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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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  3. scullybhoy on

    ernie lynch on 4th June 2022 7:26 pm

     

     

    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.

     

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

     

     

    Oh sorry, England lost.

  4. Tom McLaughlin on

    Italy 1-1 France.

     

     

    England bottom of their group.

     

     

    Don’t be too downhearted Ernie. It’s only 1 game played.

  5. Burnley78 on

    Totally lost for words at what the licence fee is paying for tonight.

     

     

    Worse than that what the tax payer is funding in central London.

  9. ernie lynch on

    I’m watching the Fergie documentary on CH4 +1.

     

     

    Excellent stuff. For a so call fan he seemed to have really hated the huns.

     

     

    I’ve no idea what anyone else is watching. Or why.

  11. Sláinte Ange on

    “a jaded, mediocre effort”

     

    Phil McNulty on England’s performance

     

    Taxi for Southgate?

  14. Almore on

    Don’t like commenting on matters outside of Éire but couldn’t agree more with:

     

     

    BURNLEY78 on 4TH JUNE 2022 10:15 PM

  15. Burnley78 on

    Ernie

     

     

    So refreshing to hear you actually claim that you don’t know something.

  16. Timbhoy163 on

    Michael Owens parents I’m sure they stayed in Kinnear Rd were all the buses parked back in the day .

  18. Spidey101 on

    Luca was part of a strategy we appeared to be following for a while – hoovering up young out of contract talent from English Academies. Dembele was the most obvious success (though he was already in the Fulham first team), followed by the much less successful Oko-Flex, Afolabi, Connell, and O’Conner. The only other one who was a success was Frimpong.

     

     

    In theory it wasn’t a bad strategy, but it seems like it didn’t work for the same reason we’re losing our most promising youths to the Bayern’s, Liverpool’s, Man City’s – there’s a real lack of quality football open to the reserves/youths and no clear pathway to the first team.

     

     

    We need to have a serious look at this. Our youth development has been ok up until now – in the last 12 years we’ve had Forrest, CalMac, KT, Ralston, Welsh and Mikey J break through and be part of the squad which, at an average of one every two years, is an ok hit rate (being generous with Welsh and Mikey). But with the likes of Doak joining Liverpool and the Bayern lads all leaving at 16, it’s likely we’ll see a decline in quality and volume.

     

     

    It’s a tricky thing to get right, especially as there’s no reserve league in Scotland anymore. If it were me, I think I’d be looking to have our best 16-19year olds play in the Lowland League (assuming that gets the go ahead) and the best 19 year olds then spend two years with a B Team similar to the way Brentford operate. Have the B Team play “friendlies” against the English Premier League u-23 sides (28 teams so up to 28 games), home and away against Brentford’s B-Team, a tour of Ireland in the LoI’s pre-season (4 games) and a dozen games against Scottish Premier League and/or Championship teams gives a pretty good diet of games. They’ll train with/close to first team and follow Ange’s training plans so they’re better prepared for the first team. At the age of 21, some difficult decisions to be made – some won’t make it and we should be helping them to make a career elsewhere. No more Ross Doohan still with us at 24 despite being nowhere near the first team. Those who are good enough need to them be filtered to the first team – likely to be max of 1-2 per season if it all works properly so we’d need to be planning properly and ensuring there’s space in the squad for them.

  20. Sláinte Ange on

    One for Gene:

     

     

    Robbie Williams – a lifelong Port Vale fan – said his homecoming gig was “written in the stars” after the side won promotion a week ago

  35. An Tearmann on

    INIQUITOUSIV on 4TH JUNE 2022 6:17 PM

     

     

     

    Thanks very much for great feedback on our players.

     

     

    Appreciated

     

     

    HH

  41. fourstonecoppi on

    Ok fair enuff, looks like my comments on Rod Stewart were deleted cos of bad language.

     

     

    Rod Stewart=Durty wee Lickspittle!

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