Pictures of Tom Rogic back at training are very welcome but he will surely be weeks away from competing at the top level, I don’t hold out any hope for him playing in the away game against Zenit, never mind the home game. You will remember Brendan Rodgers took a long time before allowing Tom to play an entire 90 minutes, suggesting latent concerns about the player’s natural fitness. I have him down for an appearance at the end of the month.
Zenit got the better of Maribor in Turkey on Saturday in their final warm-up game before facing Celtic, although the Slovenians, also on a midterm break, had more of the play and chances. There is little confidence ahead of Thursday’s Europa League tie, but that nervousness you feel in July, when we leave for Scandinavia to play a team 22 games into their season, will be felt in Russia right now.
Zenit may be stronger, but we have reasons to be hopeful.
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SOT
Thanks for the info as it’s quite hard to find online appreciated
https://thesefootballtimes.co/2016/11/08/the-cecline-of-napoli-post-maradona-from-paradiso-to-inferno/
Trying to listen is exactly what I have been doing Bobby!
Almost every post I have made i have given a view and asked for a counter view to be given but that counter view is not actually given just a continued comment about how things aren’t good enough without any explanation or thought given to how or what should be done to make it better apart from spend more money.
Surely the point of “human interaction and intelligent discussion” is to actually discuss not just repeat the same view with no explanation, thought or clarity.
but then again i am obviously a Hun/troll and cannot be educated.
FML
Liam Lyndsay (who I have to admit impressed me last year at Thistle)
He was in SPL team of last season
left for £350,000 in summer and was getting quoted
at £6m to £ 8m in window just shut .
Would people have thought good definitely improving squad
if we had signed him there.
SEANP
You’ve had plenty of counter-arguments,some explained in length.
No-one has suggested you are a hun troll.
Smallest violin,etc.
THE HANDS CANT HIT WHAT THE EYES CANT SEE on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 1:18 PM
Just one question? in response to the Zenit comparison have you looked at the transfer spend and wage budget Zenit have?
Of course there is a correlation between spend and quality of players but lets be honest here there is levels and it is not realist to expect Celtic to spend at these levels, Regardless of your view on whether they are currently spending enough or not.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 1:27 PM
There have been plenty responses and some of them pretty lengthy but as Trad88 has also said none answer the what can we do differently other than just “spend more money” or
indeed any counter view of the point of view that the club did indeed make investment in areas of the team that needed it. I posed the question if this was the wrong investment and we are not happy with it how could it have been done better?
Like I said a few hours ago,slow lane,and I hope you all enjoy it.
Some of us will continue to rail against it,blood pouring from our eyes watching what we are subjected to.
You’re welcome to it,if that’s what you’re family brought you up to accept.
Simple question
Have we improved, defensively at all, given the four transfer windows BR has had?
steptoeandsons CSC
Your,effing iPad.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 1:31 PM
if there was EVER a comment that back up my argument
those are just negative words with no substance
Tomorrow is…
Administration day! Happy Administration Day Sevconians, bless. ;-)))
SOUTH OF TUNIS on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 1:06 PM
NAPOLI –
Declared bankrupt in August 2004
Renamed themselves -Napoli Soccer . Placed in Serie C1
Refounded as Societa Sportiva Calcio Napoli ( their original name ) .in 2006 .
Done in accordance with Italian business /financial law and in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of The Italian FA .. Same as Fiorentina . Not the same as the Deady Bears who were ” Facilitated and Accommodated ” and aided and abetted by a Temporary Licence .
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
You don’t have to look as far as Italy to see how things should be done when a football club is liquidated. In England, there are countless examples, (e.g. Darlington, Hereford United, etc.) of phoenix clubs emerging from liquidated clubs and FA rules insist that they must not use the name of the liquidated club (now Darlington 1883 and Hereford (no united)). They also have to start at the bottom of the footballing pyramid and are not allowed to claim ownership of the liquidated club’s history. Or you could look at Gretna who suffered the same fate as the old Rangers but their supporters formed a phoenix club known as Gretna 2008 and started at the bottom of the football pyramid in Scotland.
