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#395935 The Celts Are Here
SR67
Valeriy Boldenkov - came in and done a job for the first 6 months making 5 appearances at CB while we had injury issues. He's now on his 2nd loan spell and probably doesn't have much of a future at the club.
Vaclan Cerny and Ryan Gauld - both loan deals turned out to be disappointing leaving after just 6 months.
Kundai Benyu - made a single first team appearance but being a consistent performer for the u20s.
Miguel Silva - stepped up when called upon keeping 3 clean sheets in 6 games.
John McGinn - had a slow start but became a consistent performer towards the end of the season.
Kasper Dolberg - he was starting to look like a massive flop but finished the season with 6 goals in 11 games and started this season with 9 in 6.
Players promoted this season...
Tony Ralston, Calvin Miller and Kundai Benyu
#395934 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#395744 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#395742 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#393407 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#393397 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#393240 The Celts Are Here
SR67
This season will focus mainly on promoting players from the under 20 side. As opposed to bringing in first team players. Tony Ralston and Calvin Miller will both be in the first team squad this season and one possible two centre backs.
#393167 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#393166 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#393165 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#393164 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#392264 The Celts Are Here
SR67
So it turns out the signing of Kasper Dolberg could have been a huge mistake. He's now playing for the reserves in hope that he can get a bit of form back and at least score for the first team by the end of the season. There will have to be some cost cutting this summer.
#392202 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#392111 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#392110 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#391299 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#390798 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#389879 The Celts Are Here
SR67
After Nir Biton leaves and Eboue Kouassi goes on loan Stuart Armstrong decides to do his knee ligaments. For that reason I brought in long standing target John McGinn form Hibs. He has had a great season so far with Hibs, they're cruising in the Championship and I loaned Neil Lennon Kris Commons so I don't feel that bad.
AMBITION
P.S. VERY BIG SIGNING IMMINENT
#389792 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#389780 The Celts Are Here
SR67
#387878 The Celts Are Here
SR67
DEMMMMBELEEEE!
Hadn't really had the chance to play much recently so just a quick update of the last month. We done pretty good at home if you consider I rested a few of the starting XI for the Motherwell game. It almost payed off as we went 2-0 up against Sporting only to throw it away. However we did beat Rangers at Hamden to reach the League Cup Final.
#386695 The Celts Are Here
SR67
So a quick summary:
GKx2 - one down one to go
RB - done
CB - done
LB
CM
#386570 The Celts Are Here
SR67
Our league form has been near perfect - only losing a 2 goal lead over Aberdeen tarnishing the record. Not been great in the UCL so far with a howler in Germany and conceding a 91st minute goal agains Real Madrid to finish the night on zero pints.
I didn't plan on brining in another CM but Ryan Gauld was available and he is a player I would like to sign permanently at some point so hopefully he has a good season and I can look into it.
Now were talking.
#385780 The Celts Are Here
SR67
We finally seemed to have found some form. Champions League Qualification was a success and we are 3 for 3 domestically. I must say though I am looking forward to brown returning from injury next month as we are missing him in midfield. My defence injury crisis is slowly easing as Dedryck Boyata and Erik Sviatchenko are nearing full fitness.
We had the choice of two English club and FC Nordsjælland of Denmark for a feeder club. The obvious choice would have been to go for Notts Forrest however upon promotion to the Premier League they would have likely terminated the contract. FC Nordsjælland gives me a long term plan and a foothold in Scandinavia.
This is a group I am very happy with. I see 3rd place and a spot in the Europa League last 32 as a real possibility. If Real Madrid manage to win all their games agains Leverkusen and Sporting we should have a chance. Reaching the group stage has also gave us a fair financial boost, hopefully we will get a good kitty to strengthen in the January window and next season.
#385717 The Celts Are Here
SR67
Not the prettiest progress to the Champions League Play Off - we will need to make massive improvements to reach the group stages. We had a very nervy end to the Rosenborg game with a header from Kolo Toure being chopped off. We are currently looking to bring in a 3rd back-up forward.
#385342 The Celts Are Here
SR67
So looking at the squad we have 6 players that will have to be replaced in the next few seasons. Some of them will come from within the squad and some will have to be brought in over the years. Goalkeeper is a position that will definitely have to be brought in as we are short on quality here other than Craig Gordon.
Vaclav Cerny was brought in on loan from Ajax to add some much needed depth on the wings. We have both Gary Mackay-Steven and James Forrest out for the next couple of months. So along with Jack Aitchison he will offer cover for Scott Sinclair and Paddy Roberts.
We picked up another three wins on the road to set us up for our Champions League 2nd Round Qualifier with Olimpija Lublana - who I would perceive to be around the same level as Astra.
#385333 The Celts Are Here
SR67
We picked up 4 wins in 4 over in Ireland - a great start to the pre-season. Hopefully the form can carry over to the fixtures in Eastern Europe and have the squad on a high heading into the Champions League Qualifiers.
