Tony Ralston is a good solider and this should be his last season at Celtic.

It’s interesting reading the comments from Anthony Ralston today, because they remind me again that Anthony Ralston is what I have consistently called a good soldier.

Every club needs good soldiers. Every club needs players who understand their role. They are the back-up man. They come in when nobody else is available. At Celtic, Tony Ralston has filled that role for a long time now.

Ralston is an unusual part of this squad because he ticks one of our domiciled-player boxes for European registration. He is not just a player developed in Scotland. He is a player developed by Celtic.

Ralston also has enough first-team experience to justify a place in the European squad as something more than a name on a list. That is why Ralston gets hailed as an academy success story. He is still here, and he is still playing first-team football.

That makes it tempting to think of him as a genuine first-team player. It makes it tempting to present him as an able back-up. But Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney, who know more about the game than I ever will, seem to have reached the same conclusion I reached a while ago. Ralston is not a Celtic player in terms of class or overall ability.

He should not be in a Celtic squad. He is one of those players who gives comfort to a board that thinks a warm body in an emergency means you are covered.

I had hoped the Andy Robertson story was one we could finally put behind us.

I wrote about that the other day.

Apparently this is not over. A lot of sites this morning are saying that his verbal agreement with Spurs is not a signed contract. Because Spurs are in a bit of trouble, they say Robertson is still an option for Celtic.

I do not know how this can still be a thing. Have they failed to notice that this is a Celtic board which filled our squad with loanees in January when the clear priority was to sign quality first-team players?

Let me say this again as clearly as possible, and let me say it through the prism of Anthony Ralston. Look at the player we are talking about here. That is our back-up right-back. That is the standard this club thinks is acceptable. When a player like Alistair Johnston is out, the club thinks a player like Ralston is enough to step in.

That is why we have Tierney and a guy on loan right now. This board will not allow two quality players to be on the books when only one of them plays every week. They do not see the need to have first rate backup. They see that as waste.

I am working on a piece right now about Brendan Rodgers, and I keep coming back to a point Stephen McGowan made last year on a Graham Spiers podcast. He described Celtic directors lambasting the manager’s choices in front of the media because he had left Auston Trusty and Arne Engels on the bench.

Think about that for a second. A manager left players out, and directors reacted as though he had no right to use his resources as he saw fit. Their attitude was simple. “Look at all that money sitting there doing nothing.”

Anyone who thinks those same people would approve the signing of Andy Robertson while Tierney is still at Celtic has not been paying attention.

Anthony Ralston is the walking, talking, living, breathing embodiment of what they are willing to settle for. That is my problem with Tony Ralston.

As long as he is around, as long as he is in the environs of Celtic Park, and as long as he exists as a footballer at this club with a contract, these people have no incentive to go out and sign a proper right-back.

They have no incentive to improve that area of the pitch.

In case it is not clear, and I think I have made it clear enough, I do not mind the guy. He is what every club wants in one sense. He is a good soldier. Ralston is dependable in an emergency. He can come in and do reasonably well.

But reasonably well is not the standard we should be looking for when a player like Alistair Johnston is out of the team.

A player of equal quality should be there waiting to step in. Ralston is nowhere near that level. The fact that Maloney and O’Neill both know he is nowhere near that level, and prefer Colby Donovan, tells you everything.

This summer will not just be about who comes in. It will also be about who stays. By looking at who stays, you will know what choices this club is making. You will know what it prioritises and what it does not.

I have no faith that this team is going to get the level of strengthening it really needs. We will sign some players. We will fill some holes. But we will leave plenty of them, because the job is too big to do in one summer.

One thing you can guarantee is this. There will be a lot of squad filler.

To be horribly frank, I would not be surprised if Ralston is still our back-up right-back this time next year.

I would be equally unsurprised if Liam Scales is still in the squad.

I would be equally unsurprised if Luke McCowan is still in the squad and if Yang is still our preferred right-sided attacking midfielder. There ought to be a clear-out of all these players. We can do better and we should be trying to do better.

We are here now because we have allowed too many B-class options to be treated as though they can step up and become A-level players. The sooner we get past that mentality, the better. Although, to be honest, I have no faith that we will do it under the present leadership.

Still, it has to start with some honest conversations.

Ralston would do well to leave Celtic and go and play somewhere else. Celtic would do well to remove the comfort blanket that he and players like him provide. We need a clean break. We need a fresh start with the kind of comprehensive rebuild this squad clearly requires. There is a certain comfort in having good soldiers in the squad. These are players who will not bang on the manager’s door asking why they are not playing every week.

But there is a reason Tony Ralston does not bang on the manager’s door asking that question.

Under normal circumstances, Tony Ralston would not be in a Celtic team. Everyone involved probably knows that, including Ralston himself.

That is the paradigm we have to break. That is the mindset we have to move on from.

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