Tomorrow, I’m going to talk about Nicolas Kühn—the success story. But today I want to talk about something else. I want to talk about loyalty. About club policy. And how that policy has eroded even the idea of loyalty.
Loyalty doesn’t have much presence in modern football, but Celtic has a stated approach that makes even the appearance of it harder to sustain.
We don’t play in a cash-rich league. We don’t play in a league with a global TV audience. We don’t have access to huge sums of money to keep players here. The competition level, by and large, is pretty low, and many players don’t feel challenged by it. I understand the difficulty of getting good players to come to Scotland, and of keeping them here. Most people aren’t oblivious to that.
But Nicolas Kühn has given us 18 months. Eighteen months of a long-term deal. And it’s not that we’re selling him because the offer was too good to turn down. I still think the fee is well below his worth. I suspect the club has inserted clauses that will eventually bring the total closer to his valuation, and I hope that’s the case.
But it feels like we’re selling him because he doesn’t want to be here anymore. That he has decided it’s time to move on—just 18 months into a long-term contract. And some people might be fine with that, but to me it shows a remarkable lack of loyalty. A striking impatience. A poor attitude.
I suspect Rodgers believes he downed tools in the second half of last season and that, because of that, Rodgers has little interest in keeping him around.
That might explain the indecent haste to get the deal done, even below full valuation. I imagine others at the club feel the same way. Rodgers did single out certain unnamed players for criticism in the latter part of the campaign. And I’d wager Kühn was one of the names on his mind.
So what did we really get out of Nicolas Kühn? I say 18 months, because that’s the literal term of his stay. But in truth, we got six. Six months of real quality. Six months where we saw what he might have been, had he knuckled down, committed to the cause, and stuck around for another crack at the Champions League.
Now he’s off to Como in Italy—or at least, that’s where he’s headed. And to be frank, that is not an impressive decision.
It’s driven partly by money, and partly by the appeal of Serie A. Fine. But they won’t be playing Champions League football anytime soon. His real opportunity was here. Como don’t strike me as a club whose style will suit his game. They’re not built for flair or attacking football. This move makes little sense.
But he’s made his bed. And he’ll lie in it. Whatever happens in Italy, he can’t say he wasn’t warned. Or he can, but no one should listen. Like many others who’ve walked away from this club too soon, he’ll have to reckon with his decision. And for many, it’s been a costly one. A handful have gone on to real success. But a player with this attitude? I wouldn’t bet on him joining that handful.
Celtic, however, has its own reckoning to face. We must start thinking hard about what we ask of players who come here. We give them a platform. A stage. We help them build reputations. And we do it very well. But it’s not for free. These players come, they shine, they move on—and we often profit handsomely. That’s the model. But the rate at which this turnover happens is becoming untenable.
Across the city, they expect to sell Igamane in this window. I can’t understand why anyone would pay an eight-figure fee for him. I won’t believe it until I see it. But the key point is this: that guy was playing in Morocco just last year. If he and his agent are already agitating for a move after 12 months in Scotland, then we’re through the looking glass. Their own model will be just as frustrating as ours.
But they need to sell someone in this window, and for a high profit fee. We don’t need to sell Kühn. We’re doing it because he wants to leave and that raises serious questions about the attitudes of players who come here—and about our club policy.
We tell players that if they give us a year or so of service, and a good offer comes in, we’ll accept it and let them go. That’s not necessarily a bad policy—it probably helps attract players who wouldn’t come to Scotland otherwise.
But it’s also a destructive policy.
It means we get no continuity. It means that if we have a good season in Europe, we know we’ll lose key squad members. We’re never really building; we’re not putting one brick on top of another. We’re just replacing bricks as they fall. That’s not a strategy. That’s existing day to day.
And in a league like ours, if we’re going to make progress in Europe, we cannot do it with the constant chopping and change of the team. We need something more. We need stability. This policy doesn’t allow for that.
Look, I know we’re not keeping players here for five years. I know that when someone signs a five-year deal, it’s really just a bargaining position to drive up their price. But what if we changed the terms slightly?
