My friends in Celtic, we finish the year top of the league having just schooled our nearest rivals for the second time in two games. A dip in form ended just in time to see the club collect nine points from three games, with an important trip to St Mirren to complete before the winter break. All is right for three-in-a-row.
So why am I so worried? It’s about the strategic direction the club takes going forward. I don’t want to just win the league, or even just qualify for the Champions League. I am 56 years old, I want to see Celtic dive deep into that tournament. I want to see us achieve what Neil Lennon and Gordon Strachan did in Europe, even if the achievements of Jock Stein’s era are nothing more than a fantasy.
If we get everything right, I believe a successful football club can come from our league and achieve what the best in Holland or Portugal have done. To get there, we need to double down on what we are good at, improve where we can and avoid the obvious pitfalls.
Since 2021 we have concentrated development resources into players (largely) under 24 years old. Augmented by the significant contribution of a then-unknown (i.e. risky) Kyogo, this has delivered an enormous haul of trophies. Celtic finished a distant second in 2021 but have dropped only two domestic trophies since, a period in which their main rivals reached significant milestones in European competition.
Finding and developing players of the calibre of Carter-Vickers, Jota, Hatate, Maeda, O’Riley and Abada is so obviously where Celtic are as a club, it defies explanation (but here we are). The aforementioned benefited from arriving at the club during a period of rebuilt. In the squad, goalkeeper, defence, midfield and attack were all overhauled. The new arrivals got gametime and soon flourished.
This summer, our man outlays went on Nawrocki €5m, Palma, €4.75m, Lagerbielke €3.4m, Holm €3m, with an option to buy Bernardo for €6m. Palma was first to get a sustained opportunity and has thrived, scoring in the Champions League and recording assists in important games.
After a run of only three starts, Paulo Bernardo was the toast of Celtic Park. He contributes every inch as much as Matt O’Riley and at €6m is an absolute steal – IF we contribute to develop him correctly, and not allow him to wither on the vine.
Odin Holm (20) has the potential to be every bit as good as Paulo and Matt. He has had a terrible time with illness since arriving in Glasgow, but he will fully recuperate and by his peak years will be performing in a top European league.
For reasons I have not been able to fathom, Gustaf Lagerbielke’s face doesn’t seem to fit. The player has scarcely taken to the field, and when he did, he scored a Champions League winner, but minds have been made up.
On the other hand, great things are expected of Maik Nawrocki. He has endured persistent injuries since August, and was thrown into the deep end yesterday, but the consensus at Lennoxtown is that he will also play his peak years in a top European league.
If Celtic have been exceptional at anything in recent years, it is finding and developing great prospects. We need to do more of this, we need to look for ways to improve it, and we need to lead the club with this exceptional strategy. Convince the footballing world, if you have talent, Celtic will find it and grow it into something great.
Luck plays a part in football. Injuries, illness and opportunity can all determine whether or not a player is successful. But in this respect anyway, luck eventually evens itself out. Can we all agree, let’s have more of Cater-Vickers, Nawrocki, Jota, Palma, Abada, Holm and Hatate.
So with the strategic plan clearly so successful why am I worried? We lose two league games, get our backsides handed to us in Madrid, and we want a quick and lazy fix (which will not work).
This “we need more experienced players” harks back to past successes, like the phenomenal Scott Sinclair. But Scott came 8 years ago and the world has changed since then. “More experience players” means fewer like Nawrocki and more like Nat Phillips. Nat is 26, has experience in the EPL and Champions League with Liverpool and is exactly the player we can expect to sign when we go for “more experience”.
Nat is not the only example. Let me disturb your afternoon with memories of Duffy, Laxalt, Bauer, Marvelous Marvin Compper, Gamboa, Toure and (still on the payroll) James McCarthy! Look across the city. They have gone full pelt with this strategy; Lammers, Dessers, Danilo, Dowell, the wee boy with the tints in his hair, Davies and Lundstrum.
