Much of what you are about to read, I posted in February.
This is the second or third time I’ve updated as our problems have grown.
The size of the job has only gotten bigger.
And it was massive enough when I first posted the piece.
When I first put this piece together, we had more time. We’re three months on from it; every single one of those days has been wasted, and we’re no nearer to sorting even one bit of this out.
Some of these sections are being updated – and the article itself rebooted – because the scale of this hasn’t yet sunk in for some people.
It is enormous.
If Eddie Howe is the new boss, as seems likely, this is what he’s going to have greet him on the very first day; a task bigger than any previous Celtic boss has ever had to face.
Now, it is possible that the appointment itself is enough to convince certain people to stay who’ve wanted to go. He might be able to find qualities in others which aren’t readily apparent … but still, this is no small task.
Howe won’t be expected to do all of this on his own … that’s what we will have a director of football for, but the really big decisions are ones that he’ll have to make himself … this job really is going to fall to him, in all its gory glory.
If you’ve read this already, you might see the points along the way where the job has gotten harder.
I personally do not remember us ever having such a mammoth job in front of us in one summer.
The Rebuilding of The Football Department.
First on the list, the new manager will need a slew of coaches, those he trusts.
We will also need to pay for a number of support staff.
The futures of Strachan, Kennedy and McManus will need to be decided..
We might – just might – keep them around temporarily for “continuity” but if the new manager has a modicum of sense he will jettison the lot of them and be totally independent.
Even if he keeps them, I expect that it’ll be for a period of evaluation with their futures to be decided later.
Beyond that, we need to build a network to serve these guys.
A director of football will be appointed, and a new head of scouting.
Frankly the worst of the updates here is that when I wrote this in February I was 100% convinced that the director of football would be appointed within weeks … three months later we’re still yet to appoint one and nobody can explain why this is the case.
Nick Hammond was the last domino to fall; this decapitates the last of the troika who “led” us into this disaster, with the departures of Lennon and Lawwell already conifrmed.
Don’t underestimate the importance of losing Hammond … he needs replaced quickly.
We have one last window in which we can sign European players; our scouting network isn’t up to snuff though and we know it.
Not having Peter Lawwell around means that things might get done a fraction quicker – although he’s not leaving until June, which is a big chunk of the window gone – but even then we’re working with the sub-par tools he’s left behind.
The positive is that Howe already has ideas and he knows the markets and he’s proved that he can wheel and deal a bit.
That might plug some of the more glaring holes.
But the truth is, we’ve wasted a lot of time … These guys are going to have to work hard and work fast … and assembling this new team is going to cost money, and probably quite a bit of it.
We Probably Need A Goalkeeper …
Let’s not kid ourselves, although Barkas will get a chance to prove himself, we’re probably going to need a new keeper.
That’s a given considering that Barkas was barely in the line-up this season, which gave him no chance to prove himself to the fans. Lennon’s decision to write him off was an expensive disaster.
Kennedy’s decision not to play him until these last two games – and only then because of injury – just compounds the folly of it.
This is a flat-out disgrace because Barkas cost us a lot of money.
The present management team has failed to get anything out of him at all, which is scandalous when you consider that we signed this guy as a full international and have basically just thrown him away.
From the start it was clear that throwing him under the bus was a huge mistake, and a potentially expensive one.
Forget what you’ve paid for this guy; you now have to start thinking, straight away, about who you want as the permanent replacement for him, which is more money down the drain, more money we ought not to have to spend.
I have no idea what a good keeper will cost, but I know what not having one costs.
The results of that are plain to see.
It’s a position where a good decision is vital, and we are going to have to make a big one on it, and we’ll have to do that right away.
We Need Full-Backs … On Both Sides Of The Pitch.
We need full backs. That’s readily apparent.
When Tierney was sold we should have bought a top class first choice left back with some of the money, but that was a window, like the one last summer, where we had left ourselves well short in a number of key areas and had to replace much of the back line.
