You probably noticed, but Celtic officially announced that Brendan Rodgers is back in the saddle at the ranch.

 

 

As we discussed in our podcast, it’s not difficult to work out why. It’s not for money, it’s not a stepping stone he needs, and it’s not because he’s doing anyone a favour.

 

 

For the amount of shit that’s going to be thrown at him between now and the end of the season, he really must want the job to finish what he started all those years ago.

 

 

Football is all about entertainment, and Rodgers is about to start work on that difficult second album,

 

 

There is something that needs his immediate attention, and that’s, not surprisingly, the squad.

 

 

Back on May 1, Moravcik67 on Twitter had a look at how things stood then, and there’s not really been any change since…. with one or two exceptions, the most significant yet may turn out to be the return of Mikey Johnston, although he is now an Ireland international.

 

 

Bank holiday Euro stuff. This time it’s a look at how our squad is shaping up for our next Champions League expedition. And also potential issues on that front in the future. Keep in mind that the squad will change in the summer. It’s an early look.  

 

 

First up, how it all works. We can Register two squads of players with UEFA – List A and List B. List B is for the home grown youngsters. We’ll be able to register any amount of players born after 1/1/2002 who have been with us for 2 years since their 15th birthday.  

 

 

 

If a player can go on list B he should. It saves having to use a place in the main squad. In the past we’ve been able to include guys like Edouard, Ajer, Welsh, and Johnston on it. Next season, the likes of Vata, Oluwayemi, Summers, Murray and Lawal will be eligible for it.    

 

 

List A is the main squad. We can register up to 25 players on it, but there are restrictions. The easiest way to visualise it is to think of there being 3 types of player we can register on List A –

“club trained” players –

“association trained” players –

Everyone else      

 

 

 

For Celtic, a club trained player is one who was at Celtic for 3 years between ages 15-21. An association trained player is one who was at any other Scottish club for 3 of those years. The rules are a bit more complicated, but that’s the jist of it.  

 

 

 

Of the 25 player squad – 4 places can only be used by club trained players – 4 can be used by any combination of club or association trained players – the other 17 can be filled by anyone, including either club or association trained players.

 

Crap picture attached.  

 

 

 

 

 

If we can’t fill any place reserved for a Celtic or association trained player then we lose that squad place. Example: if we only had 2 each of Celtic/association trained players we could only register 21 players on List A. We’d lose the 4 reserved places we can’t fill. 

 

 

Here’s a pic of what our current European squad would probably look like. Obviously not all of these players will be here after the summer transfer window, but it shows where we are right now.  

 

 

 

 

 

Due back in the summer are the likes of Ajeti, Johnston (club trained), Montgomery (List B eligible), Barkas, Soro, Scales, Shaw, Urhoghide & Kenny. Hazard is also still with us (I think), and is a club-trained player. But it’s not likely many of these players have a future.  

 

 

 

Here’s our squad participation in this season’s 6 Champions League games. We had a full 25 man squad registered. We didn’t use any players from List B, and there were 3 List A players who didn’t play. Another 2 – McCarthy and Bernabei – played 10 minutes or less. 

 

 

 

 

 

That leaves a core squad of 20 players to get us through the 6 matches. Another 5 players contributed 100 minutes or less, meaning ~92% of minutes were played by just 15 of our 25 players. So while it’s beneficial to have the full 25 player squad it’s not critical. 

 

 

 

But to have the best chance possible you want as deep a squad as possible. To do that we need both Celtic and/or Scottish trained players. And this is the problem. Of the current homegrown players only McGregor and Taylor can be considered first team regulars. 

 

 

The other 6 range from “backup” to “only use in case of emergency”. It’s not an easy problem to solve. There aren’t many youngsters showing signs of breaking through from the B team; a problem not helped by some choosing to move elsewhere, rather than stay. 

 

 

 

And there aren’t many association trained players out there that would make a CL squad better. We’ve probably already missed the boat on those who might. Keep in mind that the minutes played shown above is for just 6 games, which isn’t a normal european campaign for us.  

