When rumours of Carl Starfelt going to Russia first surfaced last week few of us believed them. Russia? Not right now. But we all had the debate, would you sell him? He has been part of an incredibly successful Celtic central defensive partnership: won five from six trophies, never lost a domestic game in 90 minutes, plays on the left, the list goes on.
But you know the mantra, manage your assets or fail to manage your assets. We should always be ready to trade a 28-year-old player who is second of two central defenders. You and I have seen too often the consequences of failing to manage our assets.
We are now first and foremost a trading club. Wish Carl all the very best at Celta Vigo and trade up.
Given this article of faith in how business should be done, the only remaining question is price. Despite that glorious record in the last two years, Carl’s value ceiling has been set by performances when hundreds of scouts watched games he played in throughout his career.
Like Josip Juranovic in this sense, keeping the likes of Naymar in your pocket at the World Cup will not move the dial much. We paid £1.5m two years ago for the player because Rubin Kazan had no other takers. £5m today is very much his ceiling.
We hear lots about how difficult it is to settle into a new club, few had as difficult a challenge as Carl joining Celtic. He signed during a 2021 lockdown but was not permitted to travel to Scotland until 31 July that year – the day Celtic were due to play their opening league game against Hearts at Tynecastle and Ange Postecoglou wanted him in the team.
To stay the right side of the law (we are Celtic, after all), on 30 July Carl and a driver sat at a service station south of the border until midnight. The driver took a photo of Carl, with metadata confirming location and time, before travelling to Celtic’s hotel.
He arrived in the early hours, had some sleep before rising to meet his new teammates at breakfast. On 31 July he travelled from Southwaite, met dozens of new faces, a new manager, new tactics, all in a new country. He played 90 minutes and offered no excuses for his rustiness, just got on with the job. Quite heroic.
Tonight it’s the turn of Hibs and Hearts to try to contribute some Uefa coefficient points to the Scottish clubs’ cause in the Uefa Conference League.
Hearts are in Trondheim to face Rosenborg. The Norwegians are 18 games into their league season so will be miles sharper than Hearts, but this is not the Rosenborg we remember. They are eight in the table; memories of 13 titles in a row and regular Champions League football are a fading memory.
Hearts are capable of progressing to the playoff round, where they would face either Hajduk Split or PAOK. They can be hopeful.
Hibs are home to Luzern tonight, who finished fourth in Switzerland last term. Swiss football is now a toy thing for Young Boys, so this tie is certainly winnable, but Hibs will surely Hibs it, denying Aston Villa a trip to the Festival later this month.
The additional Champions League monies we talked about yesterday looked in jeopardy 20 minutes into a scintillating performance by Newco last night. Around that time, the scintillating part ended as a dour Servette settled in for the night.
Having sat through the whole game, I feel a bit foolish for putting our league title chances as low as 67% on Friday. Newco have a lead to take to Switzerland on Tuesday, there remains every chance they will progress against a team that did not create a single chance in the first leg and will need to score at least once to stay in the competition. But goodness, the early signs from across the city are heartening.
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79CAPS on 10TH AUGUST 2023 1:03 PM….
Good question.
For Celtic to make a notable effort in Europe, we will need to, maybe every 4 or 5 years, keep the 28 year olds. And the 25 year olds. Keep what we have.
In doing so, we will be giving up money, thereby limiting our ability (for a couple of years) to bring in all these good young guys. By that, I mean put the model on hold for a couple of years.
Have a good go at Europe, lick our wounds and reset the model.
The alternative is where we are now. Win leagues. Don’t bankrupt ourselves. Presume that we’ll sell out our season tickets. Just stay where we are. Forever. Which is nice, but not something our kids will write songs about.
Cheers,
Ronnie
Might it be a good idea for Fran Alonso be told he can only sign ugly burdz to avoid unsettling key players from the first team?
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 10TH AUGUST 2023 1:48 PM
That’s some bold revision mate!!!
To think we slag the huns for making up nonsense!!
I thought Rubin bought him for £1.5m, may be wrong 🤓
Gary@1:59
Think that’s the hun policy, then again do you know a handsome hun 😉
Connaire
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Prestonpans@2.09
No, No.
Not a f@@kn one.
Best of luck to CARL STARFELT.
Overall……. Carl was a whole hearted, committed Bhoy whenever he wore The Hoops.
