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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Hey MIT.
Good luck with the dog/birch.
My two dog names, when I was younger, have already been mentioned.
They were Rocky and Rhebel. A wee bitch was named Dusty.
Another dog, I do remember because it bit me in the bum, a neighbours dog, a Doberman called Polo. I love dogs but as a youngster I wasn’t too keen on him. :-))
Hail Hail
* birch should read bitch.
!!BADA BING!! on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 11:14 AM
BMCUW- Collum, Thomshun , Madhun etc , get €5,500 for refereeing a CL game.
*and that’s where our problem lies, the bonkle double glazing salesman still holds a grudge, not for the coin on the heid but for us preferring Jock Broon tae him. Unfortunately for him we’re still too good for the rest although in cup games they can get away with their deceit and ifd this is thomshuns last season watch for a wee parting gift fae him, although I hope its of the tait variety lol
Neganon2
However what you are both advocating is a high risk strategy, ultimately leading to ever decreasing circles. Celtic’s fear to reinvest some of the success we have had is obvious – but what is its purpose? Just in case we have a bad year? Well not only will you cause yourself to have a bad year but when you do your cycle of fear will just get worse.
======
I provided a link to my post on previous blog about a cost/benefit spreadsheet. If anyone commented on it I’ve missed it.
It showed the estimated cost of failure to qualify over 3 years in line with players contract length.
Although the figures need updated to reflect rise in players wages and CL income that does not affect the underlying message of risk.
Given your comment about decreasing spiral it assumes the prudent spend policy will continue.
However if after 3 years of CL qualifying enough cash cushion has been created to take the risk of not qualifying, is that not when it makes sense now to wait for another year?
If we did lose out with say £60m behind us then no fire sale of best players and enough to recover and qualify thereafter.
Makes sense to me.
If you cannot avoid the risks then do all you can to mitigate them.
On people being paid to find players that don’t exist in purchase and other terms, researchers can spend a lifetime looking for serious illness cures. Should they be criticised because they don’t succeed in spite of the money spent on research?
NEGANON2 on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 12:53 PM
Traditionalist 88 and SeanP1916
Of course there are difficulties in the transfer market – but that’s why we pay people a lot of money to be experts and find the talent. Our past history is chequered and may always be chequered (no one gets it right all the time).
However what you are both advocating is a high risk strategy, ultimately leading to ever decreasing circles. Celtic’s fear to reinvest some of the success we have had is obvious – but what is its purpose? Just in case we have a bad year? Well not only will you cause yourself to have a bad year but when you do your cycle of fear will just get worse.
There is no vision nor purpose to the current approach. What we should be doing is reinvesting to make the team better (we singularly failed to do that in the transfer window despite what Brendan asked for) and generating greater chances of success and bigger transfer fees.
Instead we are shaking in a corner – scared to move.
nope.disagree with your wee essay,days of oor Gordons boom n bust have went bang and fluff.Your economic strategy would have Celtic ended.Hope your doing good my friend tis good to see you blog even tho i may disagree.
HH
Auldheid
We’ve qualified the last two years, are you advocating we can only spend significantly if we qualify 3 years on the trot
It seems there are more than a fair few too scared to spend money, just in case
Personally i think we’ll sell, Dembele, Armrstong, Boyata, Jozo and Erik in the summer, is this just to add to our coffers?
Just a general question
I sent the following letter to the SFA today. I await the reply and expect the truth about the situation. Who is kidding whom?
This morning I read in the BBC News on line that UEFA has told referees they have a duty ‘to protect football’s image. The following statement was made by Pierluigi Collina, “We need players playing, so they must be protected. We do not want situations where a player’s future is put in doubt because of serious injury caused by a challenge, whether it is intentional, or is unintentional and the player making the challenge is taking a risk of causing injury. Players must understand that they have to respect their opponents and show positive behaviour to them that they would want to receive themselves.”
