Martin confirms that big changes are coming to Celtic.

Martin O’Neill has confirmed today what some of us suspected: Celtic are about to undergo a major system shift, and quite possibly a dramatic one. It may change the formation, the style of play and everything else around how this team functions.

I find that incredibly interesting, and I think Celtic will benefit from it.

It has been obvious for quite some time that Celtic need a complete change in how we play football. We need a change in style, a change in speed and perhaps even a change away from the one-man-up-front model which has dominated so much of the modern game.

We have talked about this a lot, because it is a subject that engages people who are keen to see us go back to something more traditional.

I do not mean traditional in a negative sense.

A traditional Celtic approach has never meant long-ball football. Celtic have never been that kind of club. We have always had an emphasis on getting the ball down, moving it properly and playing football the right way.

That is how we should continue to play.

But the one-man-up-front concept is relatively modern in Celtic terms. Traditionally, Celtic played with two strikers. Martin O’Neill played with two strikers throughout his first spell as manager, and the partnerships that worked best were the ones where he combined two different types of forward, such as Larsson and Sutton.

I like that idea a lot.

I am optimistic when I hear Martin talking about how he came in during January and had to make changes more slowly than he would have liked. He clearly did not want to impose a huge aggressive transformation in the middle of a season, and let’s be honest, we had already seen what a dramatic tactical shift looked like when it was introduced too quickly and without clarity. The players had trouble adapting to it, and the manager did not know how to properly convey his ideas.

Obviously, I think Martin would have been able to convey his ideas a lot more clearly.

That brings me back to a criticism I had of our previous manager when I found out English was not his first language. It worried me, because Paulina, who has a Master’s in linguistics, pointed out very early the difference between conversational English and instructional English. Those are very different things.

If you are trying to use instructional English when it is not your first language, it is already incredibly hard. The more complex the instructions you are trying to impart, the more difficult it becomes.

So, to make such a dramatic change in such a short space of time, and to hope that everything you said was being understood, and that the reasons behind it were understood as well, was never likely to fly in the available timeframe.

Martin would have had an advantage there, but that is not to say a dramatic mid-season change would automatically have paid better dividends.

I did think we needed a shift in how we played towards the end of last season, and the subtle changes Martin introduced made a difference. In the same way, the subtle change Rodgers introduced in his final season after the January window also made a difference and got us across the finish line.

Managers are not helpless in those situations, but they do have to be careful.

That is why Martin did the right thing in leaving the big work until now, during pre-season, when you actually have weeks to work with players and get them familiar with a new tactical system. We are disadvantaged to an extent because a lot of players were at the World Cup and some are only just returning, but the bulk of the squad is in place and Martin can now start getting those ideas across.

He knows time is not on our side.

That is why he also talked about an intensive programme, and that does not only mean work on the pitch. Tactical adjustments of this magnitude involve a lot of classroom work, a lot of whiteboard work and a lot of players studying their own roles and the roles of their teammates. It is physical work, certainly, but it is mental work as well.

That process is underway, and it is good that it is underway.

Martin has offered real encouragement to those of us who have grown tired of the repetitive style of football we have watched in recent seasons. More importantly, he has offered encouragement to those of us who are wide awake to the dangers of becoming predictable.

Because once you fall into that trap, opponents work you out.

Once you become predictable, teams can set up to beat you far more easily. They know where the ball is going. They know where the patterns are. They know when to sit in, when to press, when to funnel you wide and when to let you have the ball in areas where you cannot hurt them. That had to change.

I am very glad we are now in a place where that change appears to be underway.

More than anything else, that is what could take opposition teams by surprise next season. They are used to a Celtic team that plays a certain way, attacks in a certain way and often gets bogged down in the same problems.

I have said for a long time that once we change that, once we alter the system and the players are comfortable with it, we have a chance to take this league by storm.

We can come firing out of the gates. We can start hurting teams early. We can establish ourselves immediately as the team to beat.

That matters because the first quarter of this season offers a real opportunity.

The big clubs we would regard as our rivals will all be coming to Celtic Park early, and that gives us the chance to beat them, set a mark and shape the season before anyone else has properly settled.

With a change in playing style, especially one opponents have not prepared for and may not anticipate, we have a real chance to make those early advantages count.

There is still a lot of work to be done.

The squad is not ready yet. There are players who will leave, and there are players who still need to come in. Nobody should pretend otherwise.

A tactical shift is not a substitute for recruitment, and a new system will not magically cover every gap in the squad. But the foundation is being laid for a new way of playing, and I am delighted by that.

It is one of the most positive things to happen this summer so far.

It is good that the coaching team are already starting to work on it. Combined with the arrival of a set-piece coach, it should allow Celtic to carry a different level of threat in the coming season than we have done for a while.

A different shape. A different tempo. A different attacking structure. A team that opponents cannot prepare for by simply replaying last season’s footage and expecting more of the same. That is exciting.

It does not solve everything, but it might change an awful lot. And if Martin O’Neill can get the players to buy into it quickly, if Celtic can add the right signings to suit it, and if the coaching team can make the system sharp before the serious games arrive, then this could be the start of something genuinely promising.

I cannot wait to see it.

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