Since the final whistle at Sunday’s Glasgow Derby there has been increasing criticism from some Celtic fans of the signings made in the summer of 2024.
In tandem with that there has been a re-writing of the events of the previous summer when Brendan Rodgers was presented with the worst collection of signings in the history of the club.
For those involved in this work of fiction the players involved were Odin Thiago-Holm, Kwon Hyeok-kyu, Yang Hyun-jun, Maik Nawrocki, Marco Tilio, Gus Lagerbielke and Luis Palma.
Since they signed for Celtic and were found wanting not a single bid has been made to sign any of the Less Than Magnificent Seven. Most have gone out on loan with clubs prepared to pay a portion of wages for nine months but not interested in matching their long term Celtic contracts or paying a transfer fee.
Early in 2024 one deluded Celtic blogger claimed that the key to success in the Champions League was to build a team around Tilio and Kwon.
Between them they have been given 28 minutes of competitive football by Brendan Rodgers, the same mouthpiece was this week singing the praises of Lagerbielke and Nawrocki.
Having been lumbered with that disatrous job lot Rodgers put his foot down in January 2024. Adam Idah was signed on loan, Nicolas Kuhn on a permanent deal with both contributing greatly to winning the domestic double, miles more over four months than a season worth of ‘contributions’ from Mark Lawwell’s Class of 2023.
Those that are slaughtering the summer 2024 signings are far more generous and forgiving of the flops signed a year earlier.
The first thing to note about the signings made in the summer of 2024 is that it was fully financed by the sale of Matt O’Riley. Rodgers inherited the former MK Dons midfielder, assessed his ability and transformed his game, he impressed in the Champions League which brought him to the attention of Brighton whose Recruitment Operation is acknowledged as one of the best in the business.
Rodgers took a weakened squad into pre-season training in the USA, everyone inside football acknowledges the importance of that period for laying down the ground rules for the season ahead.
Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo replaced Joe Hart and Ben Siegrist, Paulo Bernardo and Idah were missing, the two men that combined with Jack Butland to score the only goal of the game in the Scottish Cup Final.
Rather than get deals done Michael Nicholson dragged things out before the inevitable permanent signings of those two players.
On August 1 the Bernardo deal was completed, after a scare over Kyogo Furuhashi’s shoulder the transfer of Idah was finalised on August 14, two matches into the SPFL season.
And that was it until the excitement of Deadline Day when incompetent clubs are forced into doing business, following the transfer of O’Riley on August 26.
Luke McCowan, Arne Engels and Auston Trusty were signed as the Celtic board high-fived each other at how brilliant they are, on October 1 the new look side was hammered 7-1 away to Borussia Dortmund. Hardly surprising since they had been at the club for a month interrupted by an international break.
All of the summer 2024 signings made big contributions to progress in the Champions League, none of Lawwell’s 2023 signings were trusted other than Yang with 153 minutes off the bench covering six matches.
Since Sunday there has been fierce criticism of Engels, most of it including his £11m price tag.
Engels is the youngest player in the Celtic squad, he has been at the club for less than seven months, Sunday was the first time he had started a Glasgow Derby.
His transfer fee is entirely down to the two clubs.
When Nicholson comes calling it is greeted with bursts of laughter in boardrooms across Europe, he follows a template.
Firstly a ridiculously low offer is put in and rejected, media messengers spin it sympathetically. Celtic take a step back with the selling club knowing that they are dealing with a club who have an antiquated recruitment process. There is no Plan B, C or D to turn to.
Nicholson returns to the table two or three weeks later, the selling club stand firm, the Celtic CEO dials his two most used phone numbers then agrees a deal higher than the selling club were hoping for a month earlier.
Norwich used the exact same tactic with Idah as £20m was spent on players that could have been bought for less than £15m a month earlier by a well run business/club.
Sheffield United are street-wise, they held out to get £6m for a defender from a club freshly relegated from the EPL.
The Brondby directors have drawn up dates and fees for when Nicholson next makes his twice yearly contact to sign Magnus Kvistgaarden. July 19 and £8m is the hot tip.
Anyone still in doubt about the inefficiencies of Celtic’s recruitment operation were reminded of it in January.
A deal to sell Kyogo was agreed in advance of the YB Bern match, the decisive goal, generated again by Idah was met with delight in the Directors Box, a Play Off place was secured with the bonus of selling a 30-year-old for £10m.
No replacement was required, KPIs for the season were met with the manager left with a lighter squad. Away to Bayern Munich only two of 11 substitutes were trusted to make an impact by the manager.
All of the summer 2024 outfield signings should have been Celtic players ahead of the SPFL season starting, they weren’t.
The next transfer window promises to be similar or worse.
Nicholson will be in no rush to invest ahead of the 25/26 season getting underway, a lighter squad will go into pre-season training with Nicolas Kuhn, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda the main candidates for the Kyogo treatment.
There is a Champions League qualifier to negotiate and the contract of the manager running down, two classic excuses to keep the money in the bank.
Worst case scenario is Thursday night’s in the Europa League and being dragged into an exciting O** F*** battle for domestic honours.
When Rodgers returned as Celtic manager in June 2023 Nicholson gave his only public comments as CEO. The classic line was that Celtic aimed to be world class in everything that they do, it is a very short list, as short as the list compiled in 2019 to succeed Rodgers when he left for Leicester City.
8 minutes, Nicholson
I think, from our perspective the strategy has always been clear. Em, that is to be a world class football club in whatever we do. As Brendan mentioned we want to dominate in Scotland, we want to compete in the Champions League and that has been clearly stated for many many years.
So there is no change in that regard, what we have always done over many years is to continue to improve as a football club, to invest, we’ve got a sustainable model, a self financing model so invest when we can for today, tomorrow and the long term.
There is no significant change there and, em, we all want the same thing which is to win.
Since Nicholson became CEO in September 2021 only one player has emerged from the club Academy to start an SPFL Premiership match, Owen Moffat at St Mirren in December 2021, his last ever appearance, being substituted in the 62nd minute.
At the weekend Celtic B lost 4-2 away to East Stirling in the Lowland League.
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