Celtic addressed weaknesses on the park, now off-field flaws must be sorted

The Celtic Star

·11 September 2024

Celtic addressed weaknesses on the park, now off-field flaws must be sorted

An international break at the start of September is perhaps inconvenient – particularly on the back of an impressive Glasgow Derby win – but it also offers an opportunity to reflect on recruitment, pre-season and the start of our title defence…

Celtic v theRangers – Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates after scoring Celtic’s second goal during the Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park on Sunday September 1, 2024. Photo Andrew Milligan

The arrivals of Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinasalo has seen the goalkeeping position strengthened with both an experienced operator and a young protégé allowing for supporter optimism that both today and tomorrow are now well catered for between the sticks, meanwhile at left back Greg Taylor, an over utilised and underrated player, has both competition and/or cover in the shape of Barcelona loanee Alex Valle.

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In central defence USA international Auston Trusty arrives to strengthen the squad, adding both recovery pace and an ability to progress the ball from defence, whilst also offering an alternative to the strong defensive qualities of current incumbent Liam Scales.

Auston Trusty

In midfield Matt O’Riley, who will be sorely missed, has been replaced by a record transfer from the Bundesliga -and now a full Belgian international – in Arne Engels, a canny midfield acquisition in Luke McCowan, from Dundee, who has been a consistent performer at domestic level – and our try before you buy returnees in Paulo Bernardo and striker Adam Idah are proven talents who will require no bedding in time.

Add to that as impressive a pre-season as you could reasonably expect -and a start to the domestic campaign that has been near faultless – and great optimism ensues as we head into the post international ‘break’ landscape and the incessancy of two games per week.

Celtic also enter a fresh UEFA Champions League competition where the squad will test themselves against eight high level opponents, allied to a hope – if not expectation – we can add further elite opposition post January to our congested fixture list.

The squad has been streamlined with an incredible eleven exits through sales or retirement and a further four first team players out on loan, which may well be lauded as business suitably concluded in some quarters –and there is merit to such a stance – but is also is a stinging critique on the club’s recruitment from previous transfer windows where a quantity rather than quality issue would be the logical conclusion to reach, as realistically only the retiring Joe Hart and the sale of O’Riley to Brighton were losses who were within the manager’s circle of trust.

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With the benefit of hindsight January was a good transfer window, with Adam Idah and Nicolas Kuhn proving astute business and a sign the overseeing eye of the manager –something that appears to have continued into the summer window- has aided a recruitment team hitherto under deserved scrutiny.

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The jury remains out of course on the abilities of some of the new arrivals, however, bar perhaps an extra left-wing option and a young pretender to offer back up to Kyogo and Idah up front, on paper at least, the key positions which required strengthening have been addressed. Although the inordinate time it took to conclude our business hints at either – or both – a recruitment department and executive in need of some assistance when it comes to transfer strategy, squad building awareness and the art of the deal.

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The manager has more than hinted at his own frustrations this summer and the next few weeks may well signify some further recruitment at Celtic – this time behind the scenes. Indeed, to not address the operating worthiness and leadership of the recruitment team would be both folly and arguably tone deaf based on the available evidence, the manager’s annoyed utterances and previous departures in positions of key importance to a modern thinking football club that have yet to be backfilled.

We are paying some £9m over the course of his contract for Brendan Rodgers to manage Celtic. History shows his key strengths are player improvement, tactical nous and game management. Perhaps then it would be astute to ensure moving forward he has a supporting cast who can deal with his recruitment requirements in a timely and efficient manner and leave the time-consuming distractions and debates to suitably qualified professionals.

Having them be available for scrutiny in the way the manager is may also lighten the load for Brendan Rodgers, who whilst exhibiting extraordinary levels of patience, is often asked to answer questions for which he may not be best positioned to offer the appropriate responses.

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Celtic v theRangers – Callum McGregor celebrates with James Forrest after scoring Celtic’s third goal of the game during the match at Celtic Park on Sunday September 1, 2024. Photo Andrew Milligan

Celtic have started the season as well as any of us could have hoped but it should be noted the manager and players have had one game a week and a full week between games on the training ground to prepare thus far. With the visit of Hearts this weekend and Slovan Bratislava in midweek that changes. Squad depth and utilisation will be key moving forward and the summer recruitment will be tested.

We have a manager who has proven himself second time around, particularly in some significantly testing moments last season. He now has a squad down in numbers but arguably stronger in both talent and versatility – as he demanded.

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Celtic v theRangers – Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates after scoring Celtic’s second goal of the game during t match at Celtic Park on Sunday September 1, 2024. Photo Andrew Milligan

We now approach the Champions League where some appropriate benchmarking – particularly in the home matches – can be carried out on the strength of our team and squad in comparison to some talented opponents, rather than gauged solely at a domestic level and a city rival in a state of flux.

It’s going to make for an exciting few months at Celtic and will be a real test of the credibility of our strategy both on and off the park. Only time will tell if the encouraging early signs can be maintained as the challenges arrive thick and fast, but it’s hard not to be optimistic given the start to the season and the welcome overhauling of a previously bloated first team pool.

Niall J

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