Celtic’s hesitation has cost us both the Bodo boys. What a disgrace.

There is a moment in football where opportunity exists. However, it does not last long. It never waits, and if you hesitate, it disappears. Celtic have just watched that happen again.

In January, we were linked with Kasper Høgh. Notably, it was one of those stories that felt credible, one of those moments where you look at the player, look at the situation, and think, “Yes, that makes sense.”

A striker on the rise. A player performing well in a system that clearly develops talent. A club that has shown, time and again, that it can identify and polish players before moving them on to a higher level.

At that point, that was the window. That was the moment.

And yet, we hesitated. Instead, we did what Celtic too often do. We assessed. We waited and weighed it up. Somehow, we convinced ourselves there was time. In reality, there wasn’t.

Because while we were doing that, Høgh was doing what players like him do when they are ready for the next step. He was delivering. Big goals. Big performances. The kind that changes perception overnight. The kind that draws attention. And now?

Now he is out of reach. In fact, that is not speculation. That is reality.

Players who perform at that level, especially in late stage Champions League games, do not move sideways. Instead, they do not step into leagues where the ceiling is lower and the exposure is limited. They move up. They go to bigger leagues. Bigger platforms with bigger wages.

That is the trajectory. And as a result, Celtic have missed it. Again.

This is not a one-off. Rather, this is a pattern.

We identify players early. Then we watch them and we track them. Often, we tell ourselves we are ahead of the curve. However, we hesitate just long enough for the rest of the market to catch up. At that point, the deal is gone.

Not because we could never have done it. Instead, because we chose not to when we had the chance. Now, whatever chance we had is gone for good.

The same principle applies to Kjetil Knutsen. At one time, he was attainable. Indeed, there was a time when Celtic, with the right vision and the right decisiveness, could have made that move.

Bodø/Glimt were rising, but they had not yet fully broken through in the Champions League. At that stage, this was the year. Knutsen was building his reputation, but he had not yet become one of the most respected coaches in European football circles.

That was the moment, and yet we passed on it. Now look at the situation. Knutsen has taken that club to places few thought possible. He has built a system, an identity, and a style of play that has been recognised across Europe. Moreover, he has produced results on a stage where Celtic have too often fallen short.

He is no longer a promising coach. Instead, he is a proven one. And proven coaches with that kind of profile do not come cheap. They do not come without you having to beat off serious competition. Crucially, they do not come to clubs who are still debating whether to act or not.

They have options. Serious options. In fact, options that go far beyond what Celtic can realistically offer in the current landscape.

So, the idea that we could simply step in now and take him is a pipedream. It belongs in the same category as all those “we should go and get him” conversations that ignore timing, ignore context, and ignore reality.

There is a window, always, where Celtic can make these moves. In that window, we can identify the next manager, the next player, before they explode onto the wider stage.

That is where we should operate. That is where we have to operate. Because once they reach that next level, the game changes. The wages go up. The competition for their signature increases in quality, and consequently, the expectations shift.

At that point, we are no longer at the table.

Høgh has reached that point. Knutsen reached it some time ago, and Celtic, once again, are looking on from the outside. It would be easy to dismiss this as bad luck.

However, it is not bad luck. Instead, it is the policy. It is the way we do things.

It is the consequence of a recruitment strategy that too often values caution over conviction. Penny pinching. Unambitious. Too concerned with being snubbed to even ask what might be possible if we had the guts to try.

Football rewards decisiveness. It rewards clubs that act before the rest of the market catches on. Celtic used to understand that. We used to move quickly. We used to trust our judgement, and we used to take calculated risks that paid off.

Now, by contrast, we watch. We consider and we delay.

And by the time we are ready, the opportunity has gone.

What a waste. What a failure.

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