On the verge
These breaks bug the crap out of me, but at least this one looks well timed, and a night out meeting the Sligo support should be good for morale, if that’s our problem. I don’t believe that to be the case actually, I just think the high of last season carried throughout the summer supplemented by a feelgood factor window, some players were ‘hungry for the ball’ after a full summer off,,and we storm out of the blocks which is a typical Rodgers trait over his career in the dugout.
The run came to an end badly and some enthusiasm has been lost due to the harsh realities of playing on 4 fronts with Scottish refs and 10 limited players behind the ball.
Aches and pains replace raring to go mode,and all of sudden the team looks like they could do with something different.
Have a break, have a KitKat.
You love a holiday I’m sure, we all enjoy a rest to recharge the batteries and get back on track.
This should, and I’m sincerely hoping it does, become a marker in the story of the season that’s still being written.
What happens next will obviously have a big bearing on our campaign as a whole, we enter the cold weather season where games come thick and fast, not slick and slow like the average pitch. But we have ‘been broken in’ this isn’t the first couple of beginning games when most are finding their feet, though we made that look easy.
With preseason friendlies and even including tonight’s clash, we’ve played 20 odd games, that’s decent minutes under the belt. It’s enough to start really assessing from a managerial and coaching point of view, one likes to believe weaknesses are not only being discovered and analyzed but trying to be fixed, and it’s not like replacing a thermostat but a process.
So in the hope footballing operations are going about their job, I figure its my duty to just take a breather, think over what has happened on and off the field, and try to sum up my thoughts on let’s call it the first quarter of the season.
It has been mesmerizing, my expectations have not only been matched but exceeded. From our signings, to our new style of play, our European debut,,,Celtic are hot property and genuinely entertaining nae unmissable. We have good players in many different positions to the extent any of the starting 10 outfield could end up not only MOTM on the day but scoring. This team had created such a buzz of positivity, especially after hitting a European team for 5, that we actually went to Germany with not only many supporters dreaming of a result, but with players who believed they might be good enough because they were crushing everything in their path until that point.
It went horribly wrong BUT my goodness we were playing so well until that night, I know I’m a dreamer and I will never blame a man or woman for the same, but if we learn from that, the lesson could be priceless.
So I’m not going to dwell on ‘it’, one big defeat to a side expected to defeat us should not deflect from all the other games, one very poor day should not overwhelm 19 other great days, great days indeed.
I’ve witnessed many players that were already at the club improve, I see the quality in our buys and loanee, and if I adopt the widely held viewpoint that Brendan only got a hold on recruitment from January, the future looks very bright.
For the first time since Martin we look a deadly and serious unit, but the clincher is that this model is sustainable. The rug need not be pulled out from under anyone’s feet, proper investment shall surely continue making improvement almost inevitable. I feel like we are the beginning of a journey rather than midway.
And that journey is already breathtaking at times.
I cannot ask for more on the field, one defeat away in Europe is not a surprise even if the result on the night was.
Ask Jose Mourinho what’s the most important phase of European football and he will automatically answer the transition, something we are good at on the offensive side, sometimes we excel at, and a tactic Brendan clearly utilizes. Great!
That tells me we ‘only’ need to fix the defensive side of transitioning and we have the chance to become a very good Celtic side rather merely a good one.
‘Instantly switching to defensive mode’ is five easy words to type, but maybe the hardest part of coaching. Martin went with pace and height in Bobo and Joos, but the games moved on and ball playing technique is much more important nowadays. On the other hand ‘good on the ball’ defenders generally play in midfield for the very reason they are decent on the ball,,they are rare, so what’s a man to do?
Well, if I were John Kennedy I would be double drilling our defenders to beat the upfront press, which needs the midfield to show for the ball constantly.
And if I were Brendan I would tell those very defenders that if they look up needing a quick pass, and because of the press nothing is available, then go long. There’s no shame in that, and our two different strikers offer two different options,,hit it into space in Kyogos situation, ping it towards Adam if on the park.
Brendan is a student of the game, just listen to him talk about the beautiful game and one would realize that, and now after evolution we are seeing revolution. Brodge-ball is bettering Ange-ball, he’s transforming other managers buys (Maeda, Matt, Johnson, Scales, Forrest) while buying quality of his own that can transform the team, Engels, Kuhn, and Idah the standouts.
We as a club are on the verge,,,and in the past I would expect the verge of being let down by unfilled potential, by boardroom pettiness, by narrow mindedness.
But this, this feels different.
All the stepping stones are in place to move from Pot 4 upwards,,,and it’s not a house built on sand.
