Whatever Steven Pressley’s plans for Dundee on Monday are, the prospect of defending against Kasper Hogh and Camilio Duran is a daunting one. It also poses questions for Martin O’Neill.
Kasper has played four competitive games already this month and is fully fit (we may pay a price for this as he tires later in the season). Camilio has scored on each of his three preseason appearances. A compelling case can be made for both to start, but as strikers? Celtic have played one striker in a forward three for years, the notably exception being when we needed a goal on the final league game of the season against Hearts.
Late in that game Martin replaced Auston Trusty for Callum Osmand, with the latter playing alongside Kelechi Iheanacho. I am not convinced it will be a formation Martin is content to roll-out on less urgent occasions. Martin could put Camilio on the wing, which would be a change from his impressive appearances so far.
25 years ago on Sunday, Martin put joint-record transfer fee holder John Hartson on the bench on his first appearance on the team sheet following his £6m signing. John was not as fit then as Kasper is now, but it showed the manager was not concerned about making an expensive signing wait. For more historical context, in 2000 Martin signed the hot new striker in Scottish football and put him on the wing. Didier Agathe never looked back.
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Monday … and real football … getting closer
Can’t wait
Just wondering, Paul – would you say Hogh fits “the model” or would you consider him to be “off piste”?
Celtic4me from earlier
“His analytics will get better as AI becomes more powerful and smarter”
But so will everyone else’s.
It’s quite clear that he has created a market advantage by his development and use of analytics, but the market has a nettlesome habit of catching up. Just ask Nokia and Blackberry shareholders.
There’s a huge amount of activity and investment in football data capture and analysis, and while Bloom’s model was a game changer 4 and 5 years ago, the game has changed further in the interim.
Has Bloom’s model maintained its significant advantage? Has the advantage now become more marginal? Or have other players (yet undisclosed) found even more reliable methods to assess players, coaches, systems and tactics and overtaken the Bloom model?
If they haven’t overtaken him yet, they will soon. That’s inevitable.
BRRB, planning on popping in with Glasgowghirl, probably more like 1 o’clock. Hope to see you there.
Hx2
If you listen to Peterborough owner Darragh McAnthony on Talksport, you wonder where we would be if he ran Celtic
Hoping Duran is Daizen’s replacement on the left and we sign someone on the right.
Tounekti and Yang are the back-ups.
Welcome Kasper. I am looking forward to Monday night to see how you and Camilo fit into the team
I will be going to a conference in Budapest in September and I thought about the encounter between Hollywood royalty Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and the traveling Celtic supporters on March 8, 1972, which remains one of the most legendary folklore stories in football history.
This is from AI
The Match Context:
Jock Stein’s Celtic squad traveled to Budapest for the first leg of the European Cup quarter-final against Hungarian champions Újpest Dózsa. Celtic secured a historic 2–1 victory.
Led by Pat Connelly, the first-ever Head of the Celtic Supporters Association, a dedicated group of traveling fans made the trek behind the Iron Curtain to support the team. The fans stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel .
The actors were living in the penthouse suite of the Budapest Intercontinental Hotel while Burton filmed the movie Bluebeard.
Following the victory, Celtic fans gathered in the hotel’s ground-floor bar to drink and celebrate. Looking for a quieter place to enjoy a drink, Richard Burton walked into the bar. Instead of turning away from the boisterous crowd, he sat down with the supporters, bought everyone a round, and began chatting about football, Wales, and Scotland. The impromptu gathering quickly escalated into a full-scale celebration.
Invited Upstairs: Intrigued by the noise and singing, Elizabeth Taylor joined them. The couple officially moved the fans into a private hotel ballroom to keep the party going.
Photos from the night show Taylor and Burton smiling warmly while draped in green-and-white Celtic scarves alongside Pat Connelly.
Burton, famously proud of his Welsh heritage and vocal talents, stood with the fans and sang a rendition of the Scottish folk anthem “I Belong to Glasgow”.
True to their generous, larger-than-life reputations, the couple put the entire evening on their room tab. They paid a final bar bill of £5,000—equivalent to over £60,000 today.
