Celtic fans have been buoyed by the start to the domestic season on the back of the club finally signing a few first team ready quality players.
Tannadice was bouncing on Saturday night as the packed visitor stands savoured every minute of the comfortable 4 – 0 win at a venue that brought us only misery last season.
But now the team’s real test arrives in the form of a Play-off tie against Austrian champions Lask for a place in the Champions League proper.
A year on from the disastrous two leg tie against Kairat Almaty it’s time to see just how much improved we really are.
Lask are sure to be far tougher to overcome than Kilmarnock or Dundee United.
And while the arrival of Kasper Hogh, Camilo Duran, Haissem Hassan and Mika Baur have been impressive, the deficiencies in the squad are still glaring as Champions League D-Day approaches.
SELLING ENGELS WITH NO REPLACEMEMT IS A HIGH RISK DECISION
The departure of Arne Engels before this tie has brought our midfield options into focus.
Engels was a proven performer at Champions League level and his departure means Martin O’Neill will need to choose his replacement from the newly arrived Baur, the out of favour Reo Hatate or Luke McCowan.
Neither of those options appear to be an upgrade on Arne Engels.
Given that the club were prepared to sell Engels before this tie, Alistair Johnston could just as easily have gone had he not picked up an injury.
His right back berth will be filled by either Colby Donovan or Anthony Ralston, both of whom represent a significant downgrade.
There is no excuse for the squad to still have these weaknesses, just like there is no reasonable excuse for Baur not to have been brought in a month ago and have become aquatinted with his new team mates. Fabrizio Romano tweeted that personal details were agreed on July 21.
THE MONEY IS THERE- CELTIC REFUSE TO REINVEST IN THE TEAM
The club are still sitting on a cash surplus for this transfer window despite the higher than usual spending thus far.
The cash reserves the fans pumped into the club over recent years still seem to be untouchable.
Which means that once again Celtic are heading into a vital Champions League qualifier underprepared.
Yes, the summer signings have looked impressive so far and that is of course to be welcomed.
The front line looks far more capable now than at any point since Kyogo and Nicolas Kuhn were sold off and replaced by Shin Yamada and Michel Ange Balikwisha.
But this is not the best squad we could have assembled.
The vast majority of the out of favour players have been moved on and those wages have been freed up and plenty of cash is available for transfer fees.
Nicholson may want to be praised for finally signing some quality players this summer but that’s entirely to miss point.
Possibly doing part of your job properly after five years of trying having banked around £4 million in wages is not to be celebrated.
The real test will come against Lask this week and should Celtic go through, those holes in the squad will undoubtedly need to be filled if we are targeting equalling the 24/25 campaign when we reached the knock out stages.
CELTIC STILL PAY MORE ON CORPORATION TAX THAN PLAYERS
The fans expectations of the club have moved on now.
As fun as it was to break Hearts on the last day of last season, Celtic fans are now looking at Europe to measure the team’s progress.
Seeing off the circus from Ibrox will always be enjoyable but it’s just not the challenge it once was at times when the original club could put up a decent fight for the title.
Europe is where it’s at now and fans expect the team to be at least competing with clubs operating with similar or lower income levels.
By next Tuesday evening we will find out if Celtic have truly moved on from the Kairat Almaty disaster last year.
And if we have, the holes in the squad need to be filled with quality players.
It’s worth remembering at this stage that the biggest fee Celtic have paid out is not to Bodo Glimt for Kasper Hogh but it remains the £11.75 million paid out to HMRC in Corporation Tax for 2024/25.
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2 Comments
by Anmcq14
The hoarding dinosaurs board has not changed.
The only difference is they brought in the players and at that time we had only sold Maeda. They have tried to hoodwink the support that they were following a different transfer strategy while sneankingly knowing Engels was always going.
So the we are still in the black on the bank balance after signing four players. They must be absolutely furious that AJ picked up an injury and they couldn’t capitalise on him.
We need to get rid of this board.
by Quietly Brilliant
We Still Seem to Be Risk Averse? …Celtic Also Seem to be obsessed With Making A Profit Every Transfer Window ( You Can Read them like a Book)…. The Driver is Dermot Desmond? The Board are just his Servants??