POTTER FOR CELTIC??????

[ivoralljack]

Should we be worried? Quite frankly I am because it makes a whole lot of sense for him and Celtic. Maybe just gossip but an article in the Sun newspaper says:

Swansea boss Graham Potter is in contention for the Celtic job after one season in Wales. His passing style of play and ability to bring through young players is right up the street of the Scottish giants.

Neil Lennon is caretaker and may stay but that has not stopped the Parkhead hierarchy looking around for options. Potter, 43. also comes with knowledge of European football - and his agents are close to senior Celtic chiefs.

I've posted a number of times on here my fear of this very situation coming about should our owners continue with their selling policy. No manager worth his salt would tolerate his work being undermined by the selling of players he has coached into becoming a promising team. And even worse for Potter, he would be given very little funds, if anything at all, to strengthen. As it is, a Celtic offer might be too good to refuse, if it came about, even if NO players were sold. Guaranteed European football each season; fanatical full house support at every home game and a fat salary that in no way would our owners be prepared to match. It might be just rumour at this stage but I for one am concerned.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

I was in Glasgow over a week ago and watched the Celtic v Livingston match. I have seen paint dry faster than they move the ball ... and that's after how many seasons of Rogers. After spending 3 days at the SFA, Ibrox, Celtic Park and receiving presentations from Celtic commercial operations, I can safely say that Scottish football is a delusion in their own minds and Celtic and Rangers fans are drunk on their own cool aid. Celtic football is a long, long, long way from the quality of the 60's under Jock Stein. It is at best mediocre Championship. We would slaughter them .... not at the level of our QPR performance ... but at the level of our previous 3 matches we would play through them like a hot knife through butter, as would many other Championship sides. When your national #9 is English, playing for a Welsh club, and 22 years old, and you're holding dire postmortems about your recent international defeats then I don't think you can brag about your football.

However, having said all that, the Celtic commercial operation is first class; it's just that their football isn't, and they'll admit it.

If Potter really thinks that going there is a step up from the squad he currently has then good luck to him. They have to start preseason in the 3rd week of June to be ready to traipse off to European backwaters to play qualifiers. Over 95% percent of their matches are against sides that our U23 could beat. Stick with us and you can be playing the likes of City, United, Arsenal, Spurs et al on a regular basis and potentially sneak into the Europa League by being the best of the rest or win a cup final ... we've done it, it's possible. I would also add that Celtic is a selling club, more so than us; don't forget where we got Ki from.

Rogers went to Celtic because he was unemployed and nobody was giving him a look.

 

[CroJack]

That would be a wrong move for Potter. Be sure the Premier League clubs are watching what is going on in the Championship and the Premier League bosses are all aware of Potter's work at Swansea.

I bet if they asked Pep Guardiola which team has played best football against Msnchester City this season, he would answer that Swansea has. They've all watched that FA Cup game, if not live then the replay.

Some of the football we have played this season was a pure replica of Pep's football, just with some low quality players, and that's even more impressive. Imagine what would Potter do if you gave him a top ten Premier League club to manage? Or any top ten club in the top five European leagues?

But if the yanks sell any of our young stars in the summer transfer window, then I wouldn't blame him if he goes, even to Celtic.

 

[Jackflash]

If he aint one yet, he'd have to convert to Catholicism.

 

[jackodiamonds]

No chance Potter goes. He's a project man. 7 years at Ostersunds, taking them up the divisions and into Europe. He's at Swansea specifically because he's a long-term operator who can transform underdogs, and he said it was a difficult decision to uproot his entire family, but he still chose to do so. What's for him at Celtic? A readymade Premiership winning side that needs next to no work to always win, and the tin cup of topping Football's tiniest tower. It's a Qatari retirement job without the Qatari wage packet.

 

[ivoralljack]

No chance Potter goes. He's a project man. 7 years at Ostersunds, taking them up the divisions and into Europe. He's at Swansea specifically because he's a long-term operator who can transform underdogs, and he said it was a difficult decision to uproot his entire family, but he still chose to do so. What's for him at Celtic? A readymade Premiership winning side that needs next to no work to always win, and the tin cup of topping Football's tiniest tower. It's a Qatari retirement job without the Qatari wage packet.

Perceptive post that I agree with. BUT....... Potter obviously had backing to a decent degree at Ostersunds. How is he going to react if/when his best players are sold from under him before he and they have a chance to realise their potential with the Swans? It'll be a case of 3 steps forward and 2 back every season and I think he's going to get pretty ticked off about that. A manager can only take so much and when Potter realises that all he's doing is not building a team but merely providing cash for the owners and their investors, he might look for a challenge elsewhere. It well might not be with Celtic but there are plenty of ambitious clubs out there with owners that DO care and would be prepared to back him to the hilt to further the progress and development of their clubs. That's the situation we'd like at the Liberty but it is patently, obviously not the case right now.

 

[Behindthegoal]

When he started at ostersund they were in a mega low league where the only way was up. There was room for significant progress each season and he was able to carry the team, the fans and the town with him.
I don't know what the ownership status is, but they too were committed.
Here he has the team, certainly, the fans, mostly, the town (if only we'd beaten Citeh!), partly. As always the problem is the owners.

