GO AHEAD EAGLES CELTIC COMMENTS ARE TOTALLY OUT OF ORDER, BUT WE INVITED THIS RIDICULE ON OURSEVLES
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 24 hours ago
- 3 min read
Whilst our friends across the city go through yet another false dawn, on the back of one good result in Europe and a thoroughly mediocre one in the league, it seems Celtic have no shortage of people waiting to have a go at us these days.
The latest person to take a cheap shot was Go Ahead Eagles Chief Executive Jan Willem Van Dop.
Go Ahead Eagles Celtic Ridicule is The Natural Endpoint of Current Malaise
He said Celtic “could have taken a leaf out of Rangers book in conducting their transfer business, haha”.
Haha indeed. The idea that we will ever take business advice from an entity as historically devoid of business ethics as Rangers (Requiescat in Pace) or their 2012 Tribute Act, is indeed laughable.
However, Celtic’s recent business conduct, with regards to transfers has made us an easy target in this regard.
As unprofessional, and downright insulting as Van Dop’s comments are, they also come from a place of clear frustration in trying to do business with Celtic.
Celtic run the very real risk of getting labelled as something of a “problem child” in the transfer market.
Now, it seems that clubs who want to buy our players are now being told in very clear terms that Celtic have set valuations and those must be met as a minimum before serious negotiations on a transfer can commence.
We saw this with Nicholas Kuhn just a matter of weeks ago. He may well have been turning out for Leipzig this week instead of Como, had the Germans, who were the first club to show interest, been more forthcoming in meeting Celtic’s valuation of the player.
Como were the first club to come up with the fee Celtic wanted, so they got their man.
So, Celtic, clearly understand how this works, and we expect to be treated with respect when it comes to selling players.
With that in mind, we can’t then fail to show that same level of respect when dealing with other clubs and their players.
We can argue over whether we think Jakob Breum is worth 5 million. Or if Michel-Ange Balikwisha is worth 4.5 million. However, if that’s what Go Ahead Eagles and Antwerp have decided is the minimum they will accept for those players, then Celtic’s opinion on the matter isn’t really relevant.
Brentford might come in tomorrow and offer 12 million for Daizen Maeda. Celtic would, rightly, tell them to do one (I hope). Because Daizen’s value to this current Celtic squad means he is worth far, far more than that.
However, to an EPL club, one with owners who, perhaps, buy into the “Farmers League” p*sh that so many English fans love to aim at Scottish Football, 12 million may seem like a very generous offer.
However, such initial discussions should take place privately. And if the valuations are that far apart, don’t bother making a bid, go elsewhere and get what you think might be a better deal.
Celtic have made two massive mistakes for me this summer. First of all, allowing the fee we received for Nicholas Kuhn to be publicly disclosed and for the deal to be concluded before we had agreed a deal for his replacement was absolute lunacy.
There is a reason after all why so many clubs like to use the term “undisclosed fee”.
Suddenly, having not concluded deals with any replacements, every club Celtic have spoken to now knows they’ve got an extra 17 million in the bank.
If I was the chief exec of a club like Go Ahead Eagles, Celtic’s newly acquired fortune might tempt me to jack the price up on any players I knew they were interested in too.
Unethical?
Probably, but ethics seldom take precedence when it comes to business, especially in a business as lucrative as the football transfer market.
Celtic’s second biggest mistake was to make actual bids on players that they already knew fell well short of the valuation placed on these players by their current clubs. It doesn’t matter what Celtic think a reasonable price is. The selling club sets the price, and offering well below that isn’t going to get you anywhere.
After all, is Nicholas Kuhn really worth 17 million after giving us what amounted to about 6 months of outstanding performances across his 18 month stay at Celtic?
That is, absolutely, debatable. However Celtic wanted it, and that’s what we got. Can we really blame Go Ahead Eagles, Antwerp or Cagliari for taking the same approach?