scared to rock the cradle.”
JC2- you are right- wages are at £52.2m. I was basing the figure on squad size and average reported salary in 2017. Wages reported are all wages and include the coaching staff and executives.
The average salary is £15k based on all 350 employees but the true average we pay to our playing squad will be a little higher.
Of course Brendan Rodgers and Peter Lawwell will account for high salary costs that sit outside the playing squad.
Wages for Edouard and Rogic will have gone up and I expect bonuses will account for a further hike squad and coaching staff wide.
I still don’t expect the wages to turnover to go above 58% for the entire workforce and certainly nothing like it for the playing squad.
In ither news……….
Boracic huns in Big Money Bid for Barisic……………….
Shortie desperate to sell John McTim to ABC………..( anybody but Celtic), and to up the money it may take if we do ……………
Contrast that with their selling “9 million pound” mantra for Hutton, Boooombung and Charlie…….
Irrespective of what fan’s opinion is of John McGinn, if the manager wants him and he’s allowed to go to Villa (twitter rumour is he’s currently having a medical) then we will have a serious problem between out manager and CEO.
£4m is probably too much for him with a year left on his contract, unless someone else is willing to pay that. If we can get £7m for Armstrong, similar contract situation, then McGinn is worth the £3-4m apparently agreed with Villa.
The positive of higher turnover of course is that the club gets closer to the EPL wages on offer out with the top 5 or 6 clubs.
Celtic should be able to match salaries of the likes of Hull, Burnley, Fulham, Brighton, Crystal Palace etc. Their wages sit in a very similar bracket at the moment.
We should manage the risk in player contracts by having high incentives for Champions League qualification. The risks for clubs in EPL outside of those with wages in the +£100m are relegation.
If McGinn goes to Villa he will instantly be worth £10m on contract length and club profile.
We can afford him and his wages the question is if Lawwell can stomach giving anything to Petrie.
mullet and co 2 on 7th August 2018 10:58 am
If Lawwell wants to screw Petrie then he shouldn’t do it by denying his manager a player he wants (if that’s the case). He should ensure that Petrie doesn’t get fitted for his President’s blazer when McCrae’s tenure ends.
You’d think SMSM or Rod Petrie would have come up with a better option than Aston Villa for John McGinn?
Celtic Dither csc
Has a football Twitter rumour ever come to pass?
The return of ‘the Lawwell’
Peter CSC
Friesdorfer
The idea of loan players being paid by the parent club also occurred to me.
For me, the difference is that the arrangement would be declared in the contract between the two clubs and the player, so everyone is aware of it. Also, the loan player doesn’t usually play against the parent club. While I am pretty sure that there reason behind that state of affairs is that the parent club is trying to avid the loan player biting them on the erchie, the other aspect of this is that there can be no suggesting of the player not giving 100 percent against his parent club.
The idea that Celtic are paying Caulker’s wages would, Imo, amount to an undeclared payment to someone working for another club. Would also raise questions about Caulker were he to make an error or two against Celtic.
I am sure ever vigilant authorities wouldn’t let a Scottish club get away with something like that.
It would almost be as absurd as someone suggesting that a Scottish club could pay employees of other clubs substantial sums via illegal tax avoidance schemes and no action be taken when this was discovered.
I am sure that sort of thing would not be tolerated in Scottish football.
Unless, as Esther Rantzen used to say, you know different. :)
HH
The reason, sorry. Not “there”
Hibernian midfielder John McGinn is travelling to Birmingham to open talks with Aston Villa. Understand a deal between the clubs has not yet been agreed but player been given permission to look around and meet with Villa manager Steve Bruce. Potential move to Celtic not dead.
——
Over to you Pedro.
BR does not want Boyata sold. He wants to hold on to him and let his contract run down as he thinks we are not well enough equipped with experience at the back and bringing someone in at the same level as Boyata is beyond our transfer price. BR sees this as “Am I in charge of ALL football matters or not”. Whereas the PLC believe that a player who won’t sign up with a year to go on his contract should be sold, por cierto
I wonder if he has been granted similar permission to go to Celtic Park to look around and speak to Brendan Rodgers despite the two clubs not having agreed a fee.
What is sauces for the goose etc.
Celtic are braced for a big-money bid for Dedryck Boyata with Fulham ready to slap £9million on the table for the Belgium international.
Can the “Heated Driveway” mentions be far away…………….?
The Alf Tupper CSC
The ole Celtic manager versus the Celtic Board conspiracy theory led off by SMSM.
They’ll report back after they’ve read all the Blogs about how upset Celtic fans are becoming
because Brendan Rodgers ( and all the previous managers ) are at odds with the Celtic board.
OldAsTea CSC
DAVID17 @ 11.13
Super sizzling Sunsport understands?
So Hibs have let a player go and speak to another a Club despite no fee being agreed, only two days before a European tie, according to STV.
Celtic got a big game soon:)))
Fed up with your old heated driveway ?
The all new ‘Ataboy’ self cleaning heated driveway automatically rolls itself up and stows away in your 4 car garage. A snip at £9 m !
Apparently, one of the heating elements in Peter Lawwell’s driveway has burned out and needs to be replaced, hence the lack of any new transfer activity. He’s not quite sure yet how much it’s going to cost…Priorities!
If the club does sell Dedryck, then pay the £4million for McGinn, because we aren’t going to be signing him for free in January.
Much as I dislike the Mason Petrie, one cannot really knock Hibernians for trying to get as much money as possible for their player.
Looks like they have played a blinder.
HH.
No fan of the board-you might have noticed.
Would be raging if they paid £4m for J McG
Personally,I think Dylan McGeough and Liam Henderson are better players. And Ryan Christie is head and shoulders above them all.
I wish John well. He’s a fantastic prospect whom I would have loved to see in THE HOOOOOPS
For free.
At least we will soon know where we stand.
Unfortunately quite a few people will have their worldview shattered.
The world is big and complex.
Loyalty will only get you so far — even the best can get their heads turned with money.
Was it only 9 years ago that we squandered our chance with JMcC?
And look where that level of stupidity took us.
All in all a bit of a game — a game that we are losing.
The AEK game is now not just a £30mill event it is a marker for the competency of the club.
We should win — if we don’t then we need to ask why?
Must be time for” A source ” to appear on the scene again, this guy has got more things wrong about Celtic than BFDJ and Hugh K put together.
?
MM
JMCC?
?
Glendalys…aye, but Peter spent the 9m on Eddy…and he hasn’t slept well since…
50SHADESOFGREEN
Or even a pair of a source.
I am with the Board on the Boyata issue. If he doesn’t want to sign a new contract then we need to sell him. Brendan should know that unless we get a fee for Boyata which we can use to sign a replacement then we are in an ever decreasing circle.
Boyata is also a player who has made so many errors that much of the support has no confidence in him
BMCW @ 11.35
Have to disagree.
DMcG had his chance and did not do enough.
LH has shown promise but he has a bit to go — late bloomer.
JMcG has shown character, appetite and personality on top of great football skills.
The first two have played well in games.
JMcG has shown an ability to control and direct games.
Slight difference.
Plus he will get better this season.
SB can only decline — it is natures way.