It is absolutely unforgiveable that we’re back in the exact same place.
Frimpong is gone. Abd Elhamed is gone.
Bringing in Kenny on loan plugged the hole for a while, but he’s not good enough to keep.
That’s the right back position back to square one all over again, right where we were two years ago when Lustig went.
I cannot believe the short-sightedness of our club in allowing that situation to re-surface so soon.
The left back position is just as bad.
Taylor simply doesn’t come close to being the answer on that side of the pitch, not in the short to medium term anyway.
Laxalt will go back to Milan; let’s be honest, if he hasn’t cemented his place on that side of the pitch he’s no use to us.
The need for a permanent answer on the left is as pressing as the need for footballers on the right.
The temptation will be for the club to go for stop-gaps and loans in these positions and in a good few others; that’s how we got here in the first place though, leaving problems for so long that they merged with others to become a huge mess.
We need to bite the bullet and try to sort these two areas long term … one top player in each spot, and a backup on the right.
Three players in total, and two won’t be cheap.
We Need Centre Backs … Real Ones.
A complete disaster of a position because of years of half-solutions and short-term thinking.
With Duffy going back to England, Ajer certain to leave, Abd Elhamed off and Bitton probably following him we’re out of options but Chris Jullien and young Welsh.
The one mercy is that Welsh looks an absolute gem and will improve the longer he’s in the team.
Reports suggest that Howe likes Steve Cook, the player he discovered in League One and turned into an EPL central defender; that’ll do me if we can get him on a good salary.
There’s a buy-out clause for Hendry; he may or may not come home.
The decision to stick a buy-out clause in his deal was another idiotic short-term decision, made to get him off the books before we even really knew what we had.
We need a minimum – a minimum – of three players in this position, which makes Lawwell’s disastrous penny-pinching with Davies an even more unforgivable act and one that is going to cost us plenty as we try to rebuild the most chronically weak area in the team.
I actually feel a certain sense of excitement over the rebuild to the defence, because it’s essential and overdue.
Three of those departing players were not natural centre backs.
We are going to be forced to ditch a wholly ridiculous stratagem for some rational thinking for the first time in a while.
There is no way this should have taken us so long.
The central defence has been screaming for radical surgery for years; this isn’t even entirely Lennon’s fault because Rodgers’ decision to ignore it as an area of priority was long lamented on this blog.
It’s another area where we have to stop mucking about and commit proper resources and long term planning to the role … the reason we’re in a mess right now is that subsequent managers have not taken this job seriously.
Now circumstances will force us to, and if we get the three players we need – that we require – then I think we’ll be more defensibly solid than we have been in years.
Here’s an idea, Celtic; start locally.
Go and get Ryan Porteous and then work on the other two.
If we get him, and we get Cook, we’re well on our way.
We Need Midfielders … And Probably A Few Of Them.
The way we’ve allowed this club to drift towards this trouble is absolutely shameful.
People who talk about how we always knew this summer coming would be transformational are correct but they overlook a hard fact; a football club should never get into the position where a massive rebuild is needed in the space of one window.
That we have got here is proof that “transition planning” was a concept they dumped the second Rodgers didn’t get John McGinn.
We never replaced players who left.
We never planned for the departures of others, and this is where we are as a result.
Celtic will need at least two midfield signings and maybe more … a ridiculous fact when you consider that it was, until this window, the strongest part of the team.
Ntcham is probably coming back, but who wants him to?
Brown is gone.
Bitton will most probably go, although watch this space on that one.
Ajer will go, and although he’s laughably referred to as a defender midield is his actual strongest position.
Christie has one foot out the door.
I strongly suspect that Rogic will leave with him.
If Callum McGregor can be convinced to stay that’s great, but he, young Liam Shaw, Scott Robertson, Ismail Soro and David Turnbull are it unless we have something really good planned.
We need three players in the midfield, two top ones and a squad player.
One an attacking player, another defensive, to compliment what we’ll be left with and to replace what’s lost.
