Celtic have too often appeared to operate according to the preferences of Dermot Desmond rather than the requirements of a major European football club.
Temporary solutions have become permanent strategies. The overwhelming impression is not of a club relentlessly pursuing excellence, but of a club repeatedly choosing the safety of control over the risks required for genuine progress.
McKay transformed the squad on a profit. Kris Ajer and Edourard were sold to fund the turnover. As CEO of Celtic he never got to see Jota, Carter-Vickers or Giakoumakis play.
Occasionally there is a real left field move, such as Ange Postecoglou or Ronny Deila but generally there is a pattern that revolves around the contact book of Dermot Desmond.
Over the next three weeks Celtic will publish their accounts for the year to 30 June 2025 with turnover in or around £150m on the back of five Champions League matches bolstered by selling Matt O’Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi, the fee for Nicolas Kuhn is on the 25/26 ledger.
We know the work that we need to do, and it’s my responsibility to convince the club that we really need them, clearly I’m not doing that job as well as maybe what I can, but I will continue to pursue that because it’s something that’s really important for us.
I don’t think there’s any real purpose… I wouldn’t see myself going back anywhere I’ve been but who knows?
Do I think we could have taken it forward? I definitely think we would have won the league. When we left, we were still four points in front. There is no way they (Celtic) would have come past us.
If the likes of ‘Carter-Vickers, Jota, Abada, Carl Starfelt, Matt O’Riley, Joe Hart, Josip Juranovic, Giakoumakis’ were all on the system and known to Lawwell Junior why has he handed Rodgers a batch of projects from Australia, South Korea and Norway including an £800,000 midfielder from the South Korean Second…
Pat Nevin’s book is called ‘The Accidental Footballer’, but he’s suffering from some kind of accidental memory loss.