Success in football is determined by a number of matters: the ability of the manager, players performing at the right level, injuries and sheer luck, and in Scotland, a club’s determination to influence officials with an exaggerated sense of grievance. Apparently.
But transfer business has an even greater impact than dodgy penalties. This is one area Celtic need to get right over the next two windows. Our performance, not just in the summer window, but across our last three transfer windows has been poor. There is often a lag in outcomes before the impact of a window is felt. The £32m spent in the summer of 2024 failed to see many minutes on the pitch a year later, during Champions League qualification, for example.
The CIES Football Observatory published their survey of the “world’s smartest clubs on the transfer market since January 2021”. Tony Bloom has two clubs in the top 10: Brighton (2nd) and Union SG (8th); I’m sure he didn’t bet on that outcome (my Tony Bloom man-crush has faded a little this week).
The top 20 has some lessons for us: Atalanta, Napoli, Bologna, Udinese and Lecce, demonstrate how well the medium-to-small Italian clubs have figured out how to progress. Is it surprising so many young Scottish players have bounced after moving there?
Benfica are there, as are Feyenoord, but not Ajax. The Amsterdamers beat Celtic to the signing of €12m striker Kasper Dolberg in the summer, which traumatised many of us. Dolberg has returned one goal in all competitions since, a consolation in a defeat to Excelsior. Not that the lad’s had much of a chance, his only appearances have been off the bench.
The Ajax-Dolberg-Celtic tale says so much about where we were in the summer. Unable to attract a player who cannot get a game at a team woefully underperforming this season. There are so many reasons why we should not have wasted time on this exercise, it scarcely needs explaining.
Celtic are 19th in the table, between Manchester City and Leipzig. How can that be? I hear you ask. The lag works both ways. Analysis of Celtic still benefits from earlier signings, up until that of Nicolas Kuhn in January 2024, who left the premises this summer. The full impact of the subsequent windows has not shown up yet.
Being “smartest” in the transfer window does not guarantee success, but it’ll outperform being thick, no matter how good your ‘exaggerated sense of grievance’ game is.
Looking in from the outside, it’s easy to say, ‘be more like Bloom’ (although not with that other stuff), but as many observers will note, getting this right is not easy. What is easy, is to stick to the data. Recognise what succeeds and what fails and always back your winning hand. A lack of observance of this principle in football is quite astonishing.
Postscript: I looked down the list and eventually found Aberdeen, but after continuous scrolling I ran out of patience trying to find another Scottish club. Looks like Bloom’s magic touch has yet to hit Hearts.
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Hola ??
Michael Nicholson interview
https://youtu.be/IUcw3GXgFs0?si=_F9WkWj-2iQZDuLl
HH
Primero ?
“transfer business has an even greater impact than dodgy penalties. This is one area Celtic need to get right over the next two windows”
—————-
Strange one, Paul. Someone was telling us only a couple of days ago that our players were Ferraris. Why would we want to risk changing anything?
Data, who would have thot 20 years ago that Data would be today’s gold mines, let alone to have made it’s way into how football operates.
A little known fact about Data, something the media won’t tell you……..
Did you know that Date centers in Ireland consume 15% of the electricity produced in the country.
Institutionalized rigging for profit.
“FIFA’s big idea is to set up the best chance of blockbuster ties in the latter stages of the World Cup.
For the first time it is giving special seeding status to the top four in the world rankings – Spain, Argentina, France and England.”
FFS, an edit facility would be handy at times.
Fan media denied access to today’s press conference, more Trump behaviour from those in charge.
International Tims well represented on the podium but, where’s AIPPLE?
THE BADA BING on 5TH DECEMBER 2025 12:24 PM
PLC are well connected to MSM as we all have witnessed there is a war being waged in the MSM against the Collective other targets ………ask Brendan
Looks like we dodged a bullet with Dolberg!
An Idah-esque haircut would have had us selling him in the summer for €8m.
So what, Paul ?
Bloom is mostly a genius savant?
Except for the bits where he’s allegedly in bed with convicted money launderers and running an illegal bookie ring where bets are placed in a league where he owns a team ?
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/12/04/brighton-hove-albion-fcs-tony-bloom-accused-of-operating-gambling-syndicate/
Could all be mere allegations; true.
FitAndProperTest HMSC
An Tearmann at 12:02
Thanks for sharing.
“Michael Nicholson interview” feels like an oxymoron.
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL on 5TH DECEMBER 2025 12:13 PM
“transfer business has an even greater impact than dodgy penalties. This is one area Celtic need to get right over the next two windows”
No detail, no transparency on just who exactly has the final say on transfers, who does the negotiations with transfers ?
Dermot Desmond gives final say
Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay do the negotiating with the Agents and Clubs Celtic are buying from
Good afternoon all from the Brazen Head. Another fun Friday and a day of bonhomie and good humour on cqn.
Doubt Martin would be a massive fan of the old data.
Really important we are able to strengthen this window. Though I’m not sure what changes we have made in our approach.
Mistakes were previously made apparently.
Korova Milk Bar next BRRB?
Paul67 et al
There cannot be many teams who cannot be improved. But there have been a few.
Celtic 1967. Brazil 1970, Ajax early 1970s Liverpool mid 1980s, AC Milan 1969
West Germany 1972-1976, Brazil 1982. Celtic 2001-2004 Barca 2009 -2013, Man City under Pep
You get the picture. Certainly we could be stronger, one if we were not missing our own players, and two if we could sign players guaranteed to be successful. If such a player existed. Doesn’t look like Dolberg is that player. Next best thing is to get the best out of your players, play a style of football that attracts other players, and get behind the Club. Brother Wilfried seems to have an idea as to how to do both, has a presence about him, and more than a bit of charisma. Cannot wait to see him out there at the edge of the pitch on Sunday afternoon.
