The World Cup offers Celtic an excuse. It will not offer them an alibi.

There is an excuse sitting there for Celtic this summer and it’s been obvious to all for months what it was going to be. It’s a big, shiny, globally televised excuse, one wrapped in flags, late-night kick-offs. The schedule has been public for eons.

The World Cup runs from 11 June to 19 July. The Scottish summer transfer window opens on 15 June and closes on 1 September at 11pm.

So yes, on paper, there is a built-in get out for clubs this summer. Players are away. Agents are distracted. International squads are focused on the tournament. Some selling clubs will want to wait. Some buying clubs will want to see who shines. Some football departments will argue that movement will be slow until the World Cup dust settles.

Fine. Let them say that. Celtic cannot.

The excuse does not offer this board an alibi. They’re all out of those.

Not after the last two windows. Not after two transfer periods in which the club failed the manager, failed the squad and failed the supporters in ways that are no longer debatable. Celtic do not get to hide behind the World Cup.

Celtic do not get to shrug and say “these things take time.” Celtic do not get to pretend that the calendar has ambushed them. The calendar has been sitting there for years.

Everyone knew this summer was coming. Everyone knew the World Cup would distort the market. Everyone knew the window would open in the middle of the tournament. Everyone knew agents would use it, players would use it, selling clubs would use it and buying clubs would need to be prepared for it.

The building for the coming season should be way down the line. It should have started at least a year ago. This should be a window for tidying up and perhaps replacing the odd player who wanted to go. Instead, it’s a major rebuild. That is shameful. That is a direct consequence of board foot-dragging and arrogance.

Preparation is the whole job. That is the bit Celtic’s directors never seem to understand, or at least never seem to act on with the urgency required. Supporters are asking them to do the work early, identify targets early, establish budgets early, make contact early, and move with the kind of intent that serious clubs show when they know what they are trying to build.

The World Cup may slow certain deals. It may affect elite-level movement. It may delay players who are involved in the tournament or those whose clubs want to gamble on a price rise. But it does not prevent Celtic from doing business.

It does not prevent Celtic from signing players outside the tournament.

It does not prevent Celtic from addressing obvious gaps. It does not prevent Celtic from having agreements lined up. It does not prevent Celtic from showing the supporters that lessons have actually been learned.

Because that is the issue now. This is not just about transfers. It is about trust.

The fans watched the club last summer. They watched key areas of the squad go unfilled. They watched the manager left short. The actions of last summer sparked a season of protests and demonstrations. The anger was on a level this board hadn’t seen in years. That will be nothing in comparison to how angry fans are if this summer goes that way.

It would not be “disappointing.” It would not be “unfortunate.” It would not be “one of those things.” It would be a total failure of governance, planning and football operations.

It would be proof that nothing has been learned from the anger of the last year. It would be proof that the words coming from the club are empty. It would be proof that Celtic’s board still believe supporters can be pacified by patience, slogans and the hope that things eventually turn out fine. They cannot.

The supporters have moved beyond that.

There is a mood around Celtic now which the directors should be very careful not to misread. This is not the usual summer impatience.

This is a support that has watched a squad decline through neglect and watched managers forced to carry the consequences. Anger has erupted.

The club has had warning after warning.

So no, the World Cup is not a credible excuse. It is a test.

A competent club sees this kind of summer coming and plans around it. O’Neill has the job now. He would have planned for this to an extent. It’s now up to people to get his players brought in.

The best clubs do not wait for perfect conditions. Celtic should have known months ago what positions needed strengthening.

They should have known the profile of player required. They should have known who was likely to leave. They should have known where the manager needed help. They should already have had lists, prices, contacts and alternatives.

If they are starting now, they have already failed.

That is the standard Celtic must be held to. Not because supporters are unreasonable, but because the club’s own conduct has made patience impossible. When you fail one window, people get angry. When you fail two, people get suspicious. When you fail over and over again, people start asking whether failure is built into the system.

The directors cannot hide behind complexity forever.

Football is complex. Transfers are complex. Negotiations are complex.

Nobody doubts that.

But every other serious club has to operate in the same world. Every other club deals with agents, selling clubs, international tournaments, financial constraints and shifting circumstances.

Celtic are not uniquely cursed by the complexities of the transfer market. They are uniquely talented at making that market look harder than it needs to be.

That is what infuriates people.

The resources are there. The need is obvious. The pressure is obvious. The lessons are obvious. The damage caused by inaction is obvious. Yet too often, Celtic behave as if action is something to be delayed until delay itself becomes the crisis.

Then comes the late scramble. Then comes the familiar language.

“We tried.” “The deal was difficult.” “The market moved.” “We will only sign quality.” “We won’t panic.” All phrases which sound sensible in isolation and infuriating when bolted together after weeks of inertia.

Nobody is asking Celtic to panic.

They are asking Celtic to act before panic becomes necessary.

There is a massive difference.

The World Cup should not freeze Celtic. It should focus them. It should force them to be sharper, faster and more disciplined. If certain targets are unavailable until after the tournament, fine. Move on other business. Fans want signs of life. If certain positions can be addressed now, address them.

If the club knows a key player may be sold later, prepare the replacement now. If the manager needs a spine, build one before the season starts to close in.

Celtic cannot arrive in late July looking startled.

By then, the World Cup will be over. The excuses will begin to run out.

The qualifiers, friendlies and early fixtures will be looming.

The same people who told us to wait will start telling us that “value” appears late in the window. Then, before we know it, the club will be back in the final week trying to solve problems it identified before the previous season had even ended. Prices will be jacked up as our needs will be known to all. There goes your value argument.

This cycle has to stop. This summer is not just about buying players. It is about whether Celtic have the seriousness to behave like the club they claim to be.

It is about whether the football department has undertaken the necessary preparations for this coming window. It is about whether the board understands that the fans are no longer willing to remain mute and inert while the squad is left short.

Because that is the heart of it.

Celtic supporters are not fooled any longer when the football operation looks underpowered.

They are not impressed by prudence when prudence becomes paralysis. They are not comforted by the idea that money is available if the people charged with spending it lack the urgency, bravery or imagination to use it properly.

The World Cup gives Celtic directors a ready-made excuse for failure.

Nobody will accept it if that’s what they deliver again.

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