Brendan Rodgers has laid out his plans and expectations for the summer transfer window.
A Champions League Play Off tie in the second half of August should concentrate the minds of the Celtic board but that type of fixture has become something of a running sore over the last decade or so.
Failing to prepare has led to predictable outcomes, qualifying for the Champions League has been viewed as a surprise bonus with little in the way of forward planning put in.
This summer there is an extra ingredient with Rodgers entering the final season of his contract.
No one truly knows his intentions and ambitions but if Celtic were to match or surpass this season’s Champions League performance it would be hard to see him stepping aside to allow someone else to pick up the reigns.
We always want to improve the team, improve the hunger in the team. That’s always key, you need the freshness. It’s either that or the manager goes, it’s simple, there’s no rocket science in it. You cannot be at a club for a long period of time with the same group of players.
Transfer activity has always been a thorny issue during Rodgers’ two spells at Celtic, only a complete fool would believe that his decision to move to Leicester City in February 2019 wasn’t born out of transfer frustrations.
After Peter Lawwell failed to secure a deal for John McGinn Rodgers was presented with Youssouf Mulumbu, the Dedryk Boyata contract issue rumbled on with Moussa Dembele sold in the last few days of the transfer window without a replacement coming in.
When January brought the arrivals of Oli Burke, Vakoun Bayo, Manny Perez, Andrew Gutman and Marian Shved it was no surprise that the manager left within a month of that transfer window closing.
The same decision makers remain in place at Celtic, transfer activity remains slow and laboured with Rodgers attempting to push things through while remaining outwardly diplomatic.
He has twice spoken out about the need to be braver in January, his first summer window was sabotaged by Mark Lawwell, the second was the Late Late Show with three deadline day arrivals missing the critical pre-season process.
This summer the stakes are higher than ever- there is a £40m Champions League prize alongside the contentment of a manager that is a good few notches above the usual levels that could be tempted to work within Celtic’s antiquated processes.
The good Doctor, Paul Tisdale, Head of Football Operations will have a role to play but ultimately the ambitions of the club will be shown in how much they back their manager during the summer months.
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It’s all about improvement – I think naturally what you have at our club is a slide of players that move out and come in every three or four years.
It’s the nature of our model here, but it’s also the nature of players being here and maybe either looking to move on or want to come away from the pressure that’s here, because three or four years of it, it’s a lot of pressure.
But we always have to be ready to replace any players that go, but obviously important for us is improvement.
We always want to improve the team, improve the hunger in the team. That’s always key, you need the freshness.
It’s either that or the manager goes, it’s simple, there’s no rocket science in it.
You cannot be at a club for a long period of time with the same group of players.
And likewise, the same group of players need a different voice but at this moment, it’ll be about improving the squad.
Rodgers added:
I think change is needed, I think that’s that freshness, that new energy coming into your squad that alleviates any of that sort of complacency.
So we will bring players in to challenge the squad and the team for the summer.
That’s natural at any team, however, come the end of the season, we want to improve it.
Because if you just sit on that, then the team needs the competition. So either way, we will look to improve the squad.
Last summer Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo joined the first team squad for pre-season training in the USA, Paulo Bernardo was signed on August 1, Adam Idah on the 14th with Luke McCowan, Arne Engels and Auston Trusty arriving on August 30.
The 25/26 SPFL Premiership season starts on August 1-3 with the Champions League Play Offs on August 19/20 and 26/27.
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