My friends in Celtic, for the first time in four years we start a league campaign as champions. We carry a slender-but-hopeful lead into the second leg of our Champions League third qualifying round tie, and we are hotter favourites to win the league this season, than North Korea’s Supreme Leader’s favourite Pyongyang team would be, if he was to playing as striker.
Quite simply, the return on money placed on Celtic to win the league this season more accurately reflects a tax-free savings plan than a gamble. The bookies will hold your money until March or April then return it with some interest. Your rate of return will directly reflect the interest they can earn elsewhere.
This is the ninth eve-of-the-season we have reported on the state of the club. During this time we have gone toe-to-toe with a competitor who tried so hard to get the better of us, they ran up unsustainable debts, which could reach £134m, and which will never be paid or forgiven.
Celtic ran a better operation, were commercially sharper, had by far the best scouting system in the country, but paid their bills and ‘lost’ five leagues in this time.
Living with this was hard. In fact, it tore the Celtic support apart. The question was simple, “If they can, why can’t we?”
They couldn’t, and now the ideological debate is over. Mantras we have heard for decades have proven to be false. ‘Speculate to accumulate’ and ‘For every fiver Celtic spend….’ were suitable for an inflating market, where player values, TV contracts and match day revenues rose consistently, but this strategy was fatally flawed.
Whatever was accumulated in Scottish football it was never financial reserves, so when revenues dipped, or the vagaries of sporting fortune denied the wealthy their anticipated earnings, Armageddon happened – for one club!
Students of economic history will be able to tell you that even the most obvious economic lessons are eventually forgotten. New people arrive, achieve some early successes which reaffirm their ideological beliefs (in this instance ‘We deserve more money to be spent on footballers’), make no provisions for the inevitable change in circumstances, before disappearing into the obscurity from which they came, leaving others to live with the consequences.
Here is the true State of your Club. Celtic will continue its trajectory without changing what has been orthodoxy since the last century. Over any business period we will spend whatever money comes into the club. In normal times debt levels will trend downwards, providing space for the afflictions of fortune to be accommodated. We will most likely promote more players from our precocious youth system and buy fewer squad fillers than in the past.
The blink-junkies, who still believe in the values of Sir David Murray, will be reminded on these pages of their consequences *.
When this period of our history ends, we will reflect back on what, by then, will be the most successful period of any club, in any country. Ever. Those of you who lived through Lisbon are now enjoying the second Golden Generation of our club, but this time, nine years will not contain it. This Generation will stretch from 2000 as far as your mind’s eye can see, if only someone would coin a catchy phrase to encapsulate this successful period!
The Battle of the Ages is over, Celtic have prevailed, as did every Scottish football fan who wanted the madness to end. We won!
Thanks to everyone who bought a raffle ticket to help with our summer charity causes. Enjoy the season. I will.
*At the moment I’m reading End this Depression Now by Nobel Economics Laureate Paul Krugman, an excellent insight into how even the most eminent allow what they want to believe to obscure some of the lessons every economics under-grad is taught. It’s also a fine retort to the political classes who believe there’s nothing we can do for the economy but strangle it a little tighter.
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hamiltontim on 3 August, 2012 at 10:28said:
Minceyheidman on 3 August, 2012 at 10:20 said:
A few of us are meeting in Bar67 after the game however we may end up going for a wee wander later which would mean no Celtic gear.
If you want to get a hold of me you can at hamiltontim@hotmail.co.uk
Good article, Paul!
Amen!!
Well in Paul67, now lets top it off.
Sign Joaquin Boghassain !!
Good luck folks
Paul67
Good to see someone is on the ball this morning,unlike all those
checked troosered eejits wasting a good walk.
Hail hail
BTW,
What about ‘Generation of Domination’?
VP
I take it ‘checked troosies’ don’t go with your 70’s winged collars :-)
Fwee Wojah!
Aye. Whit is it wi aw these gowfers dressin’ up like Huggy Bear?
Paul67
I’m glad you didn’t say ‘smaller but more successful club’ again! Not sure if that remains your view or if it is dependant on a change of league/league structure(in European terms)….
HH
From previous thread:
Can anyone supply me with some info re TV deals? I am on Virgin and last year I had ESPN (free with XL package) and Sky Sports.
Anyone any idea how many Celtic games featured on each channel?
Now looking to decide whether to keep them or not, I am reading different versions of the new deal ie both Sky and ESPN will have 30 SPL games each? But Sky also have 5 Rangers games and ESPN have 10. Is that over and above the 30 or included in the 30.
Only interested in seeing the Celtic games, not going to put my hard earned into these channels to watch Servco!
