Textbook case of successful football club

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In years to come, football fans will refer to the Matt O’Riley episode at Celtic as a textbook case of how a football club should conduct its business.  An English-born player, playing for an English club, was signed for £1.5m and sold for £26m, with add-ons hopefully to come.

Celtic have the luxury of being able to recruit and develop young talent without risking their business model.  Signings will not all be as successful as Matt, but they don’t need to be.  Look at any of the great teams from smaller countries who go deep into European competition, they have things in common.

They recruit lots of young talent, loan them out or play them in their first team.  They develop all of these players, very few will not improve and appreciate in value.  Those not good enough for the first team are sold, more often than not at a profit.  The successes are usually sold quickly, with ever-more invested in the recruitment process.

Salzburg won 10 Austrian titles in a row before losing out to Sturm Graz last season.  Even with one of the most respected operations in the business, football can be unpredictable, but you can hardly get a bet on them winning this term (a winning bet would earn a 20% return, more than a high interest account, but not much more).

As you and I discussed recently, clubs should always be ready to trade.  It’s easier to love the model than to get too attached to the players (except Kyogo).  Best wishes to Matt on the south coast.

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  1. Prestonpans bhoys on

    Just looked at a poll on a hun blog about Tavpen staying/leaving, wonder what’s wrong with it 🙄:

     

     

    “The result was mixed. Of the 2500 votes, 44% (1022) believed he should stay, while 64% reckoned his time is up.” 🤔

  2. Burnley78 on 27th August 2024 1:06 pm

     

     

    … Hopefully our guys are grounded and fully focused.

     

     

     

     

    Indeed. I guess I worried Matty’s departure could unsettle the side but it all seems to have been handled discreetly and professionally. He said in that Brighton interview it’s been on the cards for a few months so I’d imagine some of our key players knew of it too. We did not look like a side knocked out our stride.

     

     

    REPEATANDRINSETHEMPLS CSC

  3. Of course Matt deserves great credit for his own decision making, London born, signed up by Fulham, moved to MK Dons to get the requisite game time needed to improve as a player which led to his move to Celtic a far higher platform under both Ange and Brendan. Playing in Europe too, could have got interest from Athletico Madrid by playing against them in the CL. Offers from Atalanta, Europa League winners and in the CL draw and then Brighton an EPL club who played in Europe just last season. And hopefully with former Celt Morton Weighorst now in charge of Denmark he will get some recognition there. So well done Celtic, well done Matt and credit to Brighton for outbidding Atalanta, and giving Matt yet another platform in the EPL.

  4. Marspapa- I think Taylor was offered a new contract last few months of last season possibly.

  5. Tom McLaughlin on

    GLENDALYSTONSILS

     

    Don’t know a lot about Trusty but …..there were a lot of Spurs fans laughing gleefully at us taking CCV off their hands . Look how that turned out

     

     

    I wouldn’t set too much store on what fans of English clubs say about their players transferring to Celtic.

     

     

    Their words are usually predicated on chauvinistic hurt and embarrassment that they have lost one of their stars to a club in a so-called “pub league”.

     

     

    A bit like the immature schoolboy who slanders the ex-girlfriend who ditched him for someone better.

  6. Tom McLaughlin on

    PRESTONPANS BHOYS

     

     

    That moron Donald Trump started the trend by claiming immigrants took more than 100% of new jobs.

  7. bournesouprecipe on

    “Having come back in and been through three windows now, it’s definitely something we have to put right. As a football club, we shouldn’t be going into the last week of the window in the position we are in.

     

     

    However, that’s something for us for after this window. We’ll get the players in that we want. We don’t need to manufacture our own stress when there’s no need. But we’ll be calm this week we’ll look to get the players in that strengthen us.”

     

     

    – Brendan Rodgers.

  8. Prestonpans bhoys on

    Gene

     

     

    Yip, I do get the over 100% to emphasise commitment but the guy on that hun blog needs a calculator, 1022 isn’t even 44%😁 I blame the schools!

  9. Anyone who enjoys their succulent lamb should have a wee look at a beautiful (wrong descriptor) thread on FF about a 2008 piece on David Murray by Tom English.

     

     

    Lovely to hear the sound of the penny dropping with all the loyalists. Some great comment.

  10. I think we run the risk of accepting everything Brendan says as gospel, and everything he wants being what we need to succeed.

     

     

    Brendan wants these many of this sort of signings for this much money so that must be what’s necessary. Brendan wants to overhaul the recruitment process department so it must be malfunctioning and necessary. Our recruitment model doesn’t fit with what he feels we need to succeed in Europe do it must be changed

     

     

    I think what Brendan tells us is what he wants to do the job he wants to do. I think, personally that he doesn’t think he’s going to get it all, but in the football world as he understands it, this is how you achieve your aims.

     

     

    Unfortunately the “narratives” that are being discussed are so binary and entrenched and have become the basis of most of the discussion on CQN that that possibility is being completely ignored

     

     

    Before anyone needs to be told to calm down I understand why Brendan does what he does. I don’t agree with his methods and as has been dragged up recently I’ve long held the views that his m.o. is devisive and not good for an organization, but I do see that he’s trying to put the best team in the pitch right now.

     

     

    What I don’t understand is the insistence that everything he says should be taken as a blueprint for success for the club. He’s leveraging his position to try and pressure the club to spend as much of its money as possible, without any of the needs of the business being taken into consideration. Fine, understandable, but not what people seem to be suggesting

     

     

    It’s twenty years since Martin O’Neills “life in the slow lane” comments. There are clear parallels with the situation we find ourselves in now

     

     

    And before anyone suggests it, it isn’t because I pure hate Brendan. I’m not criticizing him, I’m criticizing people who analyze what he says so they can push their self-confessed agendas.

