Scouting and development, from Lanarkshire to Dumfries

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There’s some fresh enthusiasm in Lanarkshire this morning with the appointment of Englishman Ian Baraclough as Motherwell manager.  Baraclough had a couple of successful years with Sligo Rovers from 2012-14, winning their first title in decades, before things fell apart this year, but his role as a scout for Huddersfield over the last six months is likely to interest Motherwell as much.

Motherwell directors have had a long-term tradition when looking for a manager of saying they want someone ‘plugged into’ the scouting and agent network.  This game is all about the right contacts, you don’t get to acquire a promising Blackburn Rovers reserve (as Motherwell once did), but this particular activity is also very competitive.

The small matter of how to deploy players is, of course, equally important, but if you’re Motherwell, Celtic or Barcelona, that call is a shot in the dark.

I watched newco Rangers for the first time last night, although I ended up watching a lot more Queen of the South than I expected.  The latter, each of them journeymen, were excellent, the former were symptomatic of everything that’s wrong with comfortably well-off footballers.  Newco’s medium-term future, if they have one, will be to spend the next few years building a self-sustaining lower league club, capable of winning promotion and remaining a top-flight football team thereafter.

Get along to Celtic Park early tomorrow, Davie Hay will be signing copies of Caesar & the Assassin in the Superstore.  If you ask him nicely he’s promised to sign your CQN Annual too.  Don’t forget your camera!

Also remember to look out for the Foundation bucketeers as you approach the ground or enter the turnstiles.  My boys and me will be at the North Stand, turnstiles 1-13, say hello if you’re around.

Thanks to everyone who donated to Mary’s Meals yesterday, the response was overwhelming.  Emails went out this morning to winners of the Magners’ tickets.

You can order your CQN Annual here, or get a special Annual-DVD bundle here.

As a special offer, everyone who buys an Annual, or bundle, before Christmas will be entered into a prize draw for a VIP Meal of 4 at a Celtic Park restaurant on a match day. One entry for each Annual bought; pile in.

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804 Comments

  1. gerryfaethebrig

     

     

    ‘always will be slice sausage, the answer is in the question, the sausage gets sliced not squared’

     

     

    ——-

     

     

    I’ve read so many simple yet profound truths on CQN in recent years. This crashes into the top 10 my little pop pickers!

     

     

    ;-)

     

     

    HH jamesgang

  2. From TET’s quoted interview with Agent Whyte

     

     

    ‘“Secondly it’s not safe to go to trial in Edinburgh every day”

     

     

    Wow maybe he really is one of us!?!

     

     

    HH jamesgang

  3. Good morning friends from a pretty wet and windy East Kilbride.

     

     

    A day for keeping the high balls low.

  4. Headline from The Scotsman website,

     

     

    ‘Santa threat can have ‘negative effect on child’

     

     

    Santa never threatened me. Not to my knowledge has Santa ever threatened my children.

     

     

    Ergo it’s a framing job.

     

    Ergo Focus is in da House

     

    Ergo Santa is in the Green Brigade

     

     

    MissMarpleCSC

     

     

    HH jamesgang

  5. Leftclicktic:

     

     

    I only copied and pasted it from – Don’t Let It Be Forgot.

     

     

    It just seemed to resonate and be appropriate when Celtic appear to be looking back to their roots and offering a wee helping hand to the homeless, the unemployed and the’ less fortunates’.

     

     

    Their ‘give away’ ticket to season ticket holders is almost a hark back to the days of the ‘lift-over’ and I hope that as many as possible seats are filled by kids who couldn’t otherwise ever get in to see Celtic.

     

     

    I’m all for Celtic making money I’m more for people making Celtic a club to awe.

     

     

    Celtic should be applauded for their initiative.

  6. Tom ,

     

     

    With licensing laws on a Sunday preventing no

     

    pubs etc opening before 1230pm then I supect

     

    it may be closed :(

  7. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon ....The angels are with Wee Oscar in Heaven.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors on

    neil lennon & mccartney

     

     

    04:56 on 14 December, 2014

     

     

    I want some of what you’ve been drinking….. :). :)

  8. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon ....The angels are with Wee Oscar in Heaven.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors on

    kitalba

     

     

    09:25 on 14 December, 2014

     

     

    Here, Here. and HH……..!!!!

  9. That’ll be the same Delaney’s who hands out Christmas presents to friends and family ….. they rip it open to be met with the message ‘Celtic 3 points against Ross County for your Christmas I hope….’

     

     

    FrugalCSC

     

     

    ;-)

     

     

    HH jamesgang

  10. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon ....The angels are with Wee Oscar in Heaven.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors on

    Only an hour now til I leave for the game…..wee bit windae, so nae swim this morning….hahahahahahaha

  11. 67heaven … i am neil lennon ….the angels are with wee oscar in heaven.. ibrox belongs to the creditors

     

     

    09:31 on 14 December, 2014

     

    Only an hour now til I leave for the game…..wee bit windae, so nae swim this morning….hahahahahahaha

     

     

    ——

     

     

    cos farting in the bath is always mingin’!

