SENTINELCELTS

What a couple of weeks, overachieving on the pitch, rocked by a certain departure yet soon rocking to the tune of an old new arrival, bhoyed by the return of another departed hero of yesterday, qualification whilst shedding the fringe players,,the end phase of the window looked pretty straightforward.
A left back, a new striker, a central defender and ideally another midfielder.
Only one of those arrived.
The window now has a bare minimum feeling about it,,there’s the bare minimum of effort and imagination involved in bringing back an old player or recruiting a previous employee the manager worked with.
Was this the plan?

Apparently not given the knockbacks for strikers who fit our player profile,,,one a long term target known about for years, the other faced Celtic before. Their attempted captures signify the bare minimum of fresh impetus from a recently revamped scouting/recruitment department.

Celtic have not lived up to their own words this window, we didn’t emerge stronger but rather weaker in areas.
Why is the big question.
Someone official will have to answer the question of what happened but we shall only receive a stock answer with scant detail if any.
But everyone will draw their own conclusions, the nature of Celtic.
I don’t see the sense of only one recognized striker, a move which relies on Daizens versatility, and one of the two young guns stepping up sometimes.
Yet our two signings yell versatile,Jota either wing and Schlupp plays a couple of roles.
Is Brendan/Celtic looking for a slimmer squad with a lot more flexible players to plug holes?
We’re giving off that vibe.

But the window is now, and always will be, synonymous with Kyogo. Having basically been handed a 6 month notice period, Celtic couldn’t or wouldn’t reinforce the striking position with a like for like despite getting 8 figures for the wee man.
The phrase “you had one job” springs to mind. Months, not weeks or days, but months of prior knowledge failed to come with someone able to join for an acceptable fee right now? We must be one of the only clubs capable of such incompetence.
Hamfistedness others might say.

Any official plan is beyond me,,given we are back to qualifiers late summer, and tend to buy/attract based on said results,,,the summer window ain’t looking like our saviour. If anything we will lose some matchday squad members, more new faces joining putting more pressure on the existing players to step up, again.
That’s gambling, on the freshness and quality levels of the retained quality players, on the luck of the draw even, but it’s unnecessary gambling for a club that has the resources to avoid gambling but rather implement planning.
We employ people for said planning, sitting here now I’m wondering what’s the point. Depending on your own take, the qualifiers are the most important games of the season, they are for me, and given the new format and much bigger spoils I ask myself “Why do the board not see this? Why risk all that? Why not get ready now?”
Unfortunately I keep returning to an old saying “Celtic never let you dream too much!”. Once that genie is out of the bottle it’s hard to put back in, getting through the group stages with credible results helped by a couple of ten million signings has unleashed the genie. My fear now, is it’s rebottling,,just as the support starts to dream again. Just when the next level looked within grasp. Is within grasp. This team plus summer and this manager might just navigate the qualifiers, but before those games I for one would like to see a certain banner dusted off, the ‘on your heads be it’ one.

Brendan has been diplomatic, but he’s been very successful and deserves some of the spoils he captured. It’s a record turnover season, a renaissance season, he called for a replacement striker, team needs a striker, Europe calls for a striker and zip.
Aye, on their heads be it indeed.

For what it’s worth I believe both captures we’ve actually managed will be astute signings and impactful in a positive way, but at the windows conclusion Celtic walk away much in profit, more profit, when lacking in numbers on the park.
After the internal struggles of ‘24 and the sporting plus financial success those windows shall deliver, stoking the engine of the rolling train with fresh coal looked a no brainer, paddle harder and ride the wave.
Why that didn’t happen shall now be the years debate.

By Mahe
sentinelcelts@gmail.com