 

 

Qualifiers have been reduced due to Scotland’s ranking. It wasn’t that long ago we were playing 16 European games in a season. That increases the pressure on the squad, and the need for depth. 

 

 

But this reduction in qualifiers isn’t guaranteed to last. Scotland’s performance over the last 3 seasons would only good enough for 15th. If we continue to fall we’ll find ourself back having to play multiple qualifiers, and needing that deeper squad. 

 

 

Of course there’s no point in filling these squad places with players who aren’t good enough, or who won’t contribute. But while these rules apply, we do need to consider bringing through our own players, and/or finding other scottish trained players who can contribute. 

 

 

Going back to the squad places used by the non-Celtic/Scottish trained players. Don’t think there’s any doubt that there will be changes to that group over the summer. But it’s 1-in & 1-out for the Euro squad. We can only have 17 of them registered, so we can’t go mental.  

 

 

Having said all that, the European part of the season might account for only 6 games of what could be a 50+ game season again. So we do have to think beyond it. It should be interesting summer. And hopefully some youngsters will see playing time over the next month. 

 

 

Final thought. How many of you had completely forgotten about Oliver Abildgaard until you saw his name in the table above?   

 

 

 

Whilst domestically that squad is far and away superior to anything else, despite the much heralded Beale Build Back over the river, it looks a little thin for an extended European campaign.

 

 

Which, after all, is how we’ve been sold the new manager, apparently we’re going to splash the cash to do well in Europe.

 

 

It doesn’t make much sense to buy from abroad, unless we sell first, and that is always a risk.

 

 

And you don’t have to buy players already in the system, which leaves one group that will, if the manager’s ambitions are to be realised, need strengthening.

 

 

There’s certainly room for a box office Scottish player, all we have to do is, er, think of one.

 

 

Scott McTominay of Manchester United may be beyond our reach, which leaves us with McGinn, again probably a bit pricey, or Billy Gilmour, which would be a laugh.

 

 

There aren’t really any others who spring to mind, so that leaves us with the seventeen other spots.

 

 

Which means that we will either go with what we have or sell one or two and “upgrade “….which sort of nullifies the claim that Celtic have handed and enormous wedge to Rodgers to fund his ambitions….he’ll just get what he raises plus a few quid extra.

 

 

It probably will be a fair few bob, but it’s hardly coming out of the bank.

 

 

Still. at least we can hope for upgrades, and not another episode of Lawell’s Loans…..

 

 

 

It’s not going to be dull, is it ?

 

 

 

At least we can face the season with optimism and perhaps even a little bit of confidence, despite the trauma of another change at the top.

 

 

Over the river, they still seem to be ignoring reality, in fact, at least one of them has gone into full fantasy mode….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conjuring up what can only be described as bizarre inagery, it’s difficult to work out what he really hates.

 

Celtic fans.

 

 

Or salads.

 

 

To be fair, there’s a mountain of evidence for either conclusion.

 

 

 

Then there’s this guy, who took his tongue away from the window to talk to us…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps, down to circumstances, they’ve stopped drinking and have moved on to harder stuff…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then again, after losing their club they’ve taken much stronger action to try to save their pub…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s little wonder they are confused, with the Daily Record their guiding light….

 

 

It’s a big summer at Rangers and Michael Beale will be keen to upgrade his current squad even more.   

 

 

 

I’ve read this three times and still haven’t got a clue what it means.

 

 

Though I’m mildly curious about Beale upgrading his squad “even more “.

 

 

He’s lost half a team. He’s got to sign about half a dozen to just try to be at last seasons level.

 

 

And the only thing doing the bouncy bouncy are their cheques…..

 

 

By the time the marching season is on us, there could be quite a few of them starting to see what’s really going on, and no doubt they’ll let the rest of us know…

 

 

Last time out, we had this….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today….