Celtic are about to embark on their fourth season as the last remaining Superpower in Scottish football. The old wars were won, while current challenges on the domestic front are accomplished with ease, but many questions remain about the club’s place in the world, what it’s objectives should be and how best to deliver them.
My expectation is that Celtic’s annual accounts, which will be released next month, will show they club washed its face, largely aided by the sale of Fraser Forster, but turnover is likely to be around 35% below the peak figure from season 2012-13, where we progressed to the knock-out stages of the Champions League, selling tickets and merchandise by the ton.
Season ticket sales are down around 10,000 from their peak a decade ago, reflecting the lack of domestic competition, an overhang of the economic climate, and – I expect – a tail off from what was an unsustainable high during the years of regrowth after the long, dark, 90s. The good news is the distress rate appears to have bottomed out. New blood has replaced old in many parts of the stands, as many learn to appreciate The Game for its sporting merit, not simply a means to three points.
We had a terrible start to the Ronny Deila era. We huffed and puffed in Iceland, were torn apart in Poland, but the performance against Legia at Murrayfield was nothing short of a capitulation. From the opening minute of the game we were worse, much worse, than we were in Warsaw.
Results and performances remained disappointing for months as Aberdeen regularly led the league into the new year, but signs of recovery appeared in the Europa League, where we qualified for the knock out stages and put on two credible performances against Inter.
Last autumn Ronny was under pressure. In another era, this could have been overbearing pressure. The change in managers brought a change in tactics, training and personal objectives, which disoriented the club. It also meant that we didn’t have a recruitment strategy in place for the new requirements.
There are many long term strategic threats, but if Celtic ever lose a league again, it’s likely to be when they embark on such an overwhelming technical change. If we do this again, we need to anticipate the shock and compensate accordingly.
Sporting objectives remain clear: win the league every season “forever and ever” and qualify for the Champions League group stages. Having given this some thought, I cannot see the scenario when we will lose the Scottish league title.
A horizon exists in Scottish football, no one can see beyond 10-in-a-row. This season WILL be five-in-a-row, most bookies are offering 1/33, a 3% return on your money, on this outcome. After that the countdown to 10 will grow louder, but 10 is not a real horizon, it just exists because Jock Stein’s ways were eventually copied. He had no mystical touch, only good strategy.
Rangers should never had stopped at 9. The money they had gave them an enormous advantage. Wim Jansen arrived from nowhere (Japan) with half a team signed by Jock Brown. It defied logic how we won that title, but it’s also clear than many at Ibrox had put their tools away before the start of that season. There is a warning here for Celtic. The latter parts of the Martin O’Neill, Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon eras were all characterised by less innovative signings. More scouting trips to Edinburgh, fewer to Cracow, and the like. When the players, manager or scouts get weary, teams fail.
Achieving Champions League group stage qualification is the most difficult challenge Celtic face. We are clearly a better team than Qarabag, and have considerably more resources, but much of Wednesday night was spent worrying if the goal would come, and about what we would face in Baku. Even if we’re successful, strong unseeded teams will await in our section of the next round draw.
We are more than good enough to win league after league, but we’re not more than good enough to qualify for Champions League after Champions League. This should be Celtic’s objective for the next year – arrive in next summers’ qualifiers with a much better team.
The success of this will depend on Ronny’s ability to turn potential into actual European class players. He can do this, but he’ll need a tail wind. In particular, we have to hope that an earlier, ‘recruit from Edinburgh’ strategy, has not been redeployed in the form of a ‘recruit from Dundee’ one.
There are objective measurements we can point to. We are sound financially, pay our bills when due, have seen off all domestic competitors, will report more than 40,000 season ticket holders, a buoyant retail business and strong commercial partnerships. The stadium looks incredible, whoever conceived of the Celtic Way deserves some credit – but please – finish the job.
Copy what we saw at Murrayfield, put turnstiles at the perimeter of the footprint, build fan zones, build a café outside the ground. 30 years from now people will not sit in stadiums like Celtic Park, they will have better facilities, start planning for them now.
As anyone will tell you, football is a results business, and results over the next four weeks will have an enormous bearing on what state we feel the club is in. Defeat will not mean we are on the wrong path any more than victories mean we are on the right path, but it’s the game we play, so ‘play on’.
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Quote of the day/week “Mainstream media needs a Bogeyman and I’m happy to oblige” Is there no end to your modesty!!!!! H H Hebcelt
Hi Paul67,
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Good piece, great to see the Club in such good shape, really is one of the best run Clubs in Britain
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We should have what it takes to qualify for the Champions League, we really need this to make the Season – plus we want to keep our best players and build a small high quality squad for next Season. UCL is a must.
