Celtic: The Revival

A CLUB LIKE NO OTHER. You may know a lot about the club, you may know next to nothing. But you will know the name. Sitting in the shadows of the Barclays Premier League, it is nigh impossible to compete on the European stage. When West Brom or Hull can offer double the wages we have had to adapt the 'Moneyball' strategy. Long gone are the days of bringing in established players such as John Hartson and Chris Sutton for fees upwards of £5 million and handing them a £50k p/w contract. As are the days of picking up a bargain like Henrik Larsson and them going on to become a club legend. Now at the first sniff on interest (second if we are lucky) Victor Wanyama, Gary Hooper are all off down south. Probably never to play Champions League football again.



With Ronny Deila at the helm I am confident that we can become overachievers. I will play the game with his ethos. Picking up young, sometimes unappreciated talent and turning them into quality players. To do this I will have around £5 million to spend and just shy of £20 million in the bank. I have a decent squad at my disposal, but we are a few players short of a great (considering the above circumstances) squad. I will try to play the game as realistic as possible. That means accepting the inevitable £10 million plus bid for Virgil van Dijk.

As for tactics I was tempted to just follow Ronny's example and go for the 4-2-3-1, however with the players at my disposal for this season at least I will use a 4-4-2/4-2-4.



The general idea of the system is to offer different means of attack from either side. Emilio Izaguirre (CWB - A) and James Forrest (winger - S) giving us width and sticking to the touchline. Stefan Johnson (AP - A) and Anthony Stokes (false 9) utilising the space behind Leigh Griffiths (advanced forward) and Scott Brown (BWM - D) holding things together in the middle.

So here I am again. This seems all to familiar. With a couple weeks off work I have a fair bit of spare time on my hands. So why not have a proper detailed write up of my save so far. So where we pick up is February 1st 2015.

First thing I done when I took over the club was bring in some of my own staff. This improved the coaching set up massively, but still room for improvement. The scouting set up was poor, only really had knowledge of the UK and Ireland sitting at about 15% I think. With a few additions I boosted that up to 25%. Again when I can bring in more scouts I will.



It took a while to claim the top spot after a few slip ups. St Johnstone have been a bogey team so far, holding us to 1-1 draws on both occasions so far. Despite all the slip ups, our goal difference is incredible. So far we have scored 2.6 goals/game and only conceded 0.7 goals/game. We managed some big results against Dundee and Ross County putting 4 or 5 past them. With 14 fixtures to go I am aiming to hit 90 points and 90 goals scored.




The European campaign got off to a bumpy start (much like real life). We strolled past Levadia and Slovan Bratislava (10-0 on aggregate!) then mysteriously lost on away goals to Macabi Tel Aviv. However we bounced back and qualified from a very tough group finishing above both Everton and Leverkusen. Up next is a trip to Russia to face CSKA.



On the transfer front I brought in a few players in January (transfer budgets disabled in the first window) . Graeme Shinnie came in as we were desperate for another left back, Emilio Izaguirre has played the most games this season after Craig Gordon. Alexander Lund Hansen was brought in when Gordon was injured an Lukasz Zaluska conceded 4 against Leverkusen and 2 against Aberdeen and Dumbarton. Finally Dedryck Boyata came in to replace Efe Ambrose who was unhappy when I rejected a £3 million bid from Benfica.

Looking at the squad I drew up a list of players I WILL need and players I MIGHT need. What I needed in the January transfer window was a left back, which I got, and a keeper, which I got. Looking ahead to the summer I was looking to sign a centre back but when Efe Ambrose wanted to go I had to bring that forward. However this left me £2.7 million better off.

Anyway in the summer I'm looking to bring in another centre back as Jason Denayer and Virgil Van Dijk will probably go. A striker clear out is also due so maybe one more in would help. Preferably someone with a bit of pace to give me another option. Looking further into the future I will need a long term replacement for Scott Brown.


Scouting will be a big part of my plans, right now I have 10 scouts and 25% knowledge. The goal is to reach 50%, as soon as I can sign some more scouts I will.

As I mentioned earlier I will follow the 'Moneybag' strategy, meaning I will probably lose a host of players along the way. In a nut shell every bid over £10 million needs to be accepted and most bids over £5/6 million will be considered. I think I'll have a wage cap of £30k p/w, with one short term exception of £50k p/w. However the marquee signing will have to be a free transfer or nominal fee and no longer than a two year deal.

The 33 game league split, where we play 2nd-6th to wrap up the season. Meaning we have tougher opponents coming up, for this I wanted us to be more defensively sound. As you can see the first 9 games we conceded 17 goals, yes 17. Including a bemusing 6 in Germany. This is where I took a step back to figure out my problems. I made a few weeks and there you have it, we conceded a single goal in 6 league matches.

