When we discussed Martin O’Neill’s appointment, I made the point that retaining Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham was an important part of the story. We are now at the stage of the recruitment cycle where I would be prepared to accept almost anyone in these roles.
If you don’t have a goalkeeper, you can wait until an hour before kick-off before your first game of the season before signing onw. That’s a tad ridiculous, but very on-brand for Celtic, but if you want to have a process to put sign that goalkeeper an hour before kick-off, you need people in the building who are working on targets and deals for months.
You and I will be talking about last season for the rest of our lives. It was the great Get out of Jail season. Whatever advantages it bestows on next season, are not overwhelming. We can and will be caught if we do not get recruitment right, and we will not get recruitment anything like right unless we have the relevant decision makers in the building.
If you have an appetitite to open up the objective facts on our recruiment in recent seasons, we will touch on it next week. Bring your forensic self.
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Shoot
Goal ⚽️⚽️⚽️
Podiums are the last refuge of a scoundrel.
I’m with you 100% on that BRRB!
What I don’t understand,if reports are true about our coaching staff,why has MON signed a new contract.
Surely after praising them for the work/effort they put in he would stay loyal to them HH
Jota eventually replaced Jota (18 months later). Kyogo still not replaced…….
Maybe he thinks they aren’t worth what they think they are?
Or maybe it is just a load of pash made up by msm to generate an audience?
or Kuhn….
Is this a roundabout way of saying…its a shambles?
It’s OK we won a double….and no matter how glorious it was.(I could hardly function for a week) we are STILL an utter shambles!!!
If anyone can’t wait for the “objective” analysis, here’s a sneak preview:
IT WAS ALL BRENDAN RODGERS’ FAULT!
Shelbourne v Celtic tickets on sale
Not sure what the urgency is
Window does not open for Celtic until the day it closes !!
67ECW
My take on that second paragraph scenario is…we maintain our “buy at the last minute ” strategy as long as the recruitment team are in place and primed.
Remember what I pointed out from AI a few days ago:
Note: The Scottish Football Association granted clubs an extra 48 hours of business this year, meaning the window closes two days after England’s Premier League deadline.
“I made the point that retaining Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham was an important part of the story. We are now at the stage of the recruitment cycle where I would be prepared to accept almost anyone in these roles”
———
(Whistles and intakes breath sharply)
It is human nature to try reading behind or around the words of others Paul.
Is this a polite hurry up?
Or is it a forewarning that Shaun and Fozzy will not be in the building?
No offence to either gent – as components of a successfully cobbled together coaching group I want them to stay with Martin.
Based on their previous roles at Celtic though, (did Fozzy havd one?) I’m not sure what specific expertise they bring to talent identification?
To a point you made a few days ago about the recruitment department …
… if there is no one there and the time to recruit people permanently is prohibitive?
… package up the specific requirements and farm out the identification of suitable player candidates to Hired Guns Inc. on a short term basis.
We’ll pay through the nose but tough titty.
Assumes we know what our specific requirements are of course.
Also assumes (safely I presume) that we can still do the contractual bit once we’ve found someone to talk to.
Kinglubo earlier – cheers.
Was it you who posted the list of interest items way back?
If so, can you repost?
If another CQNer – same polite request.
It was an exhaustive list.
PS – Kinglubo, re England fans at World Cups
… don’t sweat it.
Remember the proverb (actually comes from the Book of Proverbs)
“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall”
Urgent is not a word to associate with this Board
Already we are far too late.
Our clueless CEO should have made the recruitment team the no 1 priority since the recent failed windows instead of banning supporters and fan media.
We all expect key players such as Maeda, Engels and Nygren to leave. Our captain will also be wavering when he sees the mess the club is in but no action taking place to fix. One can only imagine what conversations are taking place here and in Spain…Where is the mute CEO hiding ?
Desmond is gone for the summer with the US open next up…the puppets don’t know what to do.
MON performed a miracle and secured a double ; the best of all titles including 4-2 game and Love Street however that team is breaking up.
Any good recruitment team is locked in contracts and working on their summer plan. This window could be as big a disaster as Mark Lawwells efforts, when he blew £20M and still some stragglers left.
Celtic need new leadership the current Board and Execs have zero ambition, capability and integrity to be involved with the club anymore. The captain leaving will be the final vindication of their failure.
Desmond’s need to go.
What we do know and what is known by the majority of fans is this:
* We have a man who behaves as if he owns the club but does not
* We have several board members who are shameless in their lack of backbone and indeed their day to day roles are open for discussion as to what they do
We are an amateurish club. GSM and Foz should have been handed appropriate contracts when MON was. I very much doubt they are asking for the earth. CLASSIC Celtic.
We will no doubt adopt the usual sign them raw and with “potential” rather than a mixed approach. E.g. JUST from Motherwell is 26 years old. As a result we won’t sign him even if he wanted to come. I am sure now that his agent has eyes on clubs that conduct business much more efficiently. We have lost out on a player that would have improved our current low level offerings in such positions.