It’s not cheap either. Despite being universally acknowledged as being rubbish, they have a higher payroll than Celtic; Dessers is on £30k per week and that big lump Lundstrum banks £40k a week to traipse around in Callum McGregor’s shadow.
It is a strategy, but it’s a rubbish one. It leads to a development dead end, not just with respect of the players, but for the club as a whole. The chances of bringing a Scott Sinclair-type talent to Scottish football are remote, this is what “more experienced” looks like and it isn’t pretty.
This is where we are: Nawrocki or Phillips, Bernardo or Lammers. There is only one way forward for Celtic, do more of what we are good at, do it ruthlessly, without exception. Even Brendan should have personal developmental goals. This is where Alex Ferguson was so exceptional and others (Martin, even Jock), didn’t adapt. Managers need to be confident enough to disarm and learn.
It’s also worth correcting a commonly held belief that Celtic have a particularly young team. If our preferred starting 11 includes Abada and Hatate instead of Palma and Bernardo in yesterday’s line-up, the average age is 26.6 years. We are a team with a decent range of youth and experience.
Jota, Carter-Vickers et al gave us a reputation as a great place to for a young prospect to come to. If we screw up with the (also very good) most recent crop of recruits, we will not get next season’s crop, they will go elsewhere.
The next two transfer windows are pivotal to the direction of the club. The manner in which we won the game yesterday, with Bernardo and Nawrocki writing the script, adds valuable perspective on where we are and where we should be moving. Double down, be the best and what we are very good at, no reverse gear, no Phillips, Duffys, Comppers in a vain effort to find Sinclair.
Our condolences to the family of Len Murray, Celtic fan, lawyer and twice guest speaker at the CQN Golf Day. Len was a warm man of great intellect and a devastatingly entertaining manner.
Many thanks to those who helped me on CQN this year, Alex Gordon in particular and the two Mods (one on temp vacation) – honestly the worst role in football!
Thanks also for everyone who drops in to give their thoughts or only for a read. I know so many people I respect who read this stuff. Not everyone ‘gets’ this club. You can see the intelletual sneering in some who have left grubby matters like thier football team behind; they have no idea what they have lost. It is a tonic to know my Celtic addition is shared by people I like. This is who we are, it is our link to the generations past and forward, and for some of us, that really matters.
Take care and have a great 2024!
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Their penalty entitlement knows no bounds.
“THIS HAS TO BE SAID ABOUT RANGERS, AS A SCOTTISH FOOTBALL CLUB THEY ARE A PERMANENT EMBARRASSMENT AND AN OCCASIONAL DISGRACE. THIS COUNTRY WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE IF RANGERS DID NOT EXIST.”
Ian Archer
Good evening all from the Queens Park Cafe. You are an absolute rabble. So there now.
In all my 66 years on this earth this is arguably one of the best goals. From Matts majestic pass to the wee mhans execution in the heat of battle
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/67854715
All the best for the New Year to everyone
Best thing about beating them is seeing the toys get thrown out the pram!!
Statement 3 incoming tomoz?
Aff oot
AN DÚN ( earlier )
Yes, he probably signed his contract more aware of ‘ constraints ’ than any previous manager in our history. These days the type of player he was likely to sign might cost £10M for a bang average, or sometimes a £35M signing, that finds himself, suddenly at Sevco.
Celtic’s strategy didn’t affect his ‘ no brainer ‘ decision to return, so he can’t turn the clock back and tell the recruitment team you’ve not signed nine good players, you haven’t ‘ backed me ‘. If you’re saying we signed too many players ( for once ) then I agree, and were too faithful to others that’s also partly down to Brendan Rodgers too, and he’s acknowledged such. His assessment period is just ending, and there is already J and K league January movement going to happen. I don’t think we stockpile players at Celtic we are more aware than any club that development outwith the first team,is limited. We also know how and why the lack of Premier league development came about?, the idea of having a feeder club is a live issue continually reviewed, not just on the internet.
