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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Afternoon bhoys, seriously Hot, hot, hot, but as ever hun free.
Good luck to the golfers today.
…………………………….
Cracking rant from Tommy
http://glasgowradio.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/podcast-rant-from-idiot.html
Paul et al,
I’m sure I’m not alone by being a tad concerned about the comings & goings in the transfer front at the moment.
We’ve lost about 8 players so far since being crowned champions and secured big FF. I know that the wae bill will be looking über-healthy, but I would have expected a couple of new faces by now!
All the speculation is about players leaving & I’ve heard nowt about incoming.
Anyone on here aware of any background activity at the moment?
Ta
Paul67
The Degeneration of the Monkey Nation?
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000 on 3 August, 2012 at 12:14 said:
The school had been broken in to,and the lead pipes disappeared ? ,resulting in the basement and ground floor flooded.I believe there was a bit of haggling between CFC and the Council as to who would foot the bill for that.I think it has been settled,and we can look forward to The Celtic Museum being sited in the school.HH.
I see Sevco are charging £15 for the East Fife game. It will be interesting to see how many show up.
HT
I came out years ago :-)
Loads of Greek salad, Cheese sagenaki, gyros, fresh fresh fresh sea food, Mythos & Alpha, G&Ts…
Family owned hotel. Guy & part owner who worked bar at night was a big Olympiacos fan. Guess who his second team was and what illegal link he had projected to TV on Wednesday night while attired in said teams training top. Home from home with loads of sunshine.
BTW. I love this shade of red my skin has went.
Details of who’s going out and where will be most appreciated.
MWD
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000 on 3 August, 2012 at 11:32
=================================
Another vibrant article. On tv revenue, broadcasting, etc – the way forward in this internet age is perfectly exemplified by MLB.com, the official American baseball site.
Just take a look at that operation – blanket live game coverage in HD of every match of every season, every whim of the fan catered for under a single annual payment, the broadcast under the control of the user/viewer. It is classic satiating the consumer’s needs, ergo reaping the rewards. They have somewhere in the region of 70 million annual subscribers.
It is a fantastic example of what the American marketing ideology does best.
It puts Sky to utter shame.
Sometime someone within the Scottish game/even at Cetic park will lift their heads from the bickering, squabbling, broadcasting miasma that fogs our game and see the possibilities of even adapting 25% of the MLB method. How soon? I’m not counting on it. It would take some swift radical action and some open minds to grasp the catch-all concept. But it is there for all to see.
Paul67: ‘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 Platinum Era is upon us.
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000
Not sure what could be done with it to be honest due to it’s lay out.
It’s been obvious for years that the school needed developed and if it is to be a museum so be it, at least it would be put to good use.
However there is a need for facilities around the stadium for those not of the ‘corporate persuasion’ to have somewhere to go to eat and drink pre-match. In conversations with lots of fans we were hoping the ‘Triangle’ would bring this.
The whole match day experience at Celtic has to be improved and the green and white pound would be far better off in our coffers rather than various other outlets in the city.
The work going on in the area is impressive and I really hope that Celtic forge ahead with plans that put us at the centre of all of this.
Good luck to the golfers.
Hail Hail
Sandman on 3 August, 2012 at 12:31 said:
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000 on 3 August, 2012 at 11:32
When Murdoch developed the Sky platform,I read his intention was to have a PPV facility for every football league game in Britain,no matter what day or time of kick off.
Got this email today from companies house re The RFC, I’m not sure if this is auld info or not?
…….
This message has been generated in response to your request to monitor the
following company:
Company Name : THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB P.L.C.
Company Number: SC004276
The following form/document(s) have been filed for the above company and are
available to order from our Companies House WebCHeck service:
Document Type Form
————- —-
Chg Of Name CERTNM
Chg Of Name RES15
Please visit your WebCHeck account to order the above recently filed
document(s).
If you have any questions about this email, please contact the Companies House
Contact Centre on 0303 1234 500.
If you wish to cancel or amend this Monitor Request, please visit ‘My Monitor’
within your WebCHeck account.
http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk
Yours sincerely,
Companies House
—
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.
HH
Talking of museum’s, I will never forget 1988 when they turned the Peoples Palace into one huge Celtic museum. It was amazing and filled you with awe and pride. I still have the poster they handed out up my mums loft…
Tooting Time and Garcia Lorca.
Maybe not the whole of London that’s been abandoned.
The South West is bursting at the seams. My one hour jaunt in to work has been tripled to a three hour nightmare and I know the rat runs. I spent last Saturday in Putney for the men’s road race. All pubs were full for the few hours I was there and despite charging 4.50 a pint, they were doing a very good trade. By the time the cycles arrived the street were lined 5 or 6 deep. Busy down South West.
Whilst I support prudence in these hard times I do think we have missed an opportunity. We are liklely wo win the league for the next 3 years and thereby the revenue that attracts and opportunities in Europe. We all knew we needed a different type of striker up front and defender to improve our team. We havent done either . I just think we could have front loaded that next 3 years revenue for the players we need and make that big push for champions league qualification this year. That in iteslf would recoup that spend. There is a time to be cautious but we should also be more creative in how we invest and more forward looking. May be wrong but heartly disappointed and think we are up against it next week given our historical performances
MWD good to see ye back, rested and burnt :¬)
Have you ordered any CQN badges? if not I’ll blag some tomorrow for ye.
ps I’ll pass on you’re “other” donation to wee oscar via the CQN badge mhan tomorrow.
HH
roy croppie -It broke Wee Fergus’ heart going to CP on a matchday, seeing pubs en route bursting at the seams.His Plan was to move the Celtic Supporters Club from Barrowfield and re-build a massive one across from the Park,where the new Velodrome/Sports Centre is.I still don’t see any reason that all kiosks/ bars can’t be used inside the Park on a matchday for a few beers.We have the space to develop a few more too.
