Apparently Celtic have a transfer policy, some even call it a model.
The policy seems very flexible and can easily change to justify whatever circumstances the club finds itself in.
In January 2022 and 2023 there was barely a word of discontent, the plan worked a treat. As soon as the previous summer transfer window was completed Ange Postecoglou knew exactly what he wanted in January.
Towards the end of December 2021 Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi were announced as signings, they were training with the first team squad and played in the first game of the year with Maeda scoring an early goal in the 2-0 win over Hibs. Two weeks later Hatate followed up his goal at Tynecastle with a double in the Glasgow Derby.
By 10pm on February 2 the forward planning had paid off, Celtic were on top of the SPFL Premiership while the other mob paraded their Welsh show-pony, soon to make history in Seville.
Postecoglou copied those tactics last season with Alistair Johnston and Oh Hyeon-gyu in the side and contributing before Josip Juranovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis had been sold. As a Brucey Bonus for the Balance Sheet a healthy profit was made, everyone a winner.
2 for 1 usually means lower quality
— BkmnJ (@celtic_won) August 30, 2023
And then we come to summer 2023, Postecoglou is no longer involved as Mark grabs his big opportunity, a Lawwell family member in charge of transfer activity. What could possibly go wrong?
Four projects are quickly recruited with no obvious means to bring them up to first team standards, one of them is from the South Korean Second Division.
Either side of 28-year-old Carl Starfelt being sold a 23-year-old and a 22-year-old are signed. Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke show every sign of becoming good players, perhaps better than Starfelt but there is a real lack of experience in this Celtic side to help them along.
On August 20 after losing at Kilmarnock in the League Cup Brendan Rodgers went public looking for experienced, ready made players to be brought in.
Ten days later and Lawwell Junior has still not delivered for the football manager. He might be a hero in the boardroom but the manager is looking increasingly under threat and vulnerable.
Rodgers’ legacy is in the trust of a guy who claimed to be the Head of Recruitment at the City Football Group for nine years and nine months. There isn’t a scrap of evidence to back up his Linkedin profile, what job he was doing before his CFG gig is a complete mystery.
By tea-time tomorrow Celtic’s Champions League opponents will be known, who wouldn’t fancy a warm friendly welcome in Glasgow’s east end facing a side that has won once at home in the competition since Tony Watt scored against Barcelona?
Lawwell’s transfer window closes at midnight on Friday with the manager faced with taking his squad to Ibrox on Sunday for the toughest domestic test of the season.
In defence he’ll have a Swede with two games experience of Scottish football and a guy who spent last season on loan at Aberdeen. If Lawwell manages to come up with a central defender he could be making his debut at Ibrox after one training session with his new team-mates.
