Keith Jackson

Celtic will strengthen, probably heavily, before the first ball of the next campaign is kicked.

We are dealing here with a group of players which has just racked up 47 domestic games without suffering a single defeat.

In fact, the last team to get the better of Celtic was Barcelona back in November when Lionel Messi scored both goals in a 2-0 Champions League group stage win.

Now that Rodgers is about to use a fat wedge of the money banked from that European campaign to furnish this squad with even more talent it seems reasonable to assume the gulf between Celtic and the rest will only widen.

Derek McInnes, on the other hand, faces a struggle just to keep his team standing still with a cluster of key players about to move on.

This man has worked wonders at Pittodrie and even though he left Hampden Park empty-handed at the weekend his aim of creating an era of sustained success in the north-east has been achieved.

He may very well be heartily sick of taking second prizes but his own reputation as a tactician and as a manager of some substance continues to blossom.

In fact, he came very close to outmanoeuvring Rodgers at the weekend and, had his players not run out of gas with 20 minutes of the showpiece event still to play, he could have been celebrating a triumph eclipsed only by the memories of Gothenburg.

That will rankle with McInnes who must now spend the whole summer agonising over what might have been while also grappling with the here and now and attempting to secure Aberdeen’s status as the second force in Scottish football.

With so much imminent upheaval – Ryan Jack, Niall McGinn, Ash Taylor and Peter Pawlett could all have played their last game for the club and possibly Jonny Hayes too – McInnes will have to make miracles happen in the transfer window in order to keep this club punching above its weight.

The capture of Shaun Maloney would be a good start and McInnes is confident of tying that deal up after holding a series of discussions with the player.

But the former Celtic man on his own will not be enough which is perhaps why some believe this might well be the ideal moment for the Dons boss to consider where his own future lies.

Already he is being linked with the vacant job at Sunderland but, even although the appeal of holding such a prominent position will be strong, he should do himself a favour and give them a wide berth.

Black Cats’ chief executive Martin Bain may very well see the strategic sense in luring McInnes to the Stadium of Light as they try to regain Premier League status but this is a