By Mahe sentinelcelts@gmail.com
Advance notice that our SATURDAY NAPS Competition will return on 19th October,which is Champions Day.
https://sentinelcelts.com/2024/10/06/saturday-naps-competition/
Please click on the link for details,and to register your interest.
As a taster for the Naps,D R M has very kindly offered to sponsor a one-off competition at York on Saturday 12 October. With typically generous prize money for the occasion.
https://sentinelcelts.com/2024/10/06/the-yorker/
Again,please click on the link for details and to register your interest.
Emdy fancy a great night out? Just got this from a good friend,Frank,who many of you will already know either in person or as VFR.
Not sure if you know, but my wife Jacky came out of retirement a couple of years ago to run St Margaret’s adoption agency, the only Catholic adoption agency left in the UK. She now has it back on its feet after some significant issues.
I have been roped in as an Ambassador for the charity and one area I am looking at is fundraising. My big ticket item at the moment is a dinner dance we are running in the Kerrydale Suite on Friday 22nd November at 7:30. This is the first of what we intend to be an annual event to coincide with the Feast Day of St Margaret of Scotland, our Patron Saint (November 16th).
So as you can imagine, I have the begging bowl out! I am contacting like-minded people to see if they are willing to take a table for the event (or just some tickets). Individual tickets are £50 with the tables at £500. We are also looking for sponsorship for the event, ranging from £5k for the event sponsor down to advertising in the programme and on-screen on the night – ranging from £250 to £1000 depending on size and placement/regularity of the ads.
There will be a raffle and charity auction on the night, so we are looking for prizes and auction items for both of those. We may also look at naming tables and allowing some advertising on tables if there is an appetite for that.
So far we are on to our 3rd table for the troops.
Saw this on videocelts, good work by Celtic to stop anymore 3pm home games moving to 5:30pm
“CELTIC have reportedly OPTED OUT of the SPFL’s contract that awarded Premiership broadcasting rights to Scottish Premiership matches.”
hence the sheep game stays at 3pm 👍
Good morning, friends and Happy Matchday. I know it’s only a friendly, with no voting involved, but Sligo v Celtic will no doubt be on a stream somewhere! Kick off 7.30.
Thanks Mahe,
One potential ace up or sleeve before the Atalanta game is the fact that Brendan’s long term scout, Lee Congerton left Leicester for Atalanta in the spring of 2022.
He left Atalanta for Saudi 2 years later having overseen an impressive couple of years in terms of recruitment. (March/April 2024).
I’d be confident that we will know everything there is to know about Atalanta i
before we go there.
The guy who scored the hat trick in the Europa League Final in Dublin, Ademola Lookman was on loan at Leicester with Brendan in 2022.
He signed permanently for Atalanta shortly after Lee Congerton joined them.
Another (of quite a few) recruitment highlights recently for Atalanta was Rasmus Højlund.
Congerton is credited with recommending his purchase for €17m. He was sold within 12 months to Man Utd for €64m.
Atalanta BC – Transfers 23/24 | Transfermarkt
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/atalanta-bc/transfers/verein/800/plus/?saison_id=2023&pos=&detailpos=&w_s=
Mahe
Interesting / very interesting.
Unique take on the season so far.
“Feelgood factor window” — your glass is not half full …
The froth is over the side and puddling on the floor.
Liquid levels — that is another story.
Knowing all about a team is one thing, setting out a pragmatic strategy to counter what is expected is another.
Even a casual onlooker knew the quality Dortmund had.
That didn’t seem to influence the tactical approach.
Right on cue — another spreadsheet.
Team G74 are really giving it their all.
Two months of silence followed by two weeks of “statistics”.
Lies / damned lies got an airing but “statistics” is doing the heavy lifting.
Still nothing about being a selling club.
Why do we have £70mill in the bank and Swiss cheese squad?
Plus the CL tent in the car park — not a good look is it?
Youth set up in tatters vs ECh playmaker nursery?
Coaching depth — primarily the lack of it.
Pals and friends of pals coaching vibe.
L/town — half finished.
Tarmac prairie.
Main Stand.
Plenty to discuss …
BD game — the squad believed the hype.
And collapsed when they realised BD were not going to lie down.
We have the talent to compete — but not the experience / CL nous / resilience / leadership / belief.
Very shallow / callow squad — 18 months of frog kissing is making it worse.
One big personality missing and the white flags come out.
Suggests we have a lot of work to do.
Bring in experience as well as developing it.
All in all — the summer transfer window was a shambles.
Should have set us up for CL credibility.
Instead we just polished our glass jaw.
