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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bye and good luck Carl Starfelt. His stats at Celtic are indeed impressive but you can’t ignore the number of mistakes made that went unpunished – for me this should be a stat. How many chances we would have been punished for against better attackers.
He played on his weak side, brought pace, was strong in the tackle and had a solid partnership with CCV.
He was painfully weak with then ball at his feet (not a celtic characteristic), was was never a threat in the air and on many occasions had the fans on the edge of their seats for the wrong reasons.
Jacynta or not – he was a player I wanted to upgrade. Nawbrocki looks assured and good with the ball – another 1-2 CB for added height and areal dominance.
I expect business in the next few days BUT celtic are dragging their heels with signings – perhaps waiting for end of window deals/bargains – surely we can spend money for players that would improve the team and prep for Europe. Give them time to bed in.
THE RETURNOF WEERON @ 4:13 PM,
That’s a very interesting insight.
It emerged later when it became certain that JMcG was going to AV, that the player’s grandfather was called to intervene.
When you think what our club stands for, it does make you baulk.
You make a very good point with lessons learned.
Hail Hail
TOM MCGLAUGHLIN 2.53.
Are you a bird ?
Oops ….sorry .. meant Burd !
TEBHOY on 10TH AUGUST 2023 4:18 PM
bye and good luck Carl Starfelt. His stats at Celtic are indeed impressive but you can’t ignore the number of mistakes made that went unpunished – for me this should be a stat.
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have you got that stat ?
How maNy mistakes did he make that went “unpunished” ?
If Carl has moved to be closer to his lady friend he sure has made a total bollix of it, Glasgow to Lisbon would be quicker by plane than Vigo to Lisbon, it’s less than 400 K by car, but it takes a few hours
Lambert 14
“That’s some bold revision mate!!!
To think we slag the huns for making up nonsense!!”
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Well- I see a disagreement and some name calling but I don’t see any refutation of my post or any alternative version of the “revised”history so there’s nowhere to go with this one as it stands.
Lambert 14 @ ages ago
That tone remains unique regardless of the moniker used.
Pleased you’ve eventually gotten a ticket, glad I don’t sit near you I hope.
saint stivs – I said it should be a stat. IMO and experience watching this Celtic team we gave away many chances. One because of Ange style and two because of poor defending, Main culprits for me were Starfelt and Taylor.
usually not punished in Scotland – thanks to poor quality and a good few sitters missed. Certainly punished in European games – see results.
I’ve wanted both replaced with more urgency on LB
Genuine question
Is there ANYONE on here who …
… If offered the chance to sign for Celtic
… With the single condition, they stick it out in their current job for 24½ weeks before doing so
….. would NOT sign?
You can never have enough good times. 👍
yeah you told us.
Starfelt and Taylor needs upgrading.
I am struggling to remeber the games we lost because of the mistakes they make.
you missed big joe an awe.
CHAIRBHOY on 10TH AUGUST 2023 4:25 PM
At that time, I sort of knew a member of the family. He never suggested that Jack would wait for us. All he said was that he hoped Jack would sign for us.
Ronnie
That awkward moment when someone asks BSR if he supports Celtic.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 10TH AUGUST 2023 4:51 PM
Genuine question
Is there ANYONE on here who …
… If offered the chance to sign for Celtic
… With the single condition, they stick it out in their current job for 24½ weeks before doing so
….. would NOT sign?
————————
unfortunately, for the modern day professional player they must put their immediate earning power first.
Hold off for Celtics 20k a week, some time in the future at the risk of injury and the fans knowing your heart is elsewhere.
or go to villa now at 40k per week.
no brainer, it is what it is.
AIPPLE on 10TH AUGUST 2023 4:56 PM
wherre are yo uup to on the GUILT series ?
AIPPLE@4:56
I thought that was really funny though 🤣
Aipple
👌
SAINTS STIVS re: Guilt
Finished Season 2 last night, did not disappoint.
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PRESTONPANS BHOYS re: wee chuckle
Good for the soul.
Chairbhoy
There was no dog whistling, what Brendan Rodgers said in that regard is a matter of record
Is it on record as a straight statement on who was to blame for the failure to land McGinn and is it on record as a straight statement on who was to blame for landing Shved? If not- it is dog-whistling? If you need to interpret it is not a straight statement? You and many others interpreted it as a (veiled) attack on PL- you posted such at the time. I believed you when you said this that it was what you believed. Why would you be doubting your reading of BR’s statement now?
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.
He made this specific defence on the signing of Shved and he made it on the failure to sign McGinn (after both PL and BR had failed to persuade John McGinn to give up a potential lucrative contract at Villa). He had accepted the terms on signings as he had done at Liverpool and previous clubs but, like all managers, he wanted to land better players, some of whom were unwilling to come, than he was able to land in conjunction with the CEO and scouts.
He never said this when Dorus de Vries proved to be a failure, or Christian Gamboa or Kolo Toure or Eboue Kouassi or Kundai Benyu, Marvin Compper, Jack Hendry< Lewis Morgan, Charly Musonda, Yousouff Malumba, Filip Benkovic, Oliver Burke, Jeremy Toljan or Vakoun Issouf Bayo. Those that want to believe in Pedrophobia will place all these bad signings in the Shved folder of complaint. Adults know that these were a joint failure by the Manager, CEO, and Scouting Staff.
Sevco Rangers were on the scene and were speculating to accumulate. The Board then “speculated to accumulate” as Lenny was given 35 mn to enhance the team.
