Rodgers has overcome major challenges, now it’s time to wrap up title / ACSOM A Celtic State of Mind

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there he is live from the club back he’s well he’s live from the Skylock this is a Celtic state of mind it’s Tuesday afternoon I’m Paul John Dixon joined by Liam carrian and also by Lawrence Conley guys H before we go any further I’ve got to say a massive happy 50th birthday to the main man Lawrence how did you enjoy your day yesterday mate yeah it was great H that go wander into rather strange pup for me a walked and then realized all the the de was kind of blown orange but stage everybody seemed to be called Billy a part of one guy who was Bill all right really strange for Scotland nobody wanted to talk about football mate that’s unusual wasn’t it I mean just few PS and left these people walk among us bright orange trainers bright orange worky throwers all that kind of stuff Lawrence I know the vibe that you’re talking about there’s plenty to discuss here um this is aelf state of mind and I’ve got to thank everybody for getting involved yday it was a great we show with aim um and Jerry and also Alan Morrison coming in with some data and and stats and things like that there’s loads to talk about because of course the the win at the weekend Liam it felt like you’ve won the league it it felt as though we’ done it but we know mathematically it’s not done yet so it’s all about uh time to wrap this title up now Liam you’ve got three options you can win it tonight tomorrow or at the weekend which one are you going to take I’d I’d be okay if it happened tonight I’d just like to get it over the line and then we can focus on the cup final um it would be nice actually if we into tomorrow’s game with it basically being a free hit and we can rest players especially with that Kut pitch um you know lik had daen recently back for injury um you know hatti CCV you don’t want to risk these guys that are going to be vital for the Cup Final on that pitch which really has no in top fight football no it doesn’t and you know we’ll be touching on the game in which we um B the the Scottish game uh is often criticized from onlookers elsewhere but we don’t do ourselves any favors when you look at pitches like that you know at the start of the season I was talking about um I named a number of clubs I named abine hears and Rangers and said at the beginning of the Season that they would change the manager throughout the campaign every single one of them B Hearts have done that and again obviously h just sacked another manager I’ve been looking at some of the stats the Gaffers they’ve gone through this is a Capital Club that that should always be in I I reckon always in the top four or five in Scotland and they’re languishing but we’ll come back to that now H lawence I’ve got to ask you how did you enjoy it man how did you enjoy your weekend and obviously that’s spilled in I’m guessing to a sherbo or two yesterday yeah cousin come up to London on Friday night got offered two tickets to the game half 10 Saturday morning so probably the long just kind of us stuff in the game you you know dominated the first half I’m surprised it wasn’t five or six yeah and uh then down the garate met some of the boys from Celtic Graves and stuff H few pains and celebrations continued into the Sunday mate the we small was not even that just into the Sunday like into the afternoon into the early evening yes yes I know I know you know how to party young man um you’re a couple years older than me but you know I’ve I’ve hung up my party show was a long time ago uh Liam I know it’s tough for you over in Japan um but obviously you’re an avid watcher of the games regardless of what time over there that it is but what’s it like for yourself you know when you get that Victory when you get that feeling um how are you able to enjoy it when you you’re you’re quite isolated over there Liam in terms of the Celtic thing I I mean it was I same thing I always do I watched the game with my dad and you know talked to him as as as it was going on and it it’s amazing actually looking back on it because as that second half wore on we were both really uptight like oh God we’re going to blow this we’re we’re we’re hanging on but see to be honest actually when you watch back in hindsight they barely laid a glove on us and that was the that’s the the thing which being a being a fan and being in the heat of it you don’t have that perspective to say I actually this is not this is being made out to be um and I’ve got to say amazing I got I got these new glasses last week and uh it’s great when you’re watching it when you can see everything without a kind of haze around it but uh still can’t even see the Angels coming no you cannot and listen I’ve got to say this and I mean it absolutely sincerely um we stream every single weekday we obviously cover every single game also and on a Monday I go for a Wonder around paradise and very very soon you will also be treated to some top quality content on a Friday night because there’s going to be a new show launching on the axom channel it’s going to go out every Friday night to get you set up for the weekend you know fully produced multicamera action in a beautiful venue in Glasgow so that is coming I am so immersed in making sure that ticks along every single day I do not have the chance to or or the inclination to look at content being created by Rangers supporters right it’s just not something I’ve got the time or the need in my life to do right uh but obviously on the social media what you get is you get screened grabs and you get the odd Meme and you get Tam celic making me videos and you know what’s happening and what the vibe is Lawrence from what I have seen there’s quite a few from our nearest Challengers I was going to say nearest and dearest but we’ll just say nearest Challengers um who you know the penny is dropping in terms of what happens next if Celtic win this league what’s the implications Lawrence of Celtic winning this league for both clubs yeah I think the speed of what the they’ve grasped us you know six titles in 24 years realiz a not the best team in Scotland that but as you said at least 5% of them are grasping that now so yeah it’s it’s a huge swing financially for us obviously I think dundy wi tonight and we win the cup they probably get to what September October before they’re replacing another manager having funded a Rebuilder Den knows where they’re getting the money from but it’s it’s just like cycle with him isn’t it h Brandon’s done it again you know and he was on record in the season saying you know they’re always coming Celtics always in crisis always coming and just put teams out there to win the league he just does what he does well exceptional performance I think from him Joe har you’re only have a present you know the only one without injury it’s he’s over come a lot of adversity there we’re unlucky to go to kill in the League Cup it could have been a last minute penalty but for us to get the funds to we already coming in you you’re just working as a changeing strategy and we’re going to spend you know back to the six kind of 7even million pound level players coming in I think the summer we can easily afford to add three three or four again to the team you know big worry is replacing joart where we’re going to get keeper is good as that oh some people said could go for for butland there might be a bit of fire sale over there yeah is that is that tongue and- cheek like seriously Lawrence I’ve heard a few people saying it and I know Ry said it the other day is that a tongue-in-cheek comment or or is it something that you actually think is doable and something we should consider only think he’s a decent decent enough keeper know if he’s the best out there in our price