So far, it is clear that Covid hygiene rules were not followed at St Mirren, where seven non-playing staff tested positive for the virus. Additionally, the SFA have launched an investigation into allegations Newco fielded nine players against Dundee United on Wednesday without receiving the required negative test results.
The anomaly came to light because Newco arranged two games on Wednesday. Motherwell, their opponents in the second game, had their results delayed by the same testing backlog. This brought attention to the fact that neither club received the all-clear until Wednesday evening, several hours after the Newco-Dundee United game.
There are significant health and commercial risks at play here. The seven staff at St Mirren could easily (and may have) infect the playing staff. If St Mirren then played a game, the virus would almost certainly infect not only the rest of the team but their opponents. Games involving these teams would be postponed for weeks, perhaps months. Dozens of carriers would travel home from that game and Scotland would have a fresh wave to worry about.
The SFA Joint Response Group reached a deal with the Scottish Government on how and when to return to training and then games, all predicated on safety rules being adhered to. Celtic, and others, have transformed their stadiums into an environment where socially distanced spectators can attend safely and be seen to do so.
They want fans back soon and wait on Government clearance. That possibility disappeared yesterday, when allegations emerged that one club has been cheating. Football is as trustworthy as its greatest rogue. I doubt the SFA considered how to discipline a club that flaunts Covid rules and risks the entire game in this country. No fine would be large enough to match the financial consequences for others.
There is no infection at Ibrox, the pain of any breach there will be felt by fans of all clubs not attending fixtures until later. St Mirren were less negligent but their issue is more serious and spooked me. If this happened in my workplace, when most others have returned to work, it could threaten the entire business. We are going to move into a stage when most of the world is getting on with things, and some businesses will be halted by infection, acute illness and worse.
I have spoken to staff at Celtic who have been impressed at the processes in place to protect club employees from infection, from everything I hear, we are getting things right. The evidence elsewhere is that others are complacent. If that is allowed to continue, next season and the health of many is in jeopardy.
You have to wonder what’s in the water at Ibrox with the incessant flouting of rules.
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STEPHBHOY67 on 25TH JULY @ 1:31 PM,
“Just to confirm I would like a 1st choice gk and leftsided centreback and I would take any other players who are better than what we have in our starting 11, but I dont want some journeyman who will come in play 5 games a season in which they adds nothing better than an academy player, reduces an academy players opportunities and take a fortune that could be better spent. That also applies to loans, I am happy to have quality loan players but I dont want unless better than what we have.
I agree we have reduced numbers significantly this season. Add 3 players of a higher quality in correct areas and we will benefit far more than signing 6 or 9 journeyman to fill a gap taking £5 million or so a year for jack.
We have produced a lot of good players over the years. I would like to see a better balance so that the transition from academy to first team is more thoughtfully managed. Many of our best academy graduates have broken through because of a percieved lack of cover, rather than being viewed as the cover. The most recent example recently left our club for £25 million pounds. If we want the best young players to co.e to us and to break through and we want a world class academy we need to integrate the 17, 18, 19 and 20 year olds players it into the first team picture.”
Well, that has to be agreed, I always thought the money, coaching time, training time, physio time etc that we spend on journeymen, prospects and projects are a huge waste of the Club’s precious resources.
I was wanting to keep my cynicism of the Board out of this but when we get to the heart of the matter it’s always the elephant in the room.
So two points, our academy has been under resourced therefore has underperformed since inception, infact since Tommy was asked to fulfill the role of first team coach as well as run the academy the writing was on the wall.
Some may point to the “stars” that have come through, yet it is no more than Barrowfield has historically provided. In fact we have never got close to the golden era of the quality street kids but the likes of Aitken, Burns and McStay came after them.
Yet not enough and not of sufficent quality, so the academy was set up but imo not resourced or run as a first class, modern football academy, so the results haven’t changed. Only a change of mindset will bring a change in results in this regard.
The second point is this, we can out muscle Rangers financially, if it’s deemed that we need better then bringing the players in is a cheque book signing away.
The issue being though when do we do it? In recent years the Board have rarely been willing to fork out the money to get a quality first team ready footballer in. You could argue Julien last season and Odsonne before tick that box, so it’s not unheard off.
Yet if the Board feel that we have enough to win the league they may feel that after strengthening the obvious holes in the team that this will do for now during these straitened times.
Come the end of September we will see how we are getting on domestically and in Europe, we will also see what Rangers have got. At that point the bargining becomes real in the transfer market and our financial muscle allows us to strengthen where necessary.
Now that strategy may well work but if it doesn’t we may end up in the middle of October with too little, too late. Why risk the TEN?