There are so many worrying things about Celtic and how we run the business YET DD and those sycophants with him will no doubt smile and provide the usual banal and meaningless drivel through our media channel Celtic tv. Meanwhile, the support continue to be treated with disrespect including Celtic supporters media channels. Shameful.
Have the ‘plenty of time’ brigade posted yet?
Recruitment has only become an issue now.
I was expecting a PS blaming big bad Brendan.
Recruitment has been an issue, for those who wish to see, for two years at least.
Splashing O’Riley’s transfer fee on a collection of players that the manager refused to play was the first indicator.
Selling Kyogo with no replacement was another hint.
Still not replacing Kyogo last summer was beyond farce.
Still not replacing Kyogo this January was ……… well by that time fully expected.
We’ve now gone a step further by no longer having the background staff to train the first team or identify players for Recruitment.
In Martin We Trust!
No?
A league championship needs to be thrown to #StopTheTen
Could 2026/27 be that league championship. . . . . .. .
Stay tuned.
SPIKEYSAULDMAN on 16TH JUNE 2026 11:25 PM
Your’e right mate.
It’s not of course, this Blog is very niche at around 30 or 40 daily posters, then you’ve probably gathered that. The narrative however is unique, it’s become siege Celtic, we’re right everybody else is wrong, we’re a well run club, – there’s your dinner folks.
We can produce domestic consistency because – thanks to our supporters investing in tickets and merchandise – we can buy better quality, ( some of the time ) the other team in the equation self destroyed, liquidating themselves in the process. Their replacement also now regularly outspends us, and we leave vast reserves of money in the bank. Not a good look for Celtic fanatics, that sustained the club.
Domestic bliss with a 60,000 seater stadium even when it runs to the 87th minute was provided by Celtic fans and thousands worldwide is the platform -, but it’s not translated into any meaningful progress in Europe for a club of our size. The odd result here and there is one thing, but we’ve not progressed any further in any competition than we achieved nearly quarter of a century ago.
You decide why that is?
Hail Hail
“If you have an appetitite to open up the objective facts on our recruiment in recent seasons, we will touch on it next week. Bring your forensic self.”
Well, if this comes with a mea culpa it could well make for interesting dialogue…
We’d have to admit there was no coherent strategy, no workable moneyball model, no state of the art recruitment analytics…
The last dozen years have seen various personnel, with various titles, “in charge” of recruitment.
John Parks
Lee Congerton
Nick Hammond
Ange Postocogulu
Mark Lawwell
Paul Tisdale
They did not work to any meaningful structure with a; strategy, model, budget, state of the art analytics platform, a mandate to negotiate…
No very liitle in common, maybe their “little black books” perhaps, no recruitment structure, well in any meaningful football sense at least.
The Board controlled all aspects of player sales and recruitment and it followed a business scheme that tried, unsuccessfully, to develop a revenue stream.
Every reasonable Celtic person from Martin O’Neill to Lord Haughey agree this approach is not fit for purpose.
Assuming that is, the purpose should be a top class football team and quality football squad.
“We are now at the stage of the recruitment cycle where I would be prepared to accept almost anyone in these roles.”
If you look at the list of the last six heads of recruitment, then you will notice the only success was a Manager who headed up his own recruitment, initially anyway.
It suggests getting uncle Tom Cobbly et al in the role may not be the answer.
Hail Hail
Before i cut the grass i will get this in….watched ACSOM last night , great show.IMO
Should say i watch it every night….now the grass.
See Messi scored a CalMac-esque goal for Argentina this morning in their 3-0 win over Algeria.
Good win for France, but Senegal had chances in the first half, lacked the finesse to take them.
Good win for Norway, terrible commentating from the BBC. For instance when Kris Ajer controlled the ball out wide rhs (right back position from his Killie days) and marked or no, made the cross to the back post for Haaland to head back across the goal, not only was there palpable disappointment that H didn’t get the goal, og being the verdict, both BBC commentators claimed the that Kris’ control of the on his chestest, and it was a high cross over to him, was a ‘suspicion’ of handball and that it was ‘suspicious’, goal was given mind for 4-1. It was not a one man effort, Norway had to defend as well, Kris done good @ CB, they played some good football and made good use of their subs later in the game. Iraq played well too at times.
BSR @ 1:13 pm,
“…You decide why that is?”
If you look at the revenue streams that have brought football and financial success to Celtic FC…
The stadium, the season tickets, the merchandising…
You will see they were all put in place at the end of the last century.
Martin O’Neill started this latest domestic football era at the turn of the century with a treble…
No meaningful progress has been made since then.
Our club has stagnated, all be it in a winning position, while the then new Board sought to monetise the revenue streams and “brand value” for the PLC and larger shareholders.
Of course our intial set up twenty five years ago was so good, and has been backed so well by the support, that it has allowed the hierarchy to coast…
However, the law of ever decreasing returns suggests we were going to have to re-establish modern approaches and innovations or run out of momentum and so the latter has proved…
Hail Hail
GlassTwoThirdsFull on 17th June 2026 12:17 pm
Jota eventually replaced Jota (18 months later).