We have the talent to compete with similarly hamstrung teams.
Against top 8, even 16, we self harm.
We should have enough nous to avoid humiliation and embarrassment
JS @ 9.20
Where is the nous / who has the nous?
We didn’t have it when we played BD.
SPFL — talent wins us most games not organisation / set up / tactics.
CL — we are quite high up the talent pile but very weak in organisation etc / resilience and experience.
Euro fails / qualification nightmares — usually at the hands of limited but organised / well coached teams.
Key phrase is:
”we should have enough nous…”
We’ve played in this environment often enough. If you believe we have the talent then Knowledge retention is lacking.
As to what happens come first whistle who knows where the nous goes.
Resources wise, lesser teams have competed better than we have so far in this season’s CL.
JS @ 9.46
I ask again — why should we have enough nous to cope with the CL?
Too much of the team’s experience comes from the SPL / NA / Japan / ECh.
Only CMcG could be considered experienced in the CL through his NT career.
All the rest are either callow youths / outsiders / SPL worthies.
We are very SPFL focused and the club has a history of struggling in Europe at every level.
Any experience we gain from one CL campaign gets lost in the SPFL fog and we repeat our mistakes when the next season comes round.
Plus our squad is not very outgoing / lacking in big personalities.
Plus we don’t recruit nous.
A team like Sparta Prague, so far, has shown “nous” in beating Red Bull Salzburg 3-0 and drawing 1-1 with Dortmund’s domestic rivals Stuttgart, who walloped them 5-1.
They play in arguably a worse league than the SPFL, yet have found “nous” from somewhere.
For “nous” read pragmatism, collective team spirit, a more mature psychological approach perhaps?
Or better tactical preparedness?
Morning all
Heading to dentist to get an offending tooth removed
Dear Mahe
Please do not ever write that Celtic is doing well, ever has done well or might do well in the future. Do not suggest that our manager has any ability at all to do his job. The captain of the club and indeed any player who enjoys wide popularity within the support because of their perceived ability should be disparaged not praised
I worry about my teeth and about Mad Mitch’s blood pressure too
Please take in spirit intended!🤧
Jimbo
https://x.com/MailSport/status/1843770125624684773?t=sitNvQk05lP1m8mAAX5UqQ&s=08
Quite right, 75k a game ? Foxtrot Oscar
Have Celtic opted out of the Premier Sports deal,to support ST holders,or because it’s only 75k a game?
B B
The cynic would suggest the latter?
If one were to multiply the £75k?
We’ve already established that money talks.
Now it’s a case of just haggling over the price.
BADABING
First thing I noticed too. And I think our Sky deal is around the same. Though I’ll check that.
EPL is about £10m per match.
From Business Media article
“its current Premier League domestic rights deal, in which it pays £1.193bn per season for 128 live matches per season.”
which is about £9.3m per match. Even the many rubbish ones,like Villa v Man Utd on Sunday.
BMCUW- I’m sure the new TV deal for wummans football in England is better than our deal
“ which needs the midfield to show for the ball constantly”
Do that and they get pressed as well and the game squeezed.
Got to stretch it to create the space and
( spacing, copyright JS ) for wide players.
None of the back five, at present, good enough to do this at CL level.
Different proposition when CCV plays. ( particularly the SPL ) where they do know his capacity for bringing it out and passing.
He’s rarely pressed which allows a different out.
If only we had a midfielder capable enough to take it from the defence, play it out and link it all over the park !
Just Sayin’
October 9, 2024 10:12 am
Or better tactical preparedness?
=====
Or better players or better grass roots to develop from or access to a range of players with lots of experience of playing European football not necessarily in UEFA competition but weekly?
Check background of Sparta Prague players at:
https://sparta.cz/en/tymy/1-muzi-a/hraci
Basically more than one reason.
JIMBO67
Good luck at the dentist. I recommend the following:-
Just as the dentist is about to have his evil way with you,grab him firmly by the balls and say-I trust we aren’t going to hurt each other?
BADABING 1053
Wouldn’t surprise me.
Celtic have lost ONE referee inspired league game since last December,
We lost ONE game in Europe to last year’s European cup finalists.
We are having the most successful period that maybe any team has ever had domestically ..I can’t think of a single team that have even come close
We’re the only Scottish club to reach the pinnacle of club football, and the only one who ever will.
If it wasn’t for geography, I’ve absolutely no doubt we would quickly become the biggest club side on planet earth.
We have never been more financially secure, and have begun to use that advantage to bring in players from a much higher price range (Something we have all been wishing we’d do)
We have started our league campaign by winning 7 straight, and have conceded ONE goal in those 7 games (A penalty!)
