Bobby Collins left Celtic in 1958 after nine years’ service. He’d won the Cup, the Double, the Coronation Cup, and, of course, the 1957 League Cup Final – Hampden in the Sun, Celtic 7, Rangers 1.
He went on to have a great career at Everton and to make a transformational contribution to Leeds United, but he will forever be a team mate of Sean Fallon, Willie Fernie, Bertie Peacock, Neil Mochan and Charles Patrick Tully. Our thoughts go to his family and friends today.
Over the last year or so we’ve asked the question, how many appearances a player needs to make in a well-scouted league to allow an agile club to discover him, before the hoards arrive and price-away any value in him?
Victor Wanyama made 50 appearances in Belgium before we nabbed him but he was knocking back substantially improved contracts from Celtic after only 30 games (which is a different point); England had already taken notice. Virgil van Dijk made 62 appearances for Groningen, would we have been able to sign him on the kind of money we did if he’d stayed for another 30-or-so games? It’s unlikely.
Amido Balde made 27 top flight appearances before arriving here, while Teemu Pukki played 37 times for Schalke – enough to score 8 times but there would have been little game time for Celtic scouts to watch him.
In the summer we concluded that there was a 50-80 game value opportunity. Below this and you’ll struggle to find a player who has developed sufficiently for our agile scouts to be on the case and to do their work properly. Above this and any player worth a punt will be packing stands with scouts from all over Europe.
If we’re signing someone without the necessary miles on the clock, he’s a punt and should be considered off strategy. If we’re singing someone who has been watched by dozens of scouts, chances are, at best, he will be no more than a decent return on our money, there will be no hidden value.
Stefan Johansen has made 67 top flight appearances for Norwegian champions, Stromsgodset. Enough for him to develop into a player who can attract the most agile to Norway, not enough for him to attract those who seem to use Fifa 14 as their primary recruitment database, so he’s on strategy, as far as our 50-80 game value opportunity theory goes.
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Goldstar
When you get the Scotland needs you, you know something’s heading for the fan, and it won’t smell nice.
Didn’t work then, hmmmmmm, strange, not as easy as everyone says it is, well for me anyway,lol.
Paul george .. Whats the latest reports on him ?
Nearly sure few on here said he was the brightest looking talent of the young bhoys and predicted to be best in years before his leg break.
Hopefully he makes the most of his move to hamilton.
TALLYBHOY
Not surprised that you are drinking twice as much-pretty soon yer back to wishy-washy wimpy wine.
Enjoy the good stuff while you can!
PCS-Condolences.HH
Regan preparing the ground and starting to plant the seeds for the next Ibrox Spring of Discontent, I’ve run out of adjectives to describe this jackal..
Welcome to Paradise Sefan.
Parkheadcumsalford may your stepmother Rest In Peace, stay strong my friend..
Sammi must stay :)
PARKHEADCUMSALFORD
Condolences,bud. And best wishes to all.
Regan telling you the huns won’t be penalised if they go breasts north again.They have been punished enough …..
Can someone post link or copy mancini s comments on Nir Biton please?
ACGR check you e-mail Hail Hail Hebcelt
Parkheadcumsalford
Sorry for your loss, HH
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1516115748612595&set=a.1423044064586431.1073741828.100006425545841&type=1
parkheadcumsalford who is supporting the amsterdam 5
09:20 on 15 January, 2014
Sorry for your trouble…may your stepmother Rest In Peace..
Did that one work?
Tony d
No
tonydonnelly67 @ 08:57 on 15 January, 2014
28 Sevco shares would just about cover my taxi from Castlemilk to the Brazen, funny ol world ;)
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The direction their shares are currently heading, it won’t be too long before 28 of them won’t cover your taxi fare from the tap of ra’ drive to the auld labour club.
bamboo
09:18 on
15 January, 2014
Neustadt-Braw
Enjoyed reading the fishy tale -up to a point , because its sad that a great iconic fish is caught for sport. But it was a trulyt epic battle and Georgina must have been quite a woman.
Another point of interest, Lyle the laird of Glendelvine is the sugar magnate of Tate and Lyle fame . Tainted wealth there with the shadow of slavery hanging over him.
