Celtic finally acting like a proper football club
After it was confirmed yesterday evening that we have finally signed Haissem Hassan, attention now turns to who will be next through the door. Rumours abound that we are on the cusp of wrapping up a deal for Mika Baur, another player we have held a strong interest in throughout the summer…
There are also pictures circulating of Chelsea youngster Landon Emenalo being shown around Lennoxtown, a potential loan move for the left back being heavily mooted by those in the know.
As one of my colleagues stated yesterday, the activity during the last few days almost makes it feel like it’s Transfer Deadline Day. Positivity amongst the fans is about as high as I can remember in a long time.
It’s fantastic to see the club wrapping deals up BEFORE we start the Champions League process. It’s literally what every Celtic fan has asked for year after year, with us more often than not being let down by the club.
Almost as surprising as getting deals completed in a timely manner is the fact that we aren’t cashing in on all our prized assets at the first sniff of money being offered from cash rich teams down south.
Yes we let Maeda go but having Camilo Duran and Kasper Høgh already up to speed has negated that loss. Holding on to Engels and Alistair Johnston is a sign that those in power at Celtic are actually taking Champions League qualification seriously this season. Which leads to the question, what behind the scenes has changed?
I’m not sure we will ever know, especially with our club being notoriously secretive regarding how decisions are made within the corridors of power.
Some have suggested it’s all down to Martin O’Neill. While I’m sure the Derry native will surely have been using his famous powers of persuasion to charm those who guard the biscuit tin, I’m not convinced that Martin alone would be capable of changing years of mismanagement so quickly. So what’s really going on then?
Is it due to the actions of the fan base, where a large majority have stuck steadfast to the ‘not another penny’ campaign? I’m sure there has been a noticeable drop in merchandise revenue, and the sight of Celtic Park being so empty for the pre-season friendlies surely raised anxiety to those in power but with season tickets selling out easily I can’t see a certain Dermot Desmond being too worried about the club going broke.
Personally I feel like there are two main reasons
The first being Paul Tisdale no longer being head of football operations. I have believed for a long time that the self professed ‘football doctor’ was a catastrophic appointment.
He shouldn’t have been near a huge institution such as Celtic. Nothing in his past career signalled he was ready for such a role. To me he was someone who managed to feed the Celtic board a load of tosh about analytics, algorithms and philosophy which made him sound like a modern innovator, when in reality he was a blagger who got found out pretty quickly.
We then have Brendan Rodgers. All we ever heard from our manager was that he wanted to trim the squad. Quality over quantity. It was about finding players to take us to the next level. They gave him Shin Yamada and Hayato Inamura. Whatever happened between Rodgers and Dermot Desmond was going on a lot longer than the famous ‘Honda Civic’ quotes. It’s clear Desmond didn’t want to back him.
What is happening this summer is exactly what Rodgers consistently asked for. He got it the previous summer, signing Arne Engels, Auston Trusty and Adam Idah. We ended the season with two trophies and were within touching distance of putting Bayern Munich to the sword in the Champions League. Then nothing.
If he had been able to bring in the talent we have seen come in during the past month then we would have easily have qualified for the Champions League yet again and in my opinion gave it a good shot whilst in it. I genuinely can see no reason not to back Rodgers at that stage other than some sort of personal grievance.
What must Brendan be thinking looking on at the minute?
It would be fantastic if the club came out and stated that they have got things horribly wrong in the past regarding transfer activity before vital Champions League qualifiers. Say sorry and pledge that it will never happen again. Be open and transparent moving forward. Do it think it’ll happen? Absolutely not. Let’s just be glad things seem to be moving in the right direction.
And that will allow us all to go out and buy that away strip the team wore at Rugby Park on Sunday. It’s a thing of beauty.
