Brendan Rodgers recently confirmed expectations that it is more likely Greg Taylor will leave the club in the summer, than sign a new contract and stay as understudy to Kieran Tierney.
There has been a contract offer on the table for Greg for most of this season, which falls short of what he is looking for. This scenario normally plays out with the player becoming truculent; not so with Greg. I understand his attitude has been exemplary.
The left back role is a specialism. Unlike all other left sided positions, most clubs insist on a left footed player for left back, drawing from only 10% of the population. This means there is a higher demand than supply for talent in this position. It is not a great exaggeration to say, “Everyone is always looking for left backs”.
I expect Greg is likely to have offers on the table which match his valuation. Celtic will be aware they need backup for Kieran. The player should be young enough to develop into Kieran’s replacement; not a 32-year-old and not a Barcelona loaner.
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Happy Wednesday eve all!
Truculent means eager or quick to argue, fight, or start a conflict; it can also describe someone who is aggressively self-assertive or belligerent. The term often conveys a sense of harshness or cruelty in behavior or speech.
Paul67 et al
April Fools!
Barcaloaner
THE BATTERED BUNNET re: Barcaloaner
Very good!
Pleased the claims of abused men from years ago is finally coming to an end.
I’m desperately hoping for a statement from Celtic to unequivocally state that those creeps who abused were not employed by celtic !!
I’m probably in the minority but I’d have fought it all the way but possibly the money involved in the payout reflects celtic fc actual involvement as just over a million for 22 cases is not an awful lot of money
Gene on 1st April 2025 8:03 am
Good morning from a bright sunny North Staffs
Maybe a few myths about the saintly Liverpool fc being debunked.
——————————
i was intrigued by the 27000 season book figure, and the percentage who actually come from liverpool.
searching on their ticket portal and their blogs a preference on the membership schemes allocate ticket sales to L postcode members first.
The tourist club is just daft point scoring from the blues.
The more i read the more i prefer their model than celtic plc non attending season ticket holders.
Scottish clubs will be able to postpone a league match to prepare for a play-off round tie in European competition from next season.
Previously postponements had to be agreed by both clubs but now a team playing in Europe can unilaterally delay a game.
However, the change only applies to matches on the weekend of 23 and 24 August 2025, between the first and second legs of play-off ties in the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League.
Next season the Scottish Premiership winners – likely to be Celtic – will enter the Champions League at the play-off stage.
The second place side, which looks set to be Rangers, will enter in the second qualifying round, while this season’s Scottish Cup winners, or third-place side if Celtic win the cup, will enter the Europa League at the play-off stage.
The change was approved by the SPFL board after a working group recommended altering the rules.
Rather than rush out to buy a development player from lesser leagues, I would like to see a plan to develop our own left back.
Montgomery, Anderson and Frame, at various points have all shown potential, so let’s see if we can fast track one of them.
In addition, get Schlupp on a 12 / 18 month deal to provide cover at LB and midfield.
It’s a fact that down south pays better wages. But, maybe money wasted on Tillio, Holm etc., and many others over many years , might have been better spent on enhanced contracts / getting a compromise for Doak, Borland, Vata etc.
Schlupp is the experienced, physical type we lack, will be difficult to keep him,given what wage he’s been used to,but we need to try.
:-))
https://x.com/HereCelts/status/1906953754449952814?s=19
HH
Lol An T.
What’s today’s date again?
😆
Gene – hoople
Ty for posting
Got it in three
Tricky one Paul.
Addressing left back capacity and capability with Tierney and Schlupp will certainly provide quality.
But with an average age of 30 and (I’m guessing) total wages of 60-65k per week ?
Can see the problem.
I don’t know what the answer is … but my tuppence as follows
1. On meagre viewing admittedly, I like Anderson
2. Key to this equation will be how many games KT plays next season.
40 games or more – go with a young un’
Fewer? We’ll need a more experienced backup.
what age was young kieran given a run in the team ?
Having the money we have ,we should push the boat out for a couple of Schlupp type signings for 2 year contracts,it could help us consolidate in Europe, and we need as many good experienced pros in and around the club, to help younger players. Not every player can have a sell on.
how we all getting on with the digital ticket for the semi final.
according to the celtic blogger there are thousands of celtic fans who dont have a smart phone and thousands of others who dont take their phones to games.
anyone on here do that ?
SS
He made his senior debut in 2015, so 18 years old
Tend to agree with you Paulo.
The problematic left-back position has troubled our well-honed prospect scouting system for way longer than Brendan’s current tenure. Despite ML’s signing of such LB gems as Bernabei and Kobayashi, Greg T improved immeasurably by playing almost unchallenged by a proper understudy.
Tho Jeff is less dynamic than GT, we’ve looked more solid in that position that at any time recently. In his early 30s Jeff is only likely to become even more solid, tho not always in a good way.
Kieran plus the affordable Matthew Anderson would be my hope.
PS. On the other side of defence, isn’t it time to give AJ a wee rest and Tony a run out v St J – as he seems a bit aff his expected best?
Paul67
Good shout left footed players are fewer than right footed players so the search for a back up (two players per position) specialist goes on. Kieran Tierney backed up by A.N. Other likely to be a project, because real ready made specialists don’t come cheap to play second fiddle.
Mitchel Frame of whom we saw a glimpse is 1.78M
When I used to play for St Patrick’s Primary in Troon, the coach should have stuck me at LB and told me that as one of the 10% who were naturally left footed my chances of playing for Celtic would be greatly enhanced.
Instead I was floating around up front with illusions of being a CF.
I could have been a contender.