Hopefully, Collum, Madden and Thomson will see and put into practice this directive from UEFA. Sadly all of these Scottish referees have at various times been questioned as to their competence to referee at European level.
Prior to coming across the UEFA statement this morning, I intended to write to you to question the competence of McLean. On Saturday, in the Celtic v Partick Thistle match, Kieran Tierney and Mikel Lustig were both subjected to horrendous tackles by Thistle players. Each of those tackles fell precisely into the category that UEFA are talking about in the statement issued today. Yet, Mc Lean did nothing about the tackles. At least a yellow card should have been shown each time, but nothing was done by Mc Lean.
I have long wondered about his competence or if there are other issues that take precedence in Mc Lean’s handling of games. Need I mention his momentous ‘honest mistake’ at Hampden in a semi-final several years ago? Yet your Association did nothing about that. I wonder why?
At half time last Saturday, I overheard supporters speaking about Mc Lean’s ‘honest’ decisions. One person nearby was overheard to say that with all the money that can be gained from betting these days on a variety of things, penalties given, red or yellow cards issued, etc., who knows what they are up to these days? Obviously, I would not go down that line, but it is an indication of how poor Scottish referees have become and are viewed by the fans.
It is not just fans who are questioning things, but managers also. Did we not hear a Manager complain about Andrew Dallas and his competence? I have to say I agree that he is one of the worst among the many poor ones that exist in this country. Recently I heard from a source that Dallas has been receiving bad reports on his performances constantly, yet your organisation appears to have done nothing about him and indeed others.
I would like to believe that things will change soon, but I will not hold my breath.
BEATBHOY on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 1:42 PM
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.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/148828922/Rangers-FC-Memorandum-and-Articles-of-Association
for your records :-)
HH
JNP … when I was a kid in Paisley, a Pekingese bit my stuffed monkey (not a euphemism…. I had a monkey that I carried with me all the time), and ran off with it… fortunately we got Mr. Monkey back …. but I have been afraid of little dogs since … but I love BIG dogs!
and I was bitten by a bulldog named Winston … which is why I have always been wary of the English.
:)
HEN1RIK on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 9:40 AM
Sir Bribe & Lie
“Murray was never the sharpest tool in his private school’s box. However he had a flair for networking and a penchant for flattery. If you met him face to face he would inquire whether you had a ‘bit on the side. ‘Those who saw this as a portal to gaining his confidence soon learned that the information that they had imparted could be used against them. Murray deployed more that succulent lamb to control the SMSM”.
*The oul saying “someone’s got photies” comes tae mind.
“The odious Gordon Brown ennobled him for services to business. Services that included racking up losses at Rangers to the tune of £175m in one business year.”
*same son of the manse that gave the Ballymena demagogue a life peerage, some Christian, one was a charlatan and the other a hypocrite. Labour man my chorus and verse.
“Murray even had the clout to make a good fist of putting Celtic out of business. Despite the fact that Celtic were a far better run club than Rangers, the Bank of Scotland, at Murray’s behest, called in their overdraft.”
*as I said a couple of days ago he met his match when a real business man showed up and employed a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, whose main responsibility whilst with the Bank was to keep it away from scandal, tae our board, the same mhan that warned us of the dangers in ebts if not applied honestly,
“Murray has always been adept at a knuckle shuffle.”
*he has also alleged to have said he was the first chairman of deidco that wisnae in the craft, it has also been said that the devil’s greatest feat is convincing mankind he disnae exist. Lies and the knuckle rubbers go hand in hand or should that be trooser leg in trooser leg.
http://itsanewclub.blogspot.co.uk/
it all Sells !
HH
JimTim 12.38
You wI’ll be encourage by the statement from Joe O Rourke on the CSA sit.
You can read E Tims comment here
http://etims.net/?p=12492 which has a link to the CSA site.
E Tims are encouraging the CST to get on board, after all its shareholders who are seeking fare governance.
