Leo Hjelde

Winter

Winter

Well-known member
Once again Celtic look likely to lose one of of our most promising talents in 18 yr old leo to Leeds. Granted it would be unfair to stsnd in the young bhoys way of a move to EPL leeds and the chance to work under Bielsa. Except he will not go into that team he will go into the u23s something we dont have on offer here. As long as this situation continues in Scotland we will see this more and more often. I have it on good authority that Leo Is regarded as one of Celtic's best young players and we are likely to get next to nothing for him. I apologise for the bad news when were getting loads of good news and I admit I haven't seen him play my brother has a few times and rates him very highly. What has happened ? We cannot give him any game time except for the colts in thre lowland league and that is at present only for one 1 year and could be disbanded after the season. This is not good enough Celtic, theRangers, hibs, hearts etc must put their foot down and demand this restructuring of the leagues to involve our colts become a permanent fixture of the season every season. The nonsense we are hearing that lowland/highland league clubs will suffer is to quote the great man himself " bunkum" the top 6 clubs can afford to send money down the line to these clubs and I dont mean 100k between 30 clubs , more like 150k each. The money we spend on these young players amounts sometimes 3 or 4 times that amount . Why bother if we are to constantly losing them . We dont need sky cash to develop our youth on the contrary all we need is game time. Also without trying to sound cold hearted ( I'm going to though) these clubs should have no say in the structuring processes and procedures of our game I mean come on boonnyrigg rose and east kilbride are dictating to Celtic and the other top six clubs? Give them decent money as compensation and they will fall in line as it should be. I am raging we are losing this player who is 18 and yet perhaps 2 seasons away from our first team. If the colts experiment is stopped in its tracks by Whitehill welfare or the likes that could set the game back here another decade. If the low and highland leagues aren't prepared to do it then the clubs must look at other options like a youth European or British league and give them the money and I'm sure we will see a change in attitude from these clubs who have attendances of 50 people and 2 dugs if they're lucky. Completely raging at this so much that I think I need to take my mind off it. Scottish football will never advance and is more likely to lose the automatic champions league entry with this 'in it for yourself attitude' but the top six have to be held accountable also as its obvious not enough money is trickling down to these divisions. Still those who have come up have acquitted themselves very well. The spfl and sfa also must do something else why bother buying these youngsters to sell them on for 100k profit roughly? Farcical and the fans of all clubs must come together to oust these unfit for purpose organisations that have done nothing , zilch , nada, fk all for our game except earn a lot of money. Aaargh I'm so fn angry at this news for if there was a real pyramid system we could keep our players and watch them develop at close quarters. WGS I really hope this is one of the things you are here to assess and hopefully fix because every window its getting worse, not happy rant over HH ☘
 
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Another nail in the coffin orchestrated by David Murray, he wanted rid of the colt (under23) league set up to allow him more money for the glorious assault on champions league football(ha) , and the compliant poodles obliged.

Most of the rest now say they cant afford it, my argument is you cant afford not to have it.

We will forevermore see run of the mill cheaper overseas talent in clubs that yrs ago would have been filled with Scottish talent.

Thks Sir tax avoider.
 
50 Shades of Green said:
Another nail in the coffin orchestrated by David Murray, he wanted rid of the colt (under23) league set up to allow him more money for the glorious assault on champions league football(ha) , and the compliant poodles obliged.

Most of the rest now say they cant afford it, my argument is you cant afford not to have it.

We will forevermore see run of the mill cheaper overseas talent in clubs that yrs ago would have been filled with Scottish talent.

Thks Sir tax avoider.
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Bang on 50 but youd think that the powers that be would know by know how he killed a world renowned and hated club and start reversing anything he did, and anything hed ever done
 
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Great points raised by both 50 and Winter and while I agree that the failure to properly structure Scottish football has caused a systemic rot in the way we are developing young talent, I also believe that Celtic missed a wee trick by not developing a franchise model that can be a natural setting for our young players to get exposure to different styles of football and experience in the competitive side of the game.

I appreciate that clubs like Man City and PSG are sucking the soul out of football, but they are also identifying new areas where at least they can benefit from blooding, or having access to, talent from other parts of the world.

I'm not suggesting that Celtic were/are in a position to throw huge bundles of cash into these projects, but I would assume that - if they were done sensibly, then Celtic might have the means to develop at least one or two franchises that would provide a platform for our young players to play in a decent standard of competition and promote 'the brand' even further in specific locations.

I'm not having an unnecessary crack at the other teams in our league or in the championship, but to take 50's point - it is a bit disheartening to see so many foreign lads, loaners, journeymen and ageing pros who are currently taking the places of promising youngsters in their respective first-team squads.

I'm sure that money and glamour are a good enough incentive for lads like Leo Hjelde to seek pastures new, but it doesn't help that there doesn't appear to be an obvious route into the first-team either. I guess we can hold up the example of Stephen Welsh recently, but that was borne out of necessity really and his first-team exposure would likely have been limited if our experienced players and big money signings were available.

