According to Brendan Rodgers the guys behind the scenes at Celtic are working really hard to bring players to the club.
It is a worryingly familiar phrase from the manager, he doesn’t like throwing people under the bus but it is clear that whatever Celtic are upto in terms of recruitment it is sub-standard.
When it comes to selling players they operate exceptionally smoothly. January is apparently a notoriously difficult month to do business, unless you are Rennes and you want to sign a striker heavily involved in the Champions League.
Como have found no difficulty in signing Nicolas Kuhn, discussions started at the end of last season, a deal has been completed with the winger part of pre-season preparations with Cesc Fabregas and his squad as they target a Champions League place.
At other clubs signing players is a long drawn out process, the process isn’t quite clear with rumours that the CEO, Chairman or biggest shareholder can intervene and call deals off.
Surely a manager is given a budget, works with a Director of Football/Head of Football Operations and uses their judgement on players. If the team is successful then well done, if they fail they get one more chance or are replaced?
After the 3-2 defeat to Estrela da Amadora on Saturday Rodgers put his usual brave front on the lack of transfer activity, the lack of quality and depth in his squad, it is a situation that he is well used to after two stints as Celtic manager.
The Daily Record reported him saying:
I think there’s work going on behind the scenes. It’s clear we need to improve the squad. A lot of work is going on behind the scenes, there are loads of names floating about.
That sort of language is almost a template to mask the frustrations of the manager. The poor guy that was presented with Odin Thiago Holm, Yang Hyun-jun, Kwon Hyeok-kyu, Marco Tilio, Gus Lagerbielke, Maik Nawrocki and Luis Palma two years ago and expected to deliver success. Somehow he did, he pulled it off after ditching that recruitment programme, signing Kuhn and Adam Idah and squeezing some more out of the squad assembled by Ange Postecoglou over two transfer windows.
This summer there is more of a feel of 2018 in the air than 2023. Rodgers won’t accept a job lot of projects forced on him, his more ambitious but affordable targets cause a flutter in the boardroom where they prefer to squander £2-3m and hope to get something out of one signing in four. Compared to what goes on across the city that success rate qualifies as a Player Trading Model in the Scottish media.
Last summer, on 24 July, Sky Sports reported on that worrying theme of hard work going on behind the scenes.
I had a long meeting with Michael (Nicholson) and Chris (McKay) today. We know the targets that we want to bring in.
There’s still a long way to go in the window, my concentration is we know the positions, what we want to do in the window to improve.
While the club is getting on with that myself and the coaches are really focused on the improvement of this team, physically, tactically and technically.
So yeah, at some point before the end of August I would expect us to have the players that we want to add
There is nothing new to add, clearly there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes, until there is any confirmation on it we will let you know.
I make it clear to the Celtic supporters, we want to improve, we want to get better, we don’t just want to stand still this season.
We know we want to improve this squad and by the end of this window I would expect us to be that.
But, until that moment there is a lot of great work going on with the players, some of the younger players are developing really really well.
The other players are now really tuned in to how we are working and having a really good pre-season. That is always a good start point for the season ahead.
Rodgers had taken Celtic to the USA for training and three matches without any outfield players being added, those involved at the European Championships in Germany arrived later to start their preparations.
On August 1 Paulo Bernanrdo returned after his loan spell, on August 14 he was joined b Idah.
When Matt O’Riley was sold on August 26 it allowed Luke McCowan, Arne Engels and Auston Trusty to be signed up- with two weeks to prepare for Matchday One in the Champions League.
The ‘everyone working hard’ is a favoured shield, as his first spell in charge began to fall apart it started to crop up, increasingly.
In November 2018 BBC Scotland reported Rodgers saying
We’re assessing targets and the areas we need to strengthen in and improve. January is an important window. That’s an ongoing matter.
I’m sure there will be enough talk in January about that. In the meantime, the focus is on the players that are here. The guys behind the scenes are working really hard, preparing for some players to come in.
In January Rodgers was presented with Oli Burke, Timo Weah, Vakoun Bayo, Manny Perez, Andrew Gutman and Marion Shved.
Before February was out the Irishman left Celtic for Leicester City.
In July 2018 after a Champions League qualifier against Rosenborg Rodgers was asked by The Herald about exciting project signing Daniel Arzani
All I know is that he is a young Australian, a very talented player and went to the World Cup where he looked very, very good,” said Rodgers.
The club are working hard behind the scenes to try and get some signings in. I think he’s been one that has been identified.
It is not my job. Let’s see what players the club brings in. I work with the players that are here, develop them, improve them, that is my job.
The John McGinn saga was at its height at that stage, the hard work behind the scenes resulted in the signing of Emilio Izaguirre (returning as understudy to Kieran Tierney) plus the loan signings of Arzani and Filip Benkovic. With three days left in the window Moussa Dembele was sold to Lyon.
As ever, in all situations Nicholson remains silent or on mute, no doubt working hard in the background.
Football Doctor Paul Tisdale is also now involved, what his role is remains unknown with his title as Head of Football Operations covering everything from the Academy upwards.
The SPFL Premiership starts in three weeks, the Champions League Play Off is just over five weeks away, hopefully all of the hard work pays off to give Rodgers the chance to kick on from last season’s efforts, particularly in the Champions League.
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