Stadium upgrades

180

I expect you and I will discuss Celtic Park in the week after last season’s financial report is published.  We have plenty of work to do and, I expect, will have a new record bank balance. So we’ll be light on self-satisfaction, but still……

I’ve kept away from the Ibrox debacle thus far. Despite that it is already an enormously consequential story, it could yet turn into the straw that breaks the cabal’s back.

The clarion call went up in yesterday’s Record, which is never a sign that all the bad news has already landed.  We are too believe that those with legal responsibility to look after the interests of the club, stakeholders and creditors are innocent victims in this episode because they didn’t do the jobs they were employed to do.

Non-executive directors are not there to wear blazers on match day, they are charged with ensuring the executives do their jobs properly.  Newco non-execs failed in this responsibility.  These are the same people who appointed fall guy and former CEO James Bisgrove (a man thoroughly humiliated by our commercial director Adrian Filby over the Sydney tournament).

Bisgrove’s appointer, John Bennett, is apparently a victim in all this.  When you need to rely on feeble pandering from a tabloid your fans cannot stand, you’re in real trouble.

Also, unnecessarily calling people or firms English when talking about them in a negative context is a clearg dog-whistle hearts by the racists out there. Let’s not.

Prediction: Celtic will have a record bank balance, you and I will talk stadium upgrades and the Ibrox debacle will be material in Newco’s demise.

John Bennett, when Dave King left I couldn’t have hoped for someone with his reverse Midas Touch to take over so soon. Very well done.

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  1. TIMBHOY163 on 9TH JULY 2024 1:34 PM

     

     

    Is there any new happening in the front stands ,especially the food kiosks which really need extended, and anything else that is being upgraded.

     

     

    *in the midst of a hun stadium crisis you post tis hmmm, anyway thought you had given up on goin ta games now.

  2. !!Bada Bing!! on

    Maybe we could offer them the steel they need, we are using to give them new turnstiles?

  3. Just spotted Cliff there at Wimbers

     

    Hope he’s no gonnae start singing

     

    “We’er all going on a Summer Holiday…..”

  4. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    Yip.

     

     

    When an organisation’s culture dictates it must deploy far more energy playing the blame game than taking responsibility and finding actual solutions …..

  5. SAINT STIVS on 9TH JULY 2024 4:43 PM

     

    New keeper is on route from China.

     

     

    Docks at Greenock 2nd august

     

    *******

     

    Now, that is funny!

  6. Moisey17@ 11.19

     

     

     

     

     

    No we don’t pay £9m as we have parameters but equally if we are serious we don’t start at £4m. Both extremes are unhelpful.

     

     

    Well, there was a story in the Press that we low-balled with £4m – seems like you believe it and you’re not alone in the Celtic fanbase in doing so. But £5m might also be seen as lowball by Norwich, the opening bid is rarely the accepted one. Players from teams in the Championship that just missed out on promotion (as Norwich did) have gone for £40m. Anyway if we did actually low-ball with £4 but have gone back and got hime for, say £6m, who’s to say that if our lowball offer was £5m or £6m, Norwich might have felt that only £7m or £8m would have been what they expected next?

     

     

    And we did pay £9m for a striker before after we had him on loan so I don’t see ho it’s an extreme. We’re richer now than we were then but that does not mean Idah will score as many as Odosnne did.

     

     

     

    It is highly unlikely that Idah is on anything like Callum so this is a fanciful suggestion. He is a squad member of a 2nd tear English team recruited from Ireland – stop trying to create excuses for our parsimonious executive.

     

     

    What is he on, then and which senior players at Celtic would we have to pay him more than? Joe Hart was a rarely used reserve. For 2 whole seasons he had played not a single league match for either Burnley or Spurs but his wages at Celtic would still have to pay close or more than Callum’s wages to get Joe.

     

     

    Squad member? He played 25 and 28 times in the 2 seasons before they loaned him to us. That makes him first team in my book. He has 26 senior caps for Ireland- he will be on a serious wage in the 6th richest league in the world- with a promotion chasing team. Yes- Norwich’s recent manager didn’t fancy him but who knows what the new manager would have thought?- they usually like to make up their own mind.

     

     

    So, since you included the barb about excuses, stop excusing yourself from answering the question! If it’s not Adam that demands parity with or better than Callum’s wages, what about Wilfred Ndidi from Leicester as an example- a premiership club must be paying established players more than the Celtic captain or agents have not been doing their job. The issue cannot be side-stepped- some players will want to break our wah=ge structure – and that’s fair enough- it may need to be broken- but it has consequences. If Adam proves to be the back up striker to Kyogo this year and starts maybe 15 to 20 games, will other player be happy with their lot if they have a Matt O’Riley level season and are asked to start 30+ games. Players are acutely aware of their worth and can look for new pastures when they think they are valued less than they can get elsewhere. Brentford persuaded Ajer to move, Bournemouth persuaded Christie and Southampton stole Forster, Van Dijk and Armstrong from us. Even Bournemouth persuaded Riley McGree to go there rather than to us.