Am sure I am not the only one to be looking at this, anyone else done so and found the answers?
Morning all from a bright and breezy North Ayrshire.
This is the golf day, isn’t it? Enjoy it everyone. Some day I’ll get a chance to join you.
Paul67, let’s hope we win the league. I am not as confident as your good self. Still, it will be good to make McCoist eat his words about those titles his former team cheated to obtain. Mind you, I have no desire to put mere league titles on the jersey. The big one is far better.
My hope for the new season is twofold (1) that every team will try and play football as it should be played and (2) that the referees act with integrity. Then, Scottish football might have a great future.
Stevebhoy, I like the sound of that :-)
WGS, cheers.
voguepunter, aye, I’ll be there to let them know.
traditionalist88, ‘smaller’ all depends on how many of us turn up. Remains to be seen but things are looking positive. If we are smaller, so be it. We will remain successful and will pay our bills.
bobbycfc on 3 August, 2012 at 10:44 said:
Bobby, I think those games are over and above the SPL matches. I have ESPN; I’m just going to ignore the games I don’t want to see. I don’t follow a lower division team…
HH
if only someone would coin a catchy phrase to encapsulate this successful period!
The nice age.
I would like to see us line up like this tomorrow providing everyone is fit:
Forster
Matthews Rogne Mulgrew Emilio
Brown Kayal Ledley Commons
Hooper Stokes
Defence: We need to start with our strongest defence and give it a run of games together and hopefully the injuries to Rogne (in particular) stay away. In my opinion this is our strongest back four, no Wanyama at the back, i dont like the back three system either.
Midfield: I would rest Forrest, Wanyama and Samaras for the Aberdeen game and give Beram Kayal some much needed game time. Right midfield is Brown’s best position and Commons can give Emilio some back up down the left.
Strikers: Stokes and Hooper are our best pairing up front and must play tomorrow. Would like to see more of Tony Watt.
Great post Paul67, I particularly the phrase “nor forgiven”.
Paul
I’m confused by your first paragraph. Are you suggesting that we should sign Kim Jong-un?
;-)
Paul67
Interesting times on so many levels, enjoy flag day
HH
Paul67
‘Limitless’
Enjoy the golf.
p.s. re. the great Krugman, if the French can bring in a transaction tax then so can every other country. Cameron’s excuse about the City of London being the major part of the British economy shows he can only throw bad money after bad, helping his old cronies. Austerity is an ideological policy not an economic necessity.
OneSolutionRevolutioncsc
We’ve won the war, now we win the peace. I know your “GOD” predictios were a rod for your own back Paul67, but for us to deem the next few years successful we need some sort of traction in Europe IMO. This will help us financially of course, but will also make sure that wehave exposure beyond these isles – giving us better signing opportunties as well as hopefully generating higher transfer fees when our players move on.
Coming back from a goal down int heir first competitive match of the season will hopefully give the Bhoys confidence – I REALLY hope we get an earlyish goal in Helsinki.
First season in a while I don’t have a season book – family commitments for both me and my travelling buddy make it unfortunately unworkable – but we have both committed to spending the same money on Celtic through other means. Merchandise from the club store, one-off games, etc. Celtic won’t lose out financially from me. Cmon the Hoops :o)
The Pantaloon Duck on 3 August, 2012 at 10:50 said:
ulI’m confused by your first paragraph. Are you suggesting that we should sign Kim Jong-un?
;-)
Haven’t seen him in the flesh but he looks handy on his youtube vid:
http:\youtube.com\pu-lin-legfc-KJgoals,ty
Fine article again, Paul.
I just hope I can be as patient as I was advocating last night to let the wheels of justice roll forward. When the Independent Tribunal deliberate and hand down the inevitable sanctions, and BDO finally put the writhing corpse out of its misery, the record books should reflect, as you have stated previously, 12 SPL titles in a row for CFC, plus the fact that Sevco’s ‘history’ reflects ‘born in 2012’ and no trophies won.
Then justice will have been done, and been seen to be done, and we can look forward to extending the 12 to ?? and finally indulge in the inevitable schadenfreude.
HH
Good morning fellow Celts dark clouds over Renfrewshire
hope it’s sunny and dry for the golfers with a great evening to follow
Cannot wait to see that flag raised tomorrow. Giving Sean Fallon the honour very appropriate. I remain in awe of that man!
Will be nice to see so many Dons down tomorrow -they deserve a very warm welcome in recognition of their sterling efforts to raise awareness of thems’ misdeeds.
one, two, three, four …
The Nothern lights of old Aberdeen
Are home sweet home to me…
HH
Come on you Keynsian Economic Theory!
Whoop! Whoop!
