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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15 cup finals played with the same intensity passion and commitment that we saw on Saturday will see us through to win this league.
Win 14 of these and we will be champions again. Win the league and the cup will surely follow.
This clown is cracking already at Ibrox. Match their lifetime aggregate domestic trophy haul by the end of this season and their greatest ever myth is debunked for sure.
BURNLEY78 on 1ST JANUARY 2024 1:02 PM
“Turnbull was blatantly pushed and no one was actually offside in the lead up to that one. Quite remarkable that everyone I met last night our a wee new year shindig we’re talking of Celtic getting a break from a refereeing decision yet the opposite is true.
10/10 to the media for their total compliance on this. Until the sky panel of folks today at least.”
0/10 to Celtic for not adding weight to the calls for VAR transparency from sevco. I think we should support the managers, if not the stadium, being privvy to the conversations between officials as the broadcasters are, in the interests of transparency.
If the club issued a statement and highlighted the Turnbull penalty and the assaults by Goldson on Bernardo, Sterling (and others?) on MOR then we could leverage the media to be a bit more even handed.
This whole dignified silence/focussing on the future not the past patter is painful. We are not professional in our approach; we are passive and this lets others set the agenda.
On the drive back from the match I heard Hugh Keevins try to out Clancy as a Celtic fan despite him booking 9 our our players for not a lot and letting several of theirs off with similar tackles/challenges. He then did the usual book 2 of their players with 2 minutes to go to “even up” the bookings.
QB
Decent article although I think it’s fanciful to compete with the top Dutch or Portuguese teams. They play in far better and more competitive leagues and while we debate what stage of development we sign players, Dutch and Portuguese clubs can produce their own in a way we won’t be doing any time soon.
Why does every narrative ignore the youth system? Imagine what we’d save if we produced our own Jota or CCV. They’d be more likely to stick around too. Does anyone think CalMac would still be here if he wasn’t Scottish?
Most of promising youngsters jump ship as soon as any other club flashes them some cash.
FANADPATRIOT re: dirty Sky
Get yourself a wee Firestick.
————————
BIG JIMMY
I did indeed have a few too many for you! Back to work tomorrow after 11 days off. Braw.
————————–
BRRB
Back from the cabin, miss the place. The tranquility only broken by me dancing around on Saturday morning. I’m sure the neighbors in the woods were wondering “why is this guy screaming about huns and what have they to get right up ’em?”
HH all and happy 2024!
QB
Clancy didn’t book anyone on Saturday.
Walsh did.
Walsh, Clancy & Collum …. all Catholics but none of them Tims.
They are all uncle Toms.
https://x.com/CelticFC/status/1741572436531757503?s=20
Enjoyed this video tweeted by the club.
Truth be told though, I enjoyed the comment from Giorgios Stepharas just as much.
😆😆😆
Happy New Year to one and all.
The hun meltdown over the past 2 days has been nothing short of magnificent. You don’t need to be a cod psychologist to discern the level of denial driving this behaviour. The truth is they thought they had caught us against even their own expectations, only to have that hope cruelly snatched away. Too painful so invent some grievance to focus on instead. Lovely.
It only helps our cause – provided we press home our advantage, starting with a tough match in Paisley then hopefully a productive transfer window that delivers a couple of first team ready contributors. Two would be enough. We don’t want to upset the harmony of the squad by bringing in too many.
Oh and please get rid of McCarthy and a few other non-contributors-
VALE BHOY on 1ST JANUARY 2024 2:01 PM
“Clancy didn’t book anyone on Saturday.”
Sadly this is me after not having had a drink on Hogmanay! I blame having to work today.
Thanks for the clarification; point stands.
“Walsh, Clancy & Collum …. all Catholics but none of them Tims.”
I couldn’t tell you what religion any player or ref is. I can only see remarkable inconsistency in many of them between our games and other SPFL matches I watch.
I had to borrow a car to get to the match as mine was off the road hence the rare listen to the radio as I had no blue tooth. I have rarely been so happy to get close to home as when the radio switch channels and lost connection to Clyde :)
QB
Vale Bhoy
As I said immediately after the game, Walsh is a hun appeasing creep. He did the usual – no outrageous game-changing pens or red cards. Instead he routinely awarded them imaginary free kicks, often around the edge of our box, and dished out yellow cards aplenty for innocuous/ non-existent offences, often early in the game. Although their goal did come from a legitimate free kick, the one resulting in the bogus penalty controversy did not.