Hail Hail
Chairbhoy 9.27am
Let’s be honest your cynicism of the board is the crux of nearly every one of your posts (and quite rightly so if that’s how you feel :-)
“Why risk the TEN”
Surely football is a sport …. and with no “risk” what’s the point ?
Guys I’m logging into VST homescreen and its saying:
PSG v CELTIC
Kick off 18.00 blah blah blah
Is this on everyone’s?
It’s on my son in laws and nephews right enough.
D :)
Morning all,
On the transfer front. I watched the last Edinburgh derby last season and I have to say I was impressed with Hickey and Boyle. Hickey has great potential and, dare I say it, given the correct coaching, could be the next Kieran. Controversial I know but that’s just my opinion. As for Boyle, he has pace to burn and could be a great impact sub. If the price is right I would have them both. Thoughts anyone?.
David 66
I logged on last night to preview and it was same for me Celticfcpass.com.com is best way to go in
Good morning everyone..
Its been many many many years since I last posted.
I am looking very much forward to the new season, worries? That we lose key players once the transfer window opens thus disrupting a strong and settled side.
People need to stop stressing about the restart of the season as we have a team capable of doing damage domestically as we stand.
Tranfers will commence once all markets open… We have a really opportunity to buy smart and get real value with teams desperate to balance books post lockdown.
This is the case with big fraser…. I reckon we WILL get him and we will get him at a good price.
A GK LB CB a must plus a top quality striker on loan and I will be happy
no to both
BT – Cheers
I have the old fire stick with iptv as back up.
D :)
Good morning all, due To some bad planning on my part I will be driving from Glasgow to Inverness during the game. I,d appreciate updates during the game if that is possible – Thanks H H Hebcelt
JIMTIM on 25TH JULY 2020 4:51 PM
SUPERSUTTON on 25TH JULY 2020 3:16 PM
You mean to say that your not concerned by those statistics . All those big guys attack corners and all the free kicks they will be awarded , just me then . Did we not lose a header when they beat us in December . Just asking . Anyway it was just what I thought a possible danger to us . Have a nice day .
————
Not overly concerned. Every team loses goals to headers. We also score a few. It’s not a prevalent statistic against us as far as I know. Julienne, Ajer, Bitton, Elhamed are all big guys too.
So, yep, I’m pretty relaxed about it.
And don’t forget, those big guys they have are lumps of wood when it comes to defending. Moi, Eddie, Forrest, McGregor, Christie, Rogic, will have a field day.
CHAIRBHOY on 26TH JULY 2020 9:26 AM
This is the very first time I have head that Lennoxtown is under-resourced.
Do you have any detail of this, or can you expand more ?
It is certainly one reason why a world class facility has not produced world class results..
HH.
HEBCELT on 26TH JULY 2020 10:05 AM
Good morning all, due To some bad planning on my part I will be driving from Glasgow to Inverness during the game. I,d appreciate updates during the game if that is possible – Thanks H H Hebcelt
———
How do you put CQN on audio ? 😁
Cheers and HH.
Hebcelt10.05
My wife will give you hell for looking at your phone whilst driving.
You’ll gather that it is something that I have never done.(:-)
TT
Good morning from a bright North staffs
Friendlies on Celtic TV in UK and Ireland as well as worldwide.
Mrs Hebcelt will be scanning the phone, audio,would love to find out how to get it H H Hebcelt
Ron67
Frank and to the point 😂. All about opinions I suppose.
CELTIC: Bain, Frimpong, Jullien, Ajer, Taylor, Brown, McGregor, Forrest, Christie, Elyounoussi, Edouard.
Subs: Hazard, Klimala, Connell, McInroy, Welsh, Dembele
Today’s starting line up v Ross County ……
Bain; Frimpong, Jullien, Ajer, Taylor; Brown, McGregor , Forrest, Christie, Elyounoussi, Edouard
Subs: Hazard, Klimala, Connell, McInroy, Welsh, Dembele
Lille agreed terms with FatBoy
So much for the Griffiths returns rumours.
Interesting to see N’tcham omitted
i am guessing tomorrow’s team will include Elhamed, N’tcham, Rogic and Griff with Klimala starting unless he has to play too much of today’s game
Well that’s the Ten gone!
Who’ll miss their sitters now that Morelos has gone?
Teams up
D :)
Ooops
D :)
GFTB @ 9:33 AM,
Actually I did say last season sounding like a broken record was not my aim so I’d shut-up and enjoy the football, which I did – enjoy the football that is:)
So to the point, what constitutes “risk” for Celtic.
Competitive Sport is about excellence, about overachieving, about giving your all, about fine margins.
