Recruitment strategy shift

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“Backfill”, that’s the word used during January for practically every transfer.  “Yes, happy to sell at that price, but only if we get backfill”.  We sold out first choice striker without backfill.  That is a ballsy decision for Brendan Rodgers and Michael Nicholson to sign off on.

If we win the league and Scottish Cup, any perceived risk will not merit a footnote when the season is reviewed.  An injury, or two, to specific players and the footnote will grow into a paragraph.

“January is a difficult time to do business” is another mantra.  Except at Celtic recently.  Kuhn, Maeda, Hatate, O’Riley and Johnston all arrived since the Postecoglou era in January.  Four of these players are still first choice at Celtic, while O’Riley left for £25m.  You can sign quality players in January if you have the recruitment infrastructure in place and do not have a preference for players you have watched in person.

Brendan is a hugely successful and experienced boss.  He has managed against or worked with many of the top players in Europe and has an enviable relationship with agents across the UK.  He recently brought in David Pleat to add what he needs.  Maybe it will all work out fine, but make no mistake, recruitment strategy has shifted.

Jeffrey Schlupp (32) arrived from Crystal Palace, replacing Alex Valle (20) in the squad.  Jota (25) came home and has already shown us why.  Alexandro Bernabei (24) permanently moved to Internacional in Brazil for a small profit.  We will be talking about Kyogo 20 years from now, let’s hope the anecdotes do not include the consequences of allowing him to leave midseason.

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  1. and as an aside to that, and i seriuosly mean this, some players are inconsistent, and maybe properly knackered, but for me, no player has went backwards.

     

     

    the ones who stumbled a bit are gone now, even the little japanese fella.

     

     

    just seen his rennes highlights, dearie dearie me, what on earth is he thinking, and why let your agents dictate that move,

     

     

    he looked embarrased at the do-de-do-de-do celebrations.

  2. Weebobbycollins on

    “he looked embarrased at the do-de-do-de-do celebrations.”

     

     

    I cringed at those celebrations…

  3. Gene on 4th February 2025 2:02 pm

     

    The board need to protect their bonuses.

     

     

     

     

    League cup won, league in our hands. Even with another forward little chance of progressing in CL.

     

     

    So why spend money you don’t need to.

     

    ===

     

    Exactly. It’s that simple.

     

     

    Why take money that Celtic can use to their greater benefit later and put it in the pocket of players who are an unnecessary drain.

     

     

    In business terms its called ” opportunity cost” and is good business practice.

     

     

    Another good business practice is putting aside Rainy Day money.

     

     

    Celtic announced this at last AGM by creating a contingency reserve in event of CL qualifying failure.

     

    The justification is that there is no NEED to sell best players in event of failure.

     

     

    Say that is £30m and £70m is left to recruit (boosted by what wasn’t spent in Jan and brought in, )

     

     

    So there is no need, as in the past to wait to see if we qualify before recruiting.

     

     

    This clever bit of money management is overlooked when fears are expressed about not spending to qualify.

     

     

    The risk of failing has already been factored in.

     

     

    What applied in the past no longer does.

  4. Lots of people are living in the past…..

     

     

    When lawell retires will the ghost of lawell still haunt their souls??

  5. The Blogger Formerly Known As GM on

    As I alluded to earlier, people tend to see what they want to see in order to confirm their priors.

     

     

    The best comment I’ve seen so far goes along the lines, “Brendan is clearly raging but doing well to hide it” 😂😂

  6. Paul67

     

     

    Can you elaborate more on what strategical change has taken place.

     

     

    Here is an explanation of what is involved.

     

     

    In the field of management, strategic management involves the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by an organization’s managers on behalf of stakeholders, based on consideration of resources and an assessment of the internal and external environments in which the organization operates.[1][2][3][4]

     

    Strategic management provides overall direction to an enterprise and involves specifying the organization’s objectives, developing policies and plans to achieve those objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the plans.[5]

     

     

    At what point in the process have things changed or gone wrong?

     

     

    At the Strategy formulation stage or at the implementation stage where resources needed to deliver the strategy were or were not put in place?

     

     

    Let’s take our eye of the personalities and focus on the full strategy process.

     

     

    Do those charged with delivering the recruitment strategy have the necessary experience and expertise to do so?

     

     

    Able as BR, MN, CMcK and even PL are, I hae my doots .

     

     

    So let’s focus on the structural issues rather than the easy option of scapegoating BR and Co.

     

     

    Let’s admit that at the top level there are now too many square pegs in holes that overtime have became round and change is needed.

  7. The Blogger Formerly Known As GM on 4th February 2025 6:46 pm

     

    As I alluded to earlier, people tend to see what they want to see in order to confirm their priors.

     

    ===

     

    I would go further than ” tend to” they actively seek out views that confirm their own bias.

     

     

    Opposing views are actively resisted, after all who wants to find out something they really believed in is just wrong.

     

     

    Events from 2013 as they unfolded turned out to be too hot to handle as they opened the door to reveal the soul of Celtic at odds with the generally held perception as the good guys fighting the foe malign.

