Champions League qualification comes into focus for Hearts today, when the draw is made for the second qualification round. Celtic’s name will not be pulled out of the bowl for another two weeks, while the playoff round starts four weeks tomorrow.
That is not a lot of time, but it is enough to get the necessary deals done and put us in a strong position to qualify for the tournament proper. Unfortunately, you and I are now conditioned to a frustrating process. Whatever the story behind Kelechi Iheanacho’s failed pursuit, it is totally consistent with how football transfers work.
Players employ agents to work as many angles with as many clubs as possible to get the best deal. If in demand, they will hold off until the last minute, as will their current clubs. The same will happen with the next negotiation, and the one after that. They only difference will be, agents will now smell blood in the water.
As Hyman Roth said to Michael, “This is the business we’ve chosen”. Understand the way football works, never complain about it. The job is not to get the world to bend to our way of doing business, it is to out-scheme the other schemers.
I expect we will spend a lot of money between now and the close of the window; enough to get us excited again. Will we spend it wisely, get value, develop a sustainable strategy, put us back to where we were in 2023? To paraphrase what Chevy Chase was told, “If I was trying to get [Celtic back on track], I sure as hell wouldn’t start from here.”
Argentina proved that it was possible to completely change the minds of neutrals who wanted you to win. It was a victory for football that Spain prevailed last night. Worthy world champions.
136 Comments- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- »
A fine day to remember our lost pals, SFTB, Eurochamps, Harry Faversham amongst many others.
HH
2023?
How about 2024?
No CL Across The City this season, so probably better if we’re not in it either. Don’t want to risk pulling too far in front and damaging the old firm.
Any chance of booking Shakira for flag day?
‘These hips don’t lie, but Pat Nevin does.’
We’re more likely to get Shakie than Shakira
Still, Green Door was a classic
Agreed on Spain’s victory Paul.
They have now won five of the last ten major tournaments (Euros and World Cups) since 2008
Tremendous stuff.
Another generation of domination.
Now is the winter of our discontented summer
Richard the Turd.
I suppose the question (one of dozens) that needs answered is why/when did the recruitment strategy change, Paul? Was this purely down to the influence of the Lawwell familY? The approach to buy for £1-3m and ideally 1 or 2 will bear fruit.
We do not seem to have any kind of strategy at all. Do we?
The reason there are so many questions is because the club do not communicate with the fans. I have never known an organisation to be as disrespectful to all members. Never.
I would go as far as to say that even during 92/93 and 93/94 the old board had more time for the support despite making repeated mistakes.
No one addresses us at any level other than most basic, that only a person with either little buy in to the club or full blinkers, I am a mere serf and will act accordingly type person would accept.
All I ask is that we appoint an honest person as Chairman and a competent and honest one as CEO, have a short to long term plan and a recruitment strategy that is clear but not totally rigid. I would like some ambition shown but I think we all know that is not going to happen with the current incumbents.
The fact we have no fan media allowed at CP with no explanation is disgusting and club should be ashamed of that. We are not the enemy but they have now lost many fans confidence and trust until we see radical change. The fact they care so little for us saddens me so much. The buy in that fans put into Celtic and have done so their whole lives to be treated in such a way baffles me.
0 July 2026, 09:07 BST
Updated 19 minutes ago
Heart of Midlothian will meet Fenerbahce or Gornik Zabrze if they get past Sturm Graz in Champions League qualifying.
Rangers were seeded in the Europa League third qualifying round and were drawn against Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok.
If Hearts lose to the Austrians, Benfica or St Gallen of Switzerland await in the Europa League.
Fenerbahce and Gornik Zabrze finished as runners-up last season in Turkey and Poland respectively, with Jagiellonia Bialystok behind the latter on goal difference.
Third-round qualifying ties in the Champions League are scheduled for 4/5 and 11/12 August, with Europa League games on 6 and 13 August.
Hearts, who play their first leg in Graz on Tuesday, last took part in Champions League qualifying in 2006-07, losing out at the third qualifying round stage to AEK Athens.
Last term, Rangers started in Champions League qualifying and finished 32nd in the 36-team Europa League league phase after picking up just one win from eight games.
The Fir Park side take on Faroese outfit HB, with LNZ Cherkasy (UKR)/Gent (BEL), Besiktas (TUR)/FC Midtjylland (DEN), HJK Helsinki (FIN)/Coleraine (NIR), Twente (NED)/Ferencvaros (HUN) or RFS (Lat)/Vestri (ISL) waiting for the winners.
