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When the manager needs to stay in his lane

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

I have a lot of time for Bolton Wanderers.  During their extended stay in the English topflight, their late chief exec., Phil Gartside, was a regular supporter of Celtic joining the English and Welsh league pyramid.

When we signed 18-year-old Luca Connell from them in 2019, Bolton were in financial trouble.  Celtic could have acquired the player without paying a fee, but as an act of solidarity, agreed to meet the terms Bolton were asking from English clubs, who, operating under different criteria from Celtic, were required to pay.

£350k made its way into the bank of the Greater Manchester club.  Three years on and Luca has been released, having made no competitive appearances for Celtic.

The football department at Lennoxtown have decision makers at various levels, each with responsibility to recruit for a part of our internal player-pyramid and with an authority to spend budget.  The manager has oversight, but he cannot know enough about who is right for the youth squads.

Paths crossed when it came to Luca.  He was at Bolton as a youth when Neil Lennon was manager there.  Neil became ‘permanent’ manager at Celtic five weeks before that £350k payment went south in return for Luca.

All managers have their pet projects, so this is no reflection on Neil, but we have people in positions lower down the ladder for a reason.  Sometimes the boss needs to stay in his lane.

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  2. IniquitousIV on

    AN TEARMANN

     

     

    Juranovic played 90 minutes at right back for Croatia at home to Austria. I watched part of the game, and the Austrians were dominant, winning 3-0. Jura did not get injured.

     

     

    I also watched part of the Norn Ireland game at home to Greece, mainly to see how Gia got on. It was a very poor game, which the Greeks won 1-0. Gia was quiet, missed two reasonable chances, and was substituted after 70 minutes. He was not injured.

     

     

    O’Riley did not feature for Denmark in their first class win 2-1 away to France. He was not on the subs bench.

     

     

    There are many really good young players coming through some very deep ranks in the U.S. Pulisic at Chelski, Aaronson at Leeds, Dest at Barca, McKennie at Juventus. There are about 14 players in the Bundesliga now, although only about 7 are getting a regular game. It is hard to assess how they will do in Qatar, but they are very fit, very athletic, and are used to playing in many different climatic environments. I think they will be a tough nut to crack in the desert.

  3. setting free the bears for Res. 12 & Oscar Knox on

    Luca Connell was no anomaly. It is part of the strategy to take punts on youngsters, especially those coming from English academies. It did not work out for Luca nor for Afolebi or the more mature but injured Moyoukolo. It did work out for Matt O’Riley and Kris Ajer and Moussa Dembele. But, in common with every club in the known universe, most will not make it to first team regular.

     

     

    The only shame in that is the churn of players that Senior football clubs go through- Celtic are not exceptional in that regard. Lots of players don’t make it , whether they are with Celtic from an early age or brought into the academy as 16 year olds. Some posters claim that they were not given a chance but they were. They were given the chance to shine with our reserves and b teams and some were given the chance to shine at their loan clubs.

     

     

    Calmac, Ryan Christie and the likes of Doohan and Scott Robertson did well enough to earn a shot at a first team spot (whether they get it or not). Afolabi, Conel, Brody Paterson and Kerr McInroy did not . Neither did Liam or Ewan Henderson in the recent past.

     

     

    Mistakes will be made when you are sifting amongst rough diamonds. Only when you wash off the dirt do you know if you have a gem or merely a shiny object of much less value. Scottish football is awash with ex-Celtic academy players, making an ok living out of the game. Only a few of those released have made us smack our heads at a mistake made. AndY Robertson was overlooked. Shay Given was let go at a time where we took our eyes off player retention issues because of serious problems elsewhere. John Collins and Aaron Hickey wanted to leave, for different reasons, and you cannot make a player sign.

     

     

    There is precious little indication that Luca Connell will make us regret his release but you never know. His leaving does not require us to throw the player himself, the manager who signed him or the manager who let him go, under the bus. It’s just the sad churn that is modern football.

     

     

    All managers will make mistakes in the recruitment and retention of players; it is inevitable. It is amazing that Ange has such a high strike rate with his recruited players last season, with only Ideguchi as an obvious failure/ not yet success.