 

[CroJack]

Pros:

When asked about losing his best players in the summer transfer window, Potter answered 'We used to sell our best players at Ostersund and still progressed as a team'. This answer confirms he's come to Swansea for a long term project, and that he thinks style of football is more important than individual players.

Another important thing is his lad. I am sure Potter doesn't want to move his family to another place after just one year.

Cons:

The Sweedish lower leagues are crap. Players are mostly on semi-professional contracts and a clever manager like Potter can do miracles there with a superior style of play. Which Potter did by promoting Ostersund from the fourth to the top tier.

But, but...the Championship is a different animal. Superior style of football is not enough in the long run, you simply need quality in your squad. You can't progress if your goalie can't catch the ball or save a simple shot. You can't progress if you can't finish off the chances you create.

To put it simply:

Inferior style of play + superior players = mediocrity

Superior style of play + inferior players = mediocrity

You can't make an oil painting without oil paint. An artist needs tools to be creative.

 

[Behindthegoal]

Unfortunately our artist already has the tools - they live in USA!

 

[Yankee_Jack]

The problem with the story that our top players are going to be sold to other teams is the existence of a market for those players. We all like to think our shit doesn't stink or that our best are truly world beaters but the fact of the matter is that there are 24 teams in the Championship, 20 in the Prem, and 20 +/- teams in the top leagues in a dozen other countries in Europe all with players similarly categorized and all seemingly close in comparison and with different price tags and financial expectations.

For example, City will not come in for James .... they're all stocked up and have their own German wonder kid who last night started on the bench. Similar story at many, many other clubs. A season or two in the Prem putting up some serious performance numbers ... then we have a different story. But, right now I think this lot will stick around for at least next season and then if we get promoted a season after that.

The only counter to this is a fire sale by ownership because they believe they need the cash for operations. Hopefully the new CEO can talk sense, manage expectations, and set the sensible course.

 

[Jackflash]

I'd like to think the new CEO could talk some sense into them, but I very much have my doubts. They are a pair of money orientated misers, Not really interested in sport whatsoever, with the one thing in mind, not what can we do for sport, but what can sport do for us.

 

[ivoralljack]

I understand that very few people are in sport for the love of it merely using it as a conduit to make money. But it would be good if those people also put something back as well as just taking. It should be a mutually beneficial thing but so often it isn't. If our owners, for instance, had made good on the promises that were publicly made when they took over the club, by putting some of their own money in to buy players etc, they wouldn't be getting the flak they are now.

We aren't daft. We appreciate that investors in sport, as in any business, expect a return on their money and they are entitled to that. But asset stripping is another tale entirely and, as yet, we have yet to see our owners put any of their own money into the club. Players that we have signed have been funded by the sale of other players and not by any money put in by the owners. One way traffic indeed.

 

[Jackflash]

Unfortunately our artist already has the tools - they live in USA!

Under lock & key.

 

[Jackflash]

I understand that very few people are in sport for the love of it merely using it as a conduit to make money. But it would be good if those people also put something back as well as just taking. It should be a mutually beneficial thing but so often it isn't. If our owners, for instance, had made good on the promises that were publicly made when they took over the club, by putting some of their own money in to buy players etc, they wouldn't be getting the flak they are now.

We aren't daft. We appreciate that investors in sport, as in any business, expect a return on their money and they are entitled to that. But asset stripping is another tale entirely and, as yet, we have yet to see our owners put any of their own money into the club. Players that we have signed have been funded by the sale of other players and not by any money put in by the owners. One way traffic indeed.

A glaring example of NOT speculating to accumulate , but to just keep accumulating until the well is dry.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

The problem with the story that our top players are going to be sold to other teams is the existence of a market for those players. We all like to think our shit doesn't stink or that our best are truly world beaters but the fact of the matter is that there are 24 teams in the Championship, 20 in the Prem, and 20 +/- teams in the top leagues in a dozen other countries in Europe all with players similarly categorized and all seemingly close in comparison and with different price tags and financial expectations.

For example, City will not come in for James .... they're all stocked up and have their own German wonder kid who last night started on the bench. Similar story at many, many other clubs. A season or two in the Prem putting up some serious performance numbers ... then we have a different story. But, right now I think this lot will stick around for at least next season and then if we get promoted a season after that.

The only counter to this is a fire sale by ownership because they believe they need the cash for operations. Hopefully the new CEO can talk sense, manage expectations, and set the sensible course.

The key point I was trying to make here is that selling players and getting the return you want is a lot harder to do in practice than in theory.

The only certain way to get the club back into good financial standing and getting the owners the return they expected is to keep the players and get back into the Prem. Any other approach is fraught with obstacles.

 

[CroJack]

The only certain way to get the club back into good financial standing and getting the owners the return they expected is to keep the players and get back into the Prem. Any other approach is fraught with obstacles.

Yes, but not by having 85% wages to revenue ratio. For a small club like Swansea, being in the Premier League is only profitable if you can keep the wages under 60% of your revenue.

Another posibility is to keep playing in the Championship, develop young players and sell them for a huge profit.