Yet Celtic fc will not risk financial downturn, even if it’s moderate rather than catostrophic failure (which is of course is just pure recklessness – see RFC 2012). By erring on the side of caution they put 70% of the resources back into the Club… that isn’t as bad as Rangers putting 130% of resources into the Club but imo still not good.
We want to be the best Celtic we can be.
GREENPINATA @ 10:49 AM,
I’d like to know a lot more about the evolution of the Academy but from what I understand, at the turn of the century many of the top performing Clubs and Countries had first rate Academies, Rangers had plans to open Murray Park so it was decided Celtic would develop one.
Tommy Burns was made head of youth development and was working towards building and running an Academy of Excellence.
Celtic raised the money to build the facility through a share issue and Lennoxtown came to being.
Yet during that period Tommy had a dual role, being a first team coach for Gordon Strachan as well. His record of youth development 2000-05 was very good.
Now looking back – time giving us 20/20 hindsight – we can see, that by the time Lennotown was built the Academy was not resourced as a school of excellence.
Some great coaches and great players involved but if you look at what other Academies that gave the blueprint for Lennoxtown have achieved (TB had done a huge amount of research) you can see it hasn’t succeeded to anything like that level and in fact hasn’t really improved youth development from what went before.
The fact is now, Lennoxtown is the training centre for the first team and most of the youth development still goes on at Barrowfield.
If we were serious about it there would be a Head of Academy who would be Board level, modern facilities and state of the art equipment and techniques and a clear pathway for the players to develop through the youth/development squads to the first team.
Clear and ambitious aims and objectives, such as Barcelona’s stated aim to field a first team of La Masia graduates, selected purely on merit.
Twenty years on from the original vision and we are talking about upgrading Barrowfield.
Hail Hail
Bayern Munich have a good enough opinion of what we are producing at Lennoxtown. They have just stolen 2 of our best prospects. That’s the world within which we have to be excellent. So we have stolen overlooked gems from Man City, Southampton, Man U and Arsenal.
How many La Masia graduates make the huge journet to the Barca first team? How many Man City youngsters, apart from Foden? Are Celtic’s stats much worse than other teams?
As far as I can see, only Arsenal play a wheen of academy graduates, and their results suffer for it. There is no doubt they have lots of talented youngsters there but they struggle to blend them into first team without detriment to results.
Logged in to my VST no problem. Hope that’s a good omen for the coming season
TERRY MCGUINNESS on 26TH JULY 2020 6:42 AM
FRANKTERRY on 26TH JULY 2020 3:11 AM
‘I think you’re correct Frank. I don’t even think that he had a lot of support from Labour MPs, only a small amount. The GB MSM certainly had the boot in for him. I wonder what they all feared? Certainly, 600,000 members for Corbyn, apparently, several hundred thousand have joined WPB @WorkersPartyGB. That’s a, working class, socialist, party, who are supposedly even more radical than Lab2017 manifesto. So no doubt they’ll be the new whipping boys of the GB MSM. We’ll soon see.’
###
The situation with the Labour Party under Starmer is dire, but not so dire that an organisation that is no more than a vehicle for the populist, opportunistic, ego maniac that is George Galloway could ever be the answer.
BTW, there was nothing particularly radical about the Labour Party manifesto. It was pretty much middle of the road stuff. That wasn’t what caused such consternation among Corbyn’s enemies. It was the possibility of a realignment of foreign policy in the Middle East under a Corbyn led government.
ADI_DASSLER NOT FOR 2ND BEST on 26TH JULY 2020 11:57 AM
‘Lille agreed terms with FatBoy’
####
I doubt Fatboy’s terms were ever going to be the stumbling block.
Cheers Chairbhoy.
Seems s bit odd that they played him yesterday if he was for the off.
PAULOANTONY
Good to see you posting sir
SFtBs @ 12:13 PM,
“Bayern Munich have a good enough opinion of what we are producing at Lennoxtown. They have just stolen 2 of our best prospects. That’s the world within which we have to be excellent.”
Well, maybe it would be better if our best prospects had a good enough opinion of Celtic’s Academy that they wanted to stay there.
If this is where excellence is then we will have to up our game to compete.
If the folk involved in Wycombe Wanderers had the same mindset as the folk who currently run Celtic they would be playing in the Conference next saeson not the Championship.
GREENPINATA @ 12:37 PM,
Of course it’s just my take but you’re more than welcome.
Hail Hail
Log in working fine on Firestick
From last night- a pal is a sponsor at St Mirren, and they want Bayo on loan
Celtic academy players can walk into outfits like Wycombe as Jack Aitchison showed.
Suggesting Hepburn & Morrison should prefer Celtic to Bayern is the same as saying Tierney should have stayed.
Match is underway now
1 up OG
1″0 Celtic O.G.