Meanwhile, Hibs are up against Kosovan side FK Malisheva with their possible next-round opponents coming from NK Bravo (SVN)/KF Shkendija (MKD), FC Santa Coloma (AND)/SK Rapid (AUT), Rakow (POL)/Valetta (MLT), NK Rijeka (CRO)/Derry City (IRL) or FC Polissya (UKR)/FC Copenhagen (DEN).
Celtic have resurrected their interest in Bodo/Glimt striker Kasper Hogh after missing out on the 25-year-old Dane in January. Scottish Sun, external
Celtic have submitted a second “huge” offer for Oviedo and Egypt winger Haissem Hassan. Ghomuria via Daily Record – subscription required, external
Tottenham Hotspur have set their sights on Celtic midfielder Arne Engels. Football Insider, external
Sources in Japan suggest Kyogo Furuhashi has his heart set on a second stint with Celtic but the 31-year-old striker would need to cut a deal to leave Birmingham City where has two years left to run on a lucrative contract. Daily Record, external
Celtic have received a huge boost in their quest to sign Radek Vitek, with the 22-year-old Manchester United goalkeeper saying that he is ready to leave Old Trafford. TeamTalk, external
French winger Aaron Malouda, reportedly scouted by Celtic, has agreed to join Swiss outfit Basel from Sabah in Azerbaijan. L’Equipe – in French
As for your last comment Paul …
In life, you don’t get the luxury of deciding where you improve from.
There’s the way things ought to be
(and in the modern online world … a VAST array of opinions covers that)
And there’s the way things are.
Address what’s in front of you and make it better.
We did it in the dark days of last season
… when many had given up hope ….
… and we won the double.
VERY Lazy Journalism Paul.
Hearts are PLAYING in the 2nd Qualifying Round Tomorrow Night.
NOT waiting on its draw today.
Facts that are very easily checkable.
Those nasty agents. Quite right we don’t like dealing with them. Mibbe one if the reasons we are notoriously stationery in window after window. How do all the other clubs in our league get all these signings in. And how do they find all these players that don’t have agents.
I assume you mean 2024 Paul and that was a typo. The 2023 summer was also a fiasco and only one of the signings that year have made any sort of impact (Yang).
2024 saw us have a great pre season, hit the ground running domestically and eventually get through to the champs league knock out round.
Madness to think it was only 2 years ago
saint stivs
July 20, 2026 1:05 pm
had a bad thought there.
this time next summer we will be playing a european qualifier.
probably with a new manager (who is surely already been approached )
Fan statements are like buses.
Surely a goalkeeper is at the bottom end of our priorities.
HH.
Too late to give these unsaveable dumplings a tutorial in their core remits, not that they’d take one.
They will spend money – badly and too late, as per usual with Nicholson, the world’s least canny negotiator.
They’d rather save tuppence from the July wage bill and risk £40m of ECL income.
In any case they fear putting ECL ready players on multi year contracts when next season they expect us to be playing Conference League.
That’s what they’re building for, a Conference League future. But with ECL levels of pay for themselves.
No wonder they’re detested.
Agreed re Argentina. Though they still get points for humping Engerland.
Another day, another non event at Celtic
Re Bhoys Town comment about getting Shakira to do flag day; I remember Celtic tried to bling it up in late 80s, maybe 86 or 88 flag day.
Had a very young local dance troupe doing the cheerleader bit with big pom poms. The misogynistic, lascivious response from many ensured it never happened again
Football is competing with all alternative forms of entertainment.
Entertainment has moved on and has changed dramatically over the years.
Football must do likewise and anything that will enhance the match day experience must be seriously considered.
HH.
I really admired Argentina’s fight and heart. Completely outclassed but still took the game to ET with their sheer determination not to be beaten. I think they’re a credit to their country. Alan Shearer needs to seek help, the Argentinians seem to have broken him.
P67, I’m old enough to remember you saying BR would get what he wanted around this time last summer. So I don’t expect us to spend a lot of money, certainly not prior to the play offs.
We look to be cruising toward another exit to a better prepared minnow.
Argentina have played in half the WC finals during my lifetime.
An absolutely phenomenal achievement. They could well struggle now that the two best players to ever play the game have had their time but they’ll come again. They’ve got the right mindset which counts for a lot in sport.
An interesting read from the BBC on Spain’s domination of international football. It is quite extraordinary when laid out in black and white.
Sixteen titles in five years – why Spain are a dominant force – https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c39elvrye40o
Saying that. even after reading it, I remain unsure as to how they have become so utterly dominant while the likes of Italy and Brazil have become so poor.
I won’t hog the blog, so this be my last for today. I think we need to be very careful about going into to a play off tie with the likes of Engels & Maeda.