Love is a many splendid thing….For some, methinks ?
LOL
All the best Carl.
HH
BIG WAVY on 10TH AUGUST 2023 1:21 PM
Arrived as a €5m buy from Rubin Kazan. (2021)
Left for €5m to Celta Vigo. (2023)
@transfermarkt
HH
Still Incorrect.
@ tfermarket-Good for the PlayStation/media sucker gener4ation/jukey james generation of thumbfarters and plagiarizers,
You have a good day now.
HH
I liked Big Carl, gritty played on the wrong side for his right foot and improved his pace with us, good luck Big Man, thanks for your efforts.
GARYGILLESPIESHAMSTRING on 10TH AUGUST 2023 1:59 PM
Might it be a good idea for Fran Alonso be told he can only sign ugly burdz to avoid unsettling key players from the first team?
………….
Not a bad idea but even NOT so pretty Girls can find love ?
Maybe Celtic should ONLY sign GAY MEN, that will keep the Celtic Burds from taking our players away ?
LOL
HH
Ive been in love before….Many times.
Its vastly over rated.
LOL
HH.
SFtBs @ 1:48 PM,
Well your post sounds a lot like soap opera fluff, but let’s go:)
There was no dog whistling, what Brendan Rodgers said in that regard is a matter of record
He was defending himself against all the duff signings, the finger was pointed at him as Celtic PLC had suggested the Manager has a final say on recruitment, which we know now wasn’t the case.
You earlier suggested that BR wanted to speculate to accumulate and PL was against it.
When Brendan Rodgers came in by improving the team we were able to get to the UCL group stages.
We made more money and our co-efficient went up to UCL pot 3 level.
Sevco Rangers were on the scene and were speculating to accumulate.
Our turnover was three times their’s
After BR left and his implemented structure and processes regressed, we seen our performances decline and our ten in a row in jeopardy.
The Board then “speculated to accumulate” as Lenny was given 35 mn to enhance the team.
Ajeti, Bolingoli, Jullien, Barkas etc etc lost us lots of money
Our turnover dropped by 80% and was then equal to Sevco Rangers ever growing turnover.
So Peter Lawwell has been happy to speculate to accumulate when it suited him.
The money we made on transfers was given to Lenny to spend
The money we made on transfers was given to Ange to spend.
It’s not a matter of approaches, plans, models.
It’s a matter of the quality of the people utilising and implementation those processes and resources.
Peter/Lenny failed
Micheal/Ange succeeded
Let’s Hope Brendan gets backed because despite your attack on his character, when you read, listen to what he says and look at what he does he doesn’t deserve the character assassinations.
1. You give the example of John McGinn as a Brendan Rodgers cock-up, BR made it clear he wanted the player, Neil Lennon made it clear he expected the player to go.
At that point it was up to the executive to conclude the deal…
Celtic sold Armstrong to Southampton in a £7m deal last month, with the 26-year-old signing a four-year deal with the English Premier League side.
The Glasgow club has targeted Scotland team-mate McGinn as a replacement, but the 23-year-old still has a year remaining on his Easter Road contract.
Rodgers would not be drawn on whether a third bid will be made for McGinn, who has been at Hibs for three years, saying: “Time will tell.
“That’s something for the clubs to organise,” he said. “I coach the team, I manage the team. We target players but ultimately any agreements have to be between the two clubs.
“We respect John is still very much a Hibs player and unless there’s an agreement then like I say, it’s going to be a difficult one. That’s really between the clubs.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/sport/football/44810973.amp
Here is CQN’s take on Peter Lawwell’s approach at the same time.
I would not be surprised if Peter Lawwell had the the words “171 days” marked on a whiteboard in his office. That’s how long he will need to wait to put a pre-contract in front of McGinn. Having signed such a deal, the player’s value would be no more than £250k, a drop of £3.75m over the period, reducing at just shy of £22k a day.
You know Peter, it’s not going to happen. He’ll wait. John will wait too, and the people at Hibs will continue to murmur about Rod Petrie. I like signing players on pre-contracts. In the Celtic universe, it makes the world spin a little faster.
https://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/pay-4m-or-wait-171-days-for-mcginn-pre-contract/
2. Do you think that Brendan is happy with the quality of wingers he has? Cause I don’t, Meada and Abada are more like inside forwards and are his best in that department at the moment
3. Brendan Rodgers always said he planned to go back to the EPL when he joined Celtic for the first time – things didn’t pan out as expected, that’s life
He has apologised for letting fholk down both when he left and when he came back.
