After the best part of four years hiding in the shadows it looks like Michael Nicholson will need to display some leadership over the summer months.
As Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell slide off to their favoured holiday resorts the current CEO has a number of issues to address, most of them revolving round Brendan Rodgers.
The Irishman is now in the final year of his contract, as he admitted last weekend his future will be decided by talks with Desmond over the summer.
The attitude of the manager could well be shaped by the level of backing that he gets from within the club, on that basis Nicholson will be introducing a new boss next summer.
Rodgers has delivered four out of six domestic trophies plus a place in the Round of 16 Champions League Play Offs. He has four Champions League wins on his CV after inheriting a record of one win in a decade.
All of that while producing a transfer surplus with the Balance Sheet swelled by selling Jota, Carl Starfelt, Matt O’Riley and Kyogo plus smaller fees for Mikey Johnston and Bosun Lawal.
The manager has ticked every one of his KPIs.
Recruitment in his first season was effectively an act of sabotage from the former Recruitment chief, after delivering a double and the return of Champions League football last summer’s transfer business was lukewarm.
Neither Paulo Bernardo or Adam Idah were involved in pre-season training, after selling Matt O’Riley the club finally got down to business by signing Arne Engels, Auston Trusty and Luke McCowan. The latter arrived cup-tied by Dundee, facing Airdrie in the League Cup and ruled ineligible for that tournament at his new club.
Football people understand the need to have new signings involved in pre-season training, Nicholson is apparently a Sports Lawyer surrounded by accountants.
During the autumn Celtic hit top form bookmarked by a 6-0 Hampden win over Aberdeen in the League Cup followed up with a 3-1 win over RB Leipzig.
With Kyogo Furuhashi sold and injury ruling out Jota and Reo Hatate the so called depth in the Celtic squad was exposed against a mediocre Aberdeen team.
On the bench Rodgers had seven outfield options in James Forrest, Yang Hyun-jun, McCowan, Trusty, Tony Ralson, Jeff Schluup and Jonny Kenny.
Away to Bayern Munich in February he only trusted two of the 10 subs available to him.
The issue of Rodgers’ contract running down will dominate the summer, his need for new signings is obvious but so to is the evidence that says Nicholson not only can’t cope with responsibility but actively deflects away from it despite his title and salary.
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Before playing Hibs earlier this month Rodgers said:
Change will just naturally take place. If every player was here in the squad and every player was staying, I would say, I look at it, I’d probably need three players to add to what we have, of quality. But that’s probably not going to be the case [that every player will stay].
There will be interest in players, I’m pretty sure, because of the level the team has been at. Then we have to assess it from there. Then I think players that maybe aren’t playing so much will move on.
So then all of a sudden you have change. It’s good that we have to do that to progress. This team have been absolutely brilliant over the couple of years I’ve been here. But I think there will be some natural movement come the summer.
Either way, we look to come back in pre-season and by the end of the window and the summer and be stronger.
Pre-season training gets underway at the end of June, the first pre-season match is away to Cork City on July 8, it would be a very pleasant shock and surprise if there are any new signings on display as well as a resolution to the issue of the manager’s contract.
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