In cup competitions we wrapped up the League Cup and put CSKA to the sword before Schalke knocked us out in the last 16. As for the league we extended our lead at the top to 10 points. And could secure the titles if results go our way in the next round of fixtures.




I finally got the good news that I could expand the scouting network and could hire more scouts. I brought in scouts to cover central Africa and South America. This has taken my world knowledge to 33% and climbing.

This is the stage of the season where I evaluate my squad. Looking toward next season, who will be here, who won’t. Who is returning from loan and who will be heading straight back out. I have a good idea who I will move on and who I promote so some squad changes will be made over the final fixtures.

Things went better the second time around, comfortibly winning all remaining league games and keeping 3 clean sheets. 10 goals in 5 games. We did steam away and win the league by 22 points to wrap up a domestic double. Our strikers all had good season with over 20 goals each and Kris Commons added another 17.

Pre-season went great, it gave me the chance to try out a new tactic (which I will come to later). We picked up 4 wins form the 6 matches. We even managed 3 clean sheets, something I have been focusing on. I got the chance to rotate the squad and bleed in the new signings.

As for the sales they were players who had left Celtic already or have been rumoured to leave. The exception was Stefan Scepovic who did have a good season last year but I couldn't turn down £7.5 million (plus 25% of any profit) for a striker who wasn't in my starting XI. Now to the good stuff, players in. First was Humam Tariq, a massive talent in the AMC slot, who was loaned back out to get the most out of the season. Expect to see a lot of him next season. Scott Marshall followed on the same day. He was followed by quick right back Saidy Janko, highly rated at Man Utd. This leaves me the option to sell Adam Matthews (after his move to Sunderland IRL). On free transfer day I managed to hold back from signing a ton of players and only brought in Carlos Fierro, a Mexican wonderkid with an eye for goal. There is massive profit to be made there.

The transfer window slammed shut. However our business was long done, excluding a couple last minute loans out. I decided to loan out Callum McGregor who played 20 games for us last season after I brought in Chelsea misfit Marko Marin on loan. With the option to make the deal permanent for £5 million. It is a high fee, I could have signed him permanently. But why take that risk? He will need a great season to stay at the club, last season he didn’t manage to hit the back of the net in 21 appearances but with 3 in 5 for us this season things are looking bright. While we’re on the subject of loans I should probably mention that I extended Jason Denayer’s deal at the end of last season. He averaged 7.31 and found the net 6 times in all competitions for us last year. The next transfer is the one I’m most excited about. Jurgen Locadia, who just has his first Holland cap (in game), looks like he could be a real bargain. One that I would like to keep for many years. I came across him while I was (very) optimistically scoring Memphis Depay, my scouts recommended him and on closer inspection I found he was scoring almost every other game with 12 in 25 for the season.

I don’t see there being much business in January – unless I have to sell – other than a few bosman players that I am keeping an eye on. Again this won’t be dramatic, only maybe one or two. There is one that I definitely want. I now sit with a squad size of 26 with a few decent players out on loan. I want to trim that down to about 22 and then supplement with players from the youth squad. There is a lot of players contacts running out in 2017 so I will re-evaluate at the end of the season, in terms of wage demands and decide who to try and move on.

Overall I have done pretty well in the transfer market, with a net transfer spend of £10.51 million up to now. I want to be making a profit but also reinvesting back into the squad, I think around £5 million profit per season (averaging) is a good target to aim for. Also I will not make a loss in back-to-back seasons. This is all to comply with the regulations I set my self in the opening post.

Despite improving the squad massively – IMO – we are almost £10 million better off than when I took over and the wage bill has been reduced by £70k p/w. The sale of big earners such as Derk Boerrigter and Teemu Pukki – who collected over £50k p/w between them – aided with this.



The start was quite sluggish, taking us till now to claim the top spot, after disappointing draws with Inverness and new boys Hearts – giving the lead away both times. This was followed by a superb performance agains Rangers* with my strike prodigy Locadia snatching his first goal to double the lead in the 2nd half. It took a late stunner from Emilio Izaguirre to take all 3 points from a resilient Dundee Utd side who pulled back even twice after a boring first half. I think we can kick on and create a gap between us and I predict Aberdeen who we face next. Again I need to focus on keeping a few more clean sheets, that has been our downfall, we have conceded a goal a game so far in the league.

In Europe we coasted it, competition wasn’t the toughest but we showed we were superior in the scorelines. The group stage will be tough facing both Barcelona and Man City. The other team we face and I am confident we can beat to the Europa League spot is Sparta Prague.