The huns in the other hand were reffed differently. A number of their fouls went unpunished, no dangerous free kicks for us and they only picked up bookings right at the end of the game.
He had no option but to send Balogun off – reluctantly.
I always have to laugh at the way two sets of fans can watch a game and both end up convinced that the officials (all of them including VAR) are not just biased against their team but are part of an active ongoing conspiracy against their team.
Both sets of fans also believe that the media is biased against them …oh and that the boards who run their clubs are weak appeasers who are afraid to stand up against the ingrained bias.
aka thomthethim
BURNLEY78 on 1ST JANUARY 2024 1:14 PM
I noticed a major change in the team’s attitude during the Dundee match. There were none of the lapses and lethargy that cost us points in the previous games. We kept the tempo high for the duration, driven from the midfield.
This gave me confidence going into the Derby game, as it suggested that we had reclaimed our mojo. Happily, it so proved. Another pleasing factor was the post match comments from BR and Calmac. Both were bullish in their tone and perhaps the days of TRIFC manipulation of the Game were coming to an end.
Sorry to hear that Kyogo has been omitted from the Japan squad. Oh dear, what a pity, never mind.
PS.
A Happy New Year to my reader.
Testing
WITS. – A happy new year to you.
Keep up the good work.
D. :)
WHAT IS THE STARZ on 1ST JANUARY 2024 2:39 PM
Genuine questions.
Do you think the media coverage following the game, penalty incident in particular has been even handed?
Do you believe that our club could help to challenge that narrative and in doing so help lead to more transparency in how our game is officiated?
QB
How can anybody with any brains in their head still be bleating about a penalty that would not have stood had it been given due to a clear offside in the build up and alleged yellow card worthy offences which gave been well and truly debunked?
Blue squirrels to distract from another humping by Celtic?
Genuine delusions when it comes to hiw rules must be applied, caused by years of getting nearly everything going for them decision wise?
‘Balancing out’, in sone perverse way, the perception that they get every decision going and the institutions are biased in favour of them?
Probably all three in my humble opinion.
If TavPen hadn’t scored the free kick to put some gloss on the result and create the illusion of a second half being a close contest, the narrative would be very different from their support. I’m kinda glad it happened that way. An enemy that doesn’t know its own weakness is easier to beat.
All that said, we shouldn’t allow the result to cloud our own judgement. We are still a team in transition/ development of sorts. If we keep our eyes on the prize we’ll finish well ahead of them.
Rab Hawe(TTT)
Great to see you on these page.
Best of Health and happiness to you and yours in ’24.
All the best.
Happy new year to all who post here,
Thank you Paul67 for this forum but please please please inform us of upcoming updates as long established posters are not changing browsers,and do something about the adverts that is why you are at 90 posts a day!
The mods are fine so long as alcohol is not near them,Do drop an email to St Stivs,Tom McLaughlin and PeteC whose barring was down to alcohol by Mod
Finally Newclub not Newco,
we know,we know they know,we know we know they know we know.
All for the betterment of Celtic
The best to all the cqn family.
Thanks to all support to me in June
Hail Hail
A wee song worms in ma head when cheating is suggested by the 2klub tams
https://twitter.com/antearmann1967/status/1741821802622374283?s=19
Gaun yirsel Sydney Gie it lalldy
HH
Never interrupt the enemy when they’re ……
Seems like a very good stance to take at the moment…
Littler comes back from 2 legs down to take first set.
If you are interested.
Actually, even if you aren’t interested that is the state of play.
Meanwhile in Gaza, the genocide and crimes against humanity continue…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/67854715
Paul 67 et al,
A very happy New Year.
There is soooooo much I would like to debate, but I’m elephants again and still on a high from a beautiful Saturday.
HH.
SCULLYBHOY
All the angles and it keeps on getting better.
SPIKEYSAULDMAN on 1ST JANUARY 2024 3:22 PM
Meanwhile in Gaza, the genocide and crimes against humanity continue…
Well said young man .HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and the twins families. Tell DENIS he has done a sterling job in bringing you up.
ps ask him if he has ever heard how JOHN FARREL is doing . Plus big TOMMY FLYN is in TORONTO and is minted according to my nephew.
Quadbhoy
Media coverage..I don’t live in Scotland so pay very little attention to Scottish football reports…I am aware that the Daily Record is referred to by Celtic fans as The Daily Ranger and by Rangers fans as The Daily Rhebel…what that tells us I have no idea..