I thought all Catholics were Left Footers
I seem to have a habit of putting the blog to sleep
Anyway big game tonight for the Vale at home to Bradford
We don’t have to look very far to see how a good experienced pro can help the team develop- Kapser has taken us on this season. Schlupp was pivotal against Munich. In years gone past we seen the likes of Toure come in and qualify us for the CL. Mooy did a job for Ange etc
It would be crazy to cut ourselves off from making such signings.
Kieran will have turned 28 if he returns next season and his very presence will be a great boost to our left side of the pitch. With dinero in the banco Celtic should pay top dollar to secure Schlupp’s services on a one season
rolling contract.
noamortisationcsc
We need to be constantly striving for the Best 11 we can put in the field. Continuous improvement. move on the weakest links
A new ticket purchase/stadium entry system is being trialed at the stadium starting this week, where your face is tagged with your purchase and you just walk right in at the turnstile. No doubt this is coming everywhere in the near future.
Face first
What we know:
At four entry gates at Target Field, the Twins have installed a system called “Go Ahead Entry” for 2025. The new technology scans your face as you walk through, and matches it to your MLB Ballpark app – no need to slow down or stop.
Screens at the gates then show your name and the number of tickets you have, so a group can all get in together without stopping to scan each person’s ticket.
“We saw that 95% of fans attend games as a group and two-thirds of those groups are families,” said Karri Zaremba, MLB Senior VP of Ballpark Experience and Ticketing. “So this had to be able to process large groups of ticket holders all at the same time.”
How it works:
To use the system, you need an account in the MLB Ballpark app, where you scan your face and connect your tickets.
MLB stresses that for those concerned about data privacy issues, no picture is kept, not even in the app itself.
“The fan takes [a] live selfie in the ballpark app and that’s converted into a unique numerical token which is associated with their account,” explained Zaremba. “And the image itself is immediately discarded, so we do not store any images of fans to ensure safety and security.”
I’m in the sign Schlupp camp, if he can be persuaded to stay for another season. Sad to see the back of Greg Taylor. One player who always gave his all and thoroughly enjoyed his playing for the Hoops. Can only wish him all the best in future.
GT or KT …
Only one winner … I like Greg but Kieran is a step up.. I like Schloop as well … but again KT is the best out of them all …
I heard the weather is quite nice back home, Santa Ponsa is stunning this fine day …
As for Daizen … hopefully he remains “very happy” where he is :-)
Anderson looked a terrific prospect in America.Over in Austria on loan,but we never hear a word a about how he is doing.Hopefully back for pre season games,we can have a look.
Looking at midfielders,the boy Brownhill from Burnley,looks a cracker.
Matt Anderson is strong, quick, tall, has good vision and touch and seems confident.
And his 2 years playing in Austria seems to have made him a fan favourite.
Should be given a chance for Celtic.
First time on here (reading or writing) for many weeks.
Abuse of youngsters at Celtic Boy’s Club….
I have worked on investigations in such matters. My view is that Celtic should have offered to settle many years ago. The longer these things take, the more difficult it becomes for victims to heal and or build a manageable life.
I believe that Celtic chose to pursue a legal stance, claiming that they had no legal liability. In my view Celtic should have accepted the (very real) Moral liability. In accepting the moral liability, they could then have worked WITH the claimants and their representatives to ensure that services and support were provided as early as possible.
I understand that Insurance companies and their legal team would have pushed Celtic to go down the legal road. This added stress on the victims, delayed the settlement and sucked money out of the pot to pay for the lawyers bills.
It also made Celtic look reluctant to do the right thing.
Overall, a terribly sad situation. We can only hope that the victims are able to enjoy some peace in what is left of their lives.
Weeron
Weeron
I totally agree with every word you wrote.
Wee Ron
Fine post on a heartbreaking topic
HH
Official Club statement up on the website now.
Not a great statement.
I understand that lawyers would have written this. I also know that perpetrators in this field are very skilled at hiding their evil acts. I understand that people in the same organization or building would, in all probability, have no knowledge of these evil acts.
But these acts happened in our club. We should have recognized in the statement, that this happened at our club and that we will do everything to ensure that this will never happen again.
Weeron.
Around 39 year ago I had the pleasure of being invited to a CSC based out of the Wexford Club in Scarborough Ontario, it was a meet and greet session with a deputation from Celtic Park touring NA promoting the centenary season, there was a board member as well as 2 others representing the club.
It was as you expect when Tims congregate a great and boisterous night, as far as I can recall there were only 3 men that night no drinking, the board member, the wee guy I was with who didnae drink and me and that was because it was still Lent and I as per usual was aff it for my Lenten Fast.
I had a pretty long conversation with the board member due to his family originally hail hailing from a neighbouring town, he was very affable, even joshing about the years in the wilderness etc, I also spoke to the other 2 guests, one of whom I believe is still spending time at his majesties pleasure, I asked him abut the relationship with the BC and CFC and he intimated that they were given preferential choice over their players and that was it, so I asked was a certain Scottish International who played down south with a couple of top clubs our biggest mistake in NOT signing him and his reply was along the lines of naw as he wisnae that good a late developer, as I left that night I felt I needed a shower and NOT because of the smoke filled room but that he just gave me the creeps
THE RETURNOF WEERON on 1ST APRIL 2025 5:13 PM
Not a great statement. I understand that lawyers would have written this. I also know that perpetrators in this field are very skilled at hiding their evil acts. I understand that people in the same organization or building would, in all probability, have no knowledge of these evil acts.
*Ironically I was talking to MRs TT about this as we passed by the local minor soccer headquarters where I used to coach, before i was allowed to I had to take a course by the Federal Government in respect in sport, int was mandatory and highlighted how for example to deal with youngsters as in no hugging even if the saved a penalty in a shoot out or scored the winner. Now I have always advocated that when you get adults mixing with kids the potential is there, but thankfully over here they do take it very seriously as is evident within the hockey circles where an ongoing court appearance is ramping up again.