I disagree that this is a governance rather than cheating issue. To me, it is fundamental to the whole continuation myth which allows the huns and their friends to re-write history and pretend the cheating which culminated in the events of 2012 never happened. It’s oft said that the victors write history. Not in Scotland it doesn’t.
I personally don’t think the p.l.c. have done nearly enough to challenge the continuity myth and I won’t put with another penny into the club I have supported since the early sixties till they do. Sadly, I don’t ever see that happening.
GO TELL THE SPARTIM on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 1:32 PM
I would like to think that Compper and Hendry would be a YES to that question. the truth is at this stage we don’t know but surely we have to support the decision to address the situation by bringing these guys in.
We’d all like to think it’ll be a yes and unlike a lot of the bedwetters at the game, they need games, some players need a season before the bloom, sadly they wont get it, too many self entitled within the support.
so the short answer is No, not yet (if we’re being optimistic)
My hope is, and obviously i dont learn from our transfer window episodes, that we buy an experienced quality (of sorts) CB in the summer, i wont hold my breath
Up Like A Bird
Don’t know how Napoli was constituted, nor anything about Italian company law. Don’t know if Napoli ever required a “conditional membership” of the Italian FA to fulfil a fixture,as the club they claim to be still held their membership. Don’t know if they had previously had a ‘friendly’ match postponed because they had yet to have their membership approved.
But I do know that no one, not even Sevconians I’ve spoken to, deny that the company The Rangers Football Club Plc died. Their problem is that the club and company was incorporated in 1899, making them indistinguishable in law. That means deid company equals deid club.
The advocate representing Charles Green confirmed this, the judge in the Coral ‘relegation’ case did likewise, the idea of this “ethereal entity” has been mocked by law lords in court cases, and Andrea Traverso, Head of Licensing for UEFA, has stated in writing that they are a new club in response to questions on the 2011 UEFA licence.
It’s quite clear to me why the SFA don’t want to discuss the matter. They don’t want to bump their arse off the floor, not having a leg to stand on.
There still seems to be a great deal of discontent amongst some on the Blog just now. We aren’t as far ahead as we were last season and the football isn’t as fluid, but if we look at it, 3 of our “flair players” (Rogic, Roberts and Armstrong) have missed a considerable number of games recently.
The defence has suffered because Lustig, Ralston, Boyata and Simunovic have all missed game time through injury. We strengthened at the back, but Marvin Compper was injured and Jack Henry is just in the door.
We now have 5 recognised centre backs with Bitton and Lustig (and even Tierney) able to fill the role so I don’t know how many more people want to come in.
Injury has cost us a lot of problems (add Gordon, Griffiths and Dembele to the list) so playing our strongest 11 or a settled team has not been possible; however this slump sees us 8 points clear in the league; League Cup won; in the QF of the Scottish Cup; and still in Europe.
This season we have added N’tcham, Edouard, Morgan, Compper and Hendry to the squad.
We spend over £50M in the footballing side of the business – that’s an extra investment of £25M in the footballing area since Brendan Rodgers arrived (double the £25M in we spent in the footballing side during Ronny’s last season) so that’s a significant investment and seems to contradict the perception we aren’t spending money.
We are a good bet for a second treble in 2 years.
So I’m a wee bit puzzled that so many seem to be so unhappy.
I’m not.
KTF
@SEÁNP1916 on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 1:27 PM
“Just one question? in response to the Zenit comparison have you looked at the transfer spend and wage budget Zenit have?
Of course there is a correlation between spend and quality of players but lets be honest here there is levels and it is not realist to expect Celtic to spend at these levels, Regardless of your view on whether they are currently spending enough or not.!
Sean,
I posted the below in the previous article. It should answer your comparison to Zenit.
“This hits the nail on the head. What do we expect Celtic to do in the window? There is a great book called “Thinking Fast and Slow” by behavioural economists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. Within it they posit and provide evidence to back it up that people inherently (and, generally, in order to comprehend a complicated issue) take a difficult question and transform it into an easier one.
So the question: “what realistically do I expect Celtic to do in a Transfer window?” is transformed by many posters into: “Can Celtic spend more money than clubs in England/the Champions League/ [Zenit]?” The answer is invariably no.
