I remember writing with anticipation 10 years ago as many of Martin O’Neill’s benchwarmers came to the end of their contracts. Martin was not a squad rotator, so those not entrusted with his confidence found themselves on the bench or in the stand on match day, there was little scope to play your way back into the squad, and the wages spent unproductively inhibited our chances of bringing in fresh talent.
Ronny Deila spoke to the media on Friday about the same issue, moving on those who are already well out of the picture, as well as some who played their part last season but who are unlikely to see much in the way of game time in the season ahead.
There’s going to be a bit of churn in the squad, we’re still likely to add three or four players, but it’s been 20 years since a Celtic manager’s talked about creating space in the squad for youth players to fill. This isn’t a criticism of the managers we’ve had since then, more a reflection of the pressure they worked under.
Tommy Burns had to drive us from mid-table mediocrity to genuine contenders. Wim, Dr Jo and John Barnes weren’t here long enough to concern themselves about development, which Martin made it clear from day one that his interest extended only as far as the first team squad.
I doubt any Celtic manager worked under the intensity Gordon Strachan experienced during his four years. Every point dropped delivered a greater trauma than at any time I can remember. Neil Lennon managed through the transition, from competing head-to-head with three-in-a-row winners Rangers, to getting used to life as the last surviving superpower.
This is Ronny’s luxury. It doesn’t matter if we win the league by a record tally, or match the defensive records created in each of the last two seasons. Better to lose more games while giving a chance to young talent, than ask hoary pros to grind through the same gears one more time.
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Another Huns Warchest signing!!
Daily Zombie claiming ex Man City player?, he was released by Doncaster Rovers at the end of the season
Even the video footage from the article is 3 year old!!!
Former Manchester City defender Reece Wabara arrives at Murray Park with a view to securing Rangers contract
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/former-manchester-city-defender-reece-5964321
Shared by the Scottish Daily Record App
iOS: http://ads-5.com/sdr/ios/
Android: http://ads-5.com/sdr/android/
Lennonspassion
If they are good enough they will cope.
It has always been this way.
There should always be pressure to win at Celtic.
In any sport it is those that conquer that pressure and use it as a positive force that become winners and champions.
One of my sporting heroes is John Higgins.
At his best he held his nerve and conquered pressure.
Too many players look good when the pressure isn’t on.
Teemu Pukki and Evander Sno spring to mind.
No .
We must breed winners.
Celtic shirts don’t shrink.
(:-)
Hope you are well .
TT
TAL
Yeah Things did change around then with signing policy at deidco etc
There must have been a few bad decisions made at CP – unless it was a huge investment of resources we couldn’t match.
EUROCHAMPS67
Very good,mate. I also took the opportunity to read some of your archived material.
Same high standard,the joy afforded you by your family,Celtic,Greece and life in general,plain in your words.
HH
Played once for Man City in 2011 lol
Loaned out to 4 different clubs in 4 years, quality zombie signing!!
Daily record will have him as the new Kompany!!!
Mrhenrik67
“Daily record will have him as the new Kompany”
Or is it the new Klub?
I think the current strategy is absolutely the right one.
In the past, when called upon our kids have never let us down.
Marcus Fraser didn’t look out of place for 45 minutes against Porto a few years back and because of an absence of 1st team football he’s now with Ross County.
In theory, we have the best prospects in Scotland yet we are turning over less 1st team players than the smaller clubs working with supposed lesser prospects and it’s all down to an absence of not just 1st team football but the whole integration Ronny is talking about.
We have one hell of an articulate manager at the helm I really do believe that – he’s going to turn the club inside out in an Alex Ferguson mould knowing every inch of the club from u13’s up.
There is one critical aspect the theory relies upon – and that is that there are enough players of genuine potential ready to step forward.
Liam Henderson and Fraser aside we seem to have a track record of producing players who are vertically challenged – I don’t think we’ve produced a kid anywhere above 5ft 9in.
Hopefully we do, if we don’t then we are doing the right thing looking for other clubs babes such as this Man Utd kid.
So we are absolutely on the right track – whether it’s been dictated by our position within world football today or not.
The only thing grating me at the minute is how Mr Lawwell is running around negotiating sponsorship deals and in order to gain an extra £1m or so, it’s to the collective cost in the supporters pockets of circa £2-3m.
I am referring to the release of 3 x 1 year kits.
Canamalar
Haven’t played on red Blaise since mid 20’s
Still finding wee bits at the bottom of the bath…
Canamalar
I have for years felt that what you have said is the root problem in Scottish fitba.