  11. Iwata came through strong when it mattered in the 2nd half of last season. Has anyone any idea where he is this season ? Not even seen him on the bench ?

  12. Prestonpans bhoys on 27th August 2024 10:28 am

     

    How do they pick the officials for top games, I thought the head of the ref department did, may be wrong…

     

     

    PRESTONPANS, I think that’s the point re. the selection of Huns fuds for the weekend’s game.

     

     

    Wee Willie was/is a placeman. He was absolutely no friend to Celtic (as he absolutely should NOT have been, in his position then) and he favoured the Hun on numerous occasions, but they (Thums) expect EVERY decision to go their way (look at the way Baldemort has morphed into one of them so quickly) so if any decision goes against them they erupt. The craven SFA and their referee department happily acceded to this pressure and on at least two separate occasions Thums’ complaints got the Wee Willie ‘banned’ from their games.

     

     

    Now, in which universe would a wee guy, with that history, NOT continue on his previous course? I said as much on these pages on the day he was appointed – only if your mental acuities were temporarily affected by artificial stimulants could you accept for the briefest period of time that the SFA had indeed found the bestest possible person to oversee Referee development, in Scotland in our very own back yard.

     

     

    His first/early utterances about the job he was going to do have been shown to be so much pash – not a single word (openness and transparency anyone?) about the early decision making that favoured one club (????) and could have undermined the efforts of another (????).

     

     

    Whether he himself made the decisions for Sunday or he was doing as bid matters not a jot. Situation normal. It didn’t help Thums last season and it shouldn’t help Thums this season, but the choice of personnel for Sunday is IMO at least a GIRUY. And we should never forget Tynecastle!!

     

     

    Ave Ave

  13. Kinda exciting – almost surprising too – that a fair quantity of ‘deadwood’ is being filleted from the squad.

     

    Who’s on the next stage oot ?

     

     

    ALSWEARENGEN CSC

  14. Regards the article, as previously said, its a textbook case of a successful well-developed long term strategy and process at work.

     

     

    If you want to change what’s working you better have something coherent and better in mind

  15. While accepting that it is not always easy to sign the players you actually want, or at least the type of player, I must admit to being surprised that Brendan would have prioritised a player in Los Angeles and a player from Barcelona who I think was himself out on loan last season. Not so long ago 24 teams contested the Euros, dozens of players on show and not all from high price countries, though some from the lesser nations already play outside their home Association. True the boy from LA played for Leeds so not a complete unknown, more a rolling stone, with no direction known. Until now.

  16. Jamesie in the Scotland squad along with Ralston and Taylor. Very happy for all 3, especially James who has found new life under BR this season.

  17. glendalystonsils on

    TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 27TH AUGUST 2024 1:56 PM

     

     

    I couldn’t agree more . Good boyfriend analogy . There’s also that EPL superiority mindset that we are inferior, therefore any player who comes here must also be inferior .

  18. garygillespieshamstring on

    I think Brendan has been the making of James Forrest in both his spells as Celtic manager.

     

     

    Brendan improved his fitness, availability and performance levels during his first spell.

     

    I felt James dipped under Ange and Brendan’s return saw James come back to the player he was before Brendan left.

  19. Burnley,

     

    As I said earlier,luck is needed in the draw.That’s really it.A good few teams there,most would fancy us to have a chance.We gave teams a right good go last year.If Maedas bootlace does not brush the ball,Palma puts us 2 up against Lazio.

     

    Luck .That most fickle of mistresses.Although,I’ve had a few would take her the distance.

  20. A bit surprised at the fee for Mikey.After his successful spell at W. Brom,thought around £4-5 million.

     

    Trusty is a left footer and a good CH playing in a rubbish team.Let’s wait and see.

  21. Brendan has joined his predecessor in calling out our recruitment.

     

     

    Ignoring the view points of Ange and Brendan is not something I believe is in the best interests of Celtic. These guys know what they’re talking about.

  22. Good chance to see potential pot 3 or 4 opposition in action tonight

     

     

    Galatassary desperate to avenge the 2-3 result in Switzerland. VAR robbery if ever there was such a thing.

     

     

    Malmo seeking a 2-0 win in Prague v Sparta. Unlikely but would be good for Scotland co eff.

     

     

    Kiev the same as Malmo going 2-0 down to Salzburg. Likewise it would be good for Scotland if they won but they won’t.

  23. AuroraBorealis79 on

    PRESTONPANS BHOYS on 27TH AUGUST 2024 1:45 PM

     

    Just looked at a poll on a hun blog about Tavpen staying/leaving, wonder what’s wrong with it 🙄:

     

     

     

    “The result was mixed. Of the 2500 votes, 44% (1022) believed he should stay, while 64% reckoned his time is up.” 🤔

     

     

     

     

    Everything looks 100% correct according the Enaia Aluko book of ‘simple math’

  24. Nothing wrong with our strategy etc.

     

     

    It’s the process of player upgrades and how long that takes.

     

     

    I think even the manager has commented on that.

     

     

    Oh and as my esteemed colleague, Mr BRRB says no matter which Referee erc on Sunday we will still beat Der Hun.

     

     

    D. :)

  25. Someone mention Aluko.

     

     

    I see Barton that other hun superstar has been warned of staying away/ not contacting someone called Aluko.

     

     

    I wonder if it was the other ex hun players sister, never caught full story.

     

     

    Der hun do sign some odious characters.

     

     

    That’s another side that I know we look at when signing players character background checks. Thank goodness although some do slip through.

     

     

    D. :)

  26. If our opponents park the bus idealistic Brendan and Ange don`t look too clever and why did all of Scotland`s` opponents at the Euro`s target Callum as the weakest link?