…………………………………..
aye the old “Queen mum,s lot”……………Tay opens today ,there is a catch and release policy now,and worms have been banned…..it was more the epic battle ,the fact her father was the boatsman,and the GIRUY attitude of the good lady herself…
I am a huge fan of GIRUY…….aye Braw….
TD67, you should petition P67 for a special blog to yourself for cutting and pasting all your articles.
Its Richard Hughes who bought shares in RIFC yesterday but I don’t think he’s completed his declaration correctly. Who was the seller?
Richard Hughes announcement. http://t.co/B1ZpW0j5An
Richard Hughes sold his 2.2m shares in Rangers yesterday. Accounts for the majority of yesterday’s tradingp
A ceiler gonof rust
Obviously doing something wrong :(
The only way to stop the corruption in Scottish football is a complete boycott of all games played in Scotland until the rules are applied fair and square across the board and the Referee / Officials system is giving a complete overhaul .
Problem is , it ain’t gonna happen .
We’ll fight amongst ourselves or talk about politics until it’s to late .
Then wonder how the huns got away with it .
M6bhoy
Yer right there mate, lol.
Evening times: Regan- Rangers meltdown hasn’t finished Scottish football
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Regan: Rangers meltdown hasn’t finished Scottish football, although wider financial concern remains
Published on 15 January 2014
Michael Grant
WHEN Stewart Regan was yesterday invited to give a state-of-the-nation appraisal of Scottish football as it enters 2014, it was safe to assume the Scottish Football Association chief executive knew which quote might boomerang back at him.
It was on July 4, 2012, the day newco Rangers failed in their attempt to be voted into the Scottish Premier League, that Regan came out with the words for which he is always likely to be best remembered. He spoke of Armageddon, social unrest, and the Scottish game withering on the vine if Rangers were consigned to the anything beyond the old first division. They were not of course – instead of dropping one division as Regan wanted they fell into the fourth tier – but the game survives.
In hindsight he misread the situation. There was no social unrest and no Armageddon. The game is hardly buoyant, but nor can it be said to be withering on the vine. Or more accurately, its established and long-term decline has not been accelerated by Rangers’ implosion.
“We’re in a different place now,” Regan acknowledged yesterday. “From a Scottish FA perspective we’ve got a television deal and the league themselves have put their own plans in place and protected their own commercial position. So we’re in a different place. There’s been some very competitive matches, which have resulted in quite an exciting competition at the top of the Premiership, and there’s a number of emerging young players that have created quite a lot of excitement. Perhaps we’re in a better place than we might have been 12 to 18 months ago.
“But the financial state of football generally remains a concern for everybody and not just in this country. You go to some of the smaller associations as I do on a regular basis and talk about the state of the game. Scotland is in a healthier place than a number of smaller countries where they don’t have the turnover we do and can’t make the distributions we make. Everybody would like more money. It’s like asking if they’d like a bigger pay rise, the answer is always yes.”
The SFA is working on a way to introduce Financial Fair Play rules for clubs to prevent unsustainable spending. A sub-committee of the SFA’s licensing group, which includes representatives from the Scottish Premier Football League, is currently trying to draft regulations which might be acceptable to the clubs at a vote.
“The game needs some degree of control,” said Regan. “You can’t argue with the principle behind financial fair play. There’s a need to avoid overspending particularly on areas where money is dripping out of the game. You need to be able to cover your costs, pay your bills, not be breaching your banking position or getting into financial difficulties.”
Those are exactly the sort of difficulties which continue to hover over Rangers, of course. Like all 42 of the SPFL’s member clubs Rangers must submit audited management accounts to the SFA by the end of March. The Ibrox club has admitted it is continuing to lose money, must make major cuts, and is the subject of a 120-day internal review under chief executive Graham Wallace, but that is not likely to cause any difficulty in terms of getting an SFA licence to play in 2014-15.
“As far as Rangers’ position is concerned clearly there is a lot of work that Graham Wallace is putting in place to get the club back to a stronger place,” said Regan. “I sincerely hope he’s successful. It’s good for Scottish football to have the club back on a firm financial footing.