     

     

    The conclusion for me is – we cannot give them all what they want and we cannot just pay whatever a club demands. If you recognise the need for negotiation, as you seemed to do, then you must recognise the need for patience and being able to swallow the disappointment of not always getting what you want.

     

     

    Or you can take the Fox and The Grapes approach of saying John McGinn would have come and Virgil & Kieran & Jota would have stayed if we just paid them enough. All it takes to believe that is a denial of reality and a willingness to blame it all on the suits for not having the ambition to deny reality too.

     

     

     

    Every negotiation is private or should be so if a player is able to get themselves a few extra pounds then fair enough it’s the market we live in. When one of the players you mention get a new contract or extension for some extra pay would PB go asking why he is not on more? These are all big boys who are very well paid athletes and they can make their own decisions

     

     

    Exactly right, as was your answer on paying agents. Now- you just have to accept the logical conclusion of your judgements i.e.- the players whose noses were put out of joint can act like James Forrest, Danny McGrain & Paul McStay- the exceptions- or they can do what Dalglish, Hay, Van Dijk , McGann & Tierney did and head for the better league with the better wages because Celtic cannot pay that level to everybody in their squad.

     

     

    Or you can say well we can afford to lose Taylor and Scales- no great loss and say Hatate, Kyogo and O’Riley are gonna go so just let them and re-invest the money. But do we fail to get better replacements because our suits lack ambition or is the problem really that we only get offers for our proven good players and we only get to attract lesser players than them who are still trying to prove themselves and make the same journey as Van Dijk etc;

     

     

    Of course all of these imagined scenarios that play out daily in actual transfer situations across every league in the world can be dismissed as excuses not reasons and putting boulders in the way of a simple path. All you have to do is believe that it is as simple as you want it to be and that everyone else plays along with your thinking.

     

     

    No one expects crazy stuff but we have the financial strength and the back story to be a little more ambitious and dynamic – surely not too much to ask.

     

     

    We have got money and we can do a little better but I doubt it will satisfy. As for ambitious and dynamic- well there just boastful words like holistic and creative- they don’t translate into any operational framework or, at least, they await a detailed definition. I think we can agree on one thing- they don’t mean “just pay THEM what they want”- because we need to look after Celtic too.

     

     

    And finally, we remain in agreement on one thing. Our Board and CEO are paid too much. We just disagree on how much this influences our position in the pecking order.

  7. Yorkbhoy / Saint Stivs – maybe it’s simpler than we think , maybe they are like Led Zeppelin Albums –

     

    Rangers

     

    Rangers 2

     

    Rangers 3 🤪

  8. Frankly, I’m not in the slightest bit interested in rainjurz, not at all.

     

    Just wish the would dry up and blow away

     

     

    KINGLuBO

  9. Evening all.

     

     

    FRED COLON

     

     

    I’m trying to wok in Physical Graffiti into your scenario.

     

     

    Possibly, what are that mob famous for?

     

     

    Physical and Graffiti.

  10. General meander just as a distraction-

     

     

    Some blogs discussing why is the share price rising, all that money in the bank, could a hstile takeover bid come in, and demand all the money in the bank is used to buy out the new shareholders and/or forced as dividens.

     

     

    Aye, well that is how a normal company might be opened up to a hostile bid except, the volume of shares being traded is really low, as low as it usually is, so none of the existing incumbants , let me call them the 5 families, none of them are trading up or down ,either buying or selling.

     

     

    So is it the speculative investors ? bank of new york and such like, well no either, other than having to buy soemone out completely and sweeping up all the 10,000 os so small shareholders , because to take over they need to get over 50% shareholding,

     

     

    DD says he would never be interested in selling, he has a dynasty to hand over for.

     

     

    I wonder if John Keanes family (god bless him) would like to be involved more, or less, but that is just idle speculation on my part.

     

     

    Either ways, all that cash and further to come from CL participation is needing spent, or distributed.

     

     

    Interesting times for sure.

     

     

    —————–

     

     

     

    RNS

     

    Conversion of Securities

     

    Share this article

     

     

    ISSUED SHARE CAPITAL

     

    CELTIC PLC

     

    Released 15:47:42 04 July 2024

     

     

    RNS Number : 2230V

     

    Celtic PLC

     

    04 July 2024

     

     

    CELTIC PLC

     

     

    Issued share capital

     

     

     

     

    As a result of the conversion of 4,808 Convertible Preferred Ordinary Shares of 100p each, Celtic PLC’s issued share capital as at 2 July 2024 was as follows:

     

     

     

     

    94,778,565 Ordinary Shares of 1p each (“Ordinary Shares”)

     

     

    12,662,649 Convertible Preferred Ordinary Shares of 100p each (“CPO Shares”)

     

     

    15,689,724 Convertible Cumulative Preference Shares of 60p each (“CCP Shares”)

     

     

    689,658,617 Deferred Shares of 1p each

     

     

     

     

    CCP Shares do not carry voting rights. Deferred Shares are not listed, are not transferable and carry no voting rights or substantive economic rights.