     

     

    My safe prediction is that Ange will recruit someone next year who will turn out to be not good enough to improve us. He is a very good manager but he is not infallible.

  4. IniquitousIV on

    Pukki scores for Finland. He now has 35 international goals, which is a pretty amazing feat, as he plays for a relatively minor football power.

  7. IniquitousIV on

    The Magyars have not beaten Englandshire in 60 years.

     

     

    30,000 kids have been allowed into the ‘closed door’ event. The noise they are making is absolutely deafening.

  8. IniquitousIV on

    You know what a nursery or a classroom of 30 kids sounds like, with all of them yelling at the tops of their voices? Multiply that by a thousand.

  9. Tom McLaughlin on

    Michael Owen as a pundit is the Kris Boyd of England. I await with great anticipation his manic comments about Hungary’s penalty after this game.

     

     

    Should be a laugh.

  10. IniquitousIV on

    AN TEARMANN

     

     

    Update: Matt O’Riley started for Denmark’s U-21 team at home against Kazakhstan. The Scandinavians won 3-0. Matt was substituted after 63 minutes. No info on whether he was injured.

  11. IniquitousIV on

    Callum Styles, Barnsley midfielder, who qualifies for Hungary via his grandparents, comes on for last few minutes.

  12. petec on

    Tom,

     

     

    That is scathing of Michael, seemed to me he became mair interested in horses than fitba. I’m guessing he is doing punditry somewhere.

     

     

    Keano.CSC

  14. IniquitousIV on

    Hungary Win! I just love it when these arrogant entitled ba’bags get humped.

  15. Tom McLaughlin on

    PETEC

     

     

    He’s on Channel 4 which is broadcasting Hungary v England. Just finished 1-0 Hungary.

  19. bigrailroadblues on

    Good evening all from the Orchard Park in sunny Giffnock. Just left my Mum, tuna sandwich, cup of coffee provided for her boy. She’s 86. ” Were they really drinking cludgie water son?” Ffs hahahaha .

  20. bigrailroadblues on

    I couldn’t afford to drink in Giffnock on a regular basis. Eegads. 😳

  21. Turkeybhoy on

    Anyone thinking they are having a bad time of it.Spare a thought for Gerard Piquet.

     

    Shakira has just split from him..

     

    Hide the razors Mammy.

  22. ernie lynch on

    INIQUITOUSIV on 4TH JUNE 2022 6:57 PM

     

    ‘Hungary Win! I just love it when these arrogant entitled ba’bags get humped.’

     

    ###

     

     

     

    By a team representing a country that is inching towards fascism at a match that’s behind closed doors because of racist behaviour by the home fans?

     

     

    Whatever floats your boat I suppose.

  25. the_huddle on

    Isn’t Pique owned millions in wages from Barca, as they cheat once again and sign players they can’t afford

  26. bigrailroadblues on

    Good evening all from Heraghtys bar. A beautiful night in old Glasgow Town.

  27. petec on

    Turkeybhoy on 4th June 2022 7:05 pm

     

     

    O Riley assist for first goal.

     

     

    ………………………………………………..

     

     

    The Legend Tom has treble cleft but there is no doubt Matthew could be an incredible player to fill his boots. Great man management by Ange, even though only here under a year, to let 2 Excellent players for Celtic get the chance to say “laters”.

     

     

    Both will be warmly received whenever they Grace Celtic Park again.

  32. garygillespieshamstring on

    Parkhead

     

     

    I don’t know about Janefield Street but His paternal grandmother definitely came from Glasgow. Michael Owen’s father, Terry Owen was signed for Everton for a while and was named Terence after her brother Terry Donnelly who was a great Celtic supporter who followed Celtic into Europe in the 60s and 70s.

  35. Saint Stivs on

    Was in Dumbarton today and just back from the port. The jooblee celebration is in fully Saturday royalist mode.

     

     

    Total houses spotted with some decorations up. Seven.

     

     

    There will be a statement soon saying that hundreds of thousands of loyal people are still stuck in Seville.

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