“He needs all the support he can get to get that in place. It’s a big challenge. We’ll wait and see what comes in. We’ve spoken to Graham in the way you would speak to most of the clubs that have got challenges ahead of them. So we’ve had an opportunity to talk about some of the challenges he faces. You can’t underestimate the work he’s got ahead of him.
“From a financial point of view, until we get our new Financial Fair Play rules in place, we don’t really drill down to the management accounts and we don’t drill down into saying what a club can and can’t spend its money on. One of the proposals which is currently being debated is putting in place a measure which would restrict the amount spent on wages. That’s one of the elements being discussed.”
Regan downgraded his prognosis for the game from “Armageddon” to “challenging”. The SFA’s own financial health is robust because of sponsorships which run to 2016 and the UEFA centralised television deal which runs to 2018. “At a club level there are a number of clubs feeling the pinch, and it remains a tough environment. So that’s probably one of the biggest concerns.”
The merger of the SPL and the SFL into the SPFL was a positive, though, as were the introduction of play-offs for the end of this season, the formation of the Lowland League, and the progress made by the national team since Gordon Strachan was appointed a year ago today. “There are some encouraging green shoots. Gordon has made a big impact and turned around what was a very disappointing campaign and given us a degree of optimism for the qualifying draw next month.
“Everyone’s looking forward to France 2016. When you look at the emergence of young talent there’s some very encouraging prospects starting to come through the system. I guess it’s the classic school report card syndrome, isn’t it? ‘Progress has been made, but still a lot of work to do.'”
ACGR…………..:)
braw….hope yer Jan 1st trip went well,my 90 year old Dad kept me up till around 4.30 am ….weather was wonderful that day though! hahahahaha …..braw
Name rings a bell, Ritchard Hughes, who is he again?
Apoplectic fits over on FF about the ET article :-)
Reading back and especially the DR article. Is it Groundhog Day?
It is getting near Valentines Day again.
I haven’t scrolled back so can anyone update me on the weather from East Kilbride.
tonydonnelly67
10:15 on 15 January, 2014
‘Name rings a bell, Ritchard Hughes, who is he again?’
####
http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/2222139/criminal-investigation-into-rangers-stakeholder
Parkheadcomesalford
Deepest condolonces on your sad loss.
Statements from Regan – I just don’t know where to start?!
However, as other observers have pointed out, once this kind of language starts getting used we know they are attempting to prepare the public for news that all is not well and that some rules may have to be rewritten (again) to help out their favourite club.
How broken is Scottish football? When will the SFA learn?
!!Bada Bing!!
10:10 on
15 January, 2014
Looks like the first of Charles Green’s and Imran Ahmad’s cronies to jump ship. If he was one of the original 1p share investors ( I think he was) that £22k in and c £500k out.
Not bad.
“From a financial point of view, until we get our new Financial Fair Play rules in place, we don’t really drill down to the management accounts and we don’t drill down into saying what a club can and can’t spend its money on. One of the proposals which is currently being debated is putting in place a measure which would restrict the amount spent on wages. That’s one of the elements being discussed………” Aye right, I hope you ran that past Peter Lawwell, good luck wi that, so we all come down to other teams wage level, never gonny happen.
proudbhoy
09:43 on 15 January, 2014
Paul george .. Whats the latest reports on him ?
Nearly sure few on here said he was the brightest looking talent of the young bhoys and predicted to be best in years before his leg break.
Hopefully he makes the most of his move to hamilton.
Proudbhoy I don’t think he has gotten back to anywhere close to the level he was at before the injury!! Massive shame because he was the best player in his age group!! It doesn’t look good when only a Scottish Championship club wants him. But it took Ramsay 3 years to get back to the highest level after his injury…..hopefully it works out for George…..hate seeing promising players careers ruined!!
Neustadt-Braw, in the end I never got to the game. The three o’clock K.O. was a killer coupled with me having parted company with self control on the dram front. Would have been good to have met for a few jars when you were over, maybe next time. Glad you had a good time with the auld fella.
HH
Yep weeminger, he was a penny man, I’m not sure there are many penny men left. Lets hope Laxey were the purchasers.
On a more sombre note sincere condolences to Parkheadcumsalford on your sad loss.