As 50 stated - this is a Scottish issue, not just a Celtic problem and when the real teeth of the Covid aftermath starts to bite their arses financially - then I'd chuck a good chunk of change at many clubs not being able to maintain their current expenditure.

That Under-23 league may not have seemed like an expensive luxury when the actual penny (figuratively and metaphorically) starts to drop.
 
You'd think this season we could present a pathway to the first-team for an athletic, left-footed centre back with senior experience (at Ross County). For my money he looks a better player than the other young centre backs we've tried. If he was to stay, surely Ange could offer him a first-team opportunity.

That said, if he'd rather play for Leeds' U23 then cheery-bye.
 
Legend07 said:
Haven’t we linked up with a few clubs over the years? After it was announced nothing else was heard of. So what happened?
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Aye there was the Mexican club and possibly south African ? I think they are just merchandising deals in the main with a few players moving in both directions like Juarez who I thought did ok but the manager wasnt keen pity
 
Unfortunately our game in Scotland is run by fucking idiots, we've had think tanks by the fuckin dozen, league reconstructions galore & still no fuckin improvement.

The SFA are still running the game like they did a 100 yrs ago by fuckin committee, feart tae piss of the Huns, feart tae piss off the wee clubs, feart tae loose their fucking freeloading, I've seen with my own eyes, these cunts spending £1,000s on expenses on 3day away trips, was in Cyprus a few yrs ago SFA Delegates 250, fuck sake Cyprus isn't a hotbed if world football, but a 4day jolly sun,sea & expenses. Money going out the game that could be going tae the lower lge.IMO not fit for purpose, needs streamlined.

SPFL, selling our game short, also just as bad as the SFA for freeloading, if you go abroad with Celtic, have a wee look at posh seats & see how many of the lower lge clubs CEO's, Chairman & other board members freeloading, SPFL regularly sent 20-30 delegates when Celtic or The other mob are abroad more money going out the game. Same as SFA needs streamlined.

As for young talent not getting a game well that's down tae the clubs, if a players good enough get him in with the 1st team training, get them on the bench & let them get game time against the smaller clubs if the games won.
 
I cannot help but think the solution is based on a European wide U-23 competition. Here in the Czech Republic, Slavia and Sparta have exactly the same problem as Celtic.
If we could arrange a city league to include :
GLASGOW
PRAGUE
BRUSSELS
and other cities with two top league teams then a competition based on every other Wednesday/Saturday could easily be instigated at mimimal cost that would attract enough tv money to cover any outlay.
The solutions are there, but I fear no one is seriously seeking to fix the issue.
 
Prague67Bhoy said:
I cannot help but think the solution is based on a European wide U-23 competition. Here in the Czech Republic, Slavia and Sparta have exactly the same problem as Celtic.
If we could arrange a city league to include :
GLASGOW
PRAGUE
BRUSSELS
and other cities with two top league teams then a competition based on every other Wednesday/Saturday could easily be instigated at mimimal cost that would attract enough tv money to cover any outlay.
The solutions are there, but I fear no one is seriously seeking to fix the issue.
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This is somrthing I'd agree with. Throw in some Dutch and Scandinavian clubs too. I'm sure you could negotiate a half decent TV deal too (probably better than the SPFL can do) to help fund it.
 
Sadly, I suspect it will be players like Leo that would have developed most under Ange. It is very frustrating to lose yet another talented youngster. I have no real interest in him now but wish him no ill will. So I hope it works out well for the fella and he doesn't become yet another statistic in the long list of good uoung players that never be given a chance by the English teams.
 
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This is an area for which I shall judge Dom mckay mostly upon.
It's scandalous that there is still nothing available for the development of youngsters within Scottish football and yet all the diddy clubs having such a say upon it, is well beyond a joke now.
We are the club that has done the most for the national team, yet that goes unnoticed.
Need a solution Now to the problem and issue, and either the club force the issue with running a 2nd team in the Scottish league or we approach the English FA to run an u23 team, sick of all the arseholes within the Scottish FA who are Not prepared to stand against these diddy clubs for the good of the game in Scotland.
Really hope Dom finally addresses the issue and gets the solution, as it's criminal to treat such talented youngsters with utter contempt at present.
 
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On a similar vain my sons pal was a really good player and was signed at 16 by Man City this would be in the mid to late 90s ,as a sixteen year Old he was earning £1000 a week ,ended up doing the rounds of lower league English clubs but still making more than he would playing up here ,at least he was a sensible boy and saved his money for later when he knew times wouldn't be so good ,prior to signing for MC he had been on the books of a certain team from Glasgow that play in blue but signed for MC because they of little money only offered him £100 a week , its competing against this type of money thats difficult as well as the ability to have a career path
 
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