Not enough meat actually going into the sausage machine.
Now if we were going to change our scouting and bring in kids from all over Europe , indeed the world.
Then Lennoxtown might be worth the investment.
I see and hear of no evidence of any such revolution in our scouting network .
It is only 2 or 3 years since we released almost every under 19 player in our squad , a few days after they won our national cup and were league champions
The very best crop of Scottish talent wasn’t near good enough to make it into our first team.
None if the players released have gone on to prove that we were wrong to release them.
The standard isn’t improving.
We are just going to expose them to first team football, but the standard of player won’t be any better.
TT
Reading back on Rangers latest signing target,one thing particularly caught my eye.
His three-year deal at Man City in 2011. Worth a million. Seems that was the pinnacle of his ambition,took the money and forgot how he achieved it in the first place.
Who knows,Rangers may well manage to reignite that hunger. But only if he’s skint!
Saltires in Seville, that puts you in your 80’s at least, well done for remembering that far back :)
Canamalar
You got me ;-)
CANAMALAR
To be fair,he looks pretty good for his age. The only giveaway was when he tried to buy a round wi a ten-bob note. And expected change.
TT,
The expense required to bring in kids from all over the world would be high, probably cheaper doing what they are now, hoping to pick up cheap young players rather than youth.
I’d say the problem is we keep missing the best young players in Scotland, or the best young players in Scotland won’t come to Celtic because they are not given the chance to develop in the first team.
saltires
Yeah! the institution certainly had the shipbuilding jobs pretty much sewed up. The tims were employed at a lesser rate of pay. Maybe in a state of helplessness, some of our own had to distance themselves from anything Celtic in order to provide for their families.
BMCUW,
Does he keep going on about all his own teeth :)
CANAMALAR
Not to me,no.
Looks like this boy will fit right in at the huns, rules, what rules
https://www.google.es/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1SKPL_enES430&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Reece+Wabarawww.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4562386/Man-Citys-Reece-Wabara-leaves-his-Porsche-on-the-pavement.html
HH
jamesgang
15:24 on
28 June, 2015
Leaving Manchester airport with da weans to become a turkey Bhoy for a week.
I got sunburn yesterday in Stirling for crying out loud!!!!!
HH jamesgang
Ahem,A capital T in Turkey young man..Schools eh !!!!!!.
Enjoy,weather is gorgeous at the moment.Around 34 degrees with a bit of a breeze here at the moment.
saltires en sevilla
16:30 on 28 June, 2015
Canamalar
Haven’t played on red Blaise since mid 20′s
Still finding wee bits at the bottom of the bath…
better then picking it oot yir knees.
Right you two buggers -enough :-)
TAL – all that was going on and Celts were losing out to Hertz Hibs who both had golden periods
Favourite Uncle
Ouch!
Could have been when the refs began their partizan trends
I think making it as a youngster has a touch of the lottery about it.
More likely the reason a lot of Celtic’s youngster’s never made it was to do with the inclomplete nature of the clubs playing systems,luck and poor choices by the scouting department.
Was the remit of youth and reserves purely to win?
Was there a protocol for youth to move through the ranks?
There are obviously some very talented players in the system and will be interesting to see if RD has closed the obvious gaps in our footballing systems.
So far he is making the right noises but only time will tell.
The lack of youngsters playing the game in Scotland is a worry and with the clowns administering the game in Scotland this is a serious concern.
Amazing ! HH
http://i.imgur.com/oFBABHp.jpg
Canamalar
16:47 on 28 June
That far back ?
They didn’t put something in the water back when we produced the lions.
To be the best Scotland you had to be one hell of a player.
Numbers is the answer
The govt shd make football part of the curriculum in this country.
1 hour every day
Once you,re exposed to the beautiful game and you find you’ve got a knack for it your hooked
And we’ve got a steady stream of emerging talent for the tic
The health benefits for the country would also be good
But its jinkys and Bertie aulds we want
Great to hear that Ronny will be giving the youths an opportunity. And I don’t think he’d have said this unless he had seen them and believed they were good enough.
Maybe that has been the problem before, but we have brought in too many players who just haven’t been good enough.
Good times ahead!
saltires
I knew that – being a Lothian bhoy.
I just wouldn’t let it get in the way of my bigoted beliefs :-)
Celtic F C Take a stadium tour for 10 £ pounds 6 £ concessions .and thats all it will be all over in 30 mins, no cafes no bars for a pint or whatever.no this mob is so out of touch with the ordinary fan,tell them to stick it,as i have said manys a time on here,them that run our club at present need chased down London Road ,no ambition ,but if you are a wealthy supporter its the red carpet treatment.