range why not they’re going to have to find money to fund something why would you not consider send him directly from him I think he’s decent enough but uh hopefully this Scouts search high and wide for a keeper we’ goingn for a while Jo’s going to retire I’m sure there’s a few guys on the list I expect that to be our first signing you know what whatever budget we’ve got for the summer say it’s 20 25 million I think we wouldn’t commit any of it until we’ve got the goalkeeper situation sorted out figur Liam you know it’s just a figure it’s a floating figure 20 million is great if you can use it well 20 million pound we spent on the summer was a waste of money so you know I I get what what Lawrence is saying but I think we need more than that I mean I’ve said already I think you know the way that brenon Rogers has conducted himself this season I think it’s been tremendous right and and you can say I’m a fanboy and all that because I’ve kind of stood up for him throughout there’s been criticism in there as well but my point is this we’ve gone into that game against Rangers at the weekend there and we basically play the team they starting 11 who we could have started 16 months ago all the guys were at the club 16 months ago so in effect you’re playing an an team right all the guys played under an poru however 16 months ago we had a and we had Moy and J starfell who else did we have yaka makus and shanovich that’s half a team so actually going into that game at the weekend biggest game of the season biggest Derby for a long time actually going into that game we had six starters out if it was obviously the team I’m I’m referring to so I feel that Rogers really has turned the water into wine in many ways you know he’s he’s worked with one arm behind his back in terms of the lack of quality coming in um and when I spoke last week or the week before and I got a way bit of traction because obviously the way people interview you Liam the words are said I’m not saying anybody put words in my mouth but what I would maintain is that the league championship once one has definitely been Brendan’s biggest challenge he’s overcome his biggest challenge at CTIC it’s been the most difficult League title to win it’s not enjoy it’s not as enjoyable as a you know uh an invincible League win or an invincible cha of course it isn’t right but I keep going back to that particular League that was that wasn’t a great League we wanted be 30 points that year Rangers were rotten they were third and you know I think this season has been completely different so when you’re looking at that and you’re looking at the fact that we did manage to I’m going to say limp over line it’s a bit unfair because our form’s been good recently Liam we managed to get it over the line despite the challenges that that Brendan’s faced I don’t want us to be DED as fans going into the summer recruitment thinking like and it’s not a dig at lawence but thinking that 20 million pound going to fix this because it’s not yeah no I mean it’s uh I actually think looking back on it the game at the weekend was like a microcosm of this entire season because it was challenging because we allowed it to be challenging um that was only a competition because Celtic made it a competition um when both teams play to their strengths we are on a completely different plane of reality from Rangers um you saw that in bursts on Saturday there were 10 15 minute spells where we were just unplayable and that was us playing at our Peak and Rangers were playing at their Peak just to keep up with us and they couldn’t ultimately and that is that’s where we are but like you say 20 million isn’t is isn’t is a drop in the ocean compared to the the money you get in the Champions League now and I I think I hope we’re looking at sort of Martin O’Neal’s first season level of spending I’m hoping like four or five players in the sort of 7even eight million bracket that’s what I would look at to really strengthen this team but even then there’s no guarantee that will give us anything in Europe because the champions league is just on a completely different level in terms of finances we’re going up against teams that have had this kind of money for years and years I mean Germany England France they’re all going to have five teams in this thing next year yeah that is it’s ridiculous um but play with it and we’ve got more games which will mean more TV money etc etc but um you know you talk about achievements actually purely at the money aspect this was the most important League Championship Celtic have ever played in biggest prize money biggest uh Stakes because now we if we assuming we wrap up this league in the next week or so um we are looking at being on over a 100 million in the bank right whereas had Rangers won this league we would both be sitting on about 60 70 million in the bank it would be it would be a truly Level Playing Field probably for the first time since the mid 2000s and even then that wasn’t a Level Playing Field as we know because if EBS but you know it’s um we have just completely moved away from them because of this Championship but we have to use it we have to take advantage not just spend the money but spend the money well we’ve signed a lot of Duds in the last 10 15 years and we can’t really we can’t afford to do that if we’re going to start throwing big money about but I’m hopeful I’m I’m hopeful see this is the thing right and consciously or otherwise Lawrence there there seems to be a belief that the Celtic board will look at the nearest Challengers and think we got away with they’re so bad we got away with that LA and there’s a belief amongst a lot of Celtic fans that that is the board’s kind of view and that’s the approach going into this summer even though as Liam says the stakes are so high with the Champions League door coming in I mean it’s incredible I was looking at the there’s a great graphic out there for anybody who’s not seen it which explains perfectly how the Champions League structure is going to work where you’re basically going to get eight games four home four away you’re in a massive big league system and if you’re below a certain point down the bottom you just drop out the competition there’s no dropping into the Europa League or any of this kind of stuff so what I think you need to do Liam K if I’m wrong you need to get in the top 24 to have a chance of progressing yeah and obviously the the bottom eight clubs or so from that will go into a playoff so you got an extra game so you think to yourself you need to kind of be mid-table to progress in that tournament next season but Lawrence the point I’m making is and I’ve seen it a lot and I I totally get why people say this there’s people in uh contributors in the axom group who think the same that the board will only do the bare minimum to keep us ahead of the competition do do you subscribe to that I mean as I said back in the Invincible League winning were 30 points ahead the nearest Challenger who were abine and you think to yourself right you know it’s much much tighter LW it’s much the Gap is much smaller now in terms of the domestic challenge I think it’ll be a change in strategy the level of players we’re going for I think Scouts are already looking at higher level of player bremond he’s been banging on a b quality hasn’t he since he came back so they really need to deliver it you know there’s extra games in Europe it’s going to stretch a squad that will have a knock on effect in the league and you want to retain your title because don’t know that be if is going for what is it called it who knows when did we start when did we start count titles like that I always remember the leag cup stuck at nine since 1982 right up until VI yansen won it remember that I never won it for years so I always remembered the nine but I never