Does Ronny Deila Have A Coherent Transfer Policy?

Another day, another transfer story linking Celtic with a player.

Once again, that player is a midfielder.

It begs the question; what does our manager have about midfield players?

If it’s true that we’re really trying to bring a young Man City attacking midfielder to the club on loan then I’m worried, seriously worried, about what this guy is doing.

Because it makes zero sense.

We have a very good attacking midfield player – Scott Allan – who already must be wondering exactly why he bothered to sign for the club.

And why the club bothered to sign him.

Seriously … was it really about upstaging Sevco?

Isn’t that petty, moronic and insulting to the player?

Our midfield is the most overloaded part of the side, and I cannot fathom why we’d want to weight it down any further.

It frustrates me. It concerns me.

Other areas of the team need attention.

I’m also worried that we’re getting a reputation as some kind of feeder club where Premiership sides can send their young players to be blooded.

Every one of those guys we bring to Celtic Park takes up a place in the squad which isn’t being filled by a footballer we’re developing for ourselves and our own growth as a club.

It’s a place not being given to one of our own young stars, like Aidan Nesbitt, who I’d prefer to see in the team in front of a loanee.

This is dreadful stuff, Celtic.

When do we start thinking past the here and now and actually begin to move our own club forward?

So much of what we do at the moment seems built on providing short term answers to long term questions.

This could be just be speculation, of course, but a lot of the names we’re linked to at the moment seem to be in the same area of the pitch and so I continue to be baffled as to exactly what Ronny Deila’s plan for the squad is.

This transfer window is supposed to be The Big One, something we’ve heard repeatedly over the lsat few years.

This one is supposed to be the one that prepare us for the Champions League qualifiers next season, and the crucial issues we have to address need to be dealt with here and now or we’re going to have very serious problems by the time those matches come about.

If Deila is still the manager then his style emphasises the importance of two wingers.

Now that the ludicrous pipe-dream over Aiden McGeady has been sufficiently dealt with and the overdue denial has come we can look at realistic targets … is that being pursued?

I see a lot of rumour and conjecture, but not much action.

We’re almost halfway through the month.

Time is running out here, and fast.

We’re allowing some fringe players to go out on loan, and I said in a recent piece I can’t think of anything more sensible than allowing guys like Stokes to go out to Hibs and other teams in the Championship. It’s good to see that’s emerged as a possibility.

But it’s who’s coming in that will ultimately decide the manager’s fate.

I expect very little to happen in the crucial areas of the team – out wide and at central defence – if I’m being entirely honest.

Last season in January we got it mostly right; that was the exception to the recent rule, but we then saw that used as a partial defence for the complete lack of spending before the closure of the last window.

They really do treat us like mugs at times.

Here, we’ll be told the usual nonsense about how hard it is to get players in at this time of year and we’ll be promised jam in the close season.

I’m already wearily ready for all of that and more.

This the moment, this one right here, for acting decisively and restoring some faith in the direction of the club.

This is the most important transfer window since the Wilo Flood disaster because if we don’t get it right we’re going to be haunted by it from now until this time next year, when I strongly suspect a different manager will be at the helm.

Here we are, looking at more midfielders.

Exactly what we don’t need.

Ronny, you are fast running down the clock on your Celtic career.

It was David Grohl who sang “A little bit of resolve is what I need now.”

This is the moment to bring out yours.

You need to make the right calls here, and you need to be strong enough to stand up for your vision, whatever that it, and get the players you require to see it come to fruition.

There are 18 days left.

Your Celtic career will depend on what you do with them.

It’s time to show us what you’ve got, and it needs to be better than this.