There is something rather depressing about the way we have started judging Celtic signings before they have even had a proper chance to pull on the Hoops and show us what they can actually do. I completely understand the frustration. I feel it myself.
I look at this Celtic squad and I want quality. I want players who can walk into the team and immediately make us stronger. I want Celtic to behave like a club with the resources, ambition and expectations of Celtic. I want big players, big performances and, yes, sometimes big bloody transfer fees.
But a big transfer fee is not a guarantee of a good footballer, and a small transfer fee is not proof of a bad one. That seems to be something we are forgetting.
We have had signings arrive at Celtic in recent years with enormous expectations attached to them because of their price tag, their reputation or the club they came from. Some have worked. Some haven’t. We have also had players arrive with relatively little fanfare and go on to become important players for us.
Football doesn’t care what somebody cost. The shirt doesn’t care what somebody cost. Celtic Park certainly doesn’t care. You either perform or you don’t.
That is why I am finding some of the reaction to this summer’s recruitment increasingly ridiculous. Not the strategy. Not the idea that the club is incompetent when it comes to the timing of its business, or the failures of the academy.
Are some of Celtic’s signings the sort of headline-grabbing, statement-making business that has everybody across Europe sitting up and taking notice? No. Would I have liked Celtic to make a couple of enormous statements in this transfer window? Absolutely. Do I still think this squad needs strengthening in certain areas? Of course I do.
But none of that means I am prepared to sit here and declare that a player is rubbish before he has even had the opportunity to show me otherwise. What would be the point? We have brought players into Celtic for a reason. There will have been scouting reports, data, video analysis, live scouting, conversations with coaches and recruitment staff. There will have been reasons for identifying these players.
Maybe Celtic have got it right. Maybe Celtic have got it wrong.
But I don’t know yet. And neither does anybody else.
We can have opinions about the recruitment strategy. We can question whether enough money has been spent. We can question whether the squad has been strengthened sufficiently. We can question the board, the recruitment department, the negotiating strategy and the general direction of travel.
I certainly will. But attacking the actual footballers before they have played meaningful football for Celtic? No. I won’t do it.
Because these lads haven’t failed Celtic.
They haven’t walked onto the pitch and embarrassed themselves. They haven’t refused to work. They haven’t missed chances in front of the Celtic support. They haven’t made defensive mistakes. Some of them haven’t even had the opportunity to play a proper competitive match yet.
So, what exactly are we judging them on?
Their transfer fee? Their nationality? The league they came from? Their YouTube compilation? The fact that somebody on social media hasn’t heard of them or that there are negative reports about some of them from elsewhere? Come on.
I remember how quickly football supporters can make up their minds about a player. One poor touch and suddenly he’s a dud. One misplaced pass and he’s useless. Two average appearances and we’ve apparently discovered that the entire recruitment department knows nothing about football.
Then, occasionally, that same player scores an important goal and suddenly everybody is telling us they always knew he was brilliant.
I have seen this movie before. Many times. And Celtic supporters are not immune to it. We are passionate. We care enormously. We have expectations which are absolutely enormous. That’s part of being Celtic.
But there is a difference between demanding better from the football club and refusing to give a new player a fair chance.
I can do the first without doing the second.
And I think we should.
Because imagine arriving at Celtic as a young footballer and discovering that sections of the support have already decided you’re rubbish before you’ve even had the chance to settle into the city, learn your teammates’ movements, understand the manager’s system, experience Celtic Park properly or play in front of 60,000 people.
That isn’t exactly going to make adapting easier, is it?
These players need time. They need football. They need to make mistakes. They need to learn and understand what Celtic demands. Most importantly, they need to be judged on what happens on the bloody pitch.
Not on Transfermarkt. Not on Twitter. Not on the size of the transfer fee. Not on whether their arrival was accompanied by a photograph of them holding a Celtic scarf while standing beside Michael Nicholson.
The football is what matters.
If a player comes in and gives us nothing, I will be the first person to say it. You all know by now what I value in a player, and it’s not all about skill. If somebody doesn’t look good enough, I won’t suddenly pretend otherwise because I want to be positive. If someone won’t give their all, I don’t care how good they are.
That isn’t how I operate. But I want to see them first.
Give me five, six, ten competitive appearances. Let me see how they handle Celtic Park. Let me see how they cope when we’re playing against a packed defence. Let me see them under pressure. Let me see them when we’re chasing a goal. Let me see them when we’re protecting a lead. Let me see them in Europe.
Then I’ll judge them. And I’ll judge them properly.
Because that is what they deserve.
There is also something else I think we need to remember. Not every signing is supposed to be a £10 million superstar. Sometimes recruitment is about finding the player who fits. The player whose qualities complement somebody else. The player who gives the manager a tactical option he didn’t have before.
The player who develops over two years and becomes worth considerably more than Celtic paid for him. The player who isn’t particularly exciting on announcement day but becomes absolutely bloody brilliant on Saturday afternoon. That is football.
Some of the greatest Celtic players I’ve watched over the last few years did not arrive with the sort of hype that would make you think they were destined for greatness. And some expensive signings have failed spectacularly.
So please, Celtic supporters, let’s not turn the transfer fee into a footballing ability test. £5 million does not mean five million pounds’ worth of football. £10 million doesn’t guarantee ten million pounds’ worth either. A player is a player.
And once he puts on the Hoops, I want to see him succeed. I want him to score. I want him to tackle. I want him to run himself into the ground. I want him to hear that Celtic support roaring his name. I want him to become one of ours.
That doesn’t mean I am suddenly going to stop demanding more from Celtic.
Far from it. I still want the Board of Pricks to show ambition. I still want proper investment. I still want Celtic to stop behaving as though every pound spent is being physically removed from somebody’s bloodstream.
I want a squad capable of competing properly in Scotland and making a bloody noise in Europe. But I can demand all of that while giving new players a chance.
Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.
So, let’s wait. Let’s watch. Let’s support. Let’s judge when there is actually something to judge. Because maybe one of these supposedly underwhelming signings will become the player we are all talking about six months from now.
Maybe one of them will score a goal against the Ibrox mob that becomes part of Celtic folklore. Maybe one of them will produce a European performance that makes us wonder how on earth we got him for the money we did.
Maybe one of them will become a cult hero. We don’t know.
And that’s the beauty of football.
The story hasn’t been written yet.
So, I am keeping my notebook open. I am keeping my Ginger Witch instincts switched on. I am waiting to see what these players actually bring to Celtic.
Because until they have had their chance, I refuse to write them off.
Judge the recruitment, absolutely. Question the shitty Board of Pricks, absolutely. Demand better, always. But judge the footballer after he has actually played football.
That, to me, is only fair.
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