you know we’ve never done it really have we I mean you look at the owners and the program and all that and it’s always there but you don’t you don’t do it but it’s become a big thing the only reason it’s become a thing is because a certain fan base want to convince the world that they did not go into liquidation and they want to combine both awards won by both clubs that’s the only reason 55 exists La that’s the only reason it’s whatever it is we still need to retain it you still need to be put a Challenger in Europe and retaining I think we will have four or five qu players the of the Season you know we Pro listen mean kind of money that the club will have you could be looking at Double that if they wanted but I think four or five keeper e for another season he what a season he’s had H but it remains to be seen I mean some of the players that we bought in the past haven’t been bought to play you know you’re not telling me we bought because he was going to replace McGregor or Patti let’s talk about we buy it turn the profit you’ll buy players and we think look there’s a profit there look at hovic came in didn’t really f Angie system did he know what we doing there but I think somebody’s looked and thought we could turn a profit that guy make some money so I think H everybody’s fed up with the project players aren’t they blocks young players coming through we got a we do have a problem retaining our young players you know dos went to Liverpool head bur to Bayern Munich you know don’t think Kelly signed a new contract yet and I thought a few games he played looked really good so it’s hopefully I think everybody wants a change in strategy that would signal some ambition to do something in Europe to bring real quality back in and we missed out we could have brought back but we didn’t and I think we didn’t bring him back because maybe we’ll looking he doesn’t have a selling fee because of Ages you know that’s their money we bring him back in he done all right last season L yeah chance worth taking look at when when mik went you know a lot of fans w’t happy but I me down at the Peter scar Su night and he was say that’s A6 million P play for nothing and he was an integral part andie’s team he was he had that experience to see games out to help other players along so hopefully we do change our strategy L project players and a few more assured players but you know True Heart that’s the main main possession it fell for me you’ve got to get a Absolut standing keeper got to get it right 100% uh Lads to discuss in relation to that let us know what your thoughts are in the comments section and uh loads more to talk about we’re going to be talking about the ramifications of Celtic winning the League this season that will be three in a row um I I believe Liam that winning the league obviously the finances come in and as I’ve said before you can misspend the finances we’ve seen that in the summer spend a lot of money I mean some of the players might be salvageable they might be salvageable um the ones I’m looking at at the moment Oden home one for the future nooski maybe he’s still there or thereabouts and that’s you know that Core group of 15 or 16 players Palmer possibly the rest of them I’m not too sure I’m not too sure about the rest of them so that that’s a lot of money gone out the door not being spent wisely and in terms of what Lawrence was saying earlier I don’t follow the finances arrangers that closely you know I read articles Etc like everybody else but I don’t follow uh their financial management or otherwise that closely but what I can tell you is if you’re not bringing in the big buck from the Champions League the gap’s massive financially it’s huge there’s only so much season tickets you can buy there’s only so much mer you can buy pies on a match daily you’re limited you’re limited and then you’re looking for massive investment so that you can go and buy players I think you know from the outside looking in it they’re probably counting on winning the League this season and it’s not going to happen so that there’s a massive disparity there yeah and the thing is there will always be a disparity there will always be a disparity because we have 10,000 more seats than they do every bit of money they bring in we’ll bring it in plus an extra 10,000 season tickets yeah that’s that’s the reality of it we will always we have always been bigger than them but financially we clearly are bigger than them now and that’s assuming that they’re not making a loss every year which I think they are but even then we still make more than they do every year before you even factor in Champions League money or anything like that see the I’m going to go back to that point about 10,000 seats right because it does it does show you the the Forward Thinking of the Bold Fergus the Bunn it coming into Celtic Football Club from afar having been involved in a supporters Club in Cy when he was like 16 year old Lawrence running the show as the as the treasurer of the C CSC and obviously went away and made his fortune but when come back you had the foresight as Liam says to build a stadium that if you had asked a lot of people at the time you’d have thought that’s Madness it’s too big because we were not getting that kind of attendance or average attendance going into that particular season you’re talking 30 35,000 season ticket sales were 8,000 at that point the guy was a Visionary and he’s built this the the stadium that we have today but there was a great conversation earlier in amongst the a home group laun about expanding even further what’s your take on that because there’s been a lot of um studies done on this feasibility studies to see if Celtic could do it with a kind of L system whereby you don’t shut the ground down you don’t lose any season ticket Revenue whilst you know the the stand has been improved it certainly looks as what needs improved doesn’t it the main stand main stand yeah yeah I think they’re doing some work there some stuff going to move down to Battlefield I know steel was get up there and that give them some more Hospitality which obviously will make them more money but you know there’s a waiting with isn’t there if you’ve got enough some they’ll have the data how many people are on that how long they’ve been on it if you had another 10 15,000 you know what’s 25,000 go that’s 50% just if you’re get extra 25,000 seats it’s just a gap becomes absolutely enormous then it’s it’s definitely something I like see see getting done but you know you remember going to games and there was 18,000 26,000 it’ only be the original firm games that you maybe get whatever the board would say 40 but you know’ looked about 60 or 70 in but fgas was good at cre creating the the demand we built it you know we built it Seely you know you when from being able to woke up hav have a season B yeah that’s the thing if you don’t have one you can get now so it’s a balance in act for them but you put thep about seven years to pay itself off it’s a longterm Advantage isn’t it you know I know a rough guess but thinking that’s a longterm Advantage 30 years lawen since the the last kind of Reb 30 years but you’re looking good that’s a longterm advantage of 30 years has given us well 30 years of dominance more or less you know the first five years is kind of stabilizing yeah and and building the squad from there on in it’s what we got 24 titles and from it it’s it’s phenomenal from H it’s one of the reasons I like to see the hotel Museum go up it gives you another financial advantage and obviously it’s a few years since they get the plans passed but there doesn’t seem to be any appetite to to continue with it I mean financially but a really well run Club whatever we think p and the board and we could do things better in Europe and show more ambition there is no that