25 Sep 2015 09:56:05
"At Celtic you are aspiring to the Champions League. Now we are bringing in players not even close to that level, such as Ryan Christie and young Aidan Nesbitt - but they can be. When you can't buy Champions League quality you have to think who can become that standard.
"That desire is the most important lesson players can learn nowadays.You can be fifth in line in competition for places but does that mean you're going to give up? Now they have to think, 'How am I going to be No.1?'
"There's too much results-obsessed thinking in this country. Everyone is thinking about winning, winning, winning and playing every week because that is what they're taught. You have to win, you have to play all the time. But real winners think, 'How do we win? How do I get better?' Then they do something about it.
"That's the culture I want at Celtic and that is so much improved already. The players are thinking, making their own choices and getting knowledge about everything they need to do to be successful.
"It's not about, 'I need to play', you have to make yourself deserve it.
"And if you can't handle competition you are nothing at Celtic."
Now that Ed is what you've been talking about and why we should be standing by RD.
25 Sep 2015 10:09:03
Brilliant Toprig, Couldn't have said it better myself.
25 Sep 2015 12:04:41
Spot on. We're never going to be competing with the top clubs when it comes to signing ready made players, but we should be competing with them when it comes to scouting, youth development, fitness, planning etc. We shouldn't need to be buying D Utd's players, Allen from Hibs and Christie from Inverness. For clubs like PSV, Ajax, Benfica, Anderlecht, to name a few, that is practically unheard of. It would almost be like them admitting they are failing. We should be able to do what clubs in these leagues do, they don't earn much from tv either, but their structures are years ahead. Peter Lawwell should have addressed this years ago because it's cost the club millions, we should have a conveyer belt of talent coming through, not the odd player of the level of a James Forrest. No offence to guys like Chris McCart but he has been there about 10 years, we spend roughly £2 million a year on youth development, and all I see is mediocrity. Even clubs like Croatia Zagreb and Partizan Belgrade are bringing through stars worth £20 million every few years. That's how we should be making money to make up for the shortfall in tv revenue. It's not nuclear physics, why in the name of God has this not been addressed before now! We have just got rid of Stevie Frail and the first name we hear as a possible replacement is Pat Fenlon, that sums it up for me. Ronny has to tell Lawwell straight that we need to spend top money and get in someone with a real pedigree of building academies. It's actually embarrassing. If we didn't sign any players for 2 years, and spent £10 million on more indoor facilities at Lennoxtown, and totally restructured our youth set up and coaching I'd be happy, in the short term it would be touch, we'd all be desperate for signings, but we would get the benefits of it for the next decades. All that is far too normal to be fair, so we'll get Pat Fenlon and it will be the status quo. The shortlist has probably got guys like Jim Leishman on it also!
25 Sep 2015 12:15:17
Hail Hail to that.
25 Sep 2015 12:16:26
I think a lot of this is just empty rhetoric to hide the fact that we are buying players who are not really good enough for Celtic.
It's okay to talk about motivation and desire, but these qualities alone won't turn bad players into good ones.
The thing that would improve Celtic in my opinion, is to recruit better quality players, to suggest that you can buy the likes of Cifti and turn him into a quality player by getting his attitude right is pulling the wool over supporters eyes.
25 Sep 2015 13:43:16
Anyone can talk a good game, but I seriously doubt we have the coaching ability or experience in Collins and Kennedy etc to improve players to that standard of excellence.
The obvious example are Ajax, who come from a small country, have an average league, but produce and develop an endless string of fine young players who progress to higher levels.
RD needs to employ a higher level of technical coaches if we are to follow this sound example.
25 Sep 2015 14:26:18
I honestly don't mind us buying home based players, don't cost a lot and potentially a future player if not sell them.
It's the likes of Cifti etc I don't agree with signing didn't rate him with Utd.
We've signed many decent home grown players in the past, and I think Christie will be a good one in future
25 Sep 2015 19:01:26
Jungle Jim you are spot on. That apart however we need to be buying better than Cifti. He is an average striker. But I totally agree that if we are to produce players we need to improve our coaching staff
25 Sep 2015 22:11:50
I don't care where we buy them from as long as they can lift their game with us .
Scottish players may be prepared to stay longer with us . I think in a couple of years if everything goes well we will be buying mostly 20 year old and younger .
I think we sometimes credit or blame Lawwell too much over the players we actually sign . I think he goes on solo runs and picks players with merchandise in view .
Park and Deila would pin point most of our signings . I think Armstrong and GMS were Deila's picks