The experience they picked up on FAC would be valuable and if Hamilton Tim is looking in I think it’s time CST got involved.
We will never get a better chance to revolutionise governance and it would be a shame (but not unknown) to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Aplogies for typos.
I give uo :)
An Tearmann
…..and when did Airdrie United revert to Airdrieonians?
JJ
Auldheid,
I don’t know if you remember, but when all this was kicking off, I suggested that the various supporters organisations, CSA, CT, etc., actively lobbied their colleagues at othter clubs.
I believed then and now, that the quickest way to install integrity into the game was by supporter/customer action.
Unfortunately, no one took this idea up and one rep actully declared that they weren’t interested in other clubs, only Celtic.
Perhaps now, with the CSA calling for a united approach, something will happen.
However, I believe a great opportunity was lost.
Go tell it to the Spartims
Did you read my post yesterday referring to a spreadsheet that let’s you see the cost and impact of variables?
In a scenario of one failure to qualify in three with one quality player purchase the cost is minimal and risk acceptable. The dynamic changes the more quality players on 3 year contracts you add.
So all I’m saying is two out of three isn’t bad on impact terms, but if in fact it’s 3 years qualifying on the trot the consequences of not qualifying are manageable and far from the Doomsday downward scenario Neganon2 paints.
I’m an advocate of resisting immediate gratitude in the interest of longer term gain.
It is an attitude that has served me well but chacun a son goose :)
THOMTHETHIM FOR OSCAR OK on13TH FEBRUARY 2018 4:20 PM
Perhaps but old Ecclesaistes can be a guide.
It’s not lost. CSA have been kept in the loop and know the score.
CLOGHER CELT on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 12:00 PM
I saw your post yesterday explaining basic arithmetic ( Sevco took 9 points from Aberdeen, therefore we are top of the league by 1 point courtesy of those Sevco wins…thanks :) ).
*when I was a wee bhoy on the last day of the season deidco had a two-point lead over the calvinists with an identical goal average.
The sheep who were abysmal at the time and finished 2 points above 2nd bottom visited hades where it was assumed the huns would win comfortably, although their manager former Hibbee Davie Shaw was the brother of the famed iron curtain defender tiger he was nae mcsleekit in affording his brothers oul team the points.
The week before this game deidco surprisingly lost 0-2 at swinecastle, I say surprisingly as they had already take five off the LC holders earlier in the season, who now had a wee bit of a lifeline and headed tae Parkheid facing a Celtic side that would finish in 6th place 14 points behind the leaders and with nothing to play for and who had also crashed spectacularly 0-4 to the eventual winners St Mirren in the SC Semis, the same Buddies that would thump the sad sack sheep in the final before a crowd of 109,00, 3-1, the latters goal a consolation last minute one.
So here we are with nothing but pride to play for the bhoys and a hymn and a prayer for the jambos. At the half both them and their govan cuzzins are one up and then the roof fell in for both teams. We went 2-1 up with goals from 2 of our brightest young players wee Ten Thirty, who actually walked the ball past “Larry” Marshall’s da (mibbees that’s why he has been a thorn in our side both as a player and in opposition) and a diving header fae Eric Smith who at one time owned a pub in the Gallowgate.
Meanwhile the huns fell behind by the same score, and when the final whistle blew neither sets of supporters knew whether tae laugh or greet.
The following week we beat the huns away in the semis of the Charity Cup by the toss of the coin after a 1-1 draw, as this was a charity match both sets of players were to be on their best behaviour, wee Bertie was the only player booked lol, he was dropped for the final the following week which we won comfortably 5-0 with an “Alice” Byrne hat trick, in Harrald Bratbaack form he would miss more easier chances that afternoon at the national stadium, against our real derby rivals the Bully Wee.
Incidentally, Davie Shaw would get the sugar lump that summer, was it because of their miserable League position, even though he did save them fae relegation, their capitulation in the SC Final or their almost denying the brithers the title, hmmmm.