We have only managed to pick up 14 wins in the 21 league games played so far. A win rate of 66%, but really I want to be hitting 80+. The biggest problem is we don’t have a clinical striker. Leigh Griffiths has only managed 5 in 16 so far, compared to his 23 league goals last season. I was considering selling him and Anthony Stokes but they have started scoring in recent weeks so I will give them until the end of the season. I also brought in Marcus Rosenberg who I hope is a quick fix (33 goals in 51 the past two seasons for Malmo. Another struggle has been keeping clean sheets but that is slowly getting better too, probably due to switching to a 4-3-3.

The performances have been mixed. We went from holding Barca to a 1-1 draw, then Inverness gubbing us 4-0 just four days later. The result ended a 34 match unbeaten run. Jurgen Locadia broke his foot playing for Holland – out for 4 months – leading to me brining Rosenberg in. We beat Rangers* 4-0 to claim our second Old Firm win of the season. The most disappointing match, aside from ICT was throwing away a 3-0 lead in Prague which would have gave us a respectable 7 points from a tough group. Up next in our European adventure is a trip to Porto who we faced in the Seville final of 2003.

It was a busy transfer window. The change in formation meant I had to strengthen my midfield. Magnus Wolff Eikrem came in for £2.2 meaning I had complete my raid on Malmo. It went quiet until the final day; I made a double loan swoop for Lukas Padolski and Martin Odegaard.



Things continued to be shaky domestically for a couple of weeks then settled down. With us winning all but one match from the last update, including a 1-0 win over Rangers*. The draws with Inverness and Kilmarnock I’ll chalk down to the bedding in of my 4-3-3 tactic. As for losing to Hamilton, despite destroying them 3-0 in the League Cup Final. I fielded a weakened team so my starting XI would be fresh for the tie with Man Utd. We went on to wrap the league title up with a 3-1 over St Johnston and seal the double.

In Europe we comfortably beat Porto over the two legs. I figured it would be a tough tie and go down to the wire but we copped very well. The score does not reflect what happened in the Man Utd games. We dominated both legs in terms of stats. We had more possession, more shots on target and more passes completed. But that’s football.




Summer Plans

First of all the 4 loan players will return to their respective clubs, leaving me with 25 players when Callum McGregor and Carlos Fierro return from loan. Then it will increase to 27 when Ibe and Powell complete their free transfers. This means I want to get rid of 5 players.

From the next season I will only bring in a maximum of 2 loan players and allow 10 out on loan. This will force me to be shrewder in my transfer policy and sell/release players who just don’t cut it.

The season is over and the cabinet is just 2 trophies heavier, having lost to Inverness in the Scottish Cup Final on penalties. The inconsistency came back when Craig Gordon got injured in the win over Patrick Thistle. We conceded far to many this month, newcomers Hearts even beat us 4-2 in the final game of the season.

We dropped 11 points on last season, scored 25 less and conceded 14 more. It was a pretty poor season overall, despite the 2 trophies. I think I'll have to completely rethink the squad for next season.

So as last season didn’t go to plan. I expected to romp home with the title and both domestic cups. However a double wasn’t too bad I suppose. I had a big shake up this summer, brining in more players than I had planned. We now have a first team squad size of 28, with a few also out on loan. So the next 6 months will play a big part on who is here at the end of the season. I like to have two players for each position plus one extra central defender. So switching between 433 and 442 means I need a squad of 2 keepers, 9 defenders, 10 midfielders and 3 strikers. At the moment I have 4 too many midfielders and 1 extra striker. So people will leave in January; based on form, age, happiness, etc.

Anyway heres the players I brought in, along with extending Jason Denayers loan again. Nick Powell and Jordan Ibe made moves north of the border both on pre-contract deals. Both are English so their re-sale value to English sides is advantageous, however Ibe is here long term if I can keep him. Jacob Brabec came in to fill the massive Virgil Van Dijk shaped hole who left for Portugal as he only had a year remaining and would not sign a new deal. I continued the tradition of poaching Man City’s unwanted development players singing Bruno Zucchini as a potential long term replacement for Scott Brown. The next 3 players came in just before the window shut. All on the transfer list so at bargain prices. Jonathan de Guzman has been left out of the fold at Napoli and at 28 still has a few years left in him. Gary Hooper returns and I expect to see him bagging at least 15 per season. Finally Michael Rensing signs a deal wighted on appearance bonuses, he looks like a real challenger for the number 1 jersey.

We brought in a very good amount due to player sales. Napoli activated Carlos Fierro’s release clause meaning I made a tidy £10 million profit on the player. As stated Virgil wanted to leave. But the master stroke was sending on loan to Kaiserslautern for £1 million. Reducing what we payed for the player to just £2 million.



After rocky starts to both pre-season and the opening competitive fixtures we pulled things together and got some good form going. We had some scares almost going out of the Champions League to both Rosenberg and Liega Warsaw.