There’s only one Liquidity Preference!
Come on you Keynes!
Who ate all the demand-stimulus pies!
Who ate all the demand- stimulus pie!
You did you Monetarist austerity bams!
There should be a two-pronged focus this season and the following 2 or 3. Qualify for the group stages in Europe (Champions League or Europa – it is a big ask to continuously qualify for the CL the way the qualification works) and bring in a golden era of youngsters. We should now have the freedom to bleed in prospects throughout the season – no more need for journeymen squad fillers – this should be seen as a massive opportunity to push the club forward.
embramike:
‘plus the fact that Sevco’s ‘history’ reflects ‘born in 2012′ and no trophies won’
I agree, we shouldn’t have to wait for the independant tribunal for this though! The pandering to them is unbelievable and some of it is borne out of fear and intimidation.
Legally, however, they can’t win.
HH
kdc on 3 August, 2012 at 10:59 said:
Unfortunately, your link doesn’t work for this decadent westerner :-(
Is Kim in Aberdour today? I seem to recall that he got 11 holes-in-one the last time he played golf.
matt mcglone @MattMcGlone9
Brown, Commons & Stokes weren’t fully fit on Wed & there will be a few changes tomorrow with Helsinki in mind. Brown won’t make tomorrow
The CQN golfers better hope Kim Jong-un doesn’t turn up today.
I’ve heard he’s not bad at the old golf.
Why doesn’t someone tweet the whole team,so the opposition know exactly how to set up ?
Ten Men-from last thread-Durranty?
Ten Men Won The League on 3 August, 2012 at 11:12 said: matt mcglone @MattMcGlone9 Brown, Commons & Stokes weren’t fully fit on Wed & there will be a few changes tomorrow with Helsinki in mind. Brown won’t make tomorrow
—–
I wonder if young McGeouch will get a run out?
Guess we’ll see Sammy and Hoops up front so we might only get the four goals. :)
HH
/Bishop B
God bless fergus McCann
A true visionary
When will he get to unfurl a flag again? …. But without the jeering ?
Let it be
CQN Saturday Naps Competition
Lads, for all the mug-punters out there…
the CQN Naps Competition will resume again this Saturday… :o)
Voguepunter will hopefully be around to defend his crown ?
Oldtim will be looking to end his run of 40 consecutive losers !
…and as for Twists ‘n’ Turns… well, no comment… :o)
COMPETITION RULES are simple :
a) each Saturday log onto the last page of the previous CQN article.
b) post ONE ‘nap’ selection from any major Saturday horserace meeting
(e.g. UK, Ireland, Dubai)
c) if your selection is a Non-Runner, you may select an alternative – as long as it also runs on the Saturday !
d) if your nap wins, you “win” the hypothetical profit from a £1 stake @ S.P.
e.g. your selection wins at 9/4, your hypothetical profit is +£2.25
e.g. your selection wins at 5/1, your hypothetical profit is +£5
e) if your nap loses or if you fail to post any selection, then you lose your £1 hypothetical stake (-£1)
f) if you join the competition late (e.g. in Week 3) you will be allocated 2 losers, and start the competition from (-£2)
g) Our winner and CQN Naps Champion Tipster will be the punter who shows the greatest profit over the season.
Last season the competition lasted for 40 weeks, and Voguepunter was the champion tipster with + £21 profit !!!
HAPPY PUNTING !
:o)
Cheers, fleagle1888
If Brown wasn’t fit to play on Wednesday,there was no need to play him with Victor played out of position.
Vmhan on 3 August, 2012 at 10:22 said:
proudbhoy on 3 August, 2012 at 08:27 said:
Vmhan on 3 August, 2012 at 07:56 said:
Petec, I might gorge on Guinness :¬)
HH to ye!
Not sure if u saw my reply, I’m also in Perth .. Nice city.
Just miss the rebel sessions back in Derry . Need Gary og or someone to immigrate and all will be fine.
************************
Proudbhoy, yes I knew you were in Perth, you’ll have to forgive me as I tend to look in and out of the blog lots as I’m working, I do probably miss some comments so apologies.
My youngest son Jonny (he’s 26) has been out in Perth Aus for about 15 months, works for a company in Perth but also goes out to work in the mines for them when needed.
He’s Celtic mad and was a ST holder since he left school, he also knows Doire very well….. friends with the Derry no1 CSC, he goes to Rosie o’Gradys to watch the games and he trains (or did) with the Perth Celts.
Yeah same,cwasnt sure If u saw my post and i missed your reply.
I’m in the Rosie’s csc aswel , good atmosphere for games. Back down tomarrow night, really looking forward to it. U been out here a visit yet ?