SALTIRESINSEVILLA
TEUCHTERARLA
CANAMALAR
Nicked from KDS website,a few examples of hunnish refereeing,but they go way further back than these.
Topic Started: 12 Mar 2010, 05:14 PM (1,128 Views)
John_D 12 Mar 2010, 05:14 PM Post #1 [Tweet]
First team training
Joined:
10 August 2008
I partake in a Fantasy Football League with various friends and acquaintances. One of them, a Falkirk fan, piped up after the last old firm game, in the email list we all contribute to, that Celtic fans were paranoid and it was all in our minds etc.
I have written the following as a response and will send it later on.
I put a post here a wee while ago asking for examples of anti-Celtic bias and cheating, and saying that I’d compile a definitive dossier. My post disappeared, I think. I didn’t ask questions. Maybe the moderators thought it too negative or confrontational. Nevertheless the text below is a mini-dossier. Feel free to ram it down the throat of anybody who claims that the game in Scotland is fair and hunky-dory.
“I try not to get too worked up about football nowadays – I’m a grown man.
We can nit-pick over minor incidents all day. For example, v Falkirk a few months ago Artur Boruc was penalised for carrying the ball outside the box at Celtic Park. TV evidence showed he was at least 2 yards inside when the ball left his hands (the linesman is clearly visible in the same TV pictures). I can’t remember the last time I’ve even seen that foul given in a match. Fortune was ploughed in the penalty box soon afterwards and Celtic got nothing. But that’s football, you can debate this stuff all day.
What you can’t debate are the proven occasions on which Celtic suffer from institutional bias.
As we probably already know, Scotland could have fielded the entire Lisbon Lions, widely acknowledged as one of the best teams of all time, but instead gave the vast majority of them hardly any international caps. Very curious.
But of course things have moved on since then. That’s why in 1999 the Chief Executive of the SFA had to resign when it was revealed that he deliberately delayed the registration of Jorge Cadete to make sure Cadete missed Celtic games towards the end of the season (including a match v Rangers which Celtic lost 2-1). The wrongdoing was denied by the SFA and only exposed when Celtic owner Fergus McCann demanded the case was examined by an independent commission. The commission declared Celtic’s case “unopposable”. To my knowledge nobody at the SFA has ever had to quit for delaying the registration of a Rangers player.
In near enough the present day, 2008, the new Chief Executive of the SFA, Gordon Smith, tried to alter the rules of the SPL competition to assist Rangers. Gordon Smith wanted to see to it that Rangers got more time to play their remaining fixtures. The SPL is, unfortunately for Gordon Smith, a competition which the SFA doesn’t run and his bid failed. (The fixture backlog was also contributed to by Rangers voluntarily rescheduling games earlier in the season. Smith didn’t say much about that.) To my knowledge nobody at the SFA appealed for Celtic to be allowed to reschedule their final league game of the season in 2003, despite knowing Celtic would have to play the match just 80 or so hours after contesting the UEFA Cup final in 100 degree heat.
Away from administration and on the field of play, it’s also undeniable that Rangers benefit from some extraordinary refereeing, especially towards the end of the season. Consider the following examples and try to find similar astonishing examples of erratic refereeing in Celtic’s favour. You will have your work cut out.
On May 2nd 1998 Rangers played a total of 8 minutes injury time vs Kilmarnock in a match they were desperate to win to set a new league record of “10 in a row”. The match was refereed by a Mr Tait, who was allowed to chose the match as his final game before retirement! The 8 minutes of injury time backfired as Ally Mitchell scored a winner for Kilmarnock.
It’s 2nd May 2003 at Dens Park, and the title is going right down to the wire (and would eventually be decided on the final day on goal difference). Rangers go a goal up thanks to a Lee Wilkie OG, then go 2-1 down. They then get a penalty, miss it, a 2nd penalty, which they also miss, and then a third penalty, which they manage to score (phew). That’s 3 penalties in about a 45 minute period once it becomes clear rangers are playing badly. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2003/may/05/match.sport2
It’s 10th May 2008 and Rangers are desperate for points vs Dundee United (spotting a pattern here?). They beat Dundee United 3-1, but only after some amazing decisions by ref Mike McCurry. Dundee United manager Craig Levein went on the record: “”Anybody who is of a fair mind watching that today would see that we had no chance of winning that. We get a perfectly good goal chalked off and a blatant penalty, with not even a decision to make, and it should’ve been a sending off.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/d/dundee_utd/7393800.stm
These are just a few examples which spring easily to mind. There are undoubtedly many more. There was the Andy Davis debacle at Tynecastle, or the mysterious case of Paul Gascoigne, but was still virtually immune from being sent off while playing for Rangers in Scotland (despite leaving opponents needing stitches on several occasions, and being red-carded in two out of only approximately ten appearances for Rangers in Europe).