     

     

    HH jamesgang

  12. I went to the ticket office on Tuesday and acquired 3 free tickets for today. We are giving them to an old friend and his 2 grand-daughters 6 and 11. The youngest has never been to a game and apparently couldn’t sleep last night. I remember that feeling the night before my first game.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  13. Gerryfraethebrig

     

     

    Sadly your education at St Ambrose has left a lot to be desired.

     

     

    I was born in Gartsherrie by the way, the old rows…..49 long row to be precise and if you think Gartsherrie is a wee Bridgeton, believe me you wouldn’t believe…..ach feck it, that’s all in the past….

     

     

    HOWEVER, In Coatbridge whether you went to Penders or Allisons even but only if everything else was shut and your aim was off when stoning rabbits……It was always A pound or two or whatever of SQUARE SLICED.

     

     

    That is because there was round sliced, round unsliced, square unsliced.

     

     

    As for your ridiculous assertion re St Pat’s – the intellectual capital of the academic universe now sadly gone under the heavy hand of numbnuts – St Ambrose started as the catchment for anyone who didn’t quite manage to handle a knife and fork and to be fair has maintained that reputation ever since producing a whole unrivalled stream of world beating jannies and cleaners.

     

     

    I was the first bhoy and boy baptised in the new font of St Bartholomews on Jan 4th 1954…..beaten to the ultimate honour by Mary Cairns who lived at 37 Long Row,

     

     

    Hail hail

     

     

    Estadio (who knows lots of good folk from Gartsherrie AND St Ambrose) :) :)

  14. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon ....The angels are with Wee Oscar in Heaven.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors on

    Pod i & Jungle Jim

     

     

    Happy birdie to youse, happy birdie to youse….

     

    Happy birdie to you-ous, happy .biiiiirdie to yoouussee

  15. Hearing that ole Eurochamps67 has arranged a post-match pre-Christmas licensed Gazebo meet up in the suburb of Lower East Kilbride. All welcome. So if anyone fancies a quick meet up around 3.15 drop me an email jobobaldie@yahoo.co.uk and I’ll supply what limited furtehr info that I know of.

     

     

    secretsquirrelCSC

  16. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon ....The angels are with Wee Oscar in Heaven.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors on

    tom mclaughlin

     

     

    09:32 on 14 December, 2014

     

     

    Absolutely brilliant….!!!!

  17. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon ....The angels are with Wee Oscar in Heaven.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors on

    jamesgang

     

     

    09:32 on 14 December, 2014

     

     

    Have you been looking in my bathroom window …..hahahahahahaha

  18. RANGERS players last night rallied round boss Ally McCoist and insisted they don’t want him 
to quit.

     

     

    HEAR HEAR!!!

  19. Delaney’s

     

     

    I very much hope so. It would make my day.

     

     

    67 Heaven

     

     

    I very much hope not. We’d both be traumatised I fear!

     

     

    ;-)

     

     

    HH jamesgang

  20. Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Oscar Knox, MacKenzie Furniss and anyone else who fights Neuroblastoma on

    Good Morning All.

     

     

    I will be somewhere outside Celtic Park today standing with a bucket collecting for the CFC foundation.

     

     

    If you see me say hello and if you can spare a couple of bob then even better.

     

     

    KItalba

     

     

    Those were great stories.

  21. The Oxford English Dictionary on

    I must say that I like Craigy bhoys new look – kind of handsome in the style of Alan B’stard don’t you think?

  22. Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire on

    shamrock hoops

     

     

    09:41 on 14 December, 2014

     

    RANGERS players last night rallied round boss Ally McCoist and insisted they don’t want him 
to quit.

     

     

    HEAR HEAR!!!

     

     

    OR

     

    Rangers players last night rallied round boss Ally McCoist and were knackered.

  23. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon ....The angels are with Wee Oscar in Heaven.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors on

    estadio

     

     

    07:24 on 14 December, 2014

     

     

    No contest….Jose…..oor Craig would not lie…….. he is our best undercover agent.

  24. Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire

     

     

    He’s their meal ticket why would they want him to quit, baddies like Daly, Black and Miller know the game is up if he waddles…

     

     

    Mon the Hoops give us the six point gap..

  25. Gerryfaethebrig on

    Estadio

     

     

    I was more or less born in Gartsherrie (Alexander Hospital) wasn’t bad mouthing the place just some of the people who reside in it, trust me around the marching season which now seems to last 12 months of the year it is not the best place to live early in July, I was and still am a Penders fan, even though the family were more fond of that team from Govan it is still a great butchers, as for St Ambrose hope you aren’t blaming the schools we hear enough of that elsewhere

     

    Take care & Hail Hail

  26. Joe Filippis Haircut on

    Will Scepovic get a starting place today ? will Griffiths get a game ? will Lustig return ? will Commons play ? so many questions for Rony to answer. I hope we are more clinical in front of goal today and can score more than one goal Saints have not been playing all that well recently surely this is a chance for us to increase our goals for stats. H.H.

  27. FAVOURITE UNCLE on

    kitalba

     

     

     

     

    08:07 on

     

     

    14 December, 2014

     

    ..

     

     

    great KIT sitting here crying.what was the final score./??????

  28. Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire on

    jfh,

     

    It’s normal for teams to bounce back after a manager finishes, I hope we hammer them

     

     

    Hoopy buffday buffday BHOYS