When you’ve just scored four goals, that always seems to be OK, but we lost an important player in January in Kyogo, who scored a lot of goals, and we’ve lost Nicolas Kuhn, a lot of goals again, and even Matt O’Riley last summer.
The influencers had been briefed, Rodgers signings were risky and represented bad value, he should have shown faith in the job-lot of seven projects presented by Mark Lawwell a year earlier.
Rodgers is clearly being a bit cute. He will have had the final say on the deal but it looks like he’s agreed to take a look at a low risk cheap arrival while also creating a bit of distance if he doesn’t quite work out.
There will be a variety of factors going on over Rodgers and his contract, going by the level of backing he has had since returning to Celtic it would be a shock if he signed up for more of the same.
We’ve lost a lot of goals so we need to replace that. Hopefully this can be one of a number of players we can bring in that aspect. He’s got intensity and work rate. It’s something the scouts have seen.
I think there’s work going on behind the scenes. It’s clear we need to improve the squad. A lot of work is going on behind the scenes, there are loads of names floating about.
I’m really excited by him (Nygren), he’s a forward thinking player, he’s got good legs, gets about the pitch and he’s showed up well since he’s come in.
Nicholson and the recruitment team have had plenty of notice that Kuhn was leaving, just as they had in January when Kyogo left for Rennes without any genuine attempt at signing a replacement.
Rodgers’ signings played a huge role in earning the club £40m directly from UEFA. Throw in five home sell-out matches alongside hospitality spin-offs and bonus payments from sponsors and they have more than justified being signed.
Forrest joined Tom Rogic, Mikael Lustig and Scott Brown among the survivors. Tony Stokes, Charlie Mulgrew and Kris Commons weren’t seen again.