But never mind me, what does a legend of the game like Billy McNeil make of all of this? “Celtic have been suffering referee injustices against Rangers for 50 years. The big decisions have always gone against my club and in favour of Rangers. Nothing has changed. I felt that way as a player, during two spells as manager and now as a spectator. This season I’ve seen it in each of three derbies – and what happened at Ibrox on Sunday was as disappointing as any I’ve had to stomach. I believe that when it comes to players being red-carded and booked, Rangers have been more favourably treated than Celtic. Yes, we have been unfairly treated.”
The ridiculous decisions in the three old firm matches this season would be comical if they didn’t represent the latest in a long line of extraordinary decisions against Celtic in the fixture.
Let’s finish up with a little game of word association. Walter Smith walks out on Scotland during a qualification campaign to manage Rangers. Aiden McGeady decided to play international football for Ireland, a country which coached him since before he was a teenager. Which one, according to popular opinion fanned by the media, “betrayed” Scotland?
Anybody impartial would review the evidence set out above and conclude that bias against Celtic isn’t just real – it’s absolutely rampant.”
mild mannered Pedro delgado
16:51 on 28 June, 2015
I can’t help thinking that poverty and lack of opportunity to do anything other than kick a tanner ball about might be the answer.
I acknowledge the fact i’ve never woken up to a blank blog, however, not not to walka mile in read half of the article nefore
I think our playing style has hindered youngsters in the past. We have prioritised physically tough players who can win a battle against Rangers and other SPL clubbers.
Ronny’s a bit more confident that we can win these games with pace, superior skill and better organisation.
It’ll also help that he has a distinctive style that can be filtered through the squad. It works for Barca.
What’s a hairy pro? samaras ?
Celtic prospects Marcus Fraser and Paul George have already both been freed this summer and giving youth a chance is fine, but as others will point out we remain a buying club, always have been IMHO. Yes, there have been one or two gems along the way but in recent years and certainly from the McCann revolution Celtic have buy our stars.
The problem with buying footballers, like buying anything else is, is your budget and your market place, right now we’re stuck in stinkaroo strikersville.
That has to change, if there’s one thing Scotland rarely produces is a stiker. a specialist and this is reflected with the failures we’ve bought from far and wide, and the quality of a vacant position we still we seek.
I cringe when I see some of the names Celtic are linked with and wish others would come true ;
Martin Ødegaard – Real Madrid – 16 – Midfielder – Various – Various
Zakaria Bakkali – PSV – 19 – Midfielder – Various – Various
Nadir Çiftçi – Dundee Utd – 23 – Forward – Various – Various
Gary Hooper – Norwich – 27 – Forward – Various – Various
John McGinn – St. Mirren – 20 – Midfielder – Various – Various
Ahmad Benali – Brescia – 23 – Midfielder – Various – Various
Sergio Araujo – Las Palmas – 23 – Forward – Various – Various
William Troost-Ekong – FC Groningen – 21 – Defender – Dutch Media – 11/03/15
Scott Bain – Dundee – 23 – Goalkeeper – Scotsman – 24/03/15
Luke Garbutt – Everton – 21 – Defender – CelticQuickNews – 30/03/15
Tiago Ilori – Liverpool – 22 – Defender – Scotsman – 30/03/15
Alireza Jahanbakhsh – NEC – 21 – Midfielder – Daily Record – 31/03/15
Danny Wilson – Hearts – 23 – Defender – Daily Mail – 31/03/15
Alan Dunne – Millwall – 32 – Defender – Daily Mail – 1/04/15
Diego De Girolamo – Sheffield United – 19 – Midfielder – Daily Mail – 6/04/15
