Let’s get the result out of the way first. We went out to a weaker team who were nonetheless very well-drilled in defence. AEK scored with their only two attempts on goal last night and with one of their two at Celtic Park. This contrasts greatly with our chance conversation rate. It hurts and is money left on the table.
Recruitment is correctly at the heart of the inquest. Not only did nine of last night’s starters play under Ronny Deila, seven of them were once the heart of Neil Lennon’s team. Only Olivier Ntcham and Jack Hendry were brought to the club by Brendan Rodgers. One of Moussa Dembele or Odsonne Eduard, both Brendan signings, would have started if fully fit, while the Belgian, a Ronny signing, would have started in other circumstances.
This is Brendan’s fifth transfer window, so why do so many remain from the Ronny/Neil eras? There are good reason and bad reasons. McGregor, Rogic and Forrest have improved significantly under Brendan. We want more like this.
We only have accounts for Brendan’s first year, which show a £13.8m spent on player registrations. Since then we have bought big ticket players like Ntcham and Edouard, and more. Total spend will not be a whisker below £30m. Profit for Brendan’s first year was £6.9m. We could spend more (always), but we are still in an expenditure territory that AEK could not dream about.
I wanted John McGinn, but he is irrelevant to last night. He would not have displaced Ntcham or Brown. Not only was John not a solution, he was yet another squad player!
I’m not saying it’s easy, in fact, it’s difficult. We did not fall to a team who necessarily had a better plan for their recruitment budget, every season there is an AEK who hit the right numbers and over perform, before reverting to the mean. These are the perils of qualification.
We do not have a viable plan to continually qualify for the Champions League, and failures like this hurt. But we have been here before.
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WITS
Magic pal. My other alternative was Irish Centre Wavertree. Sorted thanks D. :))
And we find a wanyama or vvd and we sell the fuggers: rock a hard place
Jimmynotpaul,
You’re right. Juanfran it was.
still doesn’t say much for Hendry ?
Hands & Mike, I am not an apologist for Desmond or am not trying to whitewash any of the skulduggery re LNS or anything else.
I am simply saying that I do not believe that Celtic could without the support of the majority of Scottish Football Clubs could have killed off the Zombies,
I am also in no doubt that if they tried that support would not have been forthcoming. .
When these throwaway remarks keep being repeated ad nauseum and not challenged they gain credibility & acceptance and simply add to the angst and frustration of our own Supporters.
!!BADA BING!! on 15TH AUGUST 2018 9:34 PM
https://twitter.com/djnando1981/status/1029677653253652480?s=08
Boyata to Seville?
=========================
I’ll drive him to the airport
HH
BGFC
DAVIDOPOULOS on 15TH AUGUST 2018 12:24 AM
See all this pish from Phil MacG about ‘Heated Driveways Productions’, please remember that PL is Desmond’s man. The Greater Desmondo does not just get to palm off the blame onto the people who actually show up to the board meetings. He is the one who put the decision makers in place; it’s his responsibility as much as PL. If it really did take the Scottish Cup Semi loss to Sevco to make DD to wake up then he was failing in his duty as a board member prior to that. Bear this in mind when you read Phil’s blogs
*well put David, PL is just an employee like many others at CP, albeit a well paid one at that, and reports tae the Kaiser who calls ALL the shots.
Let’s not forget that Lenny allegedly told him he sold all his best players and left him with a lot of scheitd or words tae that effect, that was his jaiket on a shoogly peg.
I avoided the blog until late last night and then logged off PDQ, it was all the usual suspects and hunterlopers with their hatred of PL, some of it pathological, one poster who hasn’t been heard off for a couple of years is back with a vengeance, comments like “the old Willo flood transfer window was a sackable offence for lawell” wasn’t that a case of petrie playing the same game he did with thomson and last week John McGinn constantly moving the goal posts but lets not let that get in the way of the repeated anti-PL diatribe.
Then there was “Lawells outlook is always a debt avoidance CEO. From his days with Scottish coal slashing jobs to his over 14 years as the CEO at Celtic”
WTF has his job with Scottish Coal have to do with Celtic FC; one is a public body and the other a PLC.
Peter joined us as financial controller in 1990, but left shortly after, he must have done a good job as he was head hunted 3 years later to replace Ian McLeod who had allowed MON tae almost bankrupt us, Seville as good as some of us think, not me like Milan 1970 we lost, cost us dearly. He is credited with increasing revenue, reducing debt and is considered a tough transfer negotiator, but let’s not let that get in the way of personal hatred.
