TROUBLE IN PARADISE
SPORTSMAIL SPECIAL ON WHAT IS GOING WRONG AT CELTIC
STEPHEN McGOWAN
JOHN GREECHAN
KRIS COMMONS
PAT BONNER
SOMEONE at Celtic has to be held accountable for why on earth things have gone so wrong, so quickly. And it all starts with some tough questions about why the club haven’t recruited more wisely when they were in such a position of strength.
Ever since John Park left Celtic, the identification and signing of players hasn’t been the same. I don’t know if that’s a board thing or it’s down to head of recruitment Lee Congerton — or if Brendan Rodgers has the power to say yes or no to these transfers.
But, over the past two seasons, the Celtic manager has signed 15 players and spent around £25million, before agents’ fees and wages are taken into account.
Yet you’re probably only looking at maybe three or four of those signings who could claim to have pass marks.
Scott Sinclair, Olivier Ntcham, Odsonne Edouard and Moussa Dembele — I know he was in the door already — have all been a success.
Everyone keeps saying: ‘We need a centre-half in, we need this, we need that’. But Rodgers has signed five defenders in those two seasons — he’s signed Marvin Compper, Jack Hendry, Cristian Gamboa, Kolo Toure… Emilio Izaguirre is back again. And he’s signed two goalkeepers in Dorus de Vries and Scott Bain. It’s not like he’s not had the money or not been allowed to sign defenders.
On top of that, he’s brought in Lewis Morgan, Jonny Hayes, Kundai Benyu and Eboue Kouassi. I wonder who is identifying all these players and saying that they’re going to make Celtic stronger?
In Scottish football terms, £25m before wages is an impressive figure. And you’ve also got a coach who is the highest paid in Celtic’s history.
You think about the new pitch the club have just spent money on, the new lights. All this spending mounts up for a board who still have to find any sort of transfer fees.
The fact that they dragged their heels over John McGinn, dillydallying between £2m and £3m — that’s just more negatives for a club that has never seemed more powerful.
Back-to-back qualification to the riches of the Champions League group stage. Back-to-back Treble winners. The continued talk of how comfortable the club are financially, that the books are balanced, that they’ve turned over £30m.
Yet when they actually need to go and spend some money, how can it be possible that they can’t afford to stretch to £3m for a player of McGinn’s undoubted quality?
You either are in a strong position or you’re not. It’s pathetic.
Who is having the final say? Rodgers clearly wants more players through the door and he couldn’t have voiced his frustrations any more clearly in the past few days.
The team, at the minute, are going backwards. Those are his words. And that can’t just be down to the resources available — but the recruitment.
Are Celtic getting value for money? You spend £25m on players and only one with pass marks is in the starting XI. Ntcham is in there but Edouard is injured, Dembele is still coming back from injury, Sinclair hasn’t been playing as well as before.
Where is the progression? Where are the signings to take you to the next round?
Where is the next Victor Wanyama and Fraser Forster? You need the next Gary Hooper and Joe Ledley, an Adam Matthews — people you get for a million or on a free transfer, then sell on for £10m. Where has that recruitment policy gone?
Instead what do we have? Celtic brought in Compper and invested massive wages for a 33-year-old yet he’s never kicked a ball.
You look at Hendry and don’t automatically think: ‘Yeah, he’s going to get us a clean sheet in Europe’. He’s not ready for European football.
You could probably say that about Hayes and Benyu. And then you talk about Charly Musonda — the wages I’m hearing talked about for that boy are astronomical.
Kouassi was a £3.5m signing and he looks out of his depth. McGinn would have outshone all the guys Celtic have signed but they initially were only prepared to pay £1.4m. It doesn’t make sense.
It’s not as if the board haven’t given the manager money. They’ve pretty much given Brendan what he wants and don’t forget that, since he has come in, the wage bill has gone through the roof with new deals for the likes of Kieran Tierney, Tom Rogic and Scott Brown.
But who is identifying all these new signings who are taking so much money out of the club? Players who are not making any impact on the squad at all. None.
If you are spending millions on players, they shouldn’t be just coming in to bulk up the squad. If you are spending that much money on players they have to go straight in.
Yet, too many are non-existent. Rodgers signed a new back four and two goalkeepers and they can’t improve the defence. That’s a real problem.
The Dedryck Boyata situation is another real negative. The player says he’s injured, the manager insists he’s fit. Who do you believe?
As a player you have a duty to be available for selection. That’s your job.
I always thought Boyata was a good professional but if he is being led astray by his agent, or he wants to leave and Celtic are playing hardball, there are ways to keep it out of the public eye.
Having an argument in the media just piles up the bad news. You saw that with Rangers when Lee Wallace and Kenny Miller were all over the papers last season.
There are some really negative things happening in the Celtic dressing room at the minute.
Rodgers revealed earlier this week that he had taken his players aside and told them he’s not leaving, that he loves the job and that he’s committed. But you ultimately get your joy from winning.
And it’s funny how football turns on its head. With the successive Treble wins, things just couldn’t have been better. Then suddenly everything changes.
Celtic are in trouble with back-to-back defeats for the first time in Rodgers’ Parkhead reign, out of the Champions League before the group stage, a manager who looks as if he might chuck it.
And to top it all, everything looks so bright at Rangers.
It’s unacceptable for a club like Celtic to be in this position, where it can go so badly wrong, so quickly.
Answers need to be found... no matter how tough the questions.
Answers need to be found... no matter how tough the questions