I think it’s fair to say that there is a hell of a lot to be pleased about.
One thing I will never get bored with – Glasgow Celtic lifting trophies!
Auldheid
“Basically more than one reason.”
As I intimated in my comments.
Not one singular reason.
All the best Jimbo 👍
Just Saying
You did but the add on was easier to follow up to.
It is interesting though to see the pedigree of the various Sparta Prague players from the link.
Auldheid
A sprinkling of internationals.
interestingly Rrahmani was reputedly on the Huns radar in the summer.
Of more interest, I think, is their manager recruitment.
Previous guy Priske has gone to Feyenoord to replace Slot.
current incumbent is Friis, promoted assistant whose background is Danish football.
A team worth keeping an eye on.
They have tough games upcoming v Man C, AM, Inter, Leverkusen and particularly v Priske’s Feyenoord.
Peter Howson’s painting of Brother Walfrid (stolen from the Shamrock art gallery) reflects perfectly on the horrors of the great hunger. It’s no wonder that he left County Sligo on a coal ship to seek shelter in Scotland. Much of his journey to adulthood has still to be discovered and so much about him is well known, not a priest? no, a teacher who knew the benefits of education and how it could help the young drag themselves out of poverty. I had always had this kind of romantic picture in my head about ‘the poor children’s dinner tables’ but the reality was that Andrew Kerin’s knew that the best way to feed them was when they were attending school, a smart move that when you think about it, no education, no food. Education was paramount, but that doesn’t alleviate hunger in the present, so he did both with many helping hands. Food – Education – Sport, he knew that sport was essential to the wellbeing of his pupils, fresh air, physical exercise, repairing hungry minds.
Education was essential as it was then as it is now.
But football’s fun and he set up a school team and then he set up with many willing assistants a football club called Celtic Football @ Athletic company. I often wonder what he would have thought of his football club today. But my main thoughts are who, what, replaces the moral authority of the Catholic church, indeed every church, who sets the boundaries in this new order, who looks after the children and the poor? We all know what hunger and poverty bring- suffering.
I’m a little unclear on the story regarding Celtic opting out of the league deal with Premier Sports. My understanding is that the main TV deal with Sky is for them to show 60 games, but no more than 5 from any one home ground. The add on deal with Premier allows them to show up to 20 further games, no more than 2 from each teams ground.
Premier’s preferred slot appears to be Saturdzy at 5.30 and there have already been 3 or 4 of these games, including our recent trip to Perth.
The story that Celtic have ‘opted out’ must surely be that we have only opted out of allowing any of our own home games to be moved. It sounds as if the decision of whether to play at 5.30 on a Saturday rests solely with the home team?
And if its only the home team that benefits financially to the tune of £75K then Celtic are quite right to say no thank you. Our board might have done so if it was say £250K but, even then, unless theres a few weeks notice given then it really is unfair on travelling fans – fans of any club – to change kick off times just a fortnight before any game.
I always thought Celtic didn’t want home games televised because it could have a negative effect on attendances?
Not sure where I got this information from, it’s just something that was in my head.
Probably nonsense because the season quota has already been taken up.
It does seem strange however that only home games televised seem to be zombie fixtures, and maybe the odd game at the conclusion of the season.
Anyway the Sheep game is going to be a wonderful occasion, irrespective of whether it’s televised, or not.
Edit: Providing we win, obviously.
HH.🍀
Great Lead Mahe….
Excellent opTIMism
It’s not a house built on sand and we are building our house with Bricks…
On the TV front…
Viaplay came in hard to Scottish Football, with their stated intention to bid for the SPL Broadcast rights.
Before they could – Neil Doncaster then unilaterally went and signed a new deal with BskyB
That was a couple of years back and he signed our rights away until ’29
An absolute disgrace…
Viaplay’s business plan for Scottish Football wasn’t feasible without the SPL games, so it pulled out of Scotland.
Leaving us with Premier Sports, they are the Mikey Mouse of Sports Broadcasting without Disney.
Why Viaplay weren’t allowed to bid for the SPL rights was a totally travesty in my opinion, if they didn’t win the bid by offering more – surely BskyB would have had to up their offer.
Now we have 75K for a top of the League clash while two EPL nonentities will get × 100 more!!
Hail Hail
Klopp has taken a job as Director of Football Operations for the Red Bull Group.
Red Bull teams, who are often seen as gauche nouveau riche who buy trophies, are not loved generally, but especially in Germany where small market-fan engagement is a big part of the game there.