We as a club have only had 5 Chief Executives, Terry Cassidy whose only claim tae fame was firing our greatest living captain, the Bunnet no explanation needed, Allan McDonald who allowed a “golf pro” © Fergus McCann tae sign scheitd, Ian McLeod who’s contract was terminated and Peter.
For some reason the two most successful are often castigated by sections of our support for being parsiminous.
I’m not going tae criticise DD, you don’t get tae be a billionaire by throwing money around like a man with no erms, as he himself has said on investing in us:
“I never looked upon it purely as a normal investment because, as I’ve said many times before, Celtic is an emotional investment, although at the same time you don’t want to be throwing money at emotional investments as you could go broke pretty quickly doing that. “So I looked upon it as creating a solid financial platform for Celtic in conjunction with Fergus and the other board members. But the emotional side of it sways you. If it had been another club on the same basis, I wouldn’t have been interested in investing. “But, from when I was a young boy, I had a fondness and a love for Celtic so it was easy for me to look at it closely and I started off wanting to invest rather than from a basis of refusing it.”
It was all about saving Celtic – Fergus was saving Celtic
“It was 1994 when I’d been introduced to the opportunity of investing in Celtic by a friend of mine called Brian Phelan, who connected me with Fergus. “I looked over the plans he had and he told me they were looking for £4million, but I felt they would need to raise £8m. “So I said I would invest £4m and underwrite another £4m, so that was really my first financial encounter with Celtic.”
As we all know he has underwritten other share issues tae. Mibbees he’s just as fed up as us with conceding 48 goals so far in Europe and figuring why give the manager any more money considering the amount of poor buys he has made so far.
Now I’m not having a go at Brendan, double trebles and the unbeaten run are much to be admired but surely tae God a former defender should know how tae organise a defence. IMHO the honeymoon is over and BR now has tae earn his corn.
So there you have the perfect storm, an owner who knows how to gamble and not always win, rather have him than clarence or bader, a CEO who’s job description is to keep the club afloat and successful and a manager who unfortunately for us disnae know how to defend,unlike MON who brought in big defenders and played with 2 holding midfielders at times.
Where MON failed was being too loyal to his players throwing big bonuses and contracts at them and unlike Jock with the Lions failing to move the past by sell date ones on. Hopefully Brendan learns from these 2 great men.
While I welcome the opportunity to debate our transfer record of late, I would also like to debate the ways in which we control the wage to turnover ratio.
The Dafabet deal is reportedly worth £10m
Per season for the next 7 seasons.
I assume this is a significant uplift on the old deal.
The welcome news is that this deal should represent a solid 10% of turnover in a good year or higher than that in a bad year. I would also think the increase would be between £3 and £5 million pounds. It’s like selling a player for guaranteed income for the next 7 seasons. Great.
Now I posted the other day that I expected the Hotel to cost £30m and generate £2.5m per year.
I appreciate we need to grow the turnover base but spending £30m to get £2.5m doesn’t seem
Like a good return in comparison to a £30m outlay on players you could sell for over 5 seasons for say £60m and help manage your risk in accessing the Champions League.
I suppose this isn’t Hilton quick news so not expecting many bites but you can see the point?
Who would win a fight between driving him to the airport or firing him to Seville in a cannon ?
These are the facts:
We have won 1 game in our last 5 which happened to be against newly promoted Livingston.
0 wins in 4 games v rosenborg (away), hertz at the gardyloo and the aek double header.
5 goals scored in that run of games (3 of which came v Livingston), and 5 goals conceded.
There’s a lack of a spark and a killer instinct against well organised but unspectacular opposition.
We have 2 of the last 4 to hertz, lost our last matches v hibs and Aberdeen and haven’t beaten Kilmarnock in 3 attempts.
This is a team in need of a spark and a plan B. Competent coaches have got us sussed.
MULLET AND CO 2 on 15TH AUGUST 2018 9:34 PM
Evening Times reporting Rangers rejecting a £3.75m bid for Morelos.
———————–
Simon Jordan – ex-owner of Crystal Palace, general blawhard and Hun supporter, said on Danny Kelly’s Trans Europe Express show last week that he ‘knew’ from a source that he would not name that The Rangers has a kitty of some £20M to boost their squad this year.
Dubious parentage for the assertion, I know, but despite their long-running penury, they continue to spend money on players (or reject £9M bids for their stars). On their 11 new players, they must have had a significant outlay – where is that coming from?
