At 21-years-old Tom Rogic should be strongly staking his claim for a central midfield berth at Celtic. The fact that he’s not is a disappointment to the player, and apparently the nation of Australia. It’s also a disappointment to you and me. He has the physique and the passing ability but after some tentatively positive performances last season he hasn’t kicked on as hoped.
There could be lots of reasons for this, it’s not necessarily the ‘fault’ of the player, his ability or the club, but football careers wither on the vine when clubs hoard talent. If Tom can get some game-time under his belt at Melbourne Victory, and potentially get to Brazil in the summer, we will have a better indication if he is the real deal.
Someone just text me, “Rangers need to be a long-term sustainable business and that’s the bottom line. The club needs to change”, from that memorable Craig Whyte interview to The Scotsman in 2012. Groundhog Day….
So Fifa presidential candidate, Jerome Champagne, has proposed the introduction of a sin-bin, to be invoked by the referee brandishing an orange card. What’s your view on this, is there a universal association between sin and orange, or is this another subversive plot by Celtic fans? I have my suspicions.
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Token.
Only time I saw Sally was on the underground. I had a licence but no car. He had a car but no license.
All jokey and jovial while surrounded by coterie of hunnery. Then the rest all got off and it was just the 2 of us.
He was sitting there kinda looking to be acknowledged ( or perhaps seeking tips on how high levels of pastry consumption could still be allied to a svelte figure – who knows?). So I did the baddest (sic AM!) thing imaginable – I blanked him!
A golden silence ensued all the way to cessnock!
HH jamesgang
Hope Rogic comes back. Liked the guy. All the best TG !!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25819091
Crystal Palace have Europe’s biggest squad, says new study
oops R
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS ………FC not PLC
14:13 on 21 January, 2014
NATKNOW
Textses,breakfastses. Just two words which p… me off when I hear them.
Especially the latter. It usually means that I’m gonna have to wait a bit for someone to serve me my first of the day!
:-)
Question for the SFA will be how many liquidationses the Sevco have been subject to . That will determine of many pointses they get deducted!
BMCUW
I think in all honesty the boy ruined the opportunity by himself.
You’ve no done that :-)
Hamiltontim & BMCUW
Trying to get the balance right between dedication and fanaticism and aspiration and realism is well nigh impossible. The more so when into the mix are thrown the vagaries of chance and fickleness of youth!
Get back to me in 10 (years!) and I’ll let you know how I’ve got on with my one!
HH jamesgang
TGSC
I’d say that when they reach 16/17/18 years of age that many do.
However, historically Celtic have taken large numbers in at younger age groups 11-12 and within a year most are discarded.
I’m sure that some will have gone on to have football careers but most that I’ve known simply give up. It’s because of this that my advice would have been to sign on at smaller clubs where there was always a greater chance of being kept on.
HAMILTON TIM
Hmmmm. There are plenty would disagree,myself included. Took a helluva while for the penny to drop.
Heyho….
Ps I’m not slating Celtic for this, I understand the logic of it but in the best interests of the majority it made sense to go elsewhere.
The Battered Bunnet
13:46 on
21 January, 2014
I actually don’t agree. You can get your education at any age. Not many reach the age of 21/22 with a degree and are able to take up the chance of being a professional footballer again. They’re far too late.
TBB @ 13.46
I was impressed to read a couple of weeks ago that Stuart Armstrong, talented and highly rated Dundee Utd midfielder, is currently doing an OU Law degree.
Now this is a guy who looks likely to have a good career in football, but who is still wise enough – and is presumably getting sufficient support from his club – to consider wider options.
I’d be interested to see, if he moves to a bigger club (Lennon has been quoted as an admirer in the past), whether he’ll continue (or be allowed to continue) with his non-footballing education.
JOHNNYCLASH
Maurice Malpas got a degree in engineering while he was winning the league and caps for Scotland.
Hi Paul67,
“So Fifa presidential candidate, Jerome Champagne, has proposed the introduction of a sin-bin, to be invoked by the referee brandishing an orange card. What’s your view on this…..”
His proposals seem pretty logical, but a couple of problems, the game could get very start stop, the game could get very(more) officious.