This is a simplified question. The real question and the one I would put to you is: relative to our revenue (circa £100m), are we expending a sufficient proportion or percentage of it on the team? I would answer no.
We continue to make signings for the same amount as we made under Deila, despite our revenue more than doubling; our interim accounts showed (“Profit from transfer of player registrations (shown as profit on disposal of intangible assets) £0.5m (2016: £2.0m)”) that we made profits on players this season; and we have £30m in the bank gaining next to no interest.”
I don’t want us to spend more than Zenit- we can’t; I want us to spend a greater proportion of the money we earn.
As explained by multiple posters Zenit are better than us because they spend more money, but Celtic won’t become better by spending more money (notwithstanding there will be exceptions and poor signings)? It seems like cognitive dissonance: one thing applies to Celtic and another to all other football teams.
BSR
Car bonnet from the scrappy??? Thats too posh for me, it was either a Tennents tray (procured from a working mans club (thats what they were called PC brigade) or if you wanted to toughen it up, just stick your legs in a bin bag and go.
Precarious life,football. Never more than a freak injury away from all your dreams and ambitions disappearing.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/feb/13/ryan-mason-forced-to-retire-from-football-after-head-injury
I wish him well,of course.
THE HANDS CANT HIT WHAT THE EYES CANT SEE on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 1:44 PM
I can accept that view absolutely. especially the view a sustained spend of more money should improve the quality of player. I would also despite my defense of the current situation like to see more investment.
Its the how that I struggle to see or have read anyone give a viable strategy for, i think it may been JC2 earlier that mentioned Liam Lindsay who at £6-£8m would be seen as affordable and an increase on current spend but is Liam Lindsay and players of his comparable value really an upgrade on what we have/are buying in and around the £2m-£3m mark?
I’d rather have some cash back just in case a situation arises.
This is a totally hypothetical; situation but bear with me on it. Lets say Celtic did spend £8m on Liam Lindsay or a.n other comparable defender in January. Then Paddy Roberts became available at £12m in the summer but we were not able to enter the market due to the January investments how would we feel. As it stands IF paddy came available for £12m in the summer we would be in a position to bid high on what we know is a known quantity.
VFR
We sign an experienced CB who cant play in Europe, we’re not gonna get long from him, and an inexperienced CB from a team struggling at the bottom of our tinpot league.
I’ll wager that if we do sign a CB in the summer it will be Caulker on a free, from the same said team, hardly a strategy at continuing football development.
The money spent on the footballing side, will be eaten up by wages and not investment in players.
I think that covers it from my perspective.
PS i generally pretty content with where we are, despite the drop in quality football this season
GOTELLTHESPARTIM
When I was a really young kid,I’m sure it was a roller skate and an annual.
Mind might be playing tricks with me there,but pretty sure it was as I recall.
Parkhead Avenue in Kilwinning,it was a very steep hill. Long way down!!!!
vfr
‘3 of our “flair players” (Rogic, Roberts and Armstrong) have missed a considerable number of games recently.’
perfect – you put them back into the spfl and our form will greatly improve (not complaining- happy as it is now but we are all contrasting against last year).
@ SEÁNP1916 on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 1:57 PM
“like to see more investment” – well I’m glad we agree on something.
As for the hypothetical, I think we need to move away from the red herring of buying English players/players plying their trade in England. The market in England is inflated greatly, we should be in the business of selling to England only and not buying.
The same inflation has not occurred in Europe. We have purchased a German international from a German Champions League club for circa £1m. What would the equivalent fee be for a player from Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea (or any of the top 6)?
Celtic should do their shopping in Europe where fees are relatively affordable and stable.
BMCUW
Roller skate and an annual thats all year round daredevilry
The Gully in cumbernauld was our circuit, not so much as steep but if you went off track it was usually casualty, they turned it into an adventure playground eventually but it lost its mojo by then
There is value in England too (probably not in the top half of the Premier League though I’d support that view) if you do your work properly. Joe Ledley, Gary Hooper, Dedryck Boyata, Craig Gordon, Scott Sinclair & Moussa Dembele probably none of these guys where mooted in large numbers as guys Celtic should have signed prior to being linked/signed with the club are all examples of this but of course there is value in Europe too Mikael Lustig, Stefan Johansen Martic Compper totally agree with that.