We could buy oven ready or higher transfer value players, Brendan Rodgers will, but a balance must be struck because it’s not a sustainable strategy, unless you want to have Celtic with another MON and ‘welcome to life in the slow lane, moment’ . You needn’t look too far across Glasgow to see that it’s not even a strategy, never mind sustainable.
I don’t see ‘doubling down’ on three windows other than as myth either, under Ange we signed Liam Shaw, Ozaze Urhoghide, Oh Hyeon-gyu, Yuki Kobayashi, Oliver Abildgaard, Alexandro Bernabei, Bosun Lawal, and Joey Dawson. All of those players were for developing.
I’m happy we have the best manager available, and I’m glad happy to wait and see who we sign in January, because we will need all help we can get.
BRRB – And a Happy New year to you as well ya rascal.
You get your chorus and verse to the Howgait on Tuesday for the game.
Ya souside hooligan.
D. :)
All the best to every CQNer & their families, and to P67 and his family as well, still the go to place for Celtic chat on the internet, hope P67 realises far more appreciate CQN than its many detractors ..
Still buzzing about yesterday, enjoy every Celtic win as if it’s your last, life is far too short
Callum was just Callum following in Broonys footsteps
Hun logic.. “even if it was offside it’s still a penalty” let the Huns deflect deflect deflect … it’s what they do
Hail Hail … roll on the new love street .. and at this time of year many will remember the people close who are no longer with us, ma old man’s anniversary 2nd Jan so prerty sure Brendan & the bhoys will deliver another 3pts
Just think if it wasn’t for CQN & P67 we would never know what boozer BRRB would be frequenting on a daily basis :-)
All the very best for 2024 fellow Celts 🍀🍀🍀
Good evening from a very happy Celt in Lisbon( of all places!).
Great way to end 2023. Party in Lisbon and the Celts top of the league and putting Sevco in their place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKiktuNFWVw
https://images.webapi.gc.celticfc.com/fit-in/1400×1400/92b9cbb0-a731-11ee-a0ed-c1f31b8cc81b.jpg
Some impertinent young pups on the blog tonight. I despair about the younger generation. 🙄
Scullybhoy
Absolutely wonderful the work you do.
Hail Hail.
good to see the flags still flying from the lamposts on the thornliebank roundabout just after the station
🇮🇪
they bhoys in that area are always on it!
Loved Ange.
Came in when we were firmly in the trough of a cycle.
Squad rebuild was a success.
That rebuild involved acquisition of more experienced players (aged 25+) as An Dun rightly calls out.
Equally correctly BSR reminded us above about some of the kidney we bought along with the steak.
The model was tweaked to cater for Ange’s specific knowledge of the Japanese market.
A quick peek at Ange’s success rate?
Six players signed. Kyogo, Maeda, Hatate, Ideguchi, Iwata, Kobayashi.
IMHO, 3 have been brilliant successes, 2 have not worked, and the jury is out on one (Iwata).
This is absolutely NOT a criticism of Ange.
It’s all about the outcome … and the big guy delivered 5 of 6 trophies starting from a very low base. Brilliant stuff.
Respectfully though it is a reminder of how difficult recruitment is.
Ange’s back yard for three years ….. with precious few European competitors (although we did lose out on Mitoma) … and he was shooting c. 50%.
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdwwajbG2G0
St Stivs, Pete C and Tam McLaughlin should be posting again. To err is to be human. Unless yer a hun. They’re not near human. 😂😂
https://cdn.celtsarehere.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023-12-30T134156Z_16164696_UP1EJCU121T4K_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-SCOTLAND-CEL-RFC-REPORT-1536×982.jpg
https://cdn1.67hailhail.com/uploads/18/2023/12/GettyImages-1894722859-1024×683.jpg
Let’s all do the huddle 8.01
That will make me, AT and TLT laugh out loud. 😂😂😂😂
https://a.espncdn.com/photo/2023/1230/r1271896_1296x729_16-9.jpg
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F1ba7c5da-e3a7-403a-8657-0900988f2509.jpg?crop=1773%2C997%2C0%2C134&resize=1500
Greg can’t believe he’s scored from there. Fabulous photo.