If the proposals worked as deterrents and the game flowed more – with less back chat – I’d be up for that.
If the Orange card replaced most Red cards, i.e. sin-binned for two yellows, a basic straight red.
The Red card could be used for extremely unsporting or dangerous play, I think it could improve the game.
Of course as Celtic supporters we have a leetle problem, another weapon in the foe’s armoury might no be so good.
The Battered Bunnet @ 13:16,
“There are quite a few CQNers who have talented kids playing at a high level, so-called pro-youth. It soon becomes apparent how tight the funnel at the end is compared to the width of its mouth. Each club will graduate just one year age squad player to 1st team terms each year, from the 20 or so at each age group, selected from the hundreds taken through development and assessment centres.
It also becomes apparent, though later on, quite how many different aspects of physiology, athleticism, mentality and appetite are influential in determining career prospects.
As I’ve noted before, we graduate 50 times more Medics in Scotland each year than 1st team SPFL footballers. Think about that: 5 x A at Higher first time round is infinitely easier than getting a 2nd pro contract at Dundee Utd, let alone Celtic.
It’s a tough racket, eh.”
You make some very good point, and there are many careers/vocations like this…
Knew a guy, his boy loved (& excelled @) go-karting – so the chap didn’t know how to tell his son at 16, he had to pack it in – he was top ten in the UK but it was costing his dad 50K+ p.a. and top ten UK isn’t good enough to make a career out of Motor Sport.
A top Football career is becoming very specialist.
The Academy does a lot right, that’s for sure.
You just have to watch the confidence and technique these young bhoys show, even when they are in front of the crowds playing seasoned Internationalist – like in Dublin and Turkey.
It’s a hugely difficult “next” step up – hope Jim McGuiness or someone is looking at the aspects you highlight, I’m sure we should have more of these ghuys coming through.
Though even with La Masia it’s a numbers game.
Hail Hail
JohnnyClash/BMCUW,
whilst it seems to be quite rare, there are and have been more than a few top class players who have gained degrees whilst playing.
Some notables being as you say, Mo Backpass, Brian McClair, Graeme Le Saux and in fact im pretty certain that Iain Cameron sat his finals the morning of the Scottish Cup final in 1987. I know he got a winners medal…..not sure if he got his degree though ;-)
But these guys are definitely in the minority.
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Please check out @ScotFans4Change account if you are interested in wanting a change to Scottish Football
#ScotFans4Change
HT, TTT, others.
Yip, lots of tough stories. Few fairy tales. To be fair though, that’s just the way life pans out regardless of your talents or your ambitions.
For example: 4 of my team mates joined Queens Park after leaving school.
The first played for the Spiders for years while taking an apprenticeship and serving his time. Loved the football but never earned a dime from the game. Chucked it late 20s when family came along.
Another became a pet of John Lambie’s, and bounced between Hamilton and Thistle for a few seasons before chucking it, preferring scooping on a Friday night to sweeping on a Saturday afternoon.
Another was sold to a top flight club for a tidy sum, but couldn’t cope with the brutality of being a 5’5″ winger in the era of John Pelosi and Gregor Stevens. He went to uni at 22 and took his engineering degree.
The fourth spent his entire professional career with one club, bouncing between the Premier League and 1st Division. He got 2 shots at the Scottish Cup Final, losing both. When he retired he took up coaching, and was until recently the long standing manager of a 1st division side.
The first 2 now work for the firm owned by the third. The 4th has yet to send in his CV though.
‘Sa funny old game. Life.
THE TOKEN TIM
Not sure Brian finished his degree. He was at Glasgow same time as me-I remember congratulating him for his hat-trick v the huns and telling him that I didnae want any of that nonsense when he played THE HOOPS at the weekend.
He only scored two against us,including the winner!
He signed for us at the end of that season. Though he may well have continued his studies,not sure. Google-time,methinks!
Pretty sure he was doing Chemistry.
Talking about past and present tense….one must allow for local dialect…as in John Browns famous standing on the steps of Ibrox quotation….”Yooz et aw ra pies”
Yooz…in these terms is a bastardisation of the non word “yous” which, as any intelligent person will tell you is completely wrong. John, in this instance should have dropped the “s”, or in his case….the “z”. I overheard him once, standing at a bus stop in edmiston drive, talking about hippopotimy, only, he was using the oft quoted hippopotomousesisasous
I think McClair chucked Uni either just before or as soon as he joined Celtic. Nevin did likewise when he left Clyde for Chelsea.