Allons Y
Tobago Street
Forgot about that reference you spotted. No fooking chance old chap. 😂
as alan hansen once said
you wont win anything with ferarris
you also need other types of car in the mix to do the tasks a ferarri cant.
for example we could be doing with a range rover and a subaru impreza in there as well.
The hun have got a reliant robin with a wheel missing.
The 32m pound window was our best since the days of ange’s black book. We got first team ready players three of which played in every game of our most successful CL campaign for 13 years.
The fact we paid so much for them was down to leaving everything to the last minute. (You know the period our host believes the best bargains are to be got as he accuses everyone of bedwetting in July). Same this summer. Panic buys at the death paying ten million for two wingers to replace Palma and Yang only for Yang to win his place back.
Even Idah who we vastly overpaid for, in the end cost the equivalent of 2 million for a season in which he scored 20 goals including 3 in the CL. Engels will be an absolute star playing as a pivot. Trusty has never really let us down and has produced some outstanding performances at CL level.
Agree though that recruitment has to change. The football department has to be trusted and players bought for identified positions rather than a scattergun approach of 9 projects under 2m whether we need them or not.
The Ajax-Dolberg-Celtic tale says so much about where we were in the summer. Unable to attract a player who cannot get a game at a team woefully underperforming this season. There are so many reasons why we should not have wasted time on this exercise, it scarcely needs explaining.
And yet we did waste the time on not only that deal but a few others as well.
That statement reads as if we have come on leaps and bounds since then. Celtic always talk a great game when the transfer window is shut but appear to lack basic competence when it is open.
All the blame now seems to be directed at our previous manager but who appointed him, and it isn’t as if they can’t say they didn’t know what he was like.
It doesn’t matter who is in charge of the playing side of Celtic if they do not work in unison with the recruitment department.
Dolberg could just be a the wrong club at the wrong time, Pukki? por cierto
Wilfried Nancy First Training Session As Celtic Manager
https://youtu.be/Q5kRMIeJdlo?si=NTf6DxG-DKmj0oTQ
KEVJ
I know I’m in the minority, but I do really enjoy your posts, keep up the good work and do not be deterred, ok
kingLUBO
Let’s al do do the huddle
You forgot the old Ford Cortina
kingLUBO
por cierto
Wasn’t Dolberg at Ajax before?
Was that the right club at the right time…..?
DrJohnCSC
Who’d win a fight between a Ferrari cant and a Boardroom cant ?
AutoSuggestions CSC
It doesn’t help when you’re offering £1.5 million for an established player in the Eredivise,meanwhile we pocketed £2 million for Bosun Lawal a few months earlier
If Bloom was so good would he not have spotted Kwon?
Ne nous arretons pas jamais!
Afternoon CQN
The safety of the covid vaccines are very much up for debate if you compare them to the 1976 swine-flu outbreak in the US where their vaccination program was withdrawn after 53 deaths and 500 cases of neurological disorder from approximately 46 million vaccinations. Pfizer were given the biggest fine in corporate history, and their covid vaccine trial data (which took a court ruling to release because the CDC wanted 75 years to release the info even though it only took them 3 months to process it) showed that in the first 3 months of the Pfizer vaccine roll-out there were 1223 deaths attributed to the vaccine. They redacted the number of jabs given and it would have taken well over 1 Billion Pfizer jabs in the first 3 months to be deemed safer than the swine-flu jab that was withdrawn in 1976. One billion Pfizer jabs were not administered in the first 3 months though as the vaccine roll-out had less than 1 Billion jabs administered by May 2021 for all vaccines worldwide, so Pfizer safety concerns are justified. In another court case Pfizer were fined for bribing doctors and government officials. Pfizer have been fined so many times they’ve been in court more times than the huns!
The AstraZenaca vaccine has been banned in at least 17 countries so Pfizer isn’t the only one with safety concerns. Johnson & Johnson had to pay the second largest health care fraud settlements in U.S. history, and in another case their subsidiary has tried to “do a rangers” to avoid liability for 38,000 civil cases and prevent new cases from coming forward. Last time I looked (23 November 2022 – they’ve since changed the reporting system making it difficult to source the info) there had been 2,362 deaths and 474,018 people suffering adverse reactions to the covid vaccines according to the UK Government Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines adverse reactions page). Andrew Bridgen MP has raised concerns about the covid jabs in Parliament and calculated from government figures that 1 in every 990 people were having an adverse reaction from the Pfizer vaccine and 1 in every 662 from the Moderna one. That’s not tin foil hat conspiracy theory it’s coming from government stats. People are having adverse reactions to the covid jabs and people are dying – ask the family of BBC journalist Lisa Shaw. If people want to take the covid jabs that’s their prerogative but so are people’s rights to refuse them.
HH
ps good luck Wilfried
https://www.youtube.com/live/iIOcmyv9mTw?si=v-A4c8n2fKcpCkkK
Wilf live presser
So michael nicholson says they will back the new manager. He will be delighted until he realises meade, hatare and yang are away to pay for it.
Tounettki im not a fan
Video on Brother Wilfreid taking the training session, no eye contact messing about with his boots not very professional
Martin O’Neil giving goodbye speech watch at end of video
Respectful round of applause by the players……..except Tounettki
https://youtu.be/R0Og0zHG_7Q?si=hbvTO92lWSB84k75
A post for you who are interested in player trading models
https://football-observatory.com/WeeklyPost523
HH
Even with this damning evidence, most will refuse to see it, as admitting they were fooled is a greater blow to the ego than any fact.