     

     

     

     

    The above figures for Ordinary Shares and CPO Shares may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in voting rights under the FCA’s Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

     

     

     

     

    Application has been made for the admission of the 10,000 new Ordinary Shares of 1p each arising from these conversions (“New Ordinary Shares”) to trading on AIM. It is expected that dealings in these New Ordinary Shares, which will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares of the Company, is expected to commence on 10 July 2024.

     

     

     

     

    Enquiries:

     

     

     

     

    Company

     

     

    Joanne McNairn, Company Secretary 0141 551 4330

     

     

     

     

    Canaccord Genuity Limited

     

     

    Simon Bridges, Nominated Adviser 0207 523 8350

  11. CELTIC PLC

     

     

    Issued share capital

     

     

     

     

    As a result of the conversion of 30,000 Convertible Cumulative Preference Shares of 60p each and 8,000 Convertible Preferred Ordinary Shares of 100p each, Celtic PLC’s issued share capital as at 24 June 2024 was as follows:

     

     

     

     

    94,768,565 Ordinary Shares of 1p each (“Ordinary Shares”)

     

     

    12,667,457 Convertible Preferred Ordinary Shares of 100p each (“CPO Shares”)

     

     

    15,689,724 Convertible Cumulative Preference Shares of 60p each (“CCP Shares”)

     

     

    689,187,817 Deferred Shares of 1p each

  12. SAINT STIVS on 9TH JULY 2024 6:47 PM

     

     

    From what I know John Keane’s son Mark took John’s seat on the football board a while ago. He’s just as dedicated to Celtic as his Father was.

  13. TONTINETIM,And yes I have took a season break on going to see Celtic,but hold on I’ve renewed my season ticket for 2024/25,also I just asked if there were any refurbishments mainly the kiosks etc in the front of the main stand that’s all,

  14. SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 9TH JULY 2024 5:14 PM

     

     

    Would you agree that:

     

     

    The manager wants this player?

     

    Ideally he would have wanted to work with him on the 1st day of preseason?

     

    A competently run football club would have started negotiations as soon as the season ended if not before?

     

     

    An element of guesswork but I think yes to all 3 is a fairly reasonable assumption. So how does that play out?

     

     

    We ask Norwich do they want to sell and what is their asking price. The answer is either yes ‘X’ amount, no, or the new manager wants to take a look at him so maybe.

     

     

    If the answer is yes, then negotiations should have started at least 6 weeks ago. By now we know the asking price, make a final offer before we go to the US and if it’s rejected move on.

     

    If it’s no then move on immediately.

     

    If it’s maybe then of course is it a bit trickier depending on options b, c and d. A conditional fee agreed and a deadline for a decision is the bare minimum. Haggling until the last day of the window is not a credible option any moderately well run club would consider. Being held hostage by Norwich is insane. An injury to Kyogo leaves us with no one of any quality for the 1st few weeks of the season.

     

     

    We’ve taken these risk before time and time again and they routinely backfire. Edouard was injured via Ferencvaros and in a one legged tie at home to qualify for the CL we go with Christie up front and we’re out. Games at the start of the season do matter. Anyone not on the plane to the US isn’t going to be ready for Kilmarnock. That isn’t the be all and end all but it’s not nothing.

     

     

    As it stands we are down 2 huge contributors from last year and one squad player in Bernardo. For a team that already looked way short of quality having lost huge contributions from Jota, Abada, Giakoumakis and Starfelt and got nothing from their replacements.

     

     

    As for your other point. We cannot keep players who want to go to England and have credible offers. Not just Premier League, high end Championship can outbid us and the profile of playing in England for most is more glamourous than playing SPFL and getting pumped in Europe. I do firmly believe we would have signed John McGinn if we had moved quickly. I believe we slow played it as usual and Villa outflanked us. But then I’m not privy to negotiations so maybe I’m wrong on that. So far it doesn’t look like we’ve learned from our mistakes.

  15. approx 30,000 celtic shares were traded today “off the book” ie someone wanted to sell and a broker matched them up with somebody who wants to buy.

     

     

    that value of these is less than £55,000.

     

     

    one person sold 44 shares for £86/

     

     

    what seems to be in play, someone (or groups) are buying up shares that become available diring the last month in particular.

     

     

    to what end we shall find out sometime.

  16. What possesses the BBC to continue to pay Andrew Castle to commentate at Wimbers?

     

    The guy was a complete dud!

     

    Martina and Tracey I can appreciate, and John Mac of course, the bhoy could play

  17. Nearly 8 weeks until the window closes and we have to register players for the champions league, which is what really matters.

  18. reggie i know you dont want to answer any questions from me, but maybe you could listen to the manager sometime

     

     

    The manager wants this player?

     

    Ideally he would have wanted to work with him on the 1st day of preseason?

     

     

    ————-

     

     

    The manager said just the other day, every manager would like to work with players on the first day of preseason, but the transfer window is 3 months long, so you have to wait to get the player you want, or often you dont get them at all and for a multitude of reasons.

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