The board

Had a laugh on Kerrydale Street. Mark Lawwell was compared to a hapless son in Victorian times who becomes a vicar.

 

We should have went with a manager who would take what ange did and continue that process
Club should have an identity and plan for thr football we want to play and bringing in managers from youth to first team that train the same.way.
Celtic love to regress wen we get a it too far in front as they think the money will dry up without their precious hns

 

Every time the Huns score I hate these Tory *'s a bit more. They've sat on their hands allowing these * the chance to gain ground on us.

 

Any update or rumours around the GB ban?

It was ridiculous to begin with but it’s outrageous now that’s us being allowed to continue.

If we go into the derby without them, our chances of getting a result will be even slimmer.

 

My biggest worry is what PL said at the AGM. Paraphrasing but “we’re keeping money for when we don’t qualify for the CL” it’s like we have decided we won’t win the league year on year when, it’s actually our gift to ensure that happens!! We have enough money to blow them away and we spend it on projects and make comments like that. I can 100% assure everyone that, if it was them that had money, they would blow us away by spending it on better players.
That’s what sickens me the most.

 

One of the biggest disconnects between the Board and the fans is that the Board view the last decade of success as a huge vindication of the job they have done. They see it as so hugely successful that to not be thankful and grateful is to be an ungrateful little *. The fans view the last decade of success as almost the minimum required. Sevco have been a basket case and we have been so far ahead of the other teams it isn't a contest. Most fans have switched focus to Europe which has been disastrous really. The Board see our ambitions as unrealistic despite Sevco dying, being reborn and still reaching a European final before us. January is make or break. Lose the league this year and there will be bedlam.

 

Maybe we could use some of the money to bribe referees to be fair?

 

This is the biggest indictment of Desmonds tenure.

A dead club, zombified into a new club, without a pot to * in, and a squad full of middling players, reaching a European final before US, the richest team in the country, by a long, LONG * way.

Say what u want about Sevco. They pump every penny they can afford to into their squad. They calculate the minimum it takes to keep the lights on, and the rest goes on team investment.

* me, they even have a higher wage bill than us.

It's funny as * whilst theyre on their *. But when results start to show, like European finals, or being so far up our * they could take our title, it's not so * pleasant. It's * embarrassing.

We could have buried those * permanently, at any stage over the last 6 years.
Instead, our board allowed them to grow and recover.
If they win the league this year, we're looking at this league back to being a two horse race. Theyll take every penny they can out of the CL money and pump right into their team.
Whilst we hoard it, like * Smaug.

It'd be like watching Leeds Utd challenge Man City for the EPL title every year.

* sickening.

 

The talk of signing yet another Korean player got me to a sudden realization: this board are not sure what they want.

Because, if they wanted us to really focus on the Asian market, there are a few things that would be sensible:

- ditch betting company sponsorships and ask a Japanese/South Korean company to be our shirt sponsor
- hire a Japanese/Korean manager, since they are used to dealing with small budgets our board gives the manager, instead of a manager who is dependant on the English market
- regularly conduct preseason tours in East Asia
- when points above are done, it gets easy to sign bigger names from SK or Japan- those with a decent number of caps.

And yet, our board don't know the meaning of strategy. Is the above a great strategy? No, but it has a certain consistency. Instead, we'll be adding our 4th Korean player, after the manager didn't even test out one of the current 3. Squad's getting bloated, the funds scattered on a bunch of players...

Baffling.

Just a wee context bit of info: I love Japanese and Korean people, and I can speak either language.

 

I didn't mind the odd one or two Asian players but it's getting ridiculous now and it's hadicapping us on two fronts and players leaving for this Asian cup and second apart from OH most players are small and lightweight and that's not great for Europe.
We really need a mixture of players into the squad from Europe as well.

 

If/when we next lose the league, big investment will come and we'll (probably) be back on top.
It's a repeating pattern over last 15+ years - do the bare minimum, ensure bonuses all round for a great set of accounts and then when it goes wrong, crack the biscuit tin open.
The problem is, the opposition invest everything they have (and more) on the pitch, then significant revenue opportunities can open up and the financial gap (eventually) gets much smaller.
I have zero interest in boasting about feckin bank balances, fitba isn't played on a spreadsheet.

In any business, if you fail to invest in your product, you go backwards and that's where we are headed right now - but we can recover if the stewards of our club see this and finally get the finger oot.

When you have more money in the bank than on the park - that's a huge problem.

 

The Celtic support are too money focused. It’s so bad that some don’t even see it.

We sign a 27 year old player these days and a significant chunk of the fan base feels uneasy because it will be difficult to make a profit on the player.

Everyone needs to take a step back and think about what’s going on at Celtic.

I get frustrated these days reading people raging about how much we’re receiving for players. What difference does it make? The idea used to be that once we were making huge profits and consistently in the UCL and selling players we would spend more and make sure the team was prepared.

It never * happened. Instead we left the team unprepared and exclusively spread-bet on 21-23 year olds with high potential and barely an average season under their belts.

Endless posts absolutely raging that Juranovic, Starfelt and Giakoumakis didn’t make us enough money. What the * is going on? I’d bite your * hand off for us to have went out and bought players like that this summer, instead of worrying we might only make £2m-£5m profit on them or * forbid breaking even on a player even after they win us a treble.

What we saw in the summer was the board’s feeling on these transfers. For Celtic football club, they were hugely successful transfers in. For Celtic PLC, they got in the way of more Jotas that could’ve driven bigger profits.

 

Yep, always trying to catch players on the way up instead of buying in some 26-28 year olds who aren't going to get any better than they are now but can deliver in the first team straight off the bat

 

As a club player sales are important but I totally agree to get the best from a team of young players you need a core of senior professionals in there. All good teams have that and always have had that.

We are sorely lacking a few in our team, not even talking older guys just guys who have at least already had a good few years under their belt. This for me is where the bosman market should be better exploited. A guy like Dani De Wit at Alkmaar would be a great pick up for us. A team who regularly play a lot of young players and although he is only mid 20’s he has been a regular for a number of seasons.

A centre back in that mould and a centre forward would be good additions too.

 

Exactly. We signed Starfelt, Juranovic, Kyogo, Giakoumakis, Jota and Abada.

A mix of experience and potential.

It worked beautifully. We became treble winners almost immediately and still made enormous profit on player sales.

But the minute Ange walks out the door we go back to spread betting on 21 year olds hoping to make even bigger profits. 7 players signed under 23 - no attempt to strengthen our weak areas (LB, GK..)

The support aren’t angry enough about this. We’ve still got people claiming this isn’t a strategic choice by the money men.

So in the year 2021 we managed to find 5 or so experienced players in their mid-twenties in an affordable range ready to walk in and improve the team, but in 2023 it suddenly became impossible and no one wanted to come here except prospects with barely a season under their belts?

The support need to wake up. It doesn’t need to be like this. As Ange demonstrated to us.

 

I get the feeling they would have been delighted when he left. He ran the whole club and told them how to do their job!!! We are a * disgrace. If the unthinkable happens and they win the league don’t expect them not to put their foot on our throat!!!!

 

Of course. The market is out there we just have no interest in competing in it for some reason.

We’ve seen we can sign players in their mid-twenties for affordable prices that can be successful, but Celtic supporters will still bend over backwards to excuse the board for not doing it. “It’s too hard, no one wants to come here”.


The reality is it’s a money-driven choice.

 

We’re signing hee haw now…

 

Was thinking that

 

* the board! Today was too close for comfort, these * should have been buried again long ago!