When Celtic moved to secure Kyogo Furuhashi, and the kid hit the ground running and started battering in the goals, some “experts” were quick to remind us that other leagues have heavily penetrated the Japanese market and that we would not have it all to ourselves just because one of their national darlings was doing well for us.
Germany, Spain, France and England all have Asian players at top clubs.
That market, we were told, was heavily saturated. But those “experts” reckoned without Ange and his plans.
We don’t have one Japanese international now, we have four.
And that does change the equation somewhat, because I don’t think there’s another European club which has four Asian internationals from one country on its books.
That gives us profile over there, and that profile will only increase if they succeed.
And it will certainly take on massive proportions if Japan gets to Qatar.
A lot of times in the past, the bulk of our fans don’t really have “a team” to watch at a World Cup Finals, except for whoever is playing England.
But if that tournament takes place with four of our stars in one national team, we will all be cheering them on whoever else is competing over there. And that will get a lot of people’s attention.
It will certainly make headlines in Japan.
It will certainly be something that people will be talking about. Our club’s footprint there can only grow larger – perhaps significantly larger – if our global fan-base is mobilised to support their national side.
The high point of our engagement over there was when Naka was at Celtic Park; but that was also before the global reach of the EPL became truly irresistible. A lot of folk thought – and not just the cynics, our rivals and our enemies – that no club from our neck of the woods would ever be able to crack those markets again.
The next year or so will settle that debate once and for all.
It may not settle it in our favour.
But by God, we have a good chance of it now, the best we’ve ever had, and that suggests that there are very exciting times ahead of us on all fronts.
With 4 Japanese internationals now at Celtic and Japan will now forever be linked.
Yes, those big European teams have Asian stars but, crucially, they do not have Our talisman; Big Ange,whose knowledge of the Austral/Asian market is second to not too many.
This straight taking Ozzy is gonna do for Celtic FC what Dom McKay should still be doing for Celtic FC namely, opening up new business and marketing opportunities, the World over. Big Ange is gonna do all that and his own job, whilst steadily writing himself into Celtics’ history books.
I feel very confident that Ange is here for a long time, he’s gonna take Celtic to a far brighter future… to places we never thought we’d see again…
The Future Is Bright, It’s Green and White.
GOD BLESS ANGE & THE WORLDWIDE CELTIC FAMILY HAIL! HAIL!
I tell you what would be funny. If Scotland qualified for the World Cup and were drawn against Japan in their group. Imagine the absolute SHITE the Daily Record would be churning out. That would keep you busy, James. LOLZ!
The fact that Ange has signed these guys on long term contracts, I hope. will bode well for his own long term commitment to Celtic. He needs years at the club to take us where we all want to be on the international club stage. I hope he commits for many years ahead as he is already well down the road of becoming a Celtic legend and we can all see what a unique individual talent he is.
The guy has many layers to him and his outlook of our club. He has good insight of our history, the fans expectation of our club, what we need to do currently and how to move Celtic forward on the home and international front. This, he states, is only the beginning. Wow.
He is not only changing the way we do business with the early signings, the style of play and his single minded determination to lead confidently from the front but his impact on the Celtic board and how it functions is positively turning them and Celtic towards a global outlook again.
The narrow even small-time vision of Celtic that Liewell had is diminishing by the day. Celtic should be an internationally recognised powerhouse, Ange recognises that and seems determined to lead us back to the future. Hail Hail