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Apart from all the stuff already mentioned, I believe the Seville effect contributed greatly to Celtic’s popularity in Scotland and beyond a decade ago. Can we put together another great European run? Well that will be more luck than judgement and considering we are Champions elect in Scotland for the foreseeable future that is a great pity.
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We should have a three year plan aimed at Europe after Christmas.
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Don’t like siding with the cynics but I must say I can’t see an appetite for this in the walls of Celtic Park. I believe the Board know that in a Season or two a new Glasgow Derby will be a feature of our Season and we can look forward to a 20% increase in attendance, TV revenue and turnover. I Would prefer to see our expansion ambitions concentrated on the European stage.
‘
That said, I think you are correct, we are putting things in place that should ensure with the return of the Hearts, the Hibs and the Challenge from the new Govan team that we still should be the dominant force in Scottish Football. And who knows? If the standards keep on improving we will have to improve the squad, hopefully we will reach a consistent UCL group stage standard of squad and performance.
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Third place and Europa after Christmas, is it too much to ask?
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Anyways thanks for keeping up the great work.
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We’vewontheLeagueagainFlytheFlagFlytheFlag!
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Hail Hail
BMCUWP
Better get used to it ….any good player we unearth will be sold ….and replaced with a young hopeful who will be sold if he’s any good …if not we will have wasted money chasing rainbows …..for every Vic there are plenty of Pukki, Balde and Bangura’s
It’s the way it is ….and the way it’s been for a few seasons now
MAJOR COPMPLAINT ALERT:
I like to read the blog from the last message and work backwards, so with the old blog i could just go to the last page and hit ctrl+end on my keyboard and i would be at the bottom of the page where the last message is
.
but now i have to scroll up the page a bit because there is all sorts of gumf at the bottom of the page, its so much of a hassle
haaaaarrrrruuuummmmpppppphhhhhh
oh
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and the new system prints the word ‘COMPLAINT’ as ‘COPMPLAINT’
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not good enough
Paul,
A good article to start the new Blog. I cannot disagree with anything that you wrote. If I have issues it is with what you did not include. I am not a doomsayer but I do firmly believe that to fix a problem, you must first acknowledge that you have one. Celtic have several., and the same can said about other clubs much richer than us.
Firstly, the club does not understand/address all of its stakeholders. Neither I nor anyone who reads this has the patience to sit still while I list all of the issues with all of the stakeholder groups, so I’ll limit my comments to two groups.
Firstly, the club needs to engage more fully with the fan base. They represent both the consolidation of future income and new sources of income. Correct me if I am wrong but fan representation at Board level is lacking. The club’s efforts at communicating with fans is also lacking….amateurish at times. All of our coaches are young…get them out there talking to the fan base. More of what is going on behind the scenes could be communicated.
Secondly, communication with the fourth estate is poor. OK not entirely our fault, but we seem to have adopted our position by default….and it is not a proactive one. The other lot bought a portion of the Media. If those are the rules of engagement embrace them since we usually have the correct side of the arguement.
In evaluating the state of the club, I think it is important to look at recruitment policy….right from player recruitment, through management to Board level. I assume some evaluation of mis-spent funds on players has taken place. If it has not, then it is a priority. Such an evaluation should take into account the impact on current performance as well as future on field performance. By this I mean evaluating the buy for the future strategy. Recent experiences with teams like Legia, Maribor and Q’bag show that experienced journeymen can make a team tick.
I could go on but I am in danger of overloading you all with too many points, should any read this.
Now I understand Paul’s dilemma of what to say and what is feasible to say.
I like the new Blog but it is some slow to load!
Burgas, I do not know you, but all the best in your recovery. At least you now know what is really important.
Rebus
Cheers Embramike
We dont have any real European ambition or we would have brought in a left back a playmaking midfielder and a goal scoring striker.We seem to be waiting to see if we can qualify for the CL before spending anymore on players now this is counter productive as if we qualify teams will ask more for there players.This talk of Cifti working hard is the very least we should expect from any player in the hoops he needs to score goals on a regular basis and for me up to now he hasnt looked like a goal scorer.We have two regular goal scorers Griffiths who Ronny uses mostly as a sub and Stokes who Ronny wants to sell.
I don’t think Anto’s record in Europe is all that great.