Oops
Scullybhoy 8.05
That will make me, AT and TLT laugh out loud. 😂😂😂😂
—
i go by there on the train a lot, and they locals love getting the flags up on that roundabout on the weekend of a ‘big’ game
🇮🇪😄
were yous involved in the lampost climbing? 😄 im thinking ‘naw’ 😋
Evening all.
I just want to wish everyone who posts, lurks and even trolls, a healthy and prosperous New Year.
This is a special place.
Brian
Been saying for years,we should be looking at mid to bottom teams in Serie A and La Liga for good experienced pro’s,not every player is on 40-50 k a week, think Enrico Annoni,a property trained defender and man marker
Apparently the next ‘Shipbank Shipwreck’ outing is when BIG JIMMY’S
GP signs him off.
Looking forward to it.
Get your self along.
HH
BIG JIMMY
I am having one for you here brother!
Happy new year to all from a pleasantly mild Louisville. Off to build a fire out front and have a wee dram. Great 4 days spent up in the hills and I think I woke all the neighbours (who are some distance away) on Saturday morning with my screaming and singing.
HH and as BRRB says, bring back St Stivs, Petec and Tam McLaughlin.
AT, SIPSINI, MARSAPA and the others that hooked me up and chatted on phones this year, thank you!
Yir a fine bunch chaps.
Ps My Loovul lover wants to know when I started watching the darts! When I got my dodgy box love. It’s been a while. Just ordered a dart board for the office.
BTB
Haksabanovic, Jenz, McCarthy Ange oven readies that weren’t ready.
Possibly just turkeys 👍
Let’s all do the huddle 8.18
I can hardly climb a kerb. 😂😂
Watch out. Aipple has got dem cabin fever blues.
Hail Hail K
The problem in digging for gold is that you will more often than not discover fools gold.
And sometimes you will miss out on a few gems closer to home.
Haste ye back SFTB also, with his full oven ready contribution. 👍
Peter Grant said on Sportscene that the mibs were trying to cover up for each other after the non penalty which I also think NFL said that if it had happened to Celtic during his management spell at Celtic he would be going ballistic about it not being given….and then they announced a while later that it was offside.
Peter Grant seemed to have been conditioned by a BBC speech therapist and sounded more listenable because of that…none of his Celtic TV one hundred words per second routine.
That said…it can never be forgiven that Grant, Bonner, Boyd, Maestro, Nicholas, and others…put the tools down to get the ass kicking management style of Lou Macari the sack so that they could get their pal in to replace Luigi… that sure worked out a treat eh.
So who tapped the players up to down tools in 1993-94 season?
Davie Provan said after almost every Macari game that the players were trying to get Luigi the sack…
“They`ve downed tools to get Lou Macari the sack…that is what is going on here!”
McCann couldn`t handle uppity managers (Luigi and Wim)?
So who tapped these Celtic legendary players to in effect throw games to get an unfavourable nobodies puppet manager the sack?
The new manager and McCann?
These fraudulent fake legends cost the club the next 3 league titles including a hun 9 in a row, which imho Luigi would have prevented if he was properly resourced like his replacement was because Macari went to Ibrox twice with players who had downed tools and still mugged Walter`s hun juggernaut.
2 Celtic players burst a gut for Macari and the Celtic fans during that time, John Collins and Pat McGinley, and this spoke loudest when the new manager came in and his first job was to try to get both Collins and McGinley out of the club…and the new managers pretence upset at losing Pat was embarrassing to say the least.
Apperently Collins asked the new manager if he would have given up his lifetime chance to play for Celtic in front of the Jungle…and leave for Derby County or Middlesborough?