Own up if you were one of the fans and what vintage champagnes did you drink at Richard and Elizabeth’s expense!
We need more ready made signing.
M/F, wing and defence.
Please.
Oh, and a keeper.
Not that ‘Oh’, I hope you understand.
Glad we’ve got a big lad up front again as we seem to have 8 smalll outfield players usually.
He will help defending corners which Dembele was great at.
I actually thought Cvancana looked the part early doors but he looked like he lost all confidence and then got injured.
Poor Hearts. Someone forgot to plug in the Jamestown Analytics before the game.
how ? were are Peterborough?
Paul67
Front three verse Dundee
Forrest Høgh Duran
p.s. it’s Camilo
Goal celebration tune for the new guy? Hogh let the dogs out?
No?
BSR @ 10:02 am,
“As our old friend SFTB used to regularly say, judge the squad at the end of the transfer window.
Yes, quite…
Of course the trust in the PLC to deliver in a transfer window took a hammering for various reasons over various seasons…
Not least ribbing us with the… “we aim to come out of every window stronger than we went in” taunt…
Yet this window certainly has a different feel about it.
Ange wasn’t a great one for squad manangement, Ajeti, Barkas etc were still with us when AP went…
Yet in the last three years one thing we have done well is trim the squad, the projects and prospects that didn’t make it – the fifteen players consistently out on loan, the back ups, back up… mostly moved on thank goodness.
So yes, we do have a managable squad size if we continue to bring in quality over quantity and replace quality with quality….
The lead…
“…A compelling case can be made for both to start, but as strikers? Celtic have played one striker in a forward three for years, the notably exception being when we needed a goal on the final league game of the season against Hearts.
BR found a place for Dembele and Edouard in his team – Ange would run the striker out on his feet and change him on the hour mark – normally Giamoukis replacing Kyogo…
Think Martin is going 4-2-3-1 which make eminent sense with the squad he has… it leaves plenty of leeway in the nine/ten roles – so, play both – Nygren or CalOs supersub…
Hail Hail
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/c3d3x1x5k52t
Inevitable escalation and predictable outcome trajectory.
UEFA agree a revised international calendar framework with FIFPRO
… which will see fewer minutes on the pitch playing internationals
(individual associations would need to get behind it)
Euro championship every 2 years from 2028.
Politicians from all side stick in their tuppence.
A maximum of two failed World Cups – without European countries – in 2030 and 2034.
Kiss and make up by 2038 .. with more power back in Europe.
Hrvatski Jim
Long time poster BroganRoganetc will give you an eyewitness account of that occasion. His Dad ran the supporters trip and was in the middle of it all.
Pretty sure he wrote it up on here yonks’ ago.
First world problems. Exciting times.
A word for Hertz and Tony Bloom. Hahahahahaha.
And – GIRFUY.
TBB
I BRTH would love to do a wee cameo on here again with his dads account of it.
But we can’t have too many OA’s on the site.
He is indeed a fine raconteur for sure.
I think Martin may go with 3_5_2 👍
My schadenfreude-scented point on the prior article on the mini’s heavy defeat was that fitba’s not yet masterable by data machines. The day is is is prob when I do more cycling or take up gowf again.
And Bloom’s either a visionary or a villain depending on whether you’re a data geek or gambling syndicate/whale-watcher or not…
As a Celtic fan tho’, it’s always nice to see the diets’ misery compounded.
(While crossing yer fingers a similar fate does not await our rebuilt squad in their Euro holidays).
Big Kasper seems a likeable lad.
More of the same pls!
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 29TH JULY 2026 12:10 PM
“If they haven’t overtaken him yet, they will soon. That’s inevitable.”
Perhaps in the Prem and the with other cash-rich clubs who can afford to commit a lot of money to it. Or other organisations that come along to challenge Jamestown. They arent exactly giving it away at the moment – everyone knows how much value it adds to a business it will be priced accordingly, all the huge amounts of investment in AI will need to be repaid somehow.
I dont think anyone in Scotland is doing better than he is soon. Us and the Huns are starting from so far behind and we dont have the resources to develop anything approaching the effectiveness of what he’s building on. Perhaps the HUns with their tie in with Leeds, be we dont have any partners at the moment.
