Celtic Diary Tuesday August 27 2024: One Day At A Time

When Brendan Rodgers arrived for his second stint as Celtic manager, there was talk that he wanted to trim the squad by around fourteen players. It took him a while, presumably he was sorting out who he wanted to keep, but players are now leaving the country at a rate that has prompted right wing looney Nigel Farage to send a letter expressing his concern at the speed of the deportation.

Gustav Lagerbielke is the latest to go, leaving on a loan with an option to buy to go to Twente Enschede of the Netherlands, where he will replace Robin Propper , who went to “rangers “. That is actually his name, and not a description of what he appears to be doing to the Ibrox sides chances of having a stable defence.

Mikey Johnston may join Sheffield United, with one of their centre halfs coming the other way. Which won;t exactly get the knees trembling with excitement,

Incomings are focused around Mateus Bogusz, the Polish forward based in the US, and Arne Engels of Augsberg. Bids have been submitted, but as usual, they have been rejected.

Another name in the frame is…..oh who cares ?

Whoever it is we won’t have heard of him, and one lot of fans will say he’s brilliant, based on having seen him on you Tube, whilst others will say he’s shite, and not even bother watching the video.

It’s not what the player has done before that counts, it’s what he does while he’s here. The trick is to spot that potential, both in his talent and his personality

Speaking of videos, there’s one doing the rounds of Matt O’Riley, saying how much of a wrench it was to leave Celtic, and what a great place it was and so on.

What he didn’t mention was that it was his fear of big crowds and European travel that prompted the move. O’Riley will probably move to a bigger and better club than the one he went to, and maybe even more than once.

But spare us the heart rending, gut wrenching I didn’t want to go shit.

It’s beneath you.

As indeed are Brighton.

Still, it’s all part of our boards big plan, which is to join the EPL.

One player at a time.

There’s a lot going on this week, and the next major event is the Champions League group stage draw. By now, the rules have been explained to us, and as we know, Celtic will play eight games against eight different teams, and of they finish in the top eight when all the wins and losses are totted up, they’ll progress to the knockout stages.

Ninth through twenty fourth will play off against each other leaving a last sixteen, where each club will nominate two players to release a Christmas single, and two more to come up with an entry for Eurovision.

Whilst the new system guarantees more money for Celtic, it may be a little short on entertainment, with hundreds of games played to eliminate just eight teams excitement will be at the same level as the recent European international finals, but we’re stuck with it and have to make it at least worth staying awake for.

The usual restrictions on squads apply, and as it stands, Celtic may not have the strength to remain in contention for a top twenty four place beyond, say,  Friday.

In what’s probably the only instance where the Diary quotes someone who knows what he is on about, we hand over to Moravcik 67, on Twitter, or X, or whatever it’s called these days….

With the CL draw on Thursday and the transfer deadline on Friday, here’s a quick look at where we are with our European squad for this season. As before, there are two ‘lists’ we can register – ‘List A’ (the main squad) and ‘List B’ (for youngsters). 

We can register up to 25 players on List A, but there are restrictions. The easiest way to understand it is to think of there being 3 types of player we can register on it – “club trained” players

– “association trained” players

– Everyone else  

For Celtic, “a club trained” player is one who was registered with us for 3 years between ages 15-21. An “association trained player” is one who was registered with another Scottish club for 3 of those years. There’s a little more to it, but that’s the jist of it. 

Of the 25 places on List A – 4 can only be used by club trained players – 4 can be used by any combination of club or association trained players – the other 17 spots can be filled by anyone, including club or association trained players. 

If we can’t fill a place reserved for a club or association trained player then we lose that squad place. So if we only have 3 each of club/association trained players then we could only register 23 players on List A. We don’t have to register a full 25 player squad. 

Here’s what our squad might look like just now with no MOR, and before other ins and outs this week. This is our starting point. It’ll hopefully have changed come Saturday.

Note: I don’t know if Adam Montgomery has recovered from his injury yet. He serves a purpose here. 

That current squad would consist of 6 club trained players, 2 association trained players, and 17 others who aren’t either club or association trained. That’s important.

We can only replace a club/association trained player with another club/association trained player. 

For example, if we sign Valle from Barcalona he can’t replace Montgomery in the squad as that would put us over the limit of 17 non club/association trained players. Instead, it would have to be at the expense of one of the other 17 non-club/association trained players. 

Similarly, if we sell Mikey Johnston, we could only replace him in the squad with another club or association trained player. Now we did get rid of a lot of deadwood already this summer. And there clearly still players in that squad we could take out without losing much 

But the more players we add the more we have to think about these things. For the record, I’m not advocating that we build our squad for the season only for what could be just 8 CL games. We add players who will improve us. That should be all that matters. 

This is just a reminder that the CL squad rules are there, and that we have to consider them. And also a look at where our squad is just now. Have to be honest. The CL squad, as it is just now, gives me the fear. 

Whilst the squad isn’t complete, the UCL rules do perhaps give a pointer as to who Celtic target in the transfer market, although it is certainly a wee bit odd , in that respect, that we aren’t hoovering up the best young Scottish talent, unless there isn’t any.

Maybe we are a wee bit too blind to what is on our own doorstep, even if it means buying and loaning players back to their original club to help their development, instead of them languishing in the B team or sitting on the bench.

In the long run, that would help with the UCL rules, and on a more altruistic note, keep money in the Scottish game, where a recent study showed that there is certainly room for improvement in the development of players….

Whilst Transfermarkt is not the most reliable of sources, we can be reasonably confident they’ve got someone there who can add things up, but even if it’s not entirely accurate to the pound note, it does display a trend that shows other clubs sell up before players are fully developed, largely down to necessity, so maybe that’s something else to be considered when rodgers has a look at the current scouting system.

As for who Celtic could face in the Champions League, it doesn’t really matter, because until we make it a little more hostile and a little less bucket list, Celtic Park will remain a day out for visiting teams, and this has to be addressed as much as any incoming new players.

Celtic have lined up very ordinary teams at home  in the past against some very good sides , and achieved extraordinary results.

Whilst crowds don’t actually score goals, they can win matches.

Yesterday, we had this…

Today…