Well done the rowers again.
George Nash and William Satch take a bronze and Alan Campbell takes bronze also.
While Katherine Grainger & Anna Watkins take gold.
Could be a very good day for team GB.
HH
/Bishop B
I imagine the old school building would lend itself to a walk through Celtic’s unbroken 125 years of history and counting. An inspiring and fascinating journey.
Bang goes The Bhoys Bar and Bistro:)
Good luck to all the golfers today , hope the weather stays fine .
Hope those going to offer support ( for a swally ) have a good time too , looking forward to game tomorrow and meeting up with as many CQNers as possible afterwards.
VP
You’ll be perfectly safe but will there be room for the armchair?? :-)
Who you bringing?
MWD
I’ll text you.
!!Bada Bing!!
It’s been a frustration of mine for many years. The alcohol at sports grounds legislation really needs looked at up here now. No problems getting a beer in the EPL.
Hopefully a decent venue will be part of the plans.
pintaguinness-Correct,we could easily sell a player to get 2 or 3 in,or service a debt of £5-6 mil.in lieu of future earnings.The “look what happened to them” mantra is scare mongering.I am not advocating a couple of £5 mil signings on 40k a week,it can be manager pragmatically,with steady progression IMO.HH
Petec
Sorry this me just getting back in
Hope we both have a good day tomorrow along with the rest
Of the Celtic family
Early start for me will have to get bus from St Andrews
To Glasgow at 0825
Will try and pop into bar 67 before game and see if I can pick up a couple
Of the must have WBs
Hail Hail
MT
THE Liquidation Generation
MWD-Sounds like you are in good heart after your wee break.HH
What time is the KO tomorrow please?
I just saw the photo’s of the trouble at the match last night and the burning question is this.
Why are the stewards and polis in Dundee so FAT!!
12.45 CP time.
BB
Cheers!
Following on from my earlier post this morning about SevCo
Guess who is paid £50k a year just to pick any new players up from the airport and failing that, spends the rest of his time doing absolutely nothing of benefit to the club?
ASonOfDan-Will PC Murdoch be called to give evidence at the Toy Parliament’s Summit ?
Mountblow tim on 3 August, 2012 at 12:48 said:
Bundoran Bhoy, the wrist band man, won’t be in Bar67 until after the game.
Paul67 – Students of economic history will be able to tell you that even the most obvious economic lessons are eventually forgotten.
Yes.
*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.
Oh, Paul.
Krugman is an example of your previous statement. Keynesianism has never worked in practice. If we’re being generous this is because it’s politically impossible to implement the full medicine Keynes recommended.
Keynes believed governments should spend more during recessions to mitigate against slumps, but crucially, they also had to cut spending during the boom. Doing one but not the other was self-destructive.
This advice has never been followed, for all politicians everywhere love a theory that supports what they want to do anyway: buy votes with other people’s money, and there are always millions of good reasons to increase government spending.
Even Krugman himself admitted on the Jeremy Vine show a few weeks back that governments are pathologically incapable of cutting spending during a boom. The logical conclusion of this is that Keynsianism can’t work in practice. You could practically hear him shrug his shoulders at this admission, and in the next breath he advanced his spend-ourselves-rich mantra.
How much do we need to spend ourselves rich by? Krugman believes Obama’s $800 billion dollar “stimulus” was far too small. I believe the technical term for this is cuckoo-bananas.
Western economies are drowning in debt. We – or to be more accurate, our children and grandchildren – are on the hook for trillions of pounds of unfunded liabilities that nobody has a credible plan to pay for. Wealthy public intellectuals like Krugman will be long dead when the really big bills come in.
The only thing that spending even more money we don’t have will achieve is to hasten the collapse of our currencies, swiftly followed by the collapse of governments and the welfare systems Krugman cherishes.
Pondering when is the right time to control government spending is like an alcoholic pondering when to stop drinking.
In both cases, the right time is now.
In both cases, the ill effects come first, but the good effects can take years to be felt.
Because of this, in both cases there is always a powerful motivation to backslide, to get back to partying and letting the good times roll, and worry about the future later.
And in both cases, we know what happens to societies that refuse to control runaway government spending and alcoholics who can’t control their drinking: they are destroyed by their own lack of restraint.
You’re a businessman: you know from your own experience and from the cautionary tale of Rangers (RIP) that you describe in this very article what happens to businesses that spend too much. The same lessons apply to government. (thumbsup)
ASonOfDan
Talking of museum’s, I will never forget 1988 when they turned the Peoples Palace into one huge Celtic museum. It was amazing and filled you with awe and pride. I still have the poster they handed out up my mums loft…
————————————————
They handed out posters up your mums loft?! ;-)
ASonOfDan on 3 August, 2012 at 12:30 said:
Surprised its not just cash at the gate :)
Christophe Berra anyone?
Son of Dan, I remember the People’s Palace in 1988 all done up Celtic, I watched the Inter v Celtic final in colour for the 90+ minutes in the made up terraces! We won again, it was a delightful year, out with the Double, we’d “The Celtic Story”, the display and sponsorship in the Glasgow Garden Festival…
Anyway, I’ve a question to all, I’m currently in the Promised Land (not the Barra’s, the original one) and haven’t heard all the news this week – Were “The Sevco” granted full SFA membership – I thought the weekend license was only temporary?
PaddyBhoy on 3 August, 2012 at 13:07 said:
Christophe Berra anyone?
No ta. Poor defender, he’s also very left sided, we need a right sided defender to play alongside Charlie.