Have you ever heard a member of the Board apologising for screwing up the ten in a row
4. Three Seasons
Hail Hail
Jacynta Prema de Nieva Galabadaarachchi just stole our centre back.
One thing I really liked about Carl, the sheer joy on his face on the few occasions he scored.
Made some mistakes, but gave his all in every game..
Does ticking the “remember me” box have the opposite effect 🤔
BIG WAVY on 10TH AUGUST 2023 1:21 PM
Arrived as a €5m buy from Rubin Kazan. (2021)
Left for €5m to Celta Vigo. (2023)
@transfermarkt
HH
________________________________________________________________
I might be confusing Transfermarket with another platform but was this not the one which produced a table last season, with ‘Scotland’s most valuable players’ and had Kent more valuable than Jota and Hatate even though he was ‘worth’ nothing as he was in the last few months of his contract? Apologies if wrong.
MCPHAIL BHOY on 10TH AUGUST 2023 2:41 PM
It’s valuations of players are a source of their own algorithm and they themselves tell clubs not to base offers off that. Not sure they can game past transfer fees or other known performance data sources.
Used as one source by many top clubs across Europe as part of their scouting operations.
HH
Here we are in the first week of season 2023/24 and we have supporters arguing about who was at fault when Brendan left in 2019, others complaining about how much Celtic spent on Boli Bolingoli, and the bottom of the barrel — Celtic supporters glibly referring to females as birds and burdz.
Tsk
PRESTONPANS BHOYS
Does ticking the “remember me” box have the opposite effect
Can’t remember mate.
CHAIRBHOY on 10TH AUGUST 2023 12:01 PM
“Good luck to our love struck Romeo”
__________________________
It’ll nevah laaast!
SoccerAMCSC.
Good luck Carl, as I read somewhere lately, the big lad had a bone and needed to bury it somewhere…..presumably somewhere in Portugal
No doubt Carl will be missed. Some players worth more than their monetary value, he is one of them.
PAULSTHROUGHBALL88. @ 3:18 PM,
:)))))
Young Love… they can keep it!!!
Hail Hail
Here in Glesga over the years, I have often heard Glesga BURDS calling themselves ” BURDS”.
I would often call my last wife ” BIG BURD” due to her BEING a ” Big Burd”, whenever we were out and about and amongst friends….Male and FEMALE.
Its called ” The Glesga Banter”, and its one of the reasons that I love Glesga most of the time. Its called having a ” Sense of Humour”….something that others dont appear to have.
My dear auld DA would often ask me years ago….” Jimmy Bhoy…Who is yer LEMON CURD these days” ?
Lemon Curd being slang for BURD….Obviously.
My DA would also refer to MONEY as being ” The GENE TUNNEY”.
Gene Tunney was a famous American Boxer.
My DA would refer to any Female called ” PEGGY” as ……” Shut yer GEGGIE”. The love of his life was called ” PEGGY”….but he usually called her ” Shut yer GEGGIE….Whit are you drinking” ?
Peggy did NOT mind whatsoever as she ( and others ) often called my DA by HIS NICKNAME.
He also called a ” GIRO” as …….” A Boat from CAIRO”.
One of the MOST funniest things that I have ever heard in recent years was a GROUP of youngish Glesga Girls, who were having a wee bit of a NOISEY laugh and joke outside my Local Pub when I requested that they should ” CALM DOON A WEE BIT”…..
Their reply to me was ” WE ARE BURDS Mate….WE CAN DAE WHIT WE LIKE” !
I could only laugh at their explanation.
LOL
HH
Over the years I have called Wummin named ” ALICE”….as ” CRYSTAL PALACE”.
NONE of those Burds took offence at any time…they ALL thought it was funny.
As for the ” PC BRIGADE”, they couldnt get a BURD in a Pet shop.
Its called The GLESGA BANTER !
Good afternoon all from the Victoria Bar. A humid day in old Glasgow Town.
TOM MCLAUGHLIN @ 2:53 PM,
In my defence, I didn’t fill the blog with what the England cricket team were up to;)
Hail Hail
Why is bird slang for woman?