What if we told players up front: we want at least two full seasons. Maybe even three. If you do well after Year One, we’ll bump your wages. But we expect you to stay for the following two. That wouldn’t be a disaster.
I don’t believe it would put players off. And in return, it would give us something we’re sorely lacking—continuity.
Losing top players every one to two years should be unthinkable.
For a club like ours, it’s just not sustainable. So yes, we are entitled to be a little bit pissed off. A little bit fed up with players who sign long-term deals but never intend to honour them beyond 18 months.
We should start insisting on that two-year minimum. We should start explaining to these guys what we expect—because rinse and repeat every year just doesn’t work. It’s not a model for growth. It’s a model for treading water.
Sometimes, I wish we’d just tell these guys: “You’re staying. You’re too important. We’ll pay you a bit more, but we expect you to deliver next season. Give us your best, and then we won’t stand in your way.” That wouldn’t require a revolution. Just a tweak. A shift in tone. A little more assertiveness.
What are some of these guys going to do? Go on strike? Good luck lining up your next big deal after 12 months stuck in the reserves.
Tell players up front: give us two full seasons. Keep an open mind about a third. That’s all. If they don’t like it, fine at that point we can choose to either do the deal or move on to the next target. But if they agree, we get stability, consistency, a better foundation to build on.
Eighteen months from a footballer—and even then, only six of them where he really delivered—isn’t good enough.
You can’t build on that. And it happens because we allow it. Because we’ve built policy around it. That policy isn’t evil. But it is lunacy in the long term. I’m not saying scrap it entirely—just fix it. Just tighten it.
We’d be better off for it. And what’s more—everyone knows it.
2 year minimum commitment??? You sure that’s legal??? Also, unsure would attract many? Employment law? If you were an say admin assistant? 3 months later get better job, but no!!! You got a 2’year minimum contract????
I take your point, but remember players sign contracts, often for 5 years so if the club decide not to sell them then they will be here for 5 years, we don’t need to ask them for 2 years commitment. All Celtic need to say to any player agitating for a move is that we expect them to honour their contract. The club will decide if they are moved on. The player is free not to sign a contract extension or move under freedom of contract at the end of their deal.
I think the board have created this problem themselves. We are seen as a gateway for players to a cash rich league and I imagine that is how we are sold to players. You can almost tell the ones that are going to move on. I’m not fussed on Kuhn and think we got bout the right fee for a player that turned up for about half the games he played in.
Engels will be the next one be moved on sooner rather than later. Hopefully this is because he has developed.
I honestly don’t know what the answer is every League in Europe outside the top 5 struggle, but here in Scotland we struggle even more, because of our close proximity to the EPL, we even share the same national media with that League, quite honestly it’s a well nigh impossible situation we find ourselves in.
What could improve things a little would be if the two Capital City teams and Aberdeen could improve the competition by competing a bit better with the big two Glasgow teams. Edinburgh and Aberdeen have for many years now been economically wealthier than the City of Glasgow, who along with Motherwell, Paisley and Kilmarnock and many other towns throughout Scotland suffered Industrial decline. Why these three teams haven’t fared better is puzzling, but you can only put it down to lack of ambition by the people who run the clubs, and the lack of support from the local population.
I’ve never been a great fan of Kuhn, he has never looked very enthusiastic at anytime with us, he turned it on when he felt like it, especially when playing in Europe, when to me he was trying to catch the eye of teams in the bigger Leagues.
Let’s hope BR and Tisdale have their eye on a couple of decent players and that the Celtic Board back them financially.
We need a wee lift and I’m not fooled by that 17 point gap, the last 3 performances against the Ibrox team and the bad performance in the Cup Final is too fresh in the memory. There has to be a big improvement in performances throughout the whole of next season.
What we got of Khun was sheer profit.
Yes he had a good half season.
I think we have won a watch.
The boy is to caught in himself, not a Celtic player and teammate.
Onwards and upwards.
He is a bad apple, better to cash in as Brendon has done.