Mike in Toronto I used to have a smashing wee westie called Caley. We got her the day before caley knocked is out the cup 1v0 up there. Choose your puppy’s name carefully!
Not sure who is shaking in the corner?.
I for one am not. I absolutely accept that we are going through a sticky patch, the injuries & a drop in form from the likes of Sinclair & Dembele is one reason.
Secondly teams have sussed out that the way to play us to press us high & not allow us time & space to build from the back.
Both these issues need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
However we are going for 7 in a row and look odds on to achieve that, with due respect to Morton we have one foot in the Cup Semi which would put us 2 games away from back to back trebles.
We have qualified for last 2 Group Stages and are still in Europa Cup this year & scoff if you want but I for one am delighted that we have 30/40 million in the Bank.
Finally despite our recent poor form we still have only lost 2 of our past 80 Domestic Games.
In my opinion we are only one good performance away from ‘euphoria’.
We don’t need to buy ourselves out of trouble, we have the players but for some reason they appear to have become a bit jittery.
We are the top team in Scotland & are well positioned to remain so for the forseeable future.
We are where we are in European Football, no matter what we spend we will not be able to compete with the super rich Clubs, until the system is changed best case scenario is Group Stage Qualification & maybe a last 16 or a bit of a run in the Europa.
It’s not ideal but for all of us who went through the barren years it’s not that bad either.
Auldheid
Apologies as i only had a cursary look but im extremely proficient at maths and for us old schoolers, arithmetic, so im astute enough to know the cause and effect.
With regards to long term strategy, thats all well and good, but, any player we develop wont be here long term, lets be realistic, even KT will go, so we really dont have a long term strategy.
i get that we’re prudent but sick and tired of saving for a rainy day, if the plc had the same ambition they could either defer the dividend or even choose one of two options 1) reinvest in the team 2) donate it to charity, either would be completely satisfactory, but they dont, and they’re hoarding cash now, what message does that send out.
Had a wee chat to a few of my football taxi driving contacts this morning and together we have produced a list of the best defenders in the stratosphere whom we will call tonight to check they are happy to come to Celtic based on the excuse matrix. Once satisfied we will get the balls rolling, the taxis out and go and collect them all for a pre arrange meeting with Brendan tomorrow morning for him to give the yae or nae before contacting Peter to get the deal/s done.
It’s so simple. Watch this outer space.
MWD
Awe_Naw_No_Mare_New_Malcontents_Oan_Anaw_Noo?
This place has clearly gone to the dogs.
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 4:49 PM
Awe_Naw_No_Mare_New_Malcontents_Oan_Anaw_Noo?
*****
Naw. It’s still the same old curmudgeons!
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 13TH FEBRUARY 2018 4:51 PM
This place has clearly gone to the dogs
****
I think they are all back in their kennels during the Commuting Hour.
#crufftsquicknews
Ex Celt and Dundee United club captain Willo Flood makes appeal for information on whereabouts of Inverness man Liam Colgan.
Liam, a huge United fan, disappeared at the weekend during a stag do in Hamburg.
Thomthethim
Paws between posts ?
Poor Peter only got a C plus the other day that’s lower that he gets on Swallow Swallow
GO TELL THE SPARTIM on13TH FEBRUARY 2018 4:42 PM
Auldheid
Maths was never my strong point so thank God for spreadsheets.
All I’m saying is that having a cushion for when things don’t go as planned makes sense to me.
Sure players will go but if you have a cushion some of that can be used to buy players of same quality that go instead of projects.
I don’t see that approach as an excuse but a reason. Stops me being sick when the policy is providing the return it currently is.
Under RD I was not happy with the quality on show. I haven’t compared wage bills but if it’s now higher than before BR arrived it suggests we have spent and spent rather well in success and entertainment terms.
