Finally, transfer urgency from Celtic after months and an avoidable disaster.

A number of deals are now apparently at the final stages. Joël van den Berg has been closing in on his move from PSV. Oliver Sørensen has already completed his loan switch from Parma with an option to buy. Sam Johnstone is travelling to Glasgow to complete his own loan move from Wolves. The young striker from Chelsea, who I wrote about last night, and whose signing excites me, is also believed to be imminent.

Several players. Big additions. Deals that should, if everything goes according to plan, leave Celtic with a stronger squad than the one which started this week. And do you know what my first reaction is? Thank God.

My second reaction is considerably less polite: why the hell didn’t we do this weeks ago?

Honestly, Celtic, why? Why do we always seem to need a bloody speedboat when the transfer window is about to slam shut? Why is it that suddenly, when the clock is ticking, everybody discovers how quickly Celtic can actually move?

Medicals here, paperwork there, players travelling, deals almost done and announcements imminent. Suddenly Celtic can get things moving at lightning speed.

But when we actually needed these players, when we were preparing for the Champions League qualifiers, everything seemed to move at the pace of a pensioner crossing the road on a Sunday afternoon. That is what frustrates me most.

Because I am looking at these additions now and cannot help thinking about what might have been. I am not saying signing Van den Berg, Sørensen and Johnstone would automatically have guaranteed Champions League qualification because football does not work like that and there are no guarantees.

But would Celtic have been better prepared? Absolutely. Would the squad have had more depth and the manager more options? Of course. Would some of these players have had time to settle into the team before the biggest games of the opening part of the season? Without question.

That is precisely why I am asking the question.

Why weren’t they here earlier?

This is not some revolutionary idea. Celtic knew the squad needed strengthening, knew Champions League qualifiers were coming, knew players were leaving and knew which positions needed addressing.

We have been talking about this for months, yet here we are on September 1 watching Celtic finally accelerate through deals which could dramatically improve the squad.

It drives me mad.

I know somebody will say, “But Paulina, transfers aren’t that simple.”

I know. I understand negotiations, agents, wages, transfer fees, medicals, add-ons, sell-on clauses and all the rest of it. Clubs do not simply hand players over because Celtic decides it wants them. But I also understand planning.

That is where my problem lies.

If Celtic wanted these players, or others, why were we not trying to get these deals done earlier? Why does it always feel as though Celtic needs a gigantic deadline looming over its head before the transfer department suddenly discovers urgency?

It is almost as though somebody has shouted, “OH SHIT! THE TRANSFER WINDOW CLOSES THIS WEEK!” and suddenly everyone starts running around Celtic Park with paperwork under their arms. That is not how a club with Celtic’s resources and ambitions should operate, especially after what happened in Europe.

We have just suffered the pain of another Champions League disappointment. We watched Celtic fall short when the stakes were enormous and spent weeks talking about squad weaknesses, experience, quality and depth.

Now, after the Champions League damage has already been done, Celtic suddenly appears capable of moving quickly. That timing makes me furious.

Could the story have been different if Celtic had acted earlier?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But at least we would have given ourselves the best possible chance, and that is what I want from Celtic. I do not expect guarantees.

I expect preparation, ambition and a club which identifies what it needs and moves heaven and earth to get it before the important games arrive though.

Not after. Before. That is the bit Celtic seems to struggle with.

I am not going to sit here and complain simply for the sake of complaining either. If Van den Berg, Sørensen, Johnstone and others are all confirmed, I will welcome them, all of them, whoever they might be. If they improve Celtic, I will be delighted, and if they give Martin O’Neill more options then even better.

If Celtic can still bring in the players we need before the window closes, then bloody hell, do it. Do not stop now and look at our completed deals as though the job is finished. The job is finished when the squad is strong enough.

If that means another left-back and another right-back, then go and get them. If we want that third midfielder, get him in. Do not wait until January, an injury crisis or another European embarrassment tells us what we already know.

I would much rather sit here in September saying Celtic have absolutely battered this transfer window, although late in the day, and given Martin O’Neill everything he needs than sit here in November asking why we did not sign somebody when we had the chance.

Because we have been here before too many times.

Celtic has a habit of leaving things until the last possible moment, and every single time I ask myself the same question: why do we do this? Why do we make everything so unnecessarily complicated? Why do we allow important weeks of preparation to disappear while negotiations drag on? Why, when the deadline finally starts breathing down our necks, can we suddenly move at Formula One speed?

It makes no sense to me. Perhaps that is why I find the whole situation so frustrating. Seeing these deals moving quickly proves Celtic can move quickly.

That is the most annoying part. The capability is clearly there and the urgency is clearly there now. So why was it not there earlier?

Why weren’t these players training with the squad weeks ago, learning Martin O’Neill’s system, getting to know their teammates and getting minutes before the Champions League qualifiers?

That is what I cannot get out of my head. Yes, maybe Celtic would still have gone out. Maybe individual mistakes would still have cost us and maybe nothing would have changed. But at least Celtic would have gone into those matches with a stronger hand.

Instead, we once again left ourselves playing catch-up, and Celtic cannot keep playing catch-up. We are Celtic. We should be setting the pace.

So, if these deals are indeed about to be confirmed, get them over the line. Get the paperwork signed, get the photographs taken, get the announcements out and get the players into training. Then keep going.

There is still room for more, whether that is at left-back, right-back or anywhere else Martin O’Neill believes this squad needs genuine reinforcement. Do not take your foot off the accelerator simply because three deals have suddenly reached the finishing line.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Celtic needs to learn something from this summer. Speed matters, planning matters and timing matters. You cannot wait until the last minute every single time and then wonder why supporters are screaming at the television.

We want Celtic to be ambitious. We want Celtic to compete in Europe and build a squad capable of dealing with domestic football and European football at the same time. If we genuinely want to do that, then we have to stop treating the transfer window like some sort of emergency evacuation drill.

Get the work done early. Get the players in, settled, training and ready.

Because the next Champions League campaign will come around, and when it does I don’t want to be sitting here asking the same bloody question again: “Celtic, why didn’t you sign them earlier?”

I want to be asking a very different question: “Celtic, how the hell did you manage to get all of this done so brilliantly?”

That is the Celtic I want.

Not Celtic with a speedboat racing against the transfer-window clock.

Celtic with a bloody plan!!

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