  8. Chairbhoy

     

     

    So are you actually questioning whether the manager actually said KT would be joining in the summer ?

  9. Bournesouprecipe

     

     

    I have no doubt the manager knows more than me.

     

     

    I also have no doubt he knows a lot more now than he did a week ago.

  10. Burnley78 on 4th February 2025 7:34 pm

     

    Bournesouprecipe

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I have no doubt the manager knows more than me.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I also have no doubt he knows a lot more now than he did a week ago.

     

     

    —————————–

     

     

    come on b. stop talking in riddles and just tell what you know.

  11. not a great window, but by far our worst either

     

     

    thru to the champions league play offs

     

     

    League cup in the bag

     

     

    Top of the league by 10 points with a game in hand

     

     

    +23 goal difference (67 for and only 12 goals against)

     

     

    Mullions in the bank

     

     

    Jota bck

     

     

    KT coming soon

     

     

    What a season

     

     

    Great days to be a tim

  12. BURNLEY78 @ 7:22 PM,

     

     

    No, not at all.

     

     

    I heard him state it a week before the Transfer window closed.

     

     

    Someone commented on here that BR had mentioned it earlier and put the deal in jeopardy.

     

     

    My thoughts were the reporting at the beginning of the window re: KT’s return were not that helpful at that stage.

     

     

    Just surprised that BR had mentioned it before.

     

     

    Doesn’t matter now, but was just curious…

     

     

    The important thing now, is that he’s here in the summer, we need to strengthen for CLQ.

     

     

    Hail Hail

     

     

    Hail Hail

  13. AULDHEID @ 6:51 PM,

     

     

    Hope you are well…

     

     

    If anyone is in any doubts about whether there was a strategical change.

     

     

    This transfer window just gone shows that to be a myth.

     

     

    It’s the same old Board in more ways than five:)

     

     

    Hail Hail

  14. St Stivs

     

     

    Sorry not meant as a riddle. Really just meaning the obvious. That recruiting for Celtic is not as easy as he perhaps had thought regardless of how much money we can spend.

  15. Chairbhoy

     

     

    It may have been a week or two and not three. TBH I seemed to recall it around the Kilmarnock cup tie and before YB game.

     

     

    I sensed he said it as a mood lifter more than anything.

  16. BURNLEY78 @ 7:53 PM,

     

     

    Yes, that’s probably around the time he acknowledged it.

     

     

    Not sure where the “leak” came from at the beginning of the window, that had the SMSM and social media chattering.

     

     

    But don’t think it did our chances of closing the deal any good – especially as Arsenal was agreeing to sell KT to West Ham…

     

     

    Hail Hail

  17. Chairbhoy

     

     

    Are you stating or suggesting that PL overuled BR and MN?

     

     

    Apart from it being PL have you any proof to support that claim?

     

     

    Do you seriously think those overuled for no good reason would stay silent.

     

    I know and have done that if it were me and the reason was not a good one I would tell PL to feck off or find a new manager.

     

    What if the judgement was the money brought in would be better spent in the summer when most needed and what had been done was enough to continue with current success.

     

    Why pay more than needed.

     

    It’s a hard one to dispute.

  18. AULDHEID @ 8:03 PM,

     

     

    Not sure where that reply came from.

     

     

    My point was that our strategy both business and recruitment wise has not changed.

     

     

    Don’t know how often you jump into CQN these days but there’s a narrative that Brendan Rodgers has done just that, changed the business and recruitment strategy.

     

     

    He has done it to a point that it will jeopardise the Club.

     

     

    Of course most CQNers are brimming with uncommon sense, so aren’t buying it.

     

     

    Example of a BR dig…

     

     

    “You can sign quality players in January if you have the recruitment infrastructure in place and do not have a preference for players you have watched in person.

     

     

    Not only had Ange watched all the best players he brought in himself, Matt O’Riley was scouted in England.

     

     

    And Virgil Van Dijk was spotted by everyone at Celtic and their wives.

     

     

    The more things change eh!!

     

     

    Hail Hail

  19. Let’s get behind the team and the manager, and see where it takes us,looking forward to seeing Kenny getting game time to see what he’s got,him and Idah will be delighted we didn’t get another striker in,let’s see what you got Bhoys.

  20. Chairbhoy

     

     

    So BR is responsible for failing to recruit another CF?

     

     

    I would just like to see a map of the process and resources allocated to see if the process was fit for the purpose of delivering the strategy.

     

     

    Paul67 should be in a position to illustrate the original strategy pre BR and the new one he mentions.

     

     

    Then we can tell if as you claim nothing has changed in the process.

     

     

    What are the chances of PB67 setting out the previous and current strategies?

     

    Clarity can be so helpful when trying to reach accurate conclusions.

  21. bournesouprecipe on

    BURNLEY78 on 4TH FEBRUARY 2025 7:34 PM

     

     

    Bournesouprecipe

     

     

     

    I have no doubt the manager knows more than me.

     

     

     

    I also have no doubt he knows a lot more now than he did a week ago.