I mentioned in the early hours last week – on the same show Andy Walker did not miss the Huns and hit the wall – corrected Jordan big-time on poor Rangers’ demise. The bold Andy steamed right in with HMRC, spending other peoples’ money, buying players they couldn’t afford, administration, liquidation, wee companied done out of money, shameful behaviour, etc., etc.
Fair took my breath away – most open and honest assessment of what occured that I have heard on mainstream radio show from a Scottish pundit.
Pity it doesn’t happen more often, and pity Celtic have been silent on the lies that have been supported by our official governing bodies.
HH
BGFC
MULLET AND CO 2 on 15TH AUGUST 2018 9:51 PM
Now I posted the other day that I expected the Hotel to cost £30m and generate £2.5m per year.
————————————————————-
This is exactly the question I posed earlier today – how much is the hotel expected to generate?
What’s your expectation of £2.5m/year based on?
Ta.
the glorious balance sheet
Competent coaches have got us sussed.
Well said my mhan
Love
DAVID17 on 15TH AUGUST 2018 9:52 PM
Who would win a fight between driving him to the airport or firing him to Seville in a cannon ?
————-
That’s funny :-)))
Seville??
Not sure it’s far enough away for him…
Weren’t we advised by P67 that John McGinn didn’t sign as he didn’t want to be a squad player?
Called it bull at the time, and nothing that’s been uncovered since that headliner makes me think any differently.
It’s not actually the McGinn saga in isolation here. It’s Lawwell in general.
He’s outlived his welcome for many. How many? The majority I would suggest.
Let’s see what transpires over the next few weeks, but I’d suggest that if some serious business isn’t concluded in the transfer market before it closes, the numbers will escalate.
It may then be the end of the season before the unhappy supporters get the opportunity to demonstrate their unhappiness, but rest assured they will.
In their tens of thousands.
MIT
“DD told us he wanted Rangers back. PL answers to DD”
So, why did we not fight to retain them in the SPL in 2012?
If a case prosecutor wants to ignore an awkward fact or line of questioning, a court can and usually will conclude that the evidence being avoided would not support the prosecutor’s position.
Now, I can see that we would have been happy to satisfy our fans and send them into the penury of the 3rd division but I can also see that our top division could do with the cash influx of a team with 50k + home attenders. In allowing Sevco to go to the 3rd division, we allowed them to escape into the tender administrations of Jim Ballantyne, David Longmuir et al, from which the Continuity Myth evolved. I have always argued that, we should have dealt with them as a top flight club and called Charlie Green’s bluff about title stripping or asterisking. once we delivered them out of the SPL, it did not matter a jot what Celtic wanted.
If we are gonna turn against DD because he wanted a form of Rangers in the top flight, will we be turning against Alex Salmond who wanted them there too and who spoke for our club in telling us that we “needed them” in order to prosper.
For the short term gain of laughing at them playing with the ball on the Brechin hedge, we messed up our handling of the events of 2012.
Cristiano Piccini
The latest rumour is that he was the no1 target for right back. Asking price was £7m, Lawwell said too much and Rodgers went to Desmond. Desmond told PL to go ahead and he did. Stumbling block was wages and players Agent ended up ignoring calls from PL.
Supposedly the same thing happened with Scott Sinclair.
Only what I’ve heard.
Is it me, or have a couple of stories/updates disappeared from Phil mcGB’s site?
Natknow,
100 rooms – average 67% filled per night, 365 days per year.
I see Peter Lawells lapdogs are out in force on here and on other Celtic forums.
We’ve had years of this under various managers and we know who the common denominator is.
Now we have a double treble manager getting the same treatment as others before
BGFC
Actually Andy Walker has been consistent from the start in calling out the Continuity Myth for what it is. He has never changed his tune on that. He tends to feel it is, somehow, a small thing that we should, nevertheless, overlook, but his Accountancy training tells him they are a new club and he has always stated that.
However, all the good vibes he should get from that, is lost via his general attitudes towards Celtic and cheating in the game.
Badgerbhoy
“We’ve had years of this under various managers and we know who the common denominator is.”
Yep, Seven consecutive years of this, at the last count, I think.
Feck yer hotel project.
Two centre halfs a right back and someone like Naka who can hit dead balls please.
