On Monday afternoon Stephen McGowan delivered an update on the two key issues at Celtic, both are closely related.
The lack of transfer activity alongside the future of Brendan Rodgers.
McGowan has a long and very accurate record of knowing exactly what is going on inside Celtic Park.
His inside information has survived various changes of manager, his accuracy has never wavered, there is rarely a flier without substance although linking Celtic with Liam Kelly in spring 2024 was close.
His wording was about being aware of the contract situation of the Motherwell keeper and being a box ticking exercise for UEFA purposes. Thankfully Kelly moved to Ibrox, a year later Ross Doohan replaced Scott Bain for the same purposes.
The wasn’t much new to McGowan’s piece on Monday, basically it set the scene for the exit of Rodgers, a scenario that will delight many people with grey suits inside Celtic Park.
Supporters are less thrilled, especially as they witness a stand off that is dragging the club down.
The failure to sign a winger has stalled the transfers of Yang Hyun-jun and Marco Tilio and left Daizen Maeda looking under par as the only left winger. An exercise in how not to squad manage.
Celtic’s antiquated Recruitment policies are no longer being tolerated by Rodgers, he has tried to compromise but his card was marked by the horrific seven signings Mark Lawwell presented him with in 2023.
Last summer the movers and shakers eventually delivered some quality but they arrived too late and came with over inflated price tags. Rodgers got more than a tune out of them, they were critical to Celtic’s Champions League success but his critics weren’t taking that lying down.
Following Celtic’s defeat at Ibrox in January McGowan launched a campaign in the Daily Mail with:
Last summer the men in grey suits were harangued into flashing the cash. They came under serious pressure from all corners – this one included – to show a bit of ambition. As Danilo slotted home the third Rangers goal on a day of staggering ineptitude, they must have been grappling around their trouser pockets in search of the receipts.
They didn’t pay £9million to watch Adam Idah flailing around like a bin bag on the M8 for the last 20 minutes of games.
They didn’t shatter their transfer record for a second time to watch their under-the-weather £11m signing Arne Engels blow his nose on the substitutes’ bench.
Auston Trusty? He lasted 45 minutes of the Premier Sports Cup final, contracted a touch of flu and, bizarrely, hasn’t been seen since. He cost £5.5m.
There’s no need to spend £26m to roll over St Johnstone, Ross County and St Mirren. Celtic could do that for a fraction of the cash. The trouble is that Brendan Rodgers wanted to take things to a new level.
Those comments launched a bandwagon, targets were painted on the back of three players that missed out on pre-season training. Anyone doubting the value of pre-season training should review the contributions of Kieran Tierney and Ben Nygren at Pittodrie on Sunday.
For the easily led Trusty and Engels started in nine of Celtic’s 10 Champions League and made one substitute appearance. Idah started three, came off the bench in seven and scored three goals. His contribution to the own goal by YB Bern allowed the men in grey suits to sell Kyogo for £9m but there has been no gratitude.
While McGowan compared Idah’s January cameo at Ibrox to a bin bag the same guy, signed on 14 August 2024 has scored Celtic’s last two goals at that venue.
After laying all the groundwork for the departure of Rodgers, McGowan finished up with this claim in The Celtic Way:
Celtic will spend money between now and the end of the window, probably on four new players. As things stand, however, they’re giving the impression that they’re hardly bursting a gut to keep their manager. If that’s the case then fans can hardly blame Rodgers for bailing out again. He deserves better.
That sounds familiar and predictable. And almost certainly will be on the quality of Yang, Luis Palma, Kwon Hyeok-kyu, Odin Tiago Holm and Tilio. Not first team ready, not players that you could trust in the Champions League should Celtic make it past Kairat Amaty.
The scene is set for Rodgers to reject more projects with the blame laid at the door of the man that has delivered 11 trophies out of 13 over two stints and the most successful and lucrative European campaign in a decade.
Being presented with four projects in the last few days on the window will get the board off the hook with many fans, completing business around trips to Almaty and Ibrox when the manager has full focus on the pitch.
Rodgers was failed in January over the sale of Kyogo, his replacement has still to arrive.
Nicolas Kuhn was sold more than a month ago, contact with Como was made at the end of last season, no replacement winger has been signed.
Rodgers’ squad was short of forward options for the start of pre-season training, it was short ahead of the first competitive match and will be short for the Champions League Play Off with a £20m surplus generated from the current transfer window.
Four new signings in the final days of the transfer window will only fool the easily influenced.
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