_________________________________
Ironically, the only significant loss that we have bothered to try to replace (albeit this one kinda just fell into our lap) has probably backfired, as there is quite a high chance that Jota will not return from injury at anywhere near his former level, if at all. And ultimately we replaced Jota1, belatedly, with a player who will have spent the whole season watching from the stand or out of the country probably not watching at all!
And we won’t get the signings because we don’t have a football department, cutting salaries for key football staff means we will get the desparate who will take the job, signings will be a lottery again and Celtic plc under Desmond is letting every supporter who want the first team to be the best it can be down. He is a mean dictator you would think the club is skint the way it operates, at the moment Celtic is not a football club.
And another thing, pretty much every team in the WC could be recognised by the strips they wore, except Scotland. Now look, obviously Scotland fans will recognise the pink/orange/purple combo, because we wore it ‘before’ the World Cup, but would fans out in Cape Verde, that is the question? The USA has gone a bit over the top with theirs, but other than that classic strips are the order of the day, and likely to remain. Scotland needs to get back board.
https://www.celticfc.com/news/2023/july/10/callum-mcgregor-pens-new-five-year-deal/
Genuine question.
On what basis do some think our captain is leaving?
By all means have a dig at the leadership.
Free country.
But, respectfully, if all it takes to trigger your anxiety is some baseless online suggestion that Callum is off to Saudi? ….
IMHO – you need to chill a bit.
(The logic is as binary as it is infantile)
– Brendan is in Saudi (fact)
– Callum likes Brendan (assumption)
– Brendan likes Callum (assumption)
– Brendan wants to sign Callum (assumption)
– Brendan can afford to sign Callum (those Saudis are loaded you know, assumption)
– Callum is hacked off by lack of signings (assumption made up by someone)
Callum McGregor’s inside story on his hush hush Celtic …
The Scottish Sun
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk › … › Football
19 Jul 2023 — Callum McGregor has revealed the inside story on his extraordinary hush-hush holiday hook-up with Brendan Rodgers. Sign up for the Celtic …
🍀 “I would trust this guy with my life!” Brendan Rodgers and …
Facebook · Celtic Insider
https://www.facebook.com · 30 May 2024
0:59
“I would trust this guy with my life!” Brendan Rodgers and Callum McGregor open up on the meeting that led to the manager’s return last summer …
McGregor, 32, spoke to Rodgers in the aftermath of his stunning exit, and hopes once the dust settles everyone will remember just how much he did for the club across his two spells.
He said: “The news caught me totally off guard. We found out at the same time as everyone else, so it was a shock.
“It wasn’t something that I thought was in the pipeline. I was in the house, about five minutes away from going to bed — so it turned out to be a long night.
“I spoke to the manager ten to 15 minutes after it all happened, but what was said will stay private.
“I’ve been in football a long time and you like to think you can see these things coming.
“I was really close to Brendan and he was amazing for me.
“He came back the second time and then delivered great success, which only strengthened that bond, so it’s very disappointing in the way everything ended.
I think its fair to say they are “guid pals”
Maybe he spent a week in Majorca recently…
Celtic Mac,
Disagree re Scotland strip. Give the supporters what they want and reap the rewards
“2026 World Cup Strip: The salmon-pink and purple pinstripe away jersey launched for the World Cup became the retailer’s biggest seller in both the UK and US, with JD Sports reporting they sold around twice as many kits compared to the 2024 Euros”
HH.
Dessybhoy @ 1:58 pm,
“…at the moment Celtic is not a football club.”
This is very true – if we look back on the statement the Board brought out nine months ago – change club to business and it reads much more accurately.
“However, the Club must adhere to our self-sustaining model: to protect the present and secure the future, ensuring Celtic remains strong for generations to come. The Club’s model has been developed and applied over many years, and during that period the Club has enjoyed a sustained period of success and growth.
Further, the Club’s model is not optional – it is now essential as a consequence of the UEFA Sustainability Regulations, with which the Club must comply. Wages and transfer spending are strictly governed by UEFA’s regulations, which effectively cap wages and transfer spending as a proportion of our revenues. Importantly, the Club’s cash reserves are not relevant to the assessment of this de facto spending cap for the purposes of the UEFA regulations.”
https://www.celticfc.com/news/2025/september/06/celtic-football-club-statement/
In fact it even tells us the “club’s” cash reserves are not relevant as they can’t spend them on the football club.
Also the defacto spending cap is not implemented by UEFA – Celtic FC’s spending cap is set by Celtic FC.
Hail Hail
Sorry…
Celtic FC’s spending cap is set by Celtic PLC
Hail Hail
Lionroars67 @ 2:09 pm,
Don’t you know BTB – GHF is the blog’s voice of reason, he would never bu!!$£¡t to show the Board in a better light:)))
Hail Hail