This set McCann off of his head because he needed to sell the only player at the club who would create any decent transfer fee ie: John Collins…as by that time the Maestro was done…by carrying the useless Peter Grant on his back for what turned out to be thirteen years for Grant…2 titles in 13 years does not a legend make and the new manager saw Grant as being better than Pat McGinley?
At one point the new manager said that he wished that there were 10 Peter Grant`s in the team…oh bloody Nora!
No wonder we got mugged by everybody in those days…even Raith Rovers in a League Cup Final ffs!
And mugged by Falkirk in a semi final ffs!
But…sack Luigi…give the next 3 CL money pots to the huns £60 million worth when the club was trying to build a stadium…deary me.
£60 million was a lot of money to blow by a club that was almost dead only a few years before.
And this wee Canadian guy is a God in the land of one eyed Tims.
So much for Fergus`s promise that the project on the pitch would be the most important aspect of the club at all times lol.
So much for Fergus`s promise to the rebel consortium that the club would go back to the fans when he left…forcing rebel`s with integrity like Brian Dempsey, etc, etc, etc, to leave almost immediately after the takeover when McCann revealed his `real` plans to sack Luigi and replace him with the vastly inexperienced Tommy Burns as TB said so himself that he didn`t expect the Celtic job to come at him as early in his managerial career so he couldn`t turn it down.
McCann fkd it up by sacking uppity Luigi who was going to make Collins the captain and replace the utterly useless Peter Grant with shrewd uppity ball winners in midfield and do with the Maestro what another `big` Celtic friendly club BVD had done at the same time with their legendary player, Andreas Moller.
Macari was going to move the Maestro back, like Moller, and play him as a front sweeper…Luigi could`ve turned the Maestro into a Pirlo type of player with bold and fearless management decisions like the wideo signing of Wayne Biggins designed to get the fan boycotts started as SOON AS FK as the fans in Macari`s view were dilly dallying about instead of coming to a definitive decision which was doing nobody any good at that time.
Macari signed Biggins and immediately told the press that the club had just sold Gerry Creaney for £600,000 with only $100,000 available to replace GC so signings like the Wayne Biggins one will be the way ahead if certain outside groups don`t get their act together so that the changes for the club can be sped up a little.
Even Celtic historian, Gerry McNee, in his position of Sports editor of the Sunday Mail…had to send a hearse to the Celtic Way and get it pictured on the front page of the Sunday Mail because disagreement`s with certain fan groups was going to see Celtic running out of time….no chance of the BBC showing such concern for Celtic`s fate they were too busy kissing David Murray`s ass!
John Collins as captain with a midfield battling ball winner playing next to him, with Maestro / Pirlo organizing everything at the back could have stopped a hun 9 in a row and also added to Celtic`s fairytale stories…imho.
oot.
The last wee trio of tunes from me this year.
I hope you enjoy them.
God bless.
Wild Mountain Thyme
https://youtu.be/Jyj9nn4fzW0?si=OlY-AC8vhaipWjgF
https://youtu.be/Jyj9nn4fzW0?si=OlY-AC8vhaipWjgF
https://youtu.be/VqhCQZaH4Vs?si=T_Q5F0Dbo852Ccgp
Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell
https://youtu.be/ratQlft_G5c?si=rjOQOu7P22Tari6D
Nite y’all
Stay classy
Tell your friends, they’ll like it.
it’ F3CK1n good to be a TIM.
HH
Brian
My state of the club report
We’ve been good, we’ve been great, we’ve struggled against playing 21 men in 1 half of a pitch, (something that shouldnt happen in football, 10 defenders )we’ve played well against good teams, and we’ve run out of steam.
We’ve been lightweight and can do better, we can improve
Love being a Celt
Tiochfaid Harla (it’s here, enjoy it)
Happy new year and hope next year’s better than the last.
They take Paradise and put up a parking lot.
Joni Mitchell 1969.
Our captain
Our manager
https://twitter.com/CelticFC/status/1741564888835903698/video/1