Nicholson continues to wing it with transfer Russian Roulette

For the second weekend running Michael Nicholson was happy watching Celtic playing Russian Roulette.

Each passing game it becomes more risky, much more.

On the bus back from Edinburgh yesterday Kyogo Furuhashi was nursing his suspect shoulder while a concussed Mikey Johnston had a swollen eye from his brief spell as a substitute that saw him replaced.

In midweek Nicholson and his boardroom chums were patting each other on the back after their Stock Market announcement that turnover and profit for 23/24 was up on expectations.

When you freeze investment in the team that is the inevitable conclusion. Fans buy Season Tickets and fall over themselves to purchase anything produced by Adidas.

On the park, with a squad diminished from the one that he inherited Brendan Rodgers kept the show on the road delivering a double including the golden ticket of a Champions League place for the third season running.

It seems that the success has filled Nicholson with false confidence- does the team really need a second striker and left-back when they won the SPFL by eight points with their only domestic rivals homeless and trying to cut £10m a year from their wage bill?

Nicholson’s attitude to recruitment stinks of complacency, of the ‘all right on the night attitude’ that his mentor Peter Lawwell took after replacing Rodgers first time around with his favourite caretaker.

For a while things will hold up before imploding. When the wheels come off at Celtic it happens spectacularly.

Based on two domestic performances there is every reason for the Celtic boardroom to believe that all is well, that a fourth successive title will be celebrated next spring but below the surface things are creaking.

A year ago Cameron Carter-Vickers, Stephen Welsh and Maik Nawrocki were about to get injured in an eight day spell following the transfer of Carl Starfelt halfway through his four year contract.

On July 14 another wedge was deposited when a deal was agreed to sell Oh Hyeon-gyu to Genk, some fans and possibly Rodgers foolishly assumed that a deal for Adam Idah would then be concluded but almost a month later negotiations continue to drag on.

Nicholson seems determined to put the Balance Sheet before the diminishing team on the park.

With the almost daily news about bids coming in for Matt O’Riley it seems certain that this transfer window will generate another profit, nudging the bank balance above £100m while leaving the manager and team seriously short on quality for eight Champions League ties stretching into January.

There are 18 days left in the transfer window but the damage has already been done. The examples of Paulo Bernardo and Nicolas Kuhn tell you that it takes three to four months for new signings to adapt into how Rodgers likes his team to play, if any signing makes an impact in the Champions League it will be a pleasant surprise.

In just over a month Celtic could be opening their Champions League campaign against one of the giants of the game.

Only a complete fool would think that the side that has taken Kilmarnock and Hibs apart are equipped for that level of challenge.

At least three first team starters are required to be in the door this week- going into the Champions League minus O’Riley and one other first team player could turn it into a thoroughly dispiriting experience.

The promise of funds being made available in January to a favoured media messengers won’t wash this time with the current squad weaker and more vulnerable than the one that clinched the Scottish Cup 11 weeks ago.

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