I dont mind cashing in on players as long as they’re replaced. The problem is we never seem to have suitable replacements lined up and spend far too long searching and putting in horribly low bids for players. We did well in the market under Ange, our business was amazing under him ie Juranovic going and Johnston coming in instantly, but this window gives me the fear
The tail wags the dog for sure these days with football players for sure…
Would never have happened in the days of Jock, Stein, Wallace, McLean, Ferguson, even in the era of The man with no surname “Walter” !
A 2 year contract commitment would cut both ways remember, and then perhaps we would be unable to move on players we did not fancy or who did not fit in for whatever reason during that same 2 years. I think things, although not perfect, are manageable and a bit more flexible the way they are. How though anyway, can you really have a separate contract within a contract with that stipulation.
Not at all realistic to expect that of players in the modern era. After 12 months they get the chance to double their money (in a short career) playing in a stronger league. There’s more of a lesson for players to look back at those that have left Celtic, maybe too soon, and look at career trajectories. If we can show that spending 2-3 years with us is better than 12-18 months that will be more persuasive than any contractual obligation.
Why??
Do an Ibrox thing and he’s shite fir another 6 months n nobody wants him?? And we’ve turned down 16.5m 6 months earlier.
See what I’ve noticed about you, you try to cover every base, it’s a Hunnish thing so ye can say…
SEE.
YER never fckin happy n that Disnae always make ye right.
Gie it a rest sometimes mate honestly
Nicolas Khun is 25 years old, if he plays until he is 35 then he has around 120 months salary yet to pick up from his career as a footballer, with around 3 or 4 transfers / contracts / signing on fees to collect. If we assume he or his agent are viewing his career completely dispassionately then the opportunity to triple or more his salary is not one to be passed up while at the same time passing go and picking up his monopoly money en-route to landing at Como. Such two way winning collaborations are also yhe sales pitch for the next guy to rinse & repeat. Worrying thing is the continuing widening of the gap between Scotland and the leagues holding the golden goose, where will it be in 10/15/20 years ?.
Due to the dreadful governance of our league and the inability of the so called “bigger clubs” Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs, to mount any form of challenge, we will always struggle to attract players!
Kuhn had a good six months and looked completely disinterested for his last six! We have done well with the fee we received and we move on!
The biggest issue now, is how much BR gets to spend on the players we require to take our team onwards and upwards ?
This player would’ve been away after 10 months in my opinion, for me he became a problem,we gave him a platform and he returned no loyalty or wish to stay,he downed tools and i believe Rodgers knew this so get what we can for him,I’ll never deny players,an opportunity to play or try other cultures etc but I agree,2yrs minimum before you even turn your head,Tannadice said it all,full of it and petulant,the Cup Final,well, he wasn’t alone there
I am afraid there is no loyalty in football but it is also Celtics policy to sell our best players especially if they want to leave.
Kyogo,Taylor and Khun have now left because they wanted to go.
Starters like Jota,Tierney and Nygren have now joined because they want to play for Celtic.
This is an improvement.
” If you’re looking for loyalty, buy a dog”.
It’s a bit strange… Not sure how they are going to perform
Brendan isn’t 100% certain whether Khun was going to perform or not this season, so off he pops. If he was sulking about it would spread through the dressing room, as it likely did at the tail end of last season.
Kuhn had done all he can at Celtic. It’s practically guaranteed league titles because of the lack of viable opposition but thats not enough for top players. Will Celtic go as far as last year in the UCL?…very unlikely. So he has gone to a top league and if he is good enough he will end up at a top team. VVD did the same by going to Southampton a team that will win nothing. VVD also downed tools at Southampton to get his move to Liverpool. Thats football business for ye.
£16m is great business. I’m guessing Rapid Vienna get a small slice of that and so they should. Will Kuhn go on and become a top player like Frimpong and VVD. Who knows? most players who leave struggle a bit at the higher level.
Kuhn turned good for 4 months out of his 18, so a good price was achieved.
Another 6 months and his value would be same as Kent/Morelos, think about that.
Kuhns time had come, thanks and goodbye.