Misallocation of resources

Some great points here, I also think the lack of cohesion between the different parts of our football operation, lead to some of these ridiculous signings and decisions.

Jobs for the boys is another massive issue. At a club our size we should have proper qualified coaches that align with the style of our head coach/ manager so that all the way through the system our teams are developing players that will fit our first team squad.

Our biggest problem lies in that our CEO sits at the centre of our footballing operation where it should be the Manager or Head Coach/DoF which ever model we go down. The coaching team and scouting team then work to them As they dictate what the squad needs and the shape and philosophy of the team.

As said before the CEO involvement should be simply setting the budget parameters in terms of fees and wages. Ours seems to go out and do deals based on what friends of the club/ ex players say rather than allowing those in the roles to do their jobs.

The jury is still out on Hammond for me as well this dream team of him and Gary Penrice which failed Clubs now plying their trade in the championship doesn’t really fill me with confidence.

We now need a number of signings to fill the gaps in the squad and do our best to bring in as much cash as possible To fund it for Ntcham, Ajer and anyone else that wants to go. Sunday’s game is a must win to give us the international break to get the finger out and sort out some of the mess.

 

Another challenge is having clubs like Bayern looking to poach young talent...

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No different from us poaching young talent from other clubs.

 

Unless they never play 1st team football with us...gotta keep the academy guys engaged enough to entice them to stick around long enough to make an impact...

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Very good and very important points raised.

A more general point/observation before I offer my thoughts on the subject.

While Brendan Rodgers wasn't without his numerous faults and the likes. He built up and (then ultimately ripped apart) an analysis set-up. From what I've heard, a lot of control was handed over to him. His departure and what went with him, seems to have scared those in certain positions to react in the opposite path. This action or path will have a detrimental effect on how we progress.

Onto the first bold part. I don't know Darren O'Dea or do I know of his coaching ability, however I was surprised that he was put into the U-18/19s management position. I believe he has a UEFA A Licence, along with 3 years with Dundee Youths, and 5 months in charge of Motherwell U-18s. O'Dea is relatively new in the coaching game but in quite prominent and influential roles. What success did he have in these positions prior? 5 months as U-18s manager at Motherwell? 3 years experience, is it long enough? Were there other candidates?

Celtic aren't alone in employing former players, especially at the transition from youth to professional. I could be totally wrong and O'Dea could be a very good coach and he could prove to be the right selection. I just wonder about the process.

Second point. It could be argued that we have invested in our youth academy and our coaching staff. We have links and set-ups similar to many teams around Europe. I think we have made some good progress in this. But always we should looking to do more. For two summers running, we have had Bayern Munich pluck a player from our youth set-up(Young Liam and Hepburn). You could take that as a positive. However you would much prefer these boys to be here as long as possible and develop them into our 1st team players.

Where we seem to fall down (and to an extent as a country), is bridging the gap from quality youth to quality/able 1st teamers. I understand in recent times we have KT, Cal Mac and you could argue Ajer. But should we be satisfied with just that amount? I personally think we should be looking at a much better volume and consistency with regards to youth players.

How do we bridge that gap? B Team is a decent idea, but its not going to happen in this country. Loaning system? I think we need to do more with this. We had a situation with Euan Henderson being sent to Ross County. And he barely got a kick before being recalled early.

Can we build up a kind of "club affiliates" list/database/profile? Be it domestic or foreign clubs, who fit a style or standard which allows players to be sent without overly worrying about developing habits (O'Connor playing under Lump it McCall springs to mind). I know a similar idea was floated domestically in the summer to the ire of the lower leagues. And we tried a link abroad a while back, with a club in Hungary. It doesn't need to be too that extent or to the FC Liefering/RB Salzburg/RB Leipzig standard. But we need to show some sort of journey for the youths to understand. Because at the moment, it seems once we get to U-18's, the progressions or options, if our 1st team standards aren't met. Appear to be a random loan, with a heavy helping of "hit and hope".

Our scouting and transfer process has been much more miss than hit. We have a followed a path of becoming a develop to sell club. Which is fine, if you are consistent in delivering the outcome. Which arguably we haven't. I don't know the exact detail of the number of scouts or analysis. Are we video and data heavy? But miss out on the finer details like player personality/background. Shved would match a lot of the criteria but appears to have struggle with adjusting to life here. A bit of tangent, what processes do we have in relation to this type of issue. Everyone can probably recall the Stan Petrov story of how he tried to adapt to Scotland. Genuine question. Do we have a Player Relations individual or department to cater for this?

Final point. Infrastructure.