Its all perception based on our unique experience that obviously differs.
None of what we see is real but that doesn’t stop us debating as if it is.
Alsation this I don’t know if the board are taking us for pugs or not,but it does give us paws for thought if we dont spend,let’s hope they’re not taking this mi-kick.
BMCUW and others
“Well,looks like Celtic fans don’t need to be warned about life in the slow lane. They’ve become used to it,are happy with it,can even dream up reasons for it.
Maybe that famous Trainspotting scene on the moors was spot-on. Happy to be nowhere.
I give up,I genuinely do. I could weep for what we have become,but I could scream about the acceptance of it.”
I think there has been a wee bit of a dialogue of assertions (“your views are simplistic!” etc) rather than debate, despite some valiant efforts from some, that has been going on these past few hours.
Of course, posters get frustrated when it seems that their well worked arguments are not being listened to far less being taken into account. We then resort to hyperbole in frustration. Forgive me that I use your example of acceptance of the slow lane as my instance. I could well have chosen several others including many from the other side of the fence.
My point is that this is no slow lane. It beggars belief to compare a period with possible back to back trebles and an Invincible season as “slow lane”. Where does that put the rest of our sporting history? 1967 apart, trebles are rare and Invincible seasons rarer. If this is slow, when were we in the fast lane?
We need to keep some feet on the ground.
Of course, spending money on better players usually brings dividends- that surely can be accepted by all sides of this argument.
Celtic, even in the Willo window, have spent money on players- they have never failed to recruit- but the intent to improve has not always been achieved. The loan signing of Robbie Keane failed to do it. The big money signings of Scheidt and Gravesen and Hedman and Kharine failed to do it. The more modest purchases of Larsson, Mjallby and Moravcik did it in spades. The even more modest purchases of Hartley and Robson even provided a kick towards improvement. I would hope both sides can also agree that it is good players we need to recruit rather than big spendings we need to make.
Maybe Comperr is a star in the making. Personally, I doubt it but he might be a good steady centre half and that’s something at that cheap-ish price. Maybe Jack Hendry is better than we all thought- Kris Ajer is proving so- though I doubt any of them will be Virgil Van Dijk standards. He is, after all, a record transfer fee Centre Back. How often can we realistically repeat that trick?
The bottom line in this argument is over money being left unspent on the team. It seems madness to some that we do not risk some of that on improving our chances against Zenit. I think both sides of the argument could acept that, with either foresight or hindsight, we would be better off with one more reliable, experienced, European eligible, Centre Back. We appear to have missed a trick there and we should accept that criticism. Neither Coetzee or Comperr (who is ineligible anyway) will have worried Zenit much. If we had sourced Jean Kevin Duverne, who we were supposed to be in for, his transfer fee might have impressed some of the Board critics but Zenit and most of the other seeded Europa teams would not have batted an eyelid that we had sourced another young, promising but unproven talent, regardless of whether he cost £5m or more. They are not that worried about Jozo or Nir or Kris or young Jack or even the World Cup bound Lustig. They have respect for their opponents but, like many hardened European teams, they regard us as a club with a famous history and fervent fans, but not much else.
We have been stuck, since the beginning of CQN, with the nagging doubt that we “failed to kick on from Seville”. That ageing squad with little sell on value, reached a remarkable level in 2003 but the football world has revolutionised, in money terms since then, with huge wage and transfer fee inflation against a background where the gap to the elite clubs has become unbridgeable. And we managed 3 CL last 16s while negotiating this developing dangerous landscape, a feat as good as being a losing UEFA finalist, but we did not appreciate the “lesser lights” who achieved this for us in the post-Seville seasons.