My memory may be misfiring but he didn’t score many against the Horribles
We dont have any real European ambition or we would have brought in a left back a playmaking midfielder and a goal scoring striker.We seem to be waiting to see if we can qualify for the CL before spending anymore on players now this is counter productive as if we qualify teams will ask more for there players.This talk of Cifti working hard is the very least we should expect from any player in the hoops he needs to score goals on a regular basis and for me up to now he hasnt looked like a goal scorer.We have two regular goal scorers Griffiths who Ronny uses mostly as a sub and Stokes who Ronny wants to sell. Our first pick right back is carrying an injury one of our Centre Backs wants to leave we have one Left back who cant defend so play a utility player in his place .Now tell me that this is good preparation for the CL qualifyers because for me it smacks of lack of proper forward planning.I just hope it doesnt comeback to haunt us.H.H.
great new look site
great opening blog Paul too
its all about europe nowadays and season after season we must prepare for the qualifying challenges
the next few weeks will show usif we have improved enough this season
Hopefully we will take the CL group stages cash and invest it wisely so that we can improve our chances of qualification next season and so on
Testing
Is the Blog broken? Must go out. BFN.
Rebus
I see Izzy is going to be this seasons Efe…
Scapegoats CSC
You Tube- Brotherhood Of Man- United We Stand 1970
Just change a couple of words and it’s ours
There’s nowhere in this world that I would rather be
Than with you Celtic
And there’s no team in this world that I would rather see
Than you Celtic.
All the rest stays the same.
Charlie Mulgrew said”It makes you feel good when they shout your name”
Well,If he scores a goal,this should make him feel ecstatic.
Tune/ Dean Martins Amore
When the boot hits the ball
And it ends up in goal
It’s Mulgrew
YES IT’S MULGREW
If it’s a header, just change the boot to the head.
Syd Negakev on 31st July 2015 2:30 pm
WEEMINGER on 31ST JULY 2015 2:25 PM
Why do people have such a downer on the catering? Under the Celtic End Block 140 we have a chippy that seems to do a decent fish supper, a Southern Fried Chicken place, some kind of upmarket pie stall.
What is it people are looking for?
===============================================================
Well perhaps some would fancy:
Isle of Gigha halibut with Atlantic King crab, cauliflower couscous, finger lime and ras el hanout infused broth’, ‘Fillet of sea bass with shellfish and sea vegetable minestrone, coco de paimpol, fennel and lovage’, and ‘Ravioli of lobster, langoustine and salmon poached in a light bisque with oscietra caviar and sorrel velouté’.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/state-of-the-club-report-summer-2015/comment-page-3/#comments
_________________________________________________________________________
As much as I’d prefer the latter (sounds like Opera Bar scran), do we really have a ‘chippy’ in the stadium and can I get to it from 444?
I think Mulgrew will play on Wednesday, either LB or extra mid.
I would be impressed if those so certain in their opinions of how badly run the Club is in so many areas would share their background expertise in the matters of which they speak.
Of course, they may be correct in their opinions just as a baker might be correct in his view about how a surgeon should carry out a delicate operation. Generally,though, most would trust to the judgement of the surgeon.Are the people running Celtic not best qualified to make the decisions which are being made?
” We are all entitled to our opinions! ” I hear you argue. Indeed you are. Just as the baker was.
JJ
Syd Negakev:
“Under the Celtic End Block 140 we have a chippy that seems to do a decent fish supper, a Southern Fried Chicken place, some kind of upmarket pie stall. What is it people are looking for? -”
Something to complain about?
Paul67
Interesting stuff.
Never guaranteed 3 points and that is what makes the game so wonderfully exciting.
Watching a new team forming and building up a head of steam
That’s what keeps the fans coming back
Winning every game is just boring oul’ rubbish at the end of a Very long day
ziggydoc1 on 31st July 2015 4:05 pm
The chippy is in the lower tier of the Celtic end. Don’t know if you can get to it from the upper tiers.
weeminger on 31st July 2015 4:12 pm
ziggydoc1 on 31st July 2015 4:05 pm
The chippy is in the lower tier of the Celtic end. Don’t know if you can get to it from the upper tiers.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/state-of-the-club-report-summer-2015/comment-page-4/#comments
—————————-
Thanks. I’ll get my rod out.
Something I find amusing on the blog is how virtually every team we meet is either miles below us or miles above us! There must be some team on or about the same standard as ourselves !
JJ
winning captains
terrible problems logging on there,p/w not being accepted,
changed p/w
p/w sent was for An Tearmann mhan
sorted noo.
strange yin
IamAtimyiknowCsc:-)
winning captains
Firefox is crashing when im on CQN, also when its not crashing it is taking a while to reload and to scroll down is slow and it seems to be sticking
Hebcelt you don’t want to debate anything with me but are happy to disparage my posts. That seems a bit silly to me no?
Jungle Jim hot smoked. You might be surprised at the qualifications and experience of your fellow posters.
following on from Embramikes top post post this morning,a good article
http://www.fifa.com/world-match-centre/nationalleagues/nationalleague=scotland-premier-league-2000000001/news/newsid/266/874/3/index.html
‘Rangers’ failure to see off Motherwell in last season’s Premiership play-offs means the Ibrox club face another year languishing in the Championship. However, there is an air of optimism around Ibrox not seen since the club was forced to start life in Scotland’s bottom tier following liquidation in 2012.’