Sevco’s speculative approach is constant- how is it working out for them? Are you going to trade our domestic dominance for one lost Europa League final? The idea that Neil Lennon got more financial backing than Brendan does not stand up to scrutiny
Cause I don’t, Meada and Abada are more like inside forwards and are his best in that department at the moment
Thanks for answering the question. It is a different answer from the one I have. I am not sure if we even have a shared understanding of the term “inside forward” as I thtink the term has dropped out of use for a long time. In their time at Celtic- Abada and Maeda have been wingers- wide men in a front 3- Maeda has some experience as a CF and some (not me) are touting Abada as a CF too but, so far, At Celtic – they have been wingers. We do have attacking or advanced midfielders- Turnbull, Hatate and O’Riley (at times) and even Calmac in the past- I also think Haksa has played there once but I’ve never seen Maeda or Abada there so let’s deal with the reality of their playing careers.
Personally, I think he’s happy to recruit Yang and Tillio because Mikey is injured and odds against to make it at Celtic plus Haksa and Vata may leave and Jamesie will play less often as he drifts towards a lower level of football.
Three Seasons
I am betting 2 tops and I’m happy with that. He does not have the repair job and modernisation task he had last time – so I suspect he will mento our next manager- probably Scott Brown or John Kennedy- if he goes away from CP for a year elsewhere. I am not resentful about that coach life expectancy- I think it will serve both parties well. Brendan will run Celtic as a modern outfit. In turn, he will re-establish his reputation, following sackings by Liverpool and Leicester and will get another big club job or , perhaps, a big money move to Saudi or China.
Meanwhile, I am strapping in for the ride.
if you can find series 3, best of the lot.
even a wee scene in chicago
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL @ 4:51 PM,
You do know tapping up is illegal?
Hail Hail
3,971 tickets for Killie Cup tie
From the BBC Science & Education.
Who or what is responsible for Wobbly Muons?
—————————————-
“Scientists near Chicago say they may be getting closer to discovering the existence of a new force of nature.
They have found more evidence that sub-atomic particles, called muons, are not behaving in the way predicted by the current theory of sub-atomic physics.
Scientists believe that an unknown force could be acting on the muons.
More data will be needed to confirm these results, but if they are verified, it could mark the beginning of a revolution in physics.
All of the forces we experience every day can be reduced to just four categories: gravity, electromagnetism, the strong force and the weak force. These four fundamental forces govern how all the objects and particles in the Universe interact with each other.
The findings have been made at a US particle accelerator facility called Fermilab. They build on results announced in 2021 in which the Fermilab team first suggested the possibility of a fifth force of nature.
Since then, the research team has gathered more data and reduced the uncertainty of their measurements by a factor of two, according to Dr Brendan Casey, a senior scientist at Fermilab.
“We’re really probing new territory. We’re determining the (measurements) at a better precision than it has ever been seen before.”
In an experiment with the catchy name ‘g minus two (g-2)’ the researchers accelerate the sub-atomic particles called muons around a 50-foot-diameter ring, where they are circulated about 1,000 times at nearly the speed of light. The researchers found that they might be behaving in a way that can’t be explained by the current theory, which is called the Standard Model, because of the influence of a new force of nature.
Scientists say they have found “strong evidence” for the existence of a new force of nature
Although the evidence is strong, the Fermilab team hasn’t yet got conclusive proof.
They had hoped to have it by now, but uncertainties in what the standard model says the amount of wobbling in muons should be, has increased, because of developments in theoretical physics.
In essence, the goal posts have been moved for the experimental physicists.”
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Measured posts CSC
Bada
That’s 20% as RP is just over 18k, so applying the rules
Actually could be wrong there, this is not the Scottish cup, do they apply this rule to the League Cup??
SFTB
It’s the unseen fenian hand…….
Working at a molecular level lol
Guilt – has piqued my curiosity – thanks ghuys
Any tips for streaming it in US?
Texastim
Get a VPN and set your region as the UK and watch like that?
A wee article on the psychology of transfer negotiation
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66439672
On the bbc iplayer
What did the Physicist have for lunch?
Fission chips!
WESTCRAIGS on 10TH AUGUST 2023 4:04 PM
WC-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.
AT- can you provide a link please?
WC-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.
AT- I am sure there are those in the older generation who would say Bob Kelly wrote the book,he did sign players on a whim,he sold/got rid of many too,a bit meaningless and nonsensical if I may say Desmond Whites Celtic is not a comparison for today,in anyway shape or form,remember his son Chris was in a pact that would leave this current chat in 3rd lanark terms in 1994
WC-Peter took the White playbook and raised it to a higher level.
AT -fraid there is nothing we can do bout your pedrophobia,
WC-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.
AT – Martin o Neill, Gordon Strachan,Neil Lennon
Is that right?
I think you have to take note of the pressures involved in managing a club the size and stature of Celtic,and pay special attention to Gordon Strachans comment saying 3 seasons is just bout enough.
HH
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SFTB
Thanks for that, very interesting. So many things unexplained in the universe. Wonder if Fermi labs is named after Enrico Fermi and his famous paradox?
Saint Stiv – I expressed my opinion based on my European ambitions for Celtic. Isn’t it basic thinking – we get punished more in Europe due to bad defending than we do in Scotland? Therefore, we need better players for Europe.
I’d like us to have a team that can compete in Europe – we have been too weak.
BTW dont listen to me , listen to the manager – he WANTS strength , power, presence – his words.
It was the National Accelerator Laboratory but it changed its name in 1974 in honour of Enrico Fermi