The rebuild of Celtic this summer has been on the cards for about 12 months as it was clear last summer many key players were looking to leave and several key positions needed improvements.
Promises were apparently made, to the likes of Kris Ajer, Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie to stick around for one more season to secure “the ten” whilst Moi Elyounoussi, Deigo Laxalt and Shane Duffy were all headed back to their parent clubs – for better or for worse.
The job in many ways was simple. We knew who was leaving, when they were leaving, we knew we needed to replace them and we knew, as we always know, Champions League qualification kicks off early.
The eleven players who took to the field against Midtjylland last night is made up of two distinct types of player. Category A: likely to be leaving in a few weeks or category B: absolutely won’t be his first choice in those positions.
The only two exceptions were Turnbull & McGregor.
So where are the reinforcements?
Some within the club might point to the failed pursuit of Eddie Howe, or the period of transition from May to June when CEO Peter Lawwel had one foot out the door, whilst incoming CEO Dom McKay had one foot in the door.
These might be the reasons why transfer activities had been so disrupted but we knew about the transition period and Eddie Howe was months ago. There were no unknowns. It was all there, plain for everyone including our two CEOs, to see.
Dom McKay’s arrival as Celtic’s CEO for me has been lukewarm.
I was expecting him to burst onto the scene hauling with him a caravan of ideas – new coaches, directors of football, analysts and more importantly a player or two.
It would have been an easy early win to ensure the manager had even just one new centre half for the qualifiers - how difficult can that be to arrange?
Yet the spectre of Peter Lawwel and his transfer wheeling and dealing are still lingering over the club as we’re witness to more of the same frustrations that fans got so weary of in previous years.
I still have mild PTSD over the John McGinn transfer saga and hearing Ange say “We need to move quicker” and “we’ve maybe hesitated on a few things” in respect to his transfer targets makes me recoil in fear.
This is not what fans want.
We want change, we want action, we want to stop making the same old mistakes and with a new CEO that’s what is supposed to happen, isn’t it?
Five of the seven players who have arrived at the club so far won't be starting XI Players. We’ve given new contracts to Anthony Ralston and Leigh Griffiths, two players who should be on their way, one with our best wishes. It’s not good enough.
I’m still waiting for the real arrival of our new CEO, I’m waiting for quality signings, backroom changes and big statements because from where I’m sitting it’s 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss'.
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