     

     

    ————————————————————

     

     

    Sorry, no further forward

  22. AULDHEID @ 8:29 PM,

     

     

    “So BR is responsible for failing to recruit another CF?

     

     

    Well certainly some would argue that, and some would argue BR&CO now runs the show.

     

     

    That is far from the case as the January window demonstrates.

     

     

    As you say, the funds to buy a quality striker would have only been available if the business felt that allocating resources for that purpose was necessary.

     

     

    With our progress in the UCL curtailed by Bayern Munich, with a domestic trophy already won and some serious headroom in our bid to retain the league championship, very little motivation to spend.

     

     

    Of course we have the SFA Cup to consider but with R2ngers in the ascendance, would it be the worst thing in the world, business wise, if this was a good old firm battle?

     

     

    You set out your question very well to P67 and clarity would be very good.

     

     

    Unfortunately Paul67 rarely ventures into the comments section and clarifies things these days.

     

     

    He may well do in a lead, especially as you have raised the issue.

     

     

    We’ll see…

     

     

    Hail Hail

  23. bournesouprecipe on

    Auldheid

     

     

    Yet, Celtic ‘tried’ to spend money till the 11th hour?

     

     

    Accepting the AGM rainy day or ‘buffer money’ explanation is fine for some supporters, why then have Brendan Rodgers say for a month he had signing targets then confirm in public he tried to get another striker. A striker who turned out to be one, in the loosest of terms, even a Paul67 Brendan ‘back filler’ eluded us.

     

     

    Most Celtic supporters weren’t expecting that ‘ a talisman striker ’ could be replaced inside a week costing another small fortune in fee, and wages. But as in all transfer windows a failure to sign would be seen as, exactly that a failure to sign. Celtic ‘fail’ we already know is a SMSM cliche, but I’m not convinced we have a shrewd Celtic that factored in your ‘business cost’ term.

     

     

    FWIW By all means cash in on a 1 goal in 3 games striker that wants away, but that plan was only whole if we’d an oven ready chance taker in the revolving doorway. We’re an Adam ( last month’s escaped goat ) Idah injury away from an experiment – seems like some gamble.

     

     

    Hope you’re well BTW

     

     

    HH

  24. Prestonpans bhoys on

    Just watch the highlights of Bayern v Kiel , Bayern 4:0 until the end of the game, then concede 3. Always some hope if Bayern lose concentration 🫡

  25. not even if brendan t!tty fecked kaspers moobs in the centre circle (with calmac pointing where scalesy should squirt the lube) would bayern lose concentration enough for us to win over 2 legs….

  26. Now, is it possible that a…

     

     

    Kyogo Shaped Hole

     

     

    Could Be Filled

     

     

    By A Man of Cork!?

     

     

    Hail Hail

  27. The returnof weeron on

    AULDHEID…..

     

     

    Many thanks for dropping and providing a degree of common sense to this discussion.

     

     

    There have been many comments on here recently where the author could not possibly know if their own comment was true.

     

     

    ie…. We changed the strategy. (Maybe, but how would bloggers know this?)

     

     

    Or…it was Brendan’s fault.

     

     

    Or…it was the Board’s fault.

     

     

    People are just throwing ‘mibbes’ in that would support their own bias.

     

     

    All that we do know is that we didn’t get the outcome that we wanted….and more importantly, that Brendan wanted. Whether the outcome was the result of a Strategic failure, or some other type of failure….we don’t know. Not at this point, we don’t.

     

     

    Brendan has said that they will review the window. That is sensible. I would like to believe that lessons (if any) will be learned by those involved.

     

     

    Cheers,

     

    Weeron.

  28. Weebobbycollins on 4th February 2025 5:46 pm

     

     

    An Tearmann…the poster Andrena is not Darwin/JHB. Of that I’m certain.

     

     

    And why do you continually feed Ordinary Joe? That’s exactly what he is looking for…

     

     

    Wee Bobby

     

    1.We differ on your first point.

     

    2.i dont continually feed!

     

    it may look thart way as i am the only moniker continually mentioned in its posts,opting to reply to the most racist and venemous as we are down a mod.The moniker does not matter its 418/9,Parkthebus,kevj,its the same trumpian racism,and do forgive me WBC it soils this dear green place imo.

     

    I will try more,today was my first reply in over a week of daily,

     

    Good to see you posting anyway WBC:-))

     

     

    Hail Hail

  29. The doom mongers, and I drink with a few of them, seem to always make the most noise. I get that it’s probably some common disposition and every big club will have them. However I’d like to ask them to dig out ten seasons better than this one, over the last 62 years I’ve been watching Celtic anyway.

  30. If Arsenal allowed KT to come in the window, I think the moaning would be much less, and the spend the same.

  31. Blakey

     

     

    They would just moan about some other keech

     

     

    As bad as my post was earlier, after reading on here the past few days – its not even close to jobo’s top 3 of nonsense

  32. Reading some of the contributions, it comes across that some would like to see injuries to Idah, Maeda and Kenny just so they can claim ‘I told you so!’

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