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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1 Creaney
2 Deans
3 Baggio
4T.Coyne
5 McGarvey
6 Bear
1 Cascarino?
2 Dixie Deans
3 Stevy Fulton
4 Tommy Coyne
5 Brian Oneil
6 Roy Aitken
crap it was Gerry Crainey no 1 grrrrr
celticrollercoaster supporting wee Oscar on 3 August, 2012 at 21:34 said:
Cheers
Forgot was thinking about outfield players.
Malcolm Manager
Dixie Dreams
Stephen Forklift Manufacturer
Tiger Tom
Ryan O’Neill
Roy Atkins Diet
72nd min – min of applause. CLASSIQ!!! :)
theglasgowcelticway on 3 August, 2012 at 21:19
I’ll bet you were mighty relieved.
My daughter told us one night she was going round to play at Seans house in the street behind ours. It started getting dark so we shouted on her. No reply. Went round to look for her when it suddenly dawned on us that we hadn’t a clue which house he lived in in a pretty long street. After chapping about a dozen doors we got lucky! One VERY relieved dad!!! :)
Book
creaney
deans
fulton
walker coyne
oneil mcnally
aitken
ulysses mcghee
Yer better looking on Cqn
Love
Vmhan Nae point copying me!
That’s me on leave for 2 weeks now ……yeehaaa
Off to the Olympics on Sunday…..not competing, you understand…….
67Heaven
Security?
Answers to round 3
Gerry Creaney
Dixie Deans
Baggio
Tommy C, Tiger Tim
Brian O’Neil, Mark Donaghy
Roy Aitken
Bookies Pen
First thing he said was,”can I have a biscuit?I’m hungry.”
glasgowbhoy on 3 August, 2012 at 21:39 said:
Vmhan Nae point copying me!
*********************
Did I ?
Nope just off the top o my heid then I checked the other posters and realised I got no 1 wrong….. I think :¬)
HH
SOAL
On CQN
Superfluous surely?
U
Need to try and concentrate especially with it being my first time contesting the quiz I have over and over on and the Olympic boxing
The Spirit of Arthur Lee on 3 August, 2012 at 21:40 said:
Social Security…..LOL
I’m taking sally with me, in my pocket…..LOL
I’m sure we will all show our appreciation for the dignified and honest decisions made by our friends from the north tomorrow.
A bit of solidarity required in our mutual loathing of the deceased club, then a sound thrashing for the dandy dons !
With Sean unfurling the flag a perfect day would be had!!!!!!!!
Hail Hail to all CQNers and a warm welcome to el Paradiso to Aberdeen.
Wee Oscar scoreboard after round 3
The Spirit of Arthur Lee 37
Seven Fishes Four Steaks 29
glasgowbhoy 21
Vmhan 16
DJBEE 13
CQN is changing so am I 13
setting free the bears 7
hamiltontim 6
theglasgowcelticway 5
Uly aka Signor Mysterioso, Ace bucketeer 3.5
Estadio Nacional 0
10 mins break. Start back 9:55
Rollercoaster, do I get extra points for Baggio as everone else seems to have put down Fulton, which I did regularly at the time. Surely extra points for Baggio?
Vmhan ha just can’t believe I thought gerry was toni!
Really looking forward to the game tomorrow, but why a 12:45 KO?
Anyway, here’s hoping for a decent display from both teams.
Hail Hail!
Books
Will the uruk-hai get to assemble in the bigotdome soon?
A massive army of 8500 uruk-hai would scare many. They are more likely to get around 7000.
Itv 2 ……Happy Gilmore…….Happy Days
Rollercoaster & DJBEE
Do I also get extra points for typing Baggio?
theglasgowcelticway on 3 August, 2012 at 21:42
:))))
CQN is changing so am I on 3 August, 2012 at 21:49 said:
Rollercoaster & DJBEE
Do I also get extra points for typing Baggio?
I typed it first. When is the op?
And I missed the first question and it’s my first quiz which enables me to gain the 30 bonus points
DJBEE on 3 August, 2012 at 21:51 said:
:-)
Do I get an extra point for spotting Harry Hood doing his Dixie Deans impersonation?
Have a great day tomorrow fholks, no matter where you are.
:)
Pen
30 bonus points?
Are you a newco?
DJBEE
OP?
Glasgowcelticway, just what I thought!
DJBEE
NO TO NEWCO!
And we’re back…
Round 4: Name the former Hoops first professional club?
(2pts per first correct answer: 1pt per answer if you are correct but not first. Remember only 1 submission per round)
1) Ronnie Glavin
2) Billy McNeill
3) Pierce O’Leary
4) Pat Stanton
5) Paul Telfer
6) Chris Sutton
7) Henrik Larsson
Thought you were changing.
glasgowbhoy on 3 August, 2012 at 21:45
I know whit ye mean, Gerry C looked real familiar but I couldnt place him and thought roundabout Carcarinos era, it wasn’t el Cascarino has black hair……. me daft never mind bad.
HH