were one of the best run clubs from a financial point of view it’s just H the frustration you know the lack of ambition at times I think it is isn’t it it’s the why are we not pushing the bo out a bit more ambition build on why don’t we get a couple of seven million pound players why don’t we retain a player for another season comes bad doesn’t it yeah but it comes into the boardroom we’ll come into this lawence it comes into the boardroom in the way that they think and and the culture within the boardroom whereby if somebody was to suggest something like that they would almost be um you know laughed at the risk of this absolutely maybe too much so because I agree in terms of financially we brilliantly run there should be no Club in Scottish Football able to have that kind of cast Reserve however though Liam it’s there because of us the fans it’s there because of the season ticket yeah we have done really well with buying and selling players and making a profit but not always we’ we’ve wasted a lot of that money like said in a previous show 56 million spent on players since 2011 who failed to play 50 or more games for the club that’s a Wast of 56 million quid now I know it’s not an exact science otherwise every football club would buy the right player every time it’s never going to happen but we have been pretty wasteful when it comes to the transfers um but yeah you mentioned figures here law these are very very basic figures but um when you look at the match day Revenue the match day Revenue obviously is based on the ticket price plus whatever the fans spends inside the stadium and it was 2.68 4 million that was the last figure um per game uh which really equates to 4443 so if you’re buying a a ticket for 35 quid you’re either spending money in there or the average is going up because of hospitality and corporate and all that kind of stuff for every seat in the stadium 4443 that’s what it’s worth so the match day Revenue to make up the 70 million which is the estimated cost of bringing the main stand to the level as the rest of the stadium and apparently La side would only bring you up to 70,000 by the way it would only add that amount of uh additional let’s say 10,000 additional seats so an extra 10,000 seats would generate an additional 444,000 80 don’t forget the 8 P for every home game every home game almost half a million quid for every home game um and we play roughly 25 a season so the way that we would work that out is it would take just over six years to pay back the 70 million so that that’s the way we kind of figured it out I I believe though Liam that and it may be a lack of ambition it might just be risk Avers as Lawrence says I think there’s only two reasons that we would do this the first one is if Rangers extend an increase their capacity right to 60,000 I think we would we would respond um or if we move everything out of Scottish Football Celtic play somewhere else that’s the only reason I think we’ll do it what’s your take on it yeah I um I’m not sure about the whole stadium upgrade thing because the I I’d love to see it don’t get me wrong I’d love to see it but you’re talking about a 70 million investment potentially and this is a board that won’t even spend you know 70 grand to get Celtic TV working properly so it’s like speculate to accumulate is not clearly something they just don’t buy into um because Celtic is a money-making machine but it could make so much more if it was more efficiently managed um you know we we do so well because we have such an incredibly loyal fan base MH um you know up there with the best in the world in my opinion but you look at teams with a similar size of fan base and not necessarily playing in the biggest leagues they bring in so much more than Celtic do every year because they know how to monetize things properly and it’s not things like oh let’s just bring out five kits every season you know that that that is cynical and people can see right through that um don’t get me wrong they probably still sell plenty but not as many as they would if it was done properly um there are so many I mean I could go on a rant there are so many different ways that we could get better with uh the marketing side of things but for now that’s say go with the stadium upgrade but I don’t think the board will because as Lauren said they’re risk averse and you’re asking me to think at least six years into the future and I don’t think they think six months into the future at the moment that that’s another thing we’ve been pretty critical of uh throughout the seven years but apparently um at the next fans Forum they’re going to give us a strategy you spoke about a 100e plan in Japanese football Liam before which just blew my mind apparently Celtic are going to give a plan to H whoever is lucky enough to be invited along to the for him um what do you make of all of that uh when do you want to wrap up the league let us know in the comments section as well and Lawrence Conley had the audacity to to suggest that we keep mat o I said something similar yesterday when Lawrence was out um having drinks with loads of people called Billy or Bell I said exactly the same Lawrence why not if we do have the ambition but the caveat is would the player want to stay because the minute a player checks out Lawrence it’s so difficult you know it’s not even worthwh is it no yeah Matt’s got what to say you know that that’s what it comes down to but you you know we can improve his contract you can put a buyout clause in it you know you can make it more lucra lucrative for him to stay it’s him wanted to St listen and if Celtic start investing in proper players they might go wait a minute they’re up in the game here they might do something in Europe you know it’s got to be bad for kind of players that are doing well me mat noral season but if he’s looking around and where’s the investment in this team you know who are the guys that’s going to take us to the next level he doesn’t see that coming in he probably vote his feet won he and he’ll have a lot of advice around about him as well lawr in terms of footballers I mean mat oi has been in a situation not that long ago where he was on a scrap Heap he was without a club so after he leav film he spent six months without a contract and during Co right he’s spoken about it I mean what a decision it was a decision he made not to sign a contract with FM but it was without a club for six months and in loads of clubs you know the financial uncertainty of the times Etc he did not get a contract he had to keep himself fit eventually went to mkon so I think that if you’ve gone through a situation similar to a player that’s had a really bad injury at times it’s like they want to grasp opportunities because they know their career could be taking off them like that yeah yeah and that’s the thing it’s a short career you’ve got to maximize it and uh I um I I hope we could hold on him at but I really don’t know I think he’s he’s a consumate professional he’s doing everything he can now but I think come this summer he’s going to be he’s probably going to be away I’d love to be proven wrong but people go on Liam about biggest transfer fees we know we’ve done it in the past right we’ve done it with J we’ve done it with Kieran TIY um in terms of the turnaround of a player coming in what they’ve done the impact and then selling on I’m thinking of guys like listen Van Dyke was unbelievable two and a half million I think we paid for him to groing again he comes in he was always going to move for big money and I think over the the the transfer plus the sale on I think we made about 20 million off him so about 18 profit there or thereabouts and then you’ve got a guy like uh J who was fairly expensive for us at the time six to six and a half million we sell him for 25 but frong needs to be up