I could accept the basic “speculate to accumulate” model if I could see the examples being done better by genuine comparator clubs. By that, I mean former historical giants who now have to operate among the smaller TV market economies. Clubs like Ajax, Feyenoord. PSV, Anderlecht, Legia, Ferencvaros and Ujpest, Benfica, Porto, RB Salzburg, Rapid Vienna, Basle and Zurich all fit that profile. Some of them, coming from countries with larger populations and better TV deals have managed to stay a step ahead of us, Benfica and Basle especially, but none of them are troubling the scorers in latter stages of major European competition. The rest have suffered the same fate as ourselves- an occasional opportunity to bloody a nose but usually they provide the roll of cannon fodder.
And it is not just the elite clubs (Barca, Real, Bayern, Man City, Juve, PSG etc;) that we have fallen behind. There is a second tier of middling clubs from the big money leagues (Seville, Valencia, Verona, Fiorentina, Schalke, Gladbach, Leicester, Southampton, Lyon and Lille plus the Russian oligarchs- Zenit, CSKA and the outlier Shakter Donetsk) who we would struggle to get by or discomfort because of their unearned riches.
Accepting that reality is not an aceptance that we can do nothing. It is an aceptance that we can influence the things we can and have to suck up the rest. We can trade smarter, we can develop our own, and we can shop for value in the less explored markets. But we will claw our way back to those “superior” groups, inch by inch and not with one, or even two, explosive big money signings. If we boast about, say, getting Paddy Roberts on a full time contract, the response we get from the Big Clubs will be a Mick Dundee one of “Call that a knife” – let me show you our half dozen Brazilian and Argentinian young players!”
But, if I can see that one of our comparator clubs has cracked the code and is doing it better than us, I will accept the major (as opposed to the minor failings I have already acepted) of our club.
Call it the slow lane or whatever, but if it is all the engine power you have, you cannot expect to win too many races with the more expensively purchased cars until you trade up by small increments at a time.
P.S. I think Trainspotting is Raphael at many levels. The guy that wrote the words of being ashamed to be “colonised” by the English has been quite happy to “colonise” himself to the Yanks, even in the Trump era. The word hypocrisy springs to mind. I learned no lessons from him.
Not taking the mi-ki
Blinking kindle
Does anyone know if Kojo is alive and well?
TT
MiT
I have ordered a copy of the book you recommend – 15 Dogs
Plot
“Over drinks at Toronto’s Wheat Sheaf Tavern, Hermes and Apollo get into a debate about whether animals could live happily if they had the same cognitive and speech abilities as humans.[7] They decide to wager a year of servitude on the outcome of granting the gifts of human reasoning and language to a group of dogs in a nearby clinic.[6]
Given their newfound abilities, the dogs are able to escape the clinic and make their way to the city’s High Park, where they set up their own new protosociety.[6] The novel then explores the functioning of their new society through the impact of human values, such as individuality and personal freedom, on the conventionally hierarchical social order of dog packs.[6] Key characters in the canine society include Atticus, a Neapolitan Mastiff who naturally emerges as the group leader; Majnoun, a black poodle who is reluctant to trust other dogs; Frick and Frack, a pair of Labrador retrievers who are leery about their new reality; and Prince, a mutt who embraces his language skills to become a poet.[6]”
A sequel, which was due to be released next week, called “15 Scottish football Journalists” has been cancelled as the plot to inject “human reasoning and language” to the group was deemed too far fetched.
Hrvatski J….. I hope you enjoy it. And if you do, when you next come to Toronto, Seamus something something something Tonto in Toronto and I can show you the sites in the book. Actually, the Beaches and High Park are pretty lovely.
As long as we are llimiting our comments to to scottish football journalists I will agree with you … but otherwise, Liam in Toronto (who is married to a journalist) may tell on me, and I wont get my sunday dinner at their house anymore!
I’ve kitted our tge taxis with balloons and the drivers are all wearing the pink away top as it is the greatest visual representation of the hoops. That should help reduce some of the excuse matrix fear of signing for the Bhoys.
Paul the Tim is onboard and will welcome all new signings as they arrive. Keep an eye out for the selfies.
MWD