Celtic fans defending this transfer “strategy” are watching the team they deserve.

Sometimes I read something so unbelievable it genuinely makes my head hurt. Every now and then, that stuff comes from Celtic fan sites.

I’ve just read a piece which argued that Odin Thiago Holm’s failure at Celtic should not discourage us from going cheap and shopping in lesser-known leagues. There was so much wrong with that piece, so much absolute nonsense, that I had to sit down and address it.

Let’s start with the examples it used, because they simply don’t stand up to scrutiny.

Kyogo Furuhashi did not come from a “lower standard” league. The J-League is ranked higher than the SPFL. That is a fact. Matt O’Riley came from a lower league English side, sure, but in a league where the overall level of competition is significantly higher than what we face domestically. I am not advocating that we sign our players from a league like that, but he was also signed to fit a clearly defined role in the team, which is something we seem to have forgotten how to do.

As for Benjamin Nygren, yes, he has scored goals. But let’s not pretend that he would be a starter in a properly functioning Celtic side. Everyone knows that’s unlikely.

So, the examples don’t hold up. And once you strip those away, what you’re left with is the core argument: the idea that buying cheap and selling high has been a successful strategy.

That is revisionist nonsense.

We are staring at the consequences of that strategy right now. We are in a position where finishing third in this league is a realistic outcome. That does not happen by accident. That is the direct result of recruitment that has prioritised cost over quality, projects over proven players, and hope over planning.

Anyone defending that approach at this point is ignoring what is in front of them.

The claim that this model has produced more hits than misses is equally ridiculous. For every successful signing, there are three, four, sometimes five who simply have not been good enough. That is not a strategy we should be trumpeting.

And let’s deal with the financial argument as well, because that gets rolled out every time.

People talk about this model as if it has made us money. It hasn’t. Not when you factor in the real cost of failure. We have consistently failed to get through Champions League qualifiers … five times in a row now.

Even a conservative estimate puts that at around £15 million per missed opportunity. Add to that the years where we haven’t progressed in Europe, where we have fallen short again and again, and the alleged financial “benefit” disappears very quickly.

We haven’t won a European knockout tie since the era of Martin O’Neill. That should tell you everything you need to know.

This so-called strategy has given us one of the weakest Celtic sides in over a decade. It has contributed to the collapse of this season. It has coincided with the best manager of a generation walking out of the club, not once but twice.

And still, there are people defending it.

That, to me, is incredible.

I said the other day that if fan media ever returns to Celtic Park, it will come with conditions.

Outlets will have to decide whether they are willing to operate within those limits.

But when you read pieces like this, you realise that for some, there is no need to impose conditions. They are already perfectly content with the status quo. They are already willing to defend what is, at this point, indefensible.

Let’s be clear about where we are.

This club is in a state of crisis.

And one of the primary reasons for that crisis is the failure of this transfer strategy. It has not just underperformed. It has collapsed.

Look at the recent derby at Ibrox. We went into that game with a squad assembled on the cheap, a collection of “projects” and low-cost signings. Their striker, who scored twice against us, cost more than the combined transfer fees of several of our squad. Think about that for two seconds. It is disgusting.

Odin Thiago Holm was the first signing made for Brendan Rodgers when he returned. That set the tone. The window became one of the most glaring failures of recent years. From that entire transfer window, one player remains in the squad: Yang.

That window relied on cheap, low-impact signings. The one we watched over the course of the summer did the same, and don’t even get me started on January. All you have to do is look at the league table to see the results.

Defending that is not just wrong. It is contemptible. It insults supporters who have watched this unfold and can barely stomach it.

To read a Celtic fan site pushing that line, at this moment, in this context, feels so detached from reality that it almost reads like satire. Honestly, I am half convinced this is some bizarre April Fools joke. Unfortunately, I know better.

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