We’re are a football club, though, operating in a relatively small football market, not a data analytics business like Jamestown. Thats Blooms market, not ours
PLB 12.43 – just saw that post. Hear, hear!
Hi TBB
I know Jim well and have read his accounts.
I remember reading about it in a Celtic book many years ago. It will be in my collection but i can’t remember which one but it lit an ambition to see Budapest which I did 3 years ago as a 40th anniversary trip which also included Prague and Vienna. 3 wonderful cities.
As my host is providing the accommodation in Budapest for the conference at a top hotel, I may need a £5k drinks budget for just one round this time!
Re Jamestown
One of the ‘start ups’ I am involved with was engaging with a really smart young guy who told me about the recruitment process for these guys.
He reckoned they were absolutely going for top drawer smart folks. Top level Maths and Science grads from Oxbridge. Really interesting.
It seems Tony Bloom is keen to be ahead of whatever is coming in the analytics world. Where for his gambling business or football business/ hobby.
SS- expected answer from you,try listening to the guy,self made guy,who puts millions into his club for last 20 years,knows how to run a club,scouting,sponsors,academy involvement, positive views on how football can do better.
Hrvatski it’s in You’ll never walk alone by Gerry Mcnee IIRC
TBB
I think for Bloom and the other data guys they’ll carry on having significant advantages over smaller less well-resourced clubs in smaller markets for a while, but the EPL is a totality different beast.
I might be wrong but it looks like he’s changing a bit and looking for value from different places than before for Brighton. Same with Brentford, looking at more proven premier league players.
B78 “But we can’t have too many OA’s on the site.” 😂😂😂
Hrvatski Jim – you’re way ahead of me then. Enjoy the trip but keep the credit card in your pocket!
THE BADA BING on 29TH JULY 2026 12:14 PM
If you listen to Peterborough owner Darragh McAnthony on Talksport, you wonder where we would be if he ran Celtic
Bust?
They just avoided relegation to EFL 2 last season. He’s fun on SSN but not serious guy to run a football club
celtic40me- but they didn’t……he runs a model to suit his budget and his club,very smart operator in the transfer market
Getting close to the end of July and the start of the season and all quiet on the Engels/Nygren/AJ/Hatate transfer front. Would be delighted to retain all four, surprised that none have gone (yet).
Richard Burton……. Broadsword Calling Danny boy Broadsword Calling Danny boy
glasgowbhoy on 29th July 2026 12:56 pm
That will be it – thanks.
Hrvatski Jim
I was in Budapest 8/3/72. It was the day after my 17th Birthday. My Dad, Mum and my younger sister was also there, we’re all in some of the images from the Gerry McNee book mentioned earlier, por cierto
The Bada Bing @ 1:15 pm,
They are certainly smart – Barry Fry talking about dealing with Celtic PLC six years ago…
Barry Fry – 29 Jul 2020
“I’ve had experience with Celtic, so I know the score. I know the manager [Lenny] wants a tenth title and he’s identified our bloke as the best.
“Gavin Strachan’s gone there and he’s backed up the opinion of Toney.
They’ve told Peter Lawwell and Nicky Hammond to go and get him, but they won’t get Toney with what they’re piddling about with, that’s for sure.
Toney would be a revelation for Celtic, he’d be a star, for definite.
“He’d score 30 to 40 goals up there, he really would”
“Not only is he brilliant in the box, scoring and creating with his right foot, left foot and head, at six foot four he’s also our best defender.
“Celtic will get £40-50m for him.”
The Dilusional Groupies…
“He’s fun on SSN but not serious guy to run a football club
Hail Hail
CHAIRBHOY on 29TH JULY 2026 12:34 PM
Agree with all of that, and would add Daizen was made a left striker by AP and BR who got the best from him. A lot of supporters forget Daizen started as a loan signing, and some haven’t grasped the left striker position he filled at Celtic, Paul67 talking about putting Camilo Duran ‘on the wing’ is an example.
Duran will be ‘a major player’………quoting MON
‘The board’ are presently all away for a lie down in a darkened room having worked tirelessly with big Høgh’s agent,
for months.
Hail Hail