The transfer of Valeriy Boldenkov went through without any hiccups. He got his work permit and singed a very reasonable 2 year contract and just £1k p/w. I have all faith that he will go on to be a very good player at just 21. I will be linking him up with Kolo Toure to hopefully improve his game.
I managed to cut the squad by two players. We have adequate cover with the new singing at CB I let Ambrose go for 6 month to hopefully find him a permanent move. Bailly left as we have Dorus de Vries as back up and young Ross Doohan in the U20s.
With more injuries cropping up my next plan is to look at adding to the medical team and I might have to bring in another winger as cover as well as promote young Jack Aitchison from the U20 side.
#385292 The Celts Are Here
SR67
To kick things of I arranged a tour of Ireland to get the lads fitness up to scratch and then off on a trip around Easter Europe to get some practice for the Champions League Qualifiers.
As I mentioned before we were missing a Chief Scout and Chief Data Analysis. As time goes on I will look to expand their teams - but this will do for now and I do have 3 or 4 other scouts.
As I said I would need to bring in a centre back so I brought these two in on trail. As thing stands I will look to sign Boldenkov as he look like one for the future and could make an impact immediately. If any work permit issues come up I will offer Koch a deal. Ideally I would have promoted a player from the U20. The only two near first team ready are Jamie McCart and Eoghan O'Connell are both out on loan already
#385282 The Celts Are Here
SR67
One last push at a long term save on FM now that I have some free time on my hands. Usual set up as Celtic, only my 2nd this year I believe so a new record for lease Celtic saves in a year.
First things first is to sort out the background staff.
A quick scan of the squad leaves me with the following impression.
Injury problems at centre back for the first few months.
#364816 Celtic - A Squad Building Exercise
SR67
Tactical Philosophy
My tactical philosophy is based around pressing the opponent to dominate the match. Players must be able to pass the ball and work as a unit as we build from the back. I take each game as with the team set up as a 4411 by default and adjust player position/role as needed. I found this to be the best approach over the first season.
Training
Individual training runs in three cycles fitting in with the three sections off attributes:
Players are trained in the more ‘standard’ roles. With the exception of a few midfielders as I need some playmakers. Each line-up will tend to have more ‘all purpose’ CM along with an AP or DLP. Defenders will likely be CB or FB, midfielders CM/BBM, wingers IF/W and strikers CF. Common stats I will be looking at are passing, stamina, technique and teamwork. As the will all be key to how we play. Obviously player position will dictate the level required, but in relation to position will be vital. I will tend to avoid players who lack in more than one of them or those who do not look like they can improve.
If they do not meet my standards they will be swiftly moved on. This method will be tedious and time consuming but ultimately worth it.
Club and Scouting Network
I will try to avoid the ‘All known players' and use the 'Scouted' tab as this just seems far more realistic. The exception to this rule will be transfer listed players and Bosman deals. Due to this I need a vast scouting network. We started with 25% world knowledge but with the addition on 9 scouts we now sit at 39%. I split this up into 5 phases and am now in the final phase.
Scotland, rUK and Ireland along with a Chief Scout being sent out on specific assignments.Scandinavia and Central EuropeEastern and Southern EuropeThe Americas and the CaribbeanWe also added FC Kaiserslautern to out list off affiliated clubs. I had a few options from England, Romania and Spain but the Germans seemed like the best option. I plan on using them the way Chelsea use Vittese to blood in players.
- 2.Bundesliga is playable so players send on loan will get opportunity to play
- The standard of the league is probably better than SPFL
- They have some talented youngsters in their side
- We get a foothold in German football
Squad Building PolicyI plan to build two 22 man squads - the first team and u20s - with allowance for 8 players I will send out on loan. We currently have 46 players at the club with 20 out on loan, we did have 69 and similar number out on loan. By the start of the 2018/19 season I plan on having it down to less than 60 in total. Once I reach the magic number I will operate a ‘one-in-one-out’ policy. Then I will try and minimise player turnover.
Transfer Policy
There is a set of criteria I tend to look at when it comes to singing players - with exceptions for special cases. Here the are in short:
- Age - most singings will be between the age of 18-24
- Player personality - they should have a 'positive' personality and/or good mental attributes [leadership, teamwork, work rate]
- Career appearances and caps/youth caps - Players with more of these tend to be more developed already and first team ready
- Will they improve the starting XI or bench?
Financial ControlThe main factor of financial control for a Scottish Premiership club is wage budget control. I figured to stay in the red if were to fail to qualify for the the UCL we need out total wage budget to be spending less on wages than brought in through income from season tickets/gate receipts and sponsorship. With 42k+ season ticket holders and average attendances of 48k so far this season my estimation is over £23 million. My calculations were pretty spot on last season.
Here is how it looks at the start of the 2017/18 season. Once automatic qualification to the UCL groups is guaranteed through improving league coefficant we would be looking at well over £1 million available per week as our true wage budget.
Developing Scottish Football