SFTB
If the fans had not stood up to their clubs in 2012 and threatened to boycott, it is my belief that the Newco would have been shoehorned into the SPgonetohell. Don’t forget they were tried to be also shoehorned into the Championship as well.
Was there not a banner at the time from the Sheepies fans at a Celtic v Dons game, saying that “Our silence was deafening”?
HH
CRC
Corkcelt are you recommending that we should pursue morale cowardice.like the Celtic board? That we turn a blind eye to cheating?
No thank you? You make as many excuses as you like.
CRC
There was indeed.
To this day the Celtic PLC silence is deafening.
MULLET AND CO 2 on 15TH AUGUST 2018 10:13 PM
Natknow,
100 rooms – average 67% filled per night, 365 days per year.
————————————————–
Assume that’s turnover rather than profit and rooms cost c. £100/night ? I guess there would be other income from weddings, events etc. over and above.
Sounds optimistic but assuming it’s correct – those numbers wouldn’t offer any serious mitigation against non-qualification in Europe and is also a risk in it’s own right. Makes me wonder what the point would be other than that it provides (worthy) additional facilities for travelling fans?
Good Evening CQN – ???????
Still hurting on last 3 games
I had typed a big post, as usual blog crashes (reloads) with adverts and post disappears ?
Point we defend as a team, more than defence is issue
Not blaming for results, but
What has a player like James Forrest contributed last 3 games ?
I can think of 1 chance he has created
We miss more positive minded players and those who are creative
So two clubs in the same city will most likely be playing in the same play off stages of the europa cup.
One aiming for their 8th league title in a row with a massively valued and rewarded squad. A side which has just completed a record breaking double treble. The other has won nothing in 6 years and has not even got a shirt deal in place.
I wonder which club will get the biggest support from its loyal or faithful fans ?
crc
So, the club listened to the fans on that occasion but ignored the fans’ opinions at all other times?
If the purpose was to get Rangers dealt with and have justice delivered, we were easily bought off by just delivering them to our 4th division. Should we not have boycotted anyway as we had merely passed the buck for decision making? And we had passed it into the hands of guys who were never going to deal with it in any other way than cheating.
It is now known that the huns definitely did cheat for a decade or more. We now know our Board prefer money to on field success. Chase the charlatan custodians now. Before it’s too late.
YNWA
Burnley
Worry about Celtic.
Don’t give two fecks about that hun tribute act.
Paul67
Really poor article, with finger pointing
Very clear in Brendan’s first season, players signed ( some of them) had come from previous scouting and recommendations, possibly into 2nd season ?
Yes mistakes made, but we continue to try and operate on the cheap
Change from quantity to quality should be cost neutral
I think that’s what Brendan wants ?
Pity others do not realise this
crc
BTW
The DOns fans had a cheek.
What statement did their club make? They should have been calling out their own and we should have been calling out ours. The actions of Celtic did not make sense and still do not make sense, either as professional money grabbing bassas or as protectors of the club’s interests, their behaviour does not stack up.
That is why TET (and I hope he is back soon) and I have always suspected that we were hiding dirty laundry too and that was why we kept shtum.
From Twitter:
The Oscar Knox Fund ? ?
@Wee_Oscar
6m6 minutes ago
More
We have a few holes still to be sponsored if anyone would like to support. £100 per hole. All proceeds to childhood cancer research! #OscarKnoxCup ?⛳
=======================
Wouldn’t it be good to have a “CQN Love Wee Oscar” hole?
I will go £20. Anybody want to contribute £5, £10 or £20 to help me get to £100.
The legacy goes on in Wee Oscar’s name to help other kids
Email me at cqnpredictor@gmail.com
More than a PL loving football blog :-)
HH
CRC
Natknow yip sorry £100 a night – it’s been a long day.
67% occupancy is upside so I would assume any supplementary income from weddings etc to be built in to 2.5m.
Gary Neville I think still owns the Hotel at Old Trafford and charges up to £250 a night before matches. £3.50 a pint though.
My own personal suspicion about the hotel is that it is to service our requirements for a breakaway Euro League.
Neganon, WTF are you on about.
You a keyboard hardman trying to lecture me on cowardice moral or physical.
I made one assertion and one assertion only tonight.
That assertion is that Celtic could not have killed off the Zombies permanently even if they so wished.
I made no comment good bad or indifferent on any other aspect of this whole sorry affair.
It takes no bravery to type shite in the comfort of your own home totally incognito.
Believe it or not sometimes I do agree with some of the stuff you say but never about the manner in which you say it.