there I mean 300 Grand we paid for him to Manchester City it goes for 11 and a half and at some point this summer we’re going to get another 6.8 million quid for him unbelievable but oy again you know when you consider what we paid for him Lawrence 1.5 million pound now Celtic are not a bank as far as I’m concerned I’m really ambitious for our club and I would much rather we built the the team around him but if someone comes along with that kind of money that kind of offer there’s no that that Celtic are going to say no we won’t refuse it think Celtic will listen to it and I think it’ll come down to what the player wants to do because as much as it it need to want to stay you need to want to leave as well you know I think it’s definitely another season to develop itself CTIC we’ve got a lot of players to find you know we do need to bring a lot of call Squad if you’re S one of your best players and you one your best keeper retiring is making it hard enough as it is so you I I think we should try to do everything we can to keep him you know if we’re getting a 30 you know 25 30 million pound bid for him what we’re going to get when he’s fully established in a denish team we a good Champions League season under him you know playing alongside better players You’ think the money would go up so it’ll probably come down to what Mar wants to do if someone comes in with that kind of yeah you know Celtic will be willing listen whether Brandon would want him to leave or would there be any caveats about if he’s going for that money I want that money to spend a to find somebody to place is it 16 goals or something similar number of assists season’s not yet done so it leave a huge hole in their team I think it’s already there a substantial rebuild think I’ve got 53 goals and assists in 46 games this season you’re not replacing that you’re not replacing that you know nobody’s coming in and the thing with maty is he’s developed into the player that we’re watching you don’t buy maty as he is right near you buy him two and a half seasons ago and he develops into this guy so if you bring somebody in at five or six he’s not going to be M Ro he’s not going to make the same impact so yeah it’s a really difficult but before we go any further Liam because I know that you watch these things with interest what are my best quotes of the Season uh talking about mat you know how brilliant he is and everything that he brings to Scottish Football um when he won the penalty here guess who said this guess which well-known pundit said this and I’m this is verbatum right so don’t correct me for the way I’ve said it he’s went down very theatrically who do you think said that when went down for the penalty he’s went down very theatrically I mean it’s got the it’s got the the the poor punditry of Kenny Miller but it’s got the literacy of Chris Boyd I’m not sure which one to go with there to be it was the former yes K Miller what a shocker he had at the weekend that’s the worst performance I’ve ever seen or that was legendary it’s shocking that was absolutely shocking but yeah that’s what he said that’s exactly what he said Steven scho welcome to the show you’re on YouTube thank you for tuning in anybody watching on the YouTube give us a thumbs up subscribe to the channel as well um we are hurling towards 16 million views on the YouTube channel the only Celtic related Channel with more views is so thank you all for your support so according to clont and sunis Rangers will have a good summer window and Challengers for the league they forget that we have the money and we will have a good summer window too this comes back Lawrence to what I was saying earlier on there we played a team at the weekend there we put out a team that we could have played 16 months ago there were no new signings in there either from the summer transfer window or the winter so all this Bluster that you get from the other side that’s all fair and well we need to basically look after our own backyard and and and improve and I think that one of the points I would make is right it’s easy like you said earlier it’s easy to criticize the board right but see the the recruitment team which is obviously in the midst of a shakeup um that the head of Department are going to be replaced I would hope um and if they are being replac you would hope that they give Brandon the kind of same involvement that they gave an because apparently it was an that wanted mat l in the position that’s what we’ve been told as Celtic fans um and at that point you’re you’re thinking where they as bad were they as bad at identifying and recruiting players so the point I was making earlier to the axom Troops uh was that if you look at all the signings that came in when an was here it’s difficult sometimes L to say right he was an an signing and he wasn’t and all this kind of stuff right um but you could rest assur the Japanese players for example I mean the only two Celtic related people with that kind of knowledge about Japanese football was Liam caran and an bostu he signed the six Japanese players right and he also signed AR the rest of them we could probably argue about uh DEA mcconville awell member of axom pointed out that mat was part of an agency that we use quite a bit um in close conjunction with an po theu um CAA base I think they’re called Cabas so M and others might have been involved in that so kind of secondary um identification but if you’re going to give an that kind of um credit launch we’ve also got to say right well who identified J who identified car or starfi who identified Joe har ab and yaka makis and Janovich because all these guys are call alist Johnson these were all quality players and they all contribute to a double and a treble so we do have a recruitment team that doesn’t always get it wrong and I’m one of the biggest critics would you agree with that well I I think they’ve got a great return the recruitment team in general H you know not every transfer is going to work I think if we get 50% right but we’re doing well I think the problems been the strategy the level of players we’ve been going for there’s undoubtedly players that have been signed that we just looking to turn a profit on we know they’re not going to contribute long term and I think it’s been too much of that we’ve not been Aiming High Enough with the quality we come in you know the manager said it said it often enough this season but that’s not down to your Scouts you know they’re told I say you need to go and get a player and go and watch guy we not spending more than a million going to spend 2 million all they can do is produce a report what to say be a bit different to go listening we’re going to spend up to 7 million have you been watching going have a look at this guy you’d expect him to get in better quality but but it’s a track record the Scouts are there I mean you’ve listed some of the players vany you know you’ve get a great player trading model and we’ve not done that because a recruitment team are inherently bad I think it shows that they know what they’re doing I think we’ve been limited by the strategy that’s been set for them the REM that’s a different conversation that’s about ambition at the board level and they obviously know that the figure’s better than me H but I would suggest that having that amount of money we’ve get in the bank we could have been a we bit more adventurous L players were what Del for Brandon yeah I mean let’s go back to these for season then um and again you know we talk about lack of ambition and all that kind of stuff we um and we brought quality we brought in players like Sinclair and we brought in De and then you’re going to move forward a we bit listen no laughing at the back we brought in Oliver and Chan now the thing with him is he was he was a four and a half five million pound