Regarding the board…personally I don’t think they should get involved at all..Look how silly the Rangers board appear with their regular statements..
Despite all the real or imagined conspiracies Celtic continue to clock up the trophy count.
Long may it continue
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ficdn.thecelticstar.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F12%2Fceltic-fc-v-rangers-fc-cinch-scottish-premiership-216.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=9e0e289061b578eb02bdd1f6451978eca262b213cecb0b3fcda8113e0168d1a5&ipo=images
https://www.thestar.co.uk/jpim-static/image/2023/12/30/13/03/20953756.jpg.jpg?crop=5:3&width=4000
https://x.com/paddypower/status/1741828653476921587?t=r6CNIFrnf8LS2pJLixlFNQ&s=08
WHAT IS THE STARZ on 1ST JANUARY 2024 3:30 PM
“Media coverage..I don’t live in Scotland so pay very little attention to Scottish football reports…”
Lucky you. Whilst I have kids that use iPlayer I am sadly having to partially fund what must surely be some of the most unbalanced sports reporting by a supposedly neutral national broadcaster. I am not often thankful for Peter Grant but fair play to him for trying to give some balance on Sportscene.
“Regarding the board…personally I don’t think they should get involved at all..Look how silly the Rangers board appear with their regular statements..”
Agree they look silly and I am not suggesting we go full on tonto like them BUT if we want openness and transparency then we could kill two birds with one stone with a wee playful carefully constructed statement or even just some jovial yet pointed twitter trolling :)
“Despite all the real or imagined conspiracies Celtic continue to clock up the trophy count.”
Indeed we do. Long may that continue. We might even have a few more if we had transparency from our officials.
QB
That darts game 🎯 too one sided 4:0 so far…
https://www.thestar.co.uk/jpim-static/image/2023/12/30/13/19/20953767.jpg.jpg?crop=6:4&width=3000
Quadbhoy
One thing I think we will agree on is the penalty count.
Rangers get penalties that no other club would get.Their late equaliser in Aberdeen being the most recent example.
PRESTONPANS BHOYS re: 🎯
Been quite the match. Can the kid hold his nerve and close it out?
Test
WHAT IS THE STARZ on 1ST JANUARY 2024 3:54 PM
“One thing I think we will agree on is the penalty count.
Rangers get penalties that no other club would get. Their late equaliser in Aberdeen being the most recent example.”
Indeed and they often don’t concede pens for incidents that a lot of other teams (often playing against them) do. When I think of the pens we should have had if we had even semi consistent officiating (Killie away in LC, blatant shirt pull on Oh – RC away? and CCV being fouled by Carson being recent examples) then you may have to humour me somewhat when it comes to officiating in Scotland if I appear paranoid on occasion. Not a great believer in an organised conspiracy but incompetence, unconscious bias and self preservation of a well paid p/t gig given the culture / oversight of the SFA gives me concern in this area. I have also been in the presence of too many SFA officials (past and present) in situations where they have felt safe to talk for my own good.
To be fair to the currants, they have seen penalties given for much less than the AJ handball so you can understand their confusion. At the game I was sure it would be given as a Pen and potentially also a 2nd yellow – though I am assured the 2nd yellow was not mandatory even if it were given. If only that linesman had been as quick to flag as he was when an onside Turnbull was fouled by TavPen then it would have saved me a few nervous moments!!
Slow day in working so reading back one of their match threads – hilarious. Never knew they were so supportive of Neil Lennon (he must have suggested – on Sky? – that it should have been a pen).
QB
Speaking of Celtic releasing statements, is the 2-1 score line not statement enough?
T
Saturday’s derby went exactly as i predicted in the blog on Friday. It would be a slender victory, Rangers would attack unlike the usual packed defences we face usually in the SPFL, Kyogo would score. Then there was the Liam Scales factor, The Wicklow mountain man had never lost to our opponents and had actually scored against them in his Aberdeen days , a good omen and what a game the Wicklow man had.
It was probably one of Celtic’s best performances of the season and Calmac, Scales, Bernardo, Kyogo and Matt O’Riley were outstanding, Joe also did his job well when needed.
Bernardo and liam Scales proved that young players have to be given a chance and if the young Portuguese lad continues to shine as he did on Saturday we have found a nuggett. Rockie also looked impressive in his emergency call up.
Now that I’ve got all that off my chest it’s time to wish Paul 67 and his family a happy and healthy New Year and not forgetting all CQNRS.