But does this not support the view the club are actually doing alright? extra investment absolutely in the right circumstances but surely we have to trust the club that they will get it right short, medium and long term?
GOTELLTHESPARTIM
When yer 4yo,everything is an adventure playground.
Amazing the things we did at that age,our parents would be jailed for neglect for it now. I fished a kitten out of the burn when I was three,loved it to bits,put it out in the kennel wi my Papa’s gundog.
Chief loved my wee kitten as much as I did!
Imagine a wean down the burn on his own,three years old. Ludicrous nowadays,but we always were safe back then,no matter what we did.
Or,maybe,just indestructible. No fear,no problem.
TBH,I’m also sure the adults only thought we were on our own most of the time. But that was cool. At least we thought we were!
MATT STEWART on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 11:01 AM
Bobby/TTT
You’ve convinced me, Matt.
We have waited long for the restoraton of the Stewart/Stuart dynasty.
#yejacobitesbyname
SEANP
Only one of the players you mention was with an EPL side when he signed for us.
Boyata. And most Man City fans had high hopes for him till he got sent off against Arsenal,I think,and then he went off the radar for about four years.
SEANP
And that’s the point I’m trying to make. That it’s far from impossible. We just need to show some ambition.
And give players a reason to sign for us,because they view us as ambitious.
As an aside,Pardew trashed Celtic,let FF leave Newcastle for peanuts in favour of Tim Krul.
Who did leave for peanuts. Less than that,in fact.
EMBRAMIKE SAYS ” YER TEAM’S DEID…BEAT IT!” on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 12:25 PM
Thanks for sharing that information.
As partime “professional’ referees, the Scottish men do quite nicely.
Supplement your salary with 16K or 7K per month for 7 months of the year.
For Collum, that’s 100k per annum.
Nice gig.
Hello this is WEE BGFC. So, Does anyone have spares for aberdeen? We would be eternally grateful. :-)
HH
WEE BGFC
GOTELLTHESPARTIM
The players salaries will take up the bulk of the spending but that’s what you have to now – pay the (exorbitant) going rate.
Further to match officials’ payents.
Dallas the younger went from referreeing games in the Juniors to the SFA’s Eufa/Fifa list in under 18 months , certainly not due to his refereeing ability.
At that inamous Caley semi final, Dallas the younger was one of the six officials. He reffed a game the previous day then two days later was the ref in a Hibs v Livi match.
He must have picked up about £1200 in match fees. I wonder how didall the other officials feel about this or did they just have to accept it?
I listened to the Neil Lennon podcast there, Neil was in top form and very funny.
The Graham Hunter podcast with Andrew Robertson is also very good . Any time Andy talks about Celtic , he says we.
A stranger with no knowledge of the season so far in Scotland would, were he to read only the pages of CQN, assume that Celtic were not doing very well. Were he to then look at our record, then look again at CQN, he would wonder why so many talk so well of our support.
JJ
JOHN51 on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 2:36 PM
Be fair….Wullie needs the money. He’s got to buy twice as many specs as the two eyed population.
VFR
i think we all get the point i was merely stating that it went on wages when we’d all like to see an improvement in the quality of the team, BR can only do so much. Take Callum McGregor, a good tidy player but BR cant make him a tackler or indeed more robust on the ball.
Despite the hike in their remuneration i dont see the progression in players and playing style, in fact they seem to have regressed for a multitude of reasons no doubt
Tobago
Thanks, pal. I heard from the breeder last night, and it looks like Seamus, something, something, something, something Tonto in Toronto will be coming home next week!
yesterday showed me just how many dog lovers there are on CQN, and since everyone has been so kind and supportive about my puppy initiative, I thought I would return their kindness…
I just finished reading a book called Fifteen Dogs by a Trinidadian Canadian writer, Andre Alexis… it won the Giller prize a year or two back …. Just a great piece of writing … about 2 gods who, on a lark, give 15 dogs in a Toronto vet clinic the ‘gift’ of human thought and feelings, and let them loose on the world… the bet between the gods is to see if this will make any of them happy…
If anyone gives it a try, I think you will really enjoy it.
My way of saying thanks for all the nice posts yesterday.