player when we we signed him and and he contributed to the early days first couple of SE second season and so on with with Brandon Rogers we brought in Edward 9 million pound um so I think that there was there was ambition shown but it’s almost as if we regressed over the last 12 months in terms of that and I go back to the original discussion we had is it a fact whereby that the board are looking across the city and saying right we don’t really need to push it out as much as that we don’t really need to stretch the envelope we can get by by playing uh the game and buying players for three and four million quid and that’s what we’ve done in the summer didn’t work so is it the big wakeup call that as fans we hope it is Liam and we approach it differently we we um you know stretching that strategy a we bit increasing the the amount we would pay in wages and in transfer fees yeah the it it’s a tricky one because on one hand it’s great we’ve won the it’s great that we’re about to win the league hopefully um I don’t want to jump the gun there but at the same time part of me thinks well this is this is the board getting away with it we are kind of being rewarded for this very poor strategy in terms of transfers in the last 18 months or so um and it’s uh that’s the unfortunate side to it but I do think that we you know it really does when you when you bring that up and you talk about signing Sinclair signing in Cham who was a very good player for that first season or so yeah yeah you know we um we’re not on that level at the moment and that just tells me that Brendan Rogers did not have as much anywhere near as much input into the signings as he would have wanted he’s been given a list of players and told to pick from it rather than actually being allowed to Source his own talent I think and hopefully that changes in in the um the thing just to touch on the M Riley think um if we do sell him I hope we sell him after the Euros because if Denmark have a good tournament and he’s there that money is going to go up oh definitely well like like lawren say but I do think that there’s a seiling on in terms of what you can make for a player in Scottish football and again we’ve already mentioned that there’s the pitch situation where and we’re bu in a top League we’ve sometimes had like a third of the parks being terrible synthetic surfaces um the empty seats you know the lack of sponsorship the broadcasting deal that we get so we’re in a we’re in a you know we’re in a game that I don’t think is big enough for the Ambitions that many fans have got um and that unfortunately uh reflects on the money you can demand for particular players I think 25 million quids an astonishing amount of money for a football team to attract um in Scottish Football I really do however you know um e was to be capped and and and went to a major tournament uh and performed well and performed well again in the newly revamp Champions League who knows it could push it up a we bit further but to get to the 78 million quid you need to be playing in one of the top five or six leagues I think um that would be my takeen it we’ve mentioned D and MAA Lawrence and now MAA you know if you look at this season and go through this season um you know there was even suggestions that he didn’t look happy at Celtic and he he clearly didn’t want to play for Brenan Rogers and all this nonsense I mean when we found out that he was coming back and he he made that brief appearance against hearts and we’re all praying that he plays against Rangers I mean you look at the goal for example taking that ball out there from car Vickers and obviously playing a a pass into the box and and then taking the claim of the Celtic fans in the crowds and you know he’s a player I I’m not even going to say divide’s opinion I think we’ve all accepted his fo balls we’ve accepted what he’s not good at Lawrence because everything he does that is good outweighs it listen we’re a poor Team without I think that’s you been highlighted this season so you know we might never get players that can of the 70 or 80 million pound but it’s probably as good as we could get for there and it gives absolutely everything you know and he just nonstop it’s every Glasgow dby gets out and destroys a a hall of fam with e you know and that’s allegedly one of their best players ever and’s destroying e so if he can beat a guy that level so easily you know it just shows how good he is H so that I suppose left side of the part you want to keep diesing hoping Greg signs a a new contract because when those two play together you know we get targeted I don’t think it’s down I think they’re coming down left because because it’s a new partner goodness knows L scales make continue to improve and improve everybody wrong but I mean what an attitude L scales has got sheer desire just to make that Jersey his own this season but think it surprise anyone now b a half please no it wouldn’t surprise me I think the the biggest question mark won’t be about scales’s future as such because scales will be a backup Liam it’s about all the other Center half you look at the the squad we’ve got at the moment obviously C Vickers and scales that’s your first two picks but behind him you know Steven Welsh Kobayashi lager and nooski we’ve got the kind of similar situation at the moment on the wings haven’t we whereby we’ve got seven or eight Wingers at the club and how many of them are good enough you know you’ve got maybe two who are your two first picks well it’s it’s d ma and James Forest right now now behind that you’ve got cun you’ve got Palmer who I’m not quite ready to write off yet you’ve got Yang you’ve got haab banovich coming back to the Football Club Mickey Johnson coming back you know got rockat don’t know what the future holds for for Vata um so we’ve got lots of personnel but a real lack of equality now I don’t disagree with with Lawrence when it comes to the seconder half we do need to improve it but for me Liam scales Tony Ralston I’ve said this before Steven Welsh and Greg Taylor I think in terms of a squad game over a season if you want to you know compete in a number of different tournaments these guys are key maybe not as first picks but they’re key as part of the squad th those names you’ve mentioned those are all guys I would have no quals about throwing into the average leag game no problem um Europe there’s questions there but um you know day-to-day League games that I would have absolute confidence in playing those players and not feeling that it was going to be a hindrance to us and yeah that’s it is a squad game and you know there’s also the fact to consider that there’s the Scottish quot to think about in the likes of Ralston and Taylor being there um Welsh as well that all adds to that qu which we we have to keep to so that’s the other consideration yeah without a doubt now um again the same kind of question I guess could be asked around the goalkeeper situation whereby we all know that Joe Hart’s retiring Lawrence has said the priorities to bring in a new goalie I don’t disagree with that but who’s your second pick do you stick with Scott Bane is he going for 250 unused substitute appearances next season L yeah look I said I think he’s back that Liam Kelly is that why we were’re interested in Kelly maybe maybe look at being on you know being’s backup I think br’s first time round if you get a dozen good games but he’s League trained must be honest that’s why he’s there he’s leag trained then and it suits us for a quot but H he’s not he was never in danger at rep place and Joe har is is number one you know and Joe’s just been the absolute con professional what you know we see if we win the double what wait for him to end his career MH not everyone would have that dedication and drive that Jo you know we came here but on a m massive