A four paragraph effort announced Maloney, Fotheringham and Stephen McManus as the backroom team. No mention of roles. No mention of Gavin Strachan’s successor.
With pre-season starting on Friday there is very little time for Celtic to act. Nicholson has never been known for being decisive.
Do Celtic expect O’Neill to talk up a youthful left-back as a Champions League prospect. To give Ross Doohan 90 minutes. Mention how Shin Yamada and Hayato Inamura have looked sharp in pre-season training?
Celtic are in exactly the opposite position. They have no plans to invest the income over the year back into the club. Generating profit resulting in Corporation Taxed seems to be the target.
On all known form Celtic will spend some of the money raised from the sale of players. The £70-90m in the bank won’t be touched.
Only the extent of their pay-cuts is up for debate. That tactic is very Celtic. Where money is chucked away on wasters while those that deliver are undervalued.
Dermot Desmond, Peter Lawwell and Michael Nicholson see things very differently. A transfer window is the chance to sell off performing players, bank a profit and hope for the best with some project signings from trusted sources.
In the last few years Celtic have squandered millions through Mark Lawwell, Paul Tisdale, Wilfried Nancy and others.
Celtic have just written off £1m by releasing Stephen Welsh from his contract. There would be change out of £1m if that figure was used to pay Fotheringham and Maloney for one season.
Neither will be highly critical of the multiple failings of the Celtic board. From the complete failure in Europe to repeated disastrous work in the transfer market.