Doing the rounds on Celtic-related social media yesterday was a video of manager Brendan Rodgers discussing the January transfer window.
Rodgers said: “Of course you would wait for quality. That is what is important to us.
“If you are going to bring in any players, they have to be of real genuine quality, but they also have to be able to enhance our group.
“There is no point in us bringing in players who are just going to add to the players we already have, they have to really be able to make a genuine difference…we want to bring in quality, that would be the message.”
It is a message consistent with the one he has been making - loud and clear - since early on this season. Except, these words were not uttered this season at all, but fully five years ago, in January 2019.
You can debate whether the subsequent loan arrivals that month of the likes of Oliver Burke, Timo Weah and Jeremy Toljan, as well as the signings of Marian Shved, Vakoun Issouf Bayo, Andrew Gutman and Manny Perez (remember them?) reach the bar required to be described as ‘quality’. During their time at Celtic, other adjectives may have been used.
What is for certain though is that barely a month later, Rodgers was on his bike, with his frustrations at being on a different page to the Celtic board when it came to transfer business often cited as one of the key reasons why he hightailed it down the road to Leicester City.
It was presumed then that when he returned to Glasgow in the summer, he must have done so after securing assurances from Dermot Desmond and the Celtic board that his ambitions for the club would be matched in terms of cold hard cash in the transfer market.
Though, in the period since he came back, he has rarely given off the impression of a man who trusts that such promises – if they were made – were definitely going to be honoured. Hence the frequent public statements cajoling the Celtic board into providing the oft-mooted ‘quality’ he desires, signalling also to the wider Celtic fanbase that he feels the squad bequeathed to him is some way short of the standard required.
As we sit here now a third of the way through the winter transfer window, and with Rodgers having made clear his preference that business was concluded as early as possible to allow new players to bed in, Celtic have made the grand total of zero signings.
And it has not escaped the attention of a sceptical Celtic support that former chief executive Peter Lawwell is now also back in a prominent position at the club, nor that his son Mark is their current head of recruitment.
Whether they are an easy target or not, there is little doubt that it is the Lawwells who are copping most of the criticism for the lack of activity so far. Whether it is Peter’s supposed stinginess or Mark’s supposed insistence on putting forward ‘project players’, the father and son duo are like lightning rods for attracting the ire of Celtic fans.
On the other side of the city, Rangers have already added Fabio Silva, and while reports of a move for former Chelsea striker Michi Batshuayi were shot down yesterday, the comparative radio silence from Celtic Park is undoubtedly making a great many of their fans more than a little antsy.
There has been links to left-back Tiago Araujo of Portuguese side Estoril and the signing of attacker Nicolas Kuhn from Rapid Vienna looks to be edging closer, but nothing has yet been confirmed.
It is important to point out, for the record, that being a third of the way through the transfer window means that there is still two-thirds of the window left. And that just because the players Celtic are reported to be looking at aren’t exactly household names over here, it doesn’t mean they won’t add – not to beat the point to death – quality to the Celtic squad.
Matt O’Riley’s arrival two years ago was hardly greeted with any great fanfare, for example. But if he was to depart the club this month then the news would be met with even greater uproar than if the window was to shut with only a couple of loan arrivals to speak of. Maybe.
There is still plenty of time though for Celtic to produce the goods, and allay their fans’ fears that they are sleeping at the wheel once again, or are simply happy to tread water with a team that is just a little bit better than Rangers.
With the title race currently so tight (presuming Rangers win their two games in hand), that seems a heck of a risk.
This window should be an opportunity for Celtic to flex some of the muscle afforded by that 70m quid that is sitting in the bank, bringing in players who will not only allow them to retain their Premiership crown, but allow them to go into the Champions League next season with a running start rather than with a half-baked, makeshift team, as so often seems to be the case.
The next three weeks then are massive not only for Celtic to achieve those aims and to ensure that a 2019-esque rift doesn’t open up between the manager and the board, but for the credibility of the board itself and their head of recruitment.
They still have time, but like the patience of their fans, it is starting to shorten.