wage cup you want two good keepers that are going to be buying for that number one so hopefully you know I think seist will go hopefully B goes as well you know he’s been here a while be B freshness if it is Liam Kelly no Morrison says he’s statistically not the best Keeper in the league I don’t know stally the worst Keeper in the league La yeah that might have been the phrasing of it but some the game Abs play he’s look decent you know so he’s not think the chance for number one or number two if we are going able you you would think that means Scorpions on the way out yeah yeah seven or eight years at the club uh jungle lion always great to hear from you uh great Wonder Paradise yes it’s a brilliant way to start the weekend I get up to Celtic Park and I was joined Yesterday by Tommy Sheridan and Kenny Ross for a we wonder we could have done a couple of laps um uh around the stadium yesterday there was plenty to talk about so go check it out on the channel as I say that’s our Monday night show and we are currently working on our Friday Night Show which is going to be joining the channel probably at the end of this month or the beginning of June Patrick Murphy are we confident brenon Rogers will be the manager come to start of next season if the board signifies they want to continue with their current recruitment model then I may think twice I know I would listen um we do hear grumblings here or there h on a Celtic state of mind um I think youve got to be very careful with Source material before you put it out there Li to be honest with you but the chat is around us maybe looking at the whole situation with the transfer model a bit differently injecting a bit of new Talent into the Celtic Bard room and having a different kind of vision and Outlook and I don’t know if that coincides with the revamp champions League format um especially when you look at you know if you can get into the mid table you get an extra game you know you get nine European games and I know it’s worth a lot of money to the club but it does seem as though that you know from the the grumblings we’re getting from Celtic Pat there is going to be a slightly different out look one thing I would say I have no doubts that Brennon Rogers will be in that Dugout next season no doubts I I up until a few weeks ago I wasn’t sure but he’s he’s been making a lot of noise the last few press conferences like he’s he’s feeling Vindicated and he’s feeling like yeah I’m I’m going to keep doing this job regardless of what you clowns and the media have to say about me and that that tells me that he’s here for longer term hopefully um terms of the transfer model uh you know we’re getting into the Champions League next year but from from as 25 26 we are not guaranteed that spot anymore we have to qualify for it yep so we have we have basically next year to get a squad in place that can consistently make the group stages mhm yeah so really we if the board even if you just assume that they’re money fixated which is the main criticism of them then it makes Financial sense to really invest in the team in the summer because it’s going to open up this same Financial pathway every year whereas if we don’t have a squad that’s good enough to get at least into the champ CHS League then that door slams shut and it might be several years before it opens again yeah because it’s the big biggest income stream and and obviously the thing is like you say there if they are money fixated and I think you know for a great deal them they are then you don’t shut off your biggest income stream ex so they’re not going to affect you being fixated with ensuring that that continues to come in is that you do need to be a smarter in the in the recruitment field you need to buy better quality players you need to a manager who’s part of that process not just presented with guys that don’t fit his style a ler B I mean let’s be honest guys there’s no way that Brandon Rogers had anything to do with that um Lawrence what about yourself we’ve been talking for the last few weeks about um the Brandon Omer that Kevin Kevin Gams had all season and how he’s been very very difficult in allowing that dial to go up into an acceptable level um what’s been your kind of Journey this season with Brandon Rogers were you happy when he came back have you back to him the whole way because as I said before I don’t think he’s going anywhere right now I was delighted when he came back you know we got compensation and arguably a better manager he’s had hasn’t been back to the board by the board in the transfer market to a level that I think any any of the fans would find acceptable he said injury upon injury to deal with bizarre calls from V you know Morrison’s stats the decisions are just he said every obstacle put up against him I think he said himself he’s been treated as an noice but it looks like he’s going to another Double Y everything he’s had in his way he’s not even worthy of being a in the short run for manager of the year yeah it’s just a joke isn’t it you know it’s so I B Brandon all the way I think he’s cracking manager for us first time round when he got a bit bit backing M football was better than you know had more quality and that’s what we need we need more quality on the part I think he’ll definitely be here you know I think the scouts are already looking at higher caliber of player just now Sumer will tell you know what we bring in but we could have in the cabinet this summer right yeah we could we could yeah we can’t forget the women’s team but the thing is Lawrence brenon Rogers will be excited by this new Champions League format the way that you know you’re going to get more action and as I said before to be a mid-table team that gives you an opportunity to get into the the next stages as well or playoff anyway much as he wants to develop players you know I think he was instrumental kind of like ke moving on test himself at the highest level Brendon wants to do that as a manager doesn’t he yeah yeah know as much as I think he’s undoubtedly very proud to be the manager of Celtic in the Champions League it knows it extra games I think that’s where he really sees himself isn’t it test himself against the best mhm CU I don’t know how many Rangers managers he seen off his time you know sometimes it’s two or three in a season he’s seen off so you know he must be grown tired of that he must into a different challenge the big thing as well H Liam as ambitious as he is he must realize also that in terms of his stock in English football and indeed top five or six leagues in in Europe it took a it took a dive in the final season at Leicester um you know and he’s come back to Celtic and maybe he’s licking his wounds in that respect knowing that um he’s not going to get that that move that you know always seemed to be in the offen when he was here first time round yeah I mean maybe he’s gone back to England and he’s obviously made plenty of money and whatever but he’s maybe thought the grass isn’t always greener you know may maybe maybe he’s realized that he was happy at Celtic he was he had the agulation of the fans he had a club that he could you know guaranteed to get at least a shot at Europe every year um and maybe he he’s at a point in his life now where money isn’t the primary concern and he’s thinking you know what I’m actually happy here I hope reping the Legacy and then building something that’s going to be looking better than we have been in Europe recently Now Kevin Mullen good to see you Kevin afternoon axom can’t wipe the smile off my face Happy Days let’s wrap up the title and lift the Scottish cup double Lawrence um when do you want to do it tonight tomorrow or the weekend soon as possible mate I think as soon as possible Tony ml will put a decent team and all of a sudden Tony do tonight sorryyy M Tony yes