Papy Djilobodji – Nantes – 26 – Defender – Express – 6/04/15
Ross McCormack – Fulham – 28 – Forward – FootballLeagueWorld – 9/04/15
Jonathan Mensah – Evian – 24 – Defender – Daily Record – 16/04/15
Barry Douglas – Lech Poznań – 25 – Defender – Scotsman – 16/04/15
Dedryck Boyata – Man City – 24 – Defender – Scotsman – 17/04/15 – Signed 2/06/15
Josh Ginnelly – Shrewsbury Town – 18 – Midfielder – Scotsman – 21/04/15
Brandon Mechele – Club Brugge – 22 – Defender – Daily Express – 22/04/15
Juanan Entrena – Lierse S.K. – 18 – Midfielder – Spanish Media – 24/04/15
Rafael van der Vaart – Hamburg – 32 – Midfielder – Scotsman – 25/04/15
Ben Kennedy – Stevenage – 18 – Midfielder – FootballLeagueWorld – 27/04/15
John Souttar – Dundee Utd – 18 – Defender – Daily Mail – 29/04/15
Mitchell Dijks – Willem II – 22 – Defender – The Sun – 1/05/15
Jonathas de Jesus – Pescara – 26 – Forward – Sky Sports – 4/05/15
Ørjan Nyland – Molde – 24 – Goalkeeper – CaughtOffside – 5/05/15
Kenny Otigba – SC Heerenveen – 22 – Defender – Daily Express – 5/05/15
Gavin Whyte – Crusaders FC – 19 – Midfielder – Daily Express – 7/05/15
Kingsley Madu – Trenčín – 19 – Defender – Dutch Media – 9/05/15
Timothy Fosu-Mensah – Man Utd – 17 – Defender – African Media – 9/05/15
Lee Erwin – Motherwell – 21 – Forward – The Sun – 13/05/15
Rodolph Austin – Leeds – 29 – Midfielder – HITC.com – 14/05/15
Zouhair Feddal – Parma – 26 – Defender – Italian Media – 20/05/15
Jeff Hendrick – Derby – 23 – Midfielder – Football League World – 22/05/15
Erick Gutiérrez – C.F. Pachuca – 19 – Midfielder – Mexican Media – 23/05/15
Rafał Janicki – Lechia Gdańsk – 22 – Defender – Polish Media – 27/05/15
Scott Allan – Hibs – 23 – Midfielder – Daily Mail – 28/05/15
Anthony Mounier – Montpellier – 27 – Midfielder – The Sun – 29/05/15
Youssouf Mulumbu – West Brom – 28 – Midfielder – Football League World – 29/05/15
Max Power – Tranmere Rovers – 21 – Midfielder – Coventry Telegraph – 2/06/15
Michał Żyro – Legia Warsaw – 22 – Midfielder – Football League World – 2/06/15
Erik Johansson – Malmö FF – 26 – Defender – Swedish Media – 2/06/15
Aatif Chahechouhe – Sivasspor – 28 – Midfielder – Turkish Medoa – 3/06/15
Juan Delgado – Colo-Colo – 22 – Forward – South American Media – 3/06/15
Michel Babatunde – Volyn Lutsk – 22 – Midfielder – Nigerian Media – 3/06/15
Nicky Maynard – Cardiff City – 28 – Forward – Yorkshire Evening Post – 4/06/15
Fahd Moufi – Lyon – 19 – Defender – French Media – 5/06/15
Juwon Oshaniwa – Ashdod – 24 – Defender – Daily Record – 5/06/15
Steven Fletcher – Sunderland – 28 – Forward – Various – 5/06/15
Veton Berisha – Viking FK – 21 – Forward – Norwegian Media – 6/06/15
Kim Young-gwon – Guangzhou Evergrande – 25 – Defender – Daily Star – 7/06/15
Marvin Johnson – Motherwell – 24 – Midfielder – HITC – 9/06/15
Sergi Darder – Malaga – 21 – Midfielder – Italian Media – 13/06/15
Milan Đurić – Cesena – 25 – Forward – Italian Media – 15/06/15
Marcel Halstenberg – St. Pauli – 23 – Defender – German Media – 15/06/15
Joan Oriol – Rapid București – 28 – Defender – Scotsman – 17/06/15
Jelle Vossen – KRC Genk – 26 – Forward – The Sun – 18/06/15
Erik Sviatchenko – FC Midtjylland – 23 – Defender – Scotsman – 18/06/15
Fran Sol – Villarreal – 23 – Forward – HITC – 20/06/15
Kara Mbodj – KRC Genk – 25 – Defender – Daily Mail – 22/06/15
Saidy Janko – Man Utd – 19 – Defender – Various – 24/06/15
Plenty of time CSC
A wee stats update on my daughter Janice67 and the 1000 who took part in ‘Living below the Line on £1 per day’ – week before last.
Over £88K (and counting) was raised for UNICEF. Janice’s Group and the The McConnell Foundation got a top 10 finish – raising over £10K.
She sends her grateful thanks to all who contributed! XX
Ernie
So you’re not votinging for me to be minister for sports :))