Harold Brattbakk on the other hand finished with football and started flying big aeroplanes for a living.
Weeminger, I do believe we are allowed to disagree. I have a fair bit of sympathy with your view though, and in part share it. Issue is when do you go ‘all in’? I’ve told my boy he gets 5 Highers this year then does what the heck he fancies. None of my business after that. None of my dough either mind :¬)
…..and remember…..two singulars do indeed make a plural…..
weeminger
14:24 on 21 January, 2014
The Battered Bunnet
13:46 on
21 January, 2014
I actually don’t agree. You can get your education at any age. Not many reach the age of 21/22 with a degree and are able to take up the chance of being a professional footballer again. They’re far too late.
WM/TBB –
Is it not possible for kids to train as professional footballers AND gain an education at the same time? I have a friend whose daughter trains at a pro tennis academy in Barcelona. There are many kids there all hoping to be tennis professionals. Despite the training, this girl has still been able to gain good enough results to go to Uni and after weighing up her options she recently decided that she wanted to study medicine.
Not sure if football is any different?
THE BATTERED BUNNET
None of your dough?
Mwahahahaha!
In two years time,please let us know how well that has worked.
If you can afford to support him through his studies then you should,IMO. Not to do so could leave him with a bill of £20k or more. Good start to life that,and best avoided.
But-for the avoidance of doubt-that is simply my own opinion,as a single bloke and no kids.
BMCUW, TT
I was at Glasgow Uni at the same time as McClair.
I’ve no idea whether he finished his degree but he did turn out for one of the teams in the 5 a side league which ran in the Sports Hall. He was with Motherwell then.
I didn’t play against him but was in the gallery when he played. It was something to see someone of that level play.
To say he was on a different planet doesn’t come close.
He was scoring from everywhere.
One of the guys in the opposition was a friend of mine and he took a fair but really solid challenge from BmcC – said it was like being hit by a train.
Tlwio
BMCUW
Did Brian McClair not study mathematics at uni?
HH!!
JC
Stuart Armstrong, the untypical footballer…
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/dundee-united-s-stuart-armstrong-staying-grounded-1-3265075
Fair play to him. Terrific player. Smart cookie too by the looks.
Went to Glasgow University myself………just to fix a roof mind you
THE LONG WAIT IS OVER
Aye,he was a built fella!
I only ever took a beating off him in the snooker hall. That was about my level!
TALLYBHOY
According to WIKIPEDIA,aye.
I must have had a few when I asked him what he was studying….
hamiltontim is praying for oscar
14:01 on 21 January, 2014
He he….
BMCUW
Really?
And did he hit you with the blunt end or the pointy end?
Tlwio
BMCUW
He can support himself, just like his sister did. And look where she ended up!
Working for me…
31003
I recall the Uni had to underpin the new library building as it was sliding down the hill.
Turns out the load factors omitted the weight of the books.
Good evening CQN. Today, another Celtic scarf was spotted on the Saint Petersburg underground. Personally, I think that Celtic probably exaggerate our American and Australian support base. However, we certainly have a presence in most places. In my experience, many of the people with Celtic strips etc tend to follow the club because of the Irish dimension of Celtic as opposed to our on-field activities. Sadly our Glasgow rivals have no such presence here. Why are there not more Partick supporters around the world? I wish you all well.
BMCUW
Just mailed you.
Hope you get it!
HH!!
TBB – you’re absolutely right, I just get slightly irked when I see and read things where young people are told not to pursue their ‘dream’ because it’ll stop them getting an education, which just isn’t true. Some people (not you) seem to have this blind-spot that tells them you can only get your highers/A-levels at school.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS ………FC not PLC
14:13 on
21 January, 2014
NATKNOW
Textses,breakfastses. Just two words which p… me off when I hear them.
Especially the latter. It usually means that I’m gonna have to wait a bit for someone to serve me my first of the day!
…………………….
hahahaha that reminds me of Bilbo Baggins…..braw