Trying to hold onto to players that may have days remaining at the club to help see out the play offs will not end well for us – see Idah last year.
We need to be far more nimble in our business. Is it possible that the club could employ a third party to oversee transfer talks ? We’ve done it with other aspects of MN’s role so I wouldn’t hesitate to take transfer business away from him.
Saint Stivs on 20th July 2026 1:05 pm
had a bad thought there.
this time next summer we will be playing a european qualifier.
——
Yip, SS.
“Will” being the right word.
A direct consequence of Scotland’s recurring inability to get 4 teams into group or league stage European football …
.. and coefficient points earned more broadly
Maybe Motherwell or Hibs will break the trend this time but I very much doubt it.
PS – Saint Stivs, don’t sweat having a bad thought at 1:05pm today.
At that exact time, 82 years ago?
Adolf Hitler had a MUCH badder thought … with horrendous consequences for humanity.
🤔
Rather ironic that Messi’s last world cup game see’s his national side playing anti-football.
“Argentina proved that it was possible to completely change the minds of neutrals who wanted you to win. It was a victory for football….,”
The antics of their rugby team on Saturday were way worse. They’ll probably get the book thrown at them.
An Dún – having lived here in Spain for 22 years, I clearly wanted them to win but I also have a soft spot for Argentina for their world cup heroics in years gone by. That was badly dented last night.
I thought Argentina were a disgrace. No shots on goal until the 117th minute, their objective was to spoil and disrupt by any means possible. The ref allowed them far too much leeway in the first half and has to carry some of the blame. Messi would have been as well staying in the hotel for all the service he got. The sad thing is they can play great football. I think we knew they wouldn’t show that until they went behind. At one point I was ready to buy into the FIFA/Argentina conspiracy when a perfectly good goal was disallowed. How VAR didn’t flag that up as an error I have no idea.
Regardless of all that, I still have Messi and Maradona Up there as my two favourite players of all time.
These are the players we had in 2022, including that years signings and loans.
Conor Hazard
Joe Hart
Scott Bain
Benjamin Siegrist
Cameron Carter-Vickers
Anthony Ralston
Liam Scales
Ben Summers
James McCarthy
Tomoki Iwata
Bosun Lawal
Rocco Vata
Stephen Welsh
Alexander Bernabei
Alistair Johnston
Greg Taylor
Carl Starfelt
Matt O’Riley
Callum McGregor
Mikey Johnstone
Aaron Mooy
James Forrest
David Turnbull
Sead Haksabanovic
Reo Hatate
Daizen Maeda
Liel Abada
Jota
Kyogo Furuhashi
Don’t want to spoil a good yarn but not sure the 2023 player transfer strategy enhanced that in many ways.
Hail Hail
(I should have said top players rather than favourites. Dalglish and Larsson are my favourite s).
Oops, forgot – Juranovic and Giamoukis
Hail Hail
Blogger GM
Argentina had more yellows than Engerland at the rugby and were right to be enraged at the antics of the TMO and ref in the final few minutes in denying a blatant high tackle and 7 point penalty try.
Chairbhoy
A great squad assembled by Ange PL and ML. Decimated by BR sadly.
Today’s leader touches on an interesting point about market rules.
Most markets, and football is a market, have an established modus operandi, and being a market disruptor isn’t easy and rarely successful.
In Scotland, we are the most successful club, and have the biggest budgets. This doesn’t give us carte blanche but it does give us a very strong position in our dealings with other parties. We are in the No1 bargaining position ( whether we use that effectively is debatable)
Contrast that to a European or Global stage our relative position is severely eroded, and we are effectively a better placed “also ran”.
Where that leaves us is that we need to adapt.
We may not like pesky agents, chancer chairman, blogger journalists etc., but we need to accept they are reality.
Lets play them to our advantage, as opposed to being played ( as seems to be the case with Iheanacho) to their advantage.
People complaining about Argentiña.This is a very limited side that managed to reach the World Cup Finals,much to Shearers raging disgust,beating England on the way.
They play every game with virtually 10 men,who do the graft.Messi provides that bit of genius occasionally,but very little else.
They were up against the best National team on the planet.
Expecting them to go head to head with Spain fotballing wise,could have ended up a drubbing.Never going to happen.They played for the draw,and played 117 minutes,still level,with a man sent off.To be beaten by Spain,1-0,no disgrace,13 minutes from their aim.
Some on here criticizing,have short memories.Our greatest victory in the last 50 years,was beating Barca,best in the world,Messi Iniesta,Xavi and the rest,2-1 ,with 13 % of possession.The lowest ever in the CL.