sorry all a the papers are wri about Rangers I’ve got injury problems oh no you we get SL up you know all season you’re kind of going so I I expect on take something I think that’s on them as well you got a special bottle that you’re going to crack open tonight if they do might do this one oh nice please responses G mny Walker weekend oh nice Donnie tiny hands need to Sprint over the line rather than crawl then win the cup to make clont rage again listen it’s a good point right because if you look at uh this season up and down Topsy Jael and hay we heard that all but when we’ve had to come up and and step up against Rangers often going into the game being written off by the media um with a defense that we’ve had to Cobble together in the first couple of games we’ve got the result three wins in a draw um psychologically how important is that going into the Scottish Cup Final yeah it’s it’s it’s psychological and psychology is crucial in this game because we’ve shown like you say by getting the important results when it matters that we have the the psychological strength and Rangers have shown time and time again that they don’t um every big opportunity they’ve had they’ve crumbled I mean let’s not forget that less than a month ago they were in po position to win this league you know that’s that’s how quickly the the roof is caved in for them and it’s largely down to their own bottle um you know if they had been able to see off Ross County see off done um you know they could have come to the position where losing at the weekend would not have mattered but they um you know they they have uh they’ve imploded and uh I see people saying in the comments that you know dund like between sort of 7 to1 and 14 to1 to win tonight depending which bookie you look at and uh Gamble responsibly everybody but I would have a punt on that if gambling wasn’t illegal in Japan I didn’t realize it was Liam I did not realize that um well horses are legal horses and uh and uh bizarre enough speedboat racing are the two forms of legal gambling in Japan and that’s it dear me Bobby charot comes in to say still a job to be done at KY absolutely personally can’t relax till it’s official don’t want any doubts hanging around on Saturday lunchtime Kelly won’t make it easy no they haven’t this season they’ve been a bit of a boogy team um sober Hearts but we blew them away you and boy Martin I am expecting a master class tomorrow with a 4N win don’t forget that y has been instrumental in this Friday’s upcoming gig with the Centenary boys Peter Grant and Joe Miller Do’s about 15 tickets available for that and the link is underneath this video uh really looking forward to another axon live event in front of a different audience I’ve been told dun is one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland and I’m looking forward to seeing it for the first time uh double denim hopefully we’ll see you at some point this week on the show afternoon folks says Chris hope you guys are all Grand new uh Champions League format looks promising if we can wrap up the title tomorrow then we must show a statement of intent with a recruitment in the summer yeah I see a lot of people um paining for getting the old band back together faser Foster Kier TIY H ozen Edler pad Roberts all the old names are getting rolled out my take on that Lawrence let’s let’s write our new history let’s write our own history let’s let’s find the players who are at the cusp becoming that Top Class player playing in in the big league I think that’s only way we can approach this once I said you know Brandon said this team WR their own story but uh I think it needs to be a better mixure I think we do need to dring in some experience you know look what my when he come in with that experience yes but you know if we find somebody like mat again well mat was two years ago it’s taken that time to develop we really want to do something in the Champions League that that year you know we want a V to show some ambition we’ve got probably more money at disposal than we’ve ever had you know I don’t know if Mikey Johnson will come back but after he’s showing down south you probably probably get five or six million for him frong money coming in M does got think he take a transfer record so you don’t want it to be potential do you no no that’s another 3540 million pound you’ve just quoted yeah we need experience in that team you know Top Class goalkeeper and I’d be looking at bringing a center half car Pickers some get left back to challenge Greg yeah I think they definitely need some help in the wings because I think we’re saying you know three or four Wingers and I’m not too sure there’s between them so not the level that we need you know and and and probably up front we’re going to need someone that’s get kind of real competition by I don’t think genely push him no I you know that he’s worrying about losing his sh and I don’t think I is the guy that going work Los sh well joy Dawson S A New Deal Liam ask you you did you’re favorite player remember back in the day play well played well back in the days back in the D Keith days La Liam one final question uh you and I were pretty critical of the fact that Celtics signed uh a player from Japan called Nakamura who was an absolute icon but we kind of ignored the market and toan came into the equation and answered the specialist knowledge and he’s obviously he’s got quite a few of them right let’s be honest you know hatti kyogo and MAA and you know a is a decent scad player um Kobayashi and iguchi didn’t work out but that’s fair enough are we still looking are we just going to do the Nakamura thing again we’re going to ignore you guys for 16 years what’s going to happen here I’m not hearing any noises but uh you would hope that we’ve still kept some kind of uh presence over here I mean Yokohama are part of the city group and Celtic do have a relationship there so hopefully that’s being looked at um we do I believe have some kind of relationship with v El Kobe as well um because that’s that’s who we sign kyogo from and we’ve been linked with other players there recently as well so hopefully I um the the good thing is whilst we’ve got the Euros this summer which is going to put value on any players that have a good tournament and possibly price them out of our range um Japan you know the the next big tournament for them isn’t for another year or so so that’s you know we could get players are kind of floating under the radar at the moment here’s the thing Lauren Liam at some point in the next few weeks certainly through the preseason give us a few Hot Tips give us a you know three or four players that you would recommend from the Japanese game you’ve obviously got your ear to the ground over there it would be interesting we know the qualiity is there we can see it every week in the Celtics side thank you everybody for getting involved it’s been tremendous 1800 strong on the Tuesday bulletin um and I’ve got to thank every single one of you give me a thumbs up on the YouTube if you’re watching welcome to all our new viewers on the old Instagram still haven’t got my head around Instagram just yet but I’m getting there and we’ll improve the content as I say even further working on that Friday Night Show cannot wait to share that with you guys thanks everybody for getting involved come along atun and join us with Joe Millan and Peter Grant Lawrence you know how great both of them are to have the be them on the same stage it’s G to be a cracking night it’s there’s going to be a lot of laughs and stories that haven’t to be video TR say yeah keep the phones away and we’ll get the truth that’s what I always say at the beginning of these events really looking forward to all that’s left for me to say Liam kigan Lawrence cornley thank you for joining me on a Celtic state of M