For the other, the club should do as I said about Ryan Porteous; start local.
Grab Allan Campbell from Motherwell whilst he’s available and work from there.
But at leeast two marquee footballers to replace the ones who are going to leave is a requirement we cannot dodge.
And like I said, it won’t be cheap.
We Need Wingers … On Both Sides Of The Pitch.
Shameful. Shambolic.
Two positions which, for years, have been screaming for permanent solutions and none of them has been fixed.
This is how bad situations become worse. For yonks now we’ve tried to plug this obvious gaps with loanees and short-term options. This season it all fell apart around us.
On the left we have Mikey Johnston and on the right James Forrest.
Good players both and footballers from our own youth academy.
I like to see that, and I’m glad both are still in the team.
But Johnston is not going to be the answer on the left until he improves dramatically and stays fit, and Forrest is coming up to that point in his career where his key assets, like pace, are starting to fade.
We could go with loans and keep putting this off or we can identify some top class talents to start ahead of these two and use Forrest and Johnston as our “in case of emergency break glass” options.
If we must, we can find one good loanee who can play on both the left and the right and sign him as another challenger for the roles.
But a player on the left is a must, a player on the right is a must and the backup who can play on both is something we should do just in case.
We’ve sunk so much money into loan deals for these positions that I can’t believe it’s been a cheaper option than simply buying qualify for them would been in the first place.
No more of this short-sighted stupidity Celtic, let’s get these problems solved for the forseeable future.
Two Strikers Are A Necessity … Three Just To Make Sure Of It.
We are probably looking at rebuilding the whole forward line.
A marquee replacement for when French Eddie departs was a given, but things are much worse now than they were when I wrote this piece two months ago.
If Eddie’s replacement has not been scouted, and identified, already then shame on the people who are working on this at Celtic Park because it has been inevitable since the moment we signed him and imminent for two years now.
Who knew we’d end up with such problems with Griffiths?
Who knew there’d be serious interest in him from Aberdeen, of all clubs?
He’s probably done for unless yet another Celtic manager wants to give him a chance.
With his contract up soon, I reckon he’s probably in his final months at Celtic Park.
Oh how many options have we let slip through our fingers here?
Toney is but one of them; more of Lawwell’s “gamesmanship” there and another one who got away as a result of it.
Another who I reckon we let get away was Sam Cosgrove at Aberdeen; he scored more than 40 times in just over 100 games, an amazing ratio for a player in this league and who isn’t at Parkhead or Ibrox.
We should have taken him off their hands; it was a no-brainer.
I like Ajeti and think he’s got something to offer.
But letting Klimala go was a real hammer blow … we’re going to be left with Ajeti and only him … which means this is an area of the team where we are suddenly critically short … shameful stuff.
Again, there’s a local option – young Nisbet at Hibs, who has looked the part. There’s also talk of a top tier footballer like Jean-Pierre Nsmame … it’s going to take something big like that to convince people.
But this is another area where we’ve shot ourselves in the foot and a big rebuild is needed.
A Well Run Club? Really?
The most incredible thing about what I’ve written is that this was actually foreseen inside Celtic Park, and even, in a weird way, planned.
The board knew this would be necessary this coming summer.
They actually took a conscious strategic decision to allow this shambles to build.
Then, when they could have moved to fix it, they didn’t.
When results were getting away from Lennon in November one of the reasons so many of us clamoured for the change is that not only would it have given us a chance of saving ten in a row but it would have given the new manager a transfer window in which this job could have gotten underway.
What a disgraceful waste of time we’ve seen.
No club should ever find itself in a state like this, with everything in flux, with so many key players on the verge of departure, with so many positions needed to fill.
These are not minor footballers going out the door, this is the guts of the first team squad, players who have been here through years of success and who aren’t going to be available to build around.
For an example of our lack of strategic vision, look no further than the summer that awaits us.
This is the state the heroes leave us in as they head for the door, a mess of biblical proportions whose dimensions increase with every day the necessary changes don’t come.