If any clubs moan,then they can give us more tickets for the thousands of empty seats they have when we visit them
MIKEINTORONTO
Good article about the rise of Heidenheim,and their long-standing dislike of the RB control at Leipzig.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/oct/07/heidenheim-leipzig-bundesliga-rises-through-german-football
Oh, btw…
Very few Celts will be interested in this but Viaplay leaving Scottish Football has left the National Team high and dry as they sift around to sell their Broadcasting rights.
Surely the SFA should join with the SPFL and try to get a decent deal for Scottish Football as a whole
Hail Hail
Upcoming Sheep game — Scottish football event of the season.
Well that is how it is looking at the moment.
Bigger than any match with Govan FC.
TV dimension — self promotion is a big loss even at the expense of a 17.30 KO.
If we were able to put it on PPV then we might get an idea of our worth in the SPFL.
CTV is where it is at — we currently work at the same level as hospital radio.
But if we want a T/O of 250mill then we need to get to work.
Revenue at the level of the matchday spend should be the medium term target.
Aim for 2000 hours of original content and take the club global.
Whoever negotiated the TV deals for Scottish clubs should be sacked and chased out of the country. Compare with the payouts in the FA Cup last year (this year’s numbers are higher). Clubs earn almost as much for winning a 2nd round game, before the big guns join the tournament, not forgetting they also pocket payments from every preceding round where they’ve been involved. Over and above this, there’s also TV money if their game is televised.
Extra preliminary round winners (208) £1,125 Extra preliminary round losers (208) £375 Preliminary round winners (136) £1,444 Preliminary round losers (136) £481 First round qualifying winners (112) £2,250 First round qualifying losers (112) £750 Second round qualifying winners (80) £3,375 Second round qualifying losers (80) £1,125 Third round qualifying winners (40) £5,625 Third round qualifying losers (40) £1,875 Fourth round qualifying winners (32) £9,375 Fourth round qualifying losers (32) £3,125 First round proper winners (40) £41,000 Second round proper winners (20) £67,000 Third round proper winners (32) £105,000 Fourth round proper winners (16) £120,000 Fifth round proper winners (8) £225,000 Quarter-final winners (4) £450,000 Semi-final winners (2) £1,000,000 Semi-final losers (2) £500,000 Final runners-up (1) £1,000,000 Final winners (1) £2,000,000 Amounts are per club in each round.
How much do teams get for televised FA Cup games?
How much TV money is on offer? For those fortunate enough to be picked for TV coverage, a total of over £100,000 is up for grabs to each side. This progressively increases as the FA Cup carries on,
BMCUWP
Thanks. I’ll take a look at that later.
It seems an odd move for Klopp, who is still worshipped at Dortmund. I gather their fans are not in love with the RB thing, so it seemed odd to me.
Apparently, Klopps deal with RB lets him leave for the German national job, so it seems that this is just a placeholder. But I cant imagine he needs the money, so seems strange that he would risk a lot of goodwill that he has built up over the years, for a short term thing.
But, as is often the case, I suspect that there is a lot going on behind the scenes that the average punter will never know.
Atletico Madrid have sold the naming rights to their stadium to the Saudi company, Riyadh air.
In light of current world geo-politics, it seems a bit odd in that AM have a large Israeli ownership interest, particularly as the once talked about Saudi-Israeli deal seems to have collapsed, and Saudi seem to be backing Iran.
This week’s Scotland games live only on Viaplay YouTube channel
Good on Celtic in knocking back that TV offer. 3pm kick offs are the holy grail nowadays and to be welcomed.
This current sky deal is horrendous, 5 years, 60 games a season, for £150m. It should be at least double that with top flight clubs all guaranteed £5m minimum per season.
Either that or tell them to shove it.
Did anyone read Viaplay’s accounts when they “came in hard?”
On reading them there was an almighty Red Flag – there was plenty going out (too much) and very little coming in.They were not a good bet.
Financially, they’ve been in trouble and restructuring virtually ever since.
Sevco being Sevco wanted to maximise income for Sevco, conveniently forgetting that they need a League to play in.
The problem is: without the guaranteed income from Sky, many clubs would struggle and possibly go under.
Viaplay’s accounts didn’t give any peace of mind whatsoever.
The prospect of the TV deal going south, mid-term was too much to risk post the Great Recession and the collapse at Ibrox.
Viaplay’s Financial Difficulties :
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/swedens-viaplay-raise-equity-restructure-debt-2023-12-01/
Wow..cant believe i was cheering 2 huns fans gettin knocked out of Pointless there..but i was😃
Cheerio..cheerio.cheerio