‘Forced’ – ‘accepted into’ was the wording used.
now if your accepted into something,you are on the outside to start with.and they were outside.They are a new club
lets have none of this hun narrative of newco,nooko,nuiko or what ever variant the cheat determines
ITS A NEW CLUB
http://itsanewclub.blogspot.co.uk/
HH
Teething troubles. I had to log back in there and it took a lot longer than usual.
I see that the sweetness and light didn’t last too long.
I’m disparaging nothing just a difference of opinion,get over it.H H Hebcelt
Neganon
I would be more than surprised if any of them were on the Board of Glasgow Celtic!
A couple of other points.
a) I have often used a Celtic picture as my Screensaver. A moment ago, on a whim, I selected a night-time shot of the Celtic Way. Amazingly eye-catching!
b) Watched the John Hartson documentary on Alba last night. Apart from the basics of the show, I was astounded of forehead at their very positive portrayal of Celtic. I might even consider learning the Gaelic if that show was an example of the Channel`s willingness not to toe the party line 0:-)
JJ
weeminger,
Thanks for the link earlier, I’ve tried to reply to you a couple of times now but the new system is very prohibitive.
Testing
We should be doing a lot better with our young bhoys. If we’re going to win the league for ever and ever, why not give them more of a chance?
Can anyone tell me if the game on Wednesday is being shown live.
Are we progressing as team and a business?
It’s hard to tell and next weeks European outcome will answer the team question.
For the board member receiving bonuses from a profitable entity then the business is fine.
As a fan i have doubts on both fronts but this season should be a fair indicator.
soukous BT Sport
The idea of having cafes and food outlets around the stadium sounds good but how does it work for the caterers when they only have customers for a couple of hours every two weeks and not at all for much of the summer? Who could run businesses like that? The only way I can see it working is to have mobile vans like we have right now – definitely not cafes lying unused for two weeks at a time. – See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/state-of-the-club-report-summer-2015/comment-page-3/#comments
———-
Couldnt agree more with your comment re cafes lying unsused coupled with varied kick off times its a potentially disastrous business model.
Its somethingI have thought about for some time being involved in the leisure/hospitality sector-its a fairly unique situation as the current stadium,part old but mainly new, cannot accomodate internally all the catering and back up areas [especially toilets] required for modern day catering operations that we would want.
By that I mean good [covered] bars/cafes/kids areas/disabled facilities with good access -the nearest solution I can think of would be something like a mix of the Open golf tented village and or a covered pop up type area similar to those in London where specialist caterers/suppliers could be given areas or pitches to sell their products-everything from coffees,teas,craft beers,whisky,specialist burgers,sandwiches,pizzas or whatever under a semi permanent structure[s]
Allocate an area within the confines-partially cover it-provide power,water,drainage-sell as pitches-provide good mobile toilets-no not MR LOOs!
Have a look at http://www.stobag.com for types of flexible coverings awnings etc.
There are many very good small and medium sized catering operators in central scotland who could provide what the fans are looking on an external catering basis-for example I recently completed part of the kilt walk and at the end in Balloch park-La Favourita had a mobile wood fired pizza oven in the park serving up excellent pizza slices to the hundreds of walkers quickly.
In Hoxton London my daughter took my wife and I to a pop up event in an old car wash area where dozens of smallish caterers were dolling out everthing from great coffee, paella,burgers,teas,beers.there was even a malt whisky bar housed in what looked like a big garden shed!
just some thoughts.
If you build it they will come CSc
JUNGLE JIM HOT SMOKED @ 4:09 PM,
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You of course make an important point, we are an excellently run business. Our main mhen are businessmen firstly, secondly and thirdly.
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I’d like to see someone on the Board whose job it is to maximise our Football achievements. By that I mean put a properly costed proposition as to why we should spend say another £10M per annum on the Football side to ensure we reach a European platform.
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The Board are risk averse and that keeps us on an even keel. We have even had a few innovations from Lennoxtown to try to take us to the next level unfortunately they have all had limited success.
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If someone could do a presentation with say an extra £50M spend over the next five years.
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Say one year we qualify for the Europa League, one year we fail to qualify, three years we get to the UCL Group stages, one year we are top two and are in the knockouts after Christmas, one year we are fourth and one year we are third an in the Europa after Christmas with the prospect of a European run after Christmas.
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Now I’m sure if you did those figures then we would make a profit on the extra spend.
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More ambitious, better quality football and opposition. Why not?
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Hail Hail
Hebcelt Thank You