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Celtic’s Squad Is Worth A Fortune But That Money Is More Use To Us On The Pitch.

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We’re three games into a tough Champions League campaign and whilst the results haven’t been great the performances have offered a tantalising glimpse of “what if?” And the “what if?” comes down to a simple thing; what if we can keep this team together?

In theory, and in principle, is should be perfectly feasible for next year and possibly even the one after that. Celtic is in a strong position, with a stronger negotiating hand than it has had in quite some time.

The decision to give all of our top players contract extensions – and Rodgers’ ability to get those players to sign them – has been a real lift to the club.

The value of this team is probably astronomical. Just when you think you’ve seen it all from them there’s more.

Kyogo’s valuation has soared since the start of the season. Two Champions League goals have made him a star like never before. Matt O’Riley could go for a sum which might have paid off Rangers’ debt to HMRC and saved the club. Hatate, Maeda, Johnston, Carter Vickers … and Luis Palma is certainly already making headlines.

Other clubs would kill for such high-value commodities.

Bankable assets are nice to have, even with a huge sum of money sitting in your account already. Sure, we could flog Matt O’Riley for £25 million and be pretty chuffed with that business … but he’s worth more.

He’s worth more, right where he is right now; on the pitch and scoring goals. If we win this title and get into next season’s groups, and he wins us even a handful of games that’s worth more than any fee a club in England is going to pay us, and he’s just one example.

Next season, we have eight Group Stage games.

Two will be against Pot 1 teams. Two will be against Pot 2 sides. There will be two against Pot 3 teams and two against our fellow Pot 4 clubs … that means that four of those games will be demonstrably winnable ties.

Furthermore, because we’ll play one Pot 1 team at home and the other away, home form is going to be huge and our two home games so far have seen very good performances which suggest we can hold our own even against the best.

The new Champions League format will be untidy and I think for a time unpopular … but if we win a few games in it, you’ll see that change minds quickly. If it becomes obvious that it’s going to work out for us, I think you’ll see a change in attitudes all round.

The money to be made just getting there is big enough.

But the cash for a win right now is £2.4 million and that number is going up for the next campaign in line with every other fee. So you can see how important it is to go into that tournament with a settled squad and one that we know can perform at that level … and these guys can.

Eight games minimum with the possibility of a two-leg play-off for a place in the knockout rounds, and if points for a win in the groups are lucrative, I can only imagine what that or – in the real Wow scenario – automatic qualification would be worth.

Celtic has it all in front of them, and there’s a reason these guys are all so highly rated, and frankly we shouldn’t be focussed on what we might get by selling them but on what we might get by keeping this team in one piece. That’s the real prize.

That might even be where the really big money is.

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9 comments

  • Kevan McKeown says:

    Realistically, if players like O’Reilly and Kyogo continue tae improve, it’s goin tae be hard keepin a hold of them, even for next season. It’s no just about players commitment tae the club, or players gettin the right money, sadly these days imo, a lot of them just don’t want tae continue playin in the SPL. Maybe a few seasons are enough, if there are other options available. And tbh ye can understand that.

  • John L says:

    Yeah, it would be good to field the same team/squad next Champions League, I believe, it would make a huge difference. I was just listening to Brenden,s press conference and he has just jumped all over the fact that Celtic have been away from home for the last 7 years at the Christmas period, he only has to look at the first quarter of this season to say, HELL YEAH, some cunts are crooked.

  • Johnno says:

    Will there be an increase in squad numbers for next season?
    This 8 homegrown rule remains a massive hindrance for ourselves at CL level.
    Calls for an upgrade or cover in the Taylor position, which are fair enough, but are there any Scottish players available to do so?
    We all seen against athletico that changes were required, especially when such games calls for needing 16 players to tackle the fatigue factor.
    When you add in the injury issue with hatate, Welsh and abada there still doesn’t remain to many options available to ourselves at CL level.
    Trying to blame the signing policy over the summer is nothing more than a cop out, when the club still can’t produce or find enough homegrown players were the club can feel comfortable with at CL level.
    As a club, only a few would be classed as good enough to be starting at SPFL level.
    With a new manager comes a transition period, where we aren’t in a market to buy automatic starters for the team at CL level, just the way it is within the financial market that the CL brings.
    Already next season there should be competition just for the 17 places available from our foreign players?
    Yet all the while we will struggle to fill the 8 needed, and certainly only a couple could be regarded as good enough for CL?
    So therefore, we are currently looking at a situation where a foreign player misses out on a CL squad place, yet still required for our quest within the SPFL.
    Yet its the complete opposite for homegrown players, where there taking up squad positions in CL while not even been classed as good enough for SPFL, and only used in a very limited capacity within Scottish football.
    So the balance remains totally wrong for ourselves and all without a simple solution either?
    Hopefully squad numbers are changed to make our lives far easier with squad numbers at CL level, especially when injuries limit our available options so drastically as the rules stands imo.
    A very decent team if kept together at CL level, yet struggling with squad depth also when injuries hit.
    Yet are the younger foreign player going to be made the scapegoat for the rules, all the while the 8 homegrown players situation goes unnoticed?

  • Clachnacuddin and the Hoops says:

    Let’s just get there first (Cheats with whistles, flags and monitors will cost us points and gain Sevco plenty)…

    But aye – it’s a mouthwatering prospect indeed –

    It’s mouthwatering for Sevco in a way as well…

    Because that’s exactly the way I feel before I end up spewing everywhere (mostly with too much drink – sometimes on a ferry that’s far too rough ! )

    They will be pure sick if we get straight into that –

    Tomorrow is another notch on the way to it…

    Go for it Celtic at Easter Road –

    And there’s no way both clubs should have to change kits when they hate each other –

    Just another obvious situation where The SFA / SPFL truly DETEST too much Green and White !

    • Clachnacuddin and the Hoops says:

      That second last line should read…

      There’s no way that both clubs should have to change kits when they PLAY each other not Hate each other as it reads…

      (Wish there was a wee edit option available even if time limited ! )

  • woodyiom says:

    You’re absolutely spot on – the players are worth more to us on the pitch than the fees we’d get by selling them (and this has been the case pretty much for the last 20years) and thus we should resist selling them for as long as we are able. The fly in the ointment is the players themselves – as soon as they get the chance to play in the EPL and quadruple their wages they will insist on going (and who can blame them). All tieing them down on long contracts does is ensure their contracts won’t run down before their EPL moves happen (and giving us a decent fee).

  • Frank says:

    yes James provided the extended contracts are to build on this year and not a further attempt to boost next years balance sheet when we sell off some of our assets

  • SSMPM says:

    We have plenty of money banked for now. We don’t need to make more money through the selling stream when we can make it through where success on the park takes us.
    Like it or not. I think like it, players are signed to long term contracts and for now at least they mostly seem to be enjoying being at this club and playing with each other under this manager. An increase in wages will have had a positive effect too and with greater success at the big table maybe we can close the wages gap to the EPL still further enhancing our club.
    There’s plenty of income to come through CL and improved CL success, sponsorship, season tickets, merchandise, etc, etc. Just look at last year’s income and to continue a previous point our own tv channel would increase it still further.
    Speculate to accumulate. HH

  • Peter Cassidy says:

    It’s ok selling your top players but we then spend low fees on project players we should have nice mix of very good players along side youngsters if we want to try and make a little progress in the cl maybe start winning some matches that would be start but then you have shareholders wanting a decent dividends on their investments .

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