We have seen the plan to develop Barrafields into a training facility with a better indoor training facility than we have at present. We seem to be still patting ourselves on the back with regards to Lennoxtown. The Lennoxtown facility is outdated in terms of capability in comparison to teams we are competing/looking to compete with in Europe. The Barrafields development is a must for me. I understand it will be on the back burner given the current circumstances.

These are all key parts in improving this club. And a lot of it isn't news to folk and many countries have been doing for years.

 

We have this season to scout a replacement for Broony as his contract ends at end of season.
Don't think it should be renewed unless its for just 1 season.
Problem is Lennon won't do that and the board won't spend the kind of money needed to bring in players that could fill that position with a player who wants to stay in Scotland for any length of time.
Need decent defenders of calibre of VVD and Wanyama and someone to replace Eddy as he will be gone at end of season at latest.

 

more than 8 there, & some more to be decided.

 

We spent what £5million combined on soro and klimala in January and neither have done * all competitively for us yet? (No fault of theirs may I add).

We have now spent £5million on ejeti and he's nowhere near fit enough, October maybe we will see ajeti in shape? Who knows.

Here's a novel idea, how about we just * bought ajeti in the first place back in January (or a suitable equivalent) for £5-6million and got on with it. Instead of fannying around with "projects" the manager doesn't rate, or unfit players who need months to get up to speed.

Could have saved ourselves a few quid and be ahead of the game by now.

As for soro, what was the * point, him and eboue around £6million spent on them alone.
Okay there is a few years between each signing, but you know what, had we just * spent an original £5-6million in the first place instead of signing eboue, we would have had a more than capable (if not better) player to take over from brown by now.
* that player may very well have been moved on, as is the nature of our standing in world football, but it would likely have turned a profit and we could be here looking to spend same again on a ready made replacement.


Folk have been saying for years about this, spend £5-7million on the right key players get the value we need and get players ready to roll.

Stop with this £2-3million purchases that take years to come to fruition if they ever * do.

Eboue, bayo, soro, klimala, os literally £10.5million between them.

Wasted. Utterly * wasted.

If only we just spent £5-6million on a ready to go midfielder and a striker in the first * place.

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the wage cap is what is hindering our progress,from not holding on to our best player to not getting players signed and it will stay that way untill the only person who gets paid market value and above has free reign to make sure he gets his bonus. having about 12 central midfielders for 3 positions is mental and a total waste especially when you need defenders and wingers,signing turnball is a laugh

 

There’s absolutely nothing hindering us when it comes to the money side.

Our budget, spending, ‘wage cap’ etc. Are more than enough to have us consistently in the CL and being able to put up a challenge for the Europa. It’s imperative as a club we’ve also got our youths playing in the UYL every year.

It’s simply how we spend it that is the problem. We’re still a job for the boys club at every level. Maloney was an excellent coach who actually has talent and ambition to be one of the best on the planet and was all over Europe studying at different academies and the Cruyff institute.

Lawwell and McCart hired McManus and O’Dea both a few months after they were given a role in Motherwell’s academy. You just have to listen to them never mind watch their teams to see they’re nowhere near the standard we should be recruiting.

McManus was awful for the 18’s and had us moving backwards at some rate with us moving to a long ball game even though he had players like Dembele, Okoflex, Robertson, Coffey available. Somehow McManus actually got promoted and O’Dea took his position and were actually worse again.

We need a complete revamp at academy level never mind first team level. As has been said previously, we should be all over Europe looking for the best young up and coming coaches in different academies and looking for ones who got our style and can bring new ideas to the table.

That’s not even getting started on recruitment or the first team staff. We’re so lazy as a football club it’s scary.

 

* great post!

The word I would use to describe the fabric of the club just now is "disconnected".

The commercial arm and the operational staff are not in sync.

 

Some brilliant points made on this thread.

After this week it's obvious our current recruitment is at best disjointed, wasting precious resources and hindering the club's progress. 9 in a row and treble trebles have for the large part disguised these issues, and it's fair to say (based on our CL qualifiers) we have stagnated over the past 18-24 months.

i love Lennon, but its pretty obvious he's more of a traditional, rather than innovative manager. Following Rodgers was always going to be difficult for him, as the majority of the squad had grown used to more modern methods of coaching and man management. As they say in the Sopranos 'You can't put the * back in the donkey!'

It's a cheap shot, to say Lennon (and his coaching staff) are dinosaurs, and his record since returning has shown success completing 2 domestic trebles, and also doing pretty well in the Europa group. But he really has his hands full rebuilding not only the squad, but overcoming the boards fixation with the current recruitment 'money ball' structure.

Constantly quoting VVD, Dembele and Wanyama, while attempting to overlook numerous signings such as Bayo, Shevd and Kouassi only highlights the problem further. Lawell has had up to now a pretty easy ride, now we can see if he really has been worth the large salary he has been earning over the last few years.