Certainly in the Middle English period, (from about 1150), and possibly as early as 1100. The word “burde” meant something like “noblewoman”, and was used as a title for the Virgin Mary. At some point, the spelling moved to being “bird”, presumably because “burde” sounds so like “bird.”
HOT SMOKED on 10TH AUGUST 2023 3:41 PM
Why is bird slang for woman?
Certainly in the Middle English period, (from about 1150), and possibly as early as 1100. The word “burde” meant something like “noblewoman”, and was used as a title for the Virgin Mary. At some point, the spelling moved to being “bird”, presumably because “burde” sounds so like “bird.”.
…………
MAGIC Mate.
So the Virgin Mary was a ” BURD” ….Thtas good enough for me.
Bless Her.
HH Mate.
THATS….even. !
Talk of AJ going to play for Canada after injury and before playing for us should not be allowed.
We should have a bounce game here and monitor his progress as his pay masters surely we want whats right for our club. Not going away to play for his country.
Oh and I understand the more caps he gets the more cash we can sell him for but IMO he shoukd stay here and work on getting back in our 1st team.
D :)
What do you call FOUR BLACK Fellas in Rowing Boat with NO Oars ?
” The DRIFTERS” !
……….
What do you call an IRISH NYMPHOMANIC ?..
” AUDIE MURPHY “.
…..
Ooohh…The Glesga Banter…dont ye just love it ?
LOL
HH.
Has anyone watched the recent Charlie Nicholas interview on the BBC? Charlie told the same tale in an article in the Evening Times 30 years ago.
Desmond White wrote the playbook on how to get rid of successful and popular players and managers and make sure that they were the villains of the piece. The Celtic support turned on Charlie. If the internet had been around in 1983 charlie would have been snake eyes and rat face. Charlie would have been a judas and a traitor.
Peter took the White playbook and raised it to a higher level.
Three successful Celtic managers, who each won three titles, walked away from the club. They chose unemployment rather than a very well paid job managing our club.
Does anyone think BR is waiting on transfer targets getting back to him before the transfer window shuts?
If so why?
Are we back to doing things pistol petes way?
Either way we need another 3 or 4 1st team squad players, some quality cover at GK, CB, RB, LB, CF we have cash now use it.
Anyone know our ougoing cash against incoming cash to this point?
D :)
A tad disappointed about Carl leaving because he’s a solid defender and he formed a great partnership with CCV. His weakness was bringing the ball out from the back as he often carried it too far and ended up in trouble. However, great 2 years service – he gave his all for the team every time he pulled on the jersey. I hope he does well. Did he ever actually say he was leaving because his young lady moved away?
Westcraigs – I watched that last night. Thought Charlie clearly showed his colours. He obviously loves Celtic. Well worth a watch.
CHAIRBHOY on 10TH AUGUST 2023 2:30 PM…
Here is CQN’s take on Peter Lawwell’s approach at the same time.
I would not be surprised if Peter Lawwell had the the words “171 days” marked on a whiteboard in his office. That’s how long he will need to wait to put a pre-contract in front of McGinn. Having signed such a deal, the player’s value would be no more than £250k, a drop of £3.75m over the period, reducing at just shy of £22k a day.
You know Peter, it’s not going to happen. He’ll wait. John will wait too, and the people at Hibs will continue to murmur about Rod Petrie. I like signing players on pre-contracts. In the Celtic universe, it makes the world spin a little faster.
WEERON’s TAKE ON THIS…..
Chairbhoy, you are spot on.
I was visiting from Canada. A pal got me into the Executive Club for a game. Bumped into a guy I ‘knew’ who was an Exec Club Member. He was all excited at McGinn coming to Celtic. I politely ventured that it was on the news that McGinn was down at AV that very day. ‘No bother’, was the answer. ‘He’s a Celtic man, from a Celtic family. He’s coming to us. Hibs will give in at the last minute…and if they don’t, we’ll be signing him on a pre-contract in January’.
There was no doubt in my mind that PL told this triumphalist story to many people, including Paul, it appears.
The whole episode dripped of arrogance, and disrespect to Hibs, AV and John McGinn.
Not how our club should be run. As such, supporters have every right to be concerned at the influence that PL has. His shower scene with Neil Lennon shows that he hasn’t learned much from his previous ‘errors’.
Cheers,
Ronnie