Ange simply HAD to do his own shopping
CELTIC’S first signing of the January window used to take longer to wrap up than an investigation by Sue Gray. Weeks of hype ended in rampant anti-climax when Pawel Brozek pitched up in the final hours on a six-month loan from Trabzonspor, posing for pictures like the hostage in a ransom video.
Signing a player on deadline was better than no signing at all, but there were times when it felt like a close call.
Celtic’s transfer business already feels like a different story.
Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi have pitched up from Japan and seem genuinely happy to be here.
If the same can’t be said of Australian international midfielder Riley McGree — after a late flash of Middlesbrough’s chequebook — the sheer speed of the attempts to sign five new players before the third week of the new year has felt as novel and unusual as a patch of sweat under Prince Andrew’s armpit.
The urgency of the transfer activity reflects the urgency of Celtic’s situation.
Six points behind an improving Rangers heading into the second half of the season, there were times last month when Postecoglou’s side stood accused of being more lightweight than Douglas Ross.
A lack of strength and depth in the squad was obvious.
That mattered because the price of finishing second has never been higher than this season.
Automatic qualification for the Champions League group stage could be worth a potential £30million to the league winners.
If Rangers win it, they return to a state of financial sustainability at the stroke of a pen.
If Celtic win it, the pain of last season is numbed and a fiscal chasm would open between the clubs that Isambard Kingdom Brunel couldn’t bridge.
That might explain why this transfer window already feels markedly different for Parkhead fans on two counts.
Their club has not only done most of the business in the opening days of the window. For the first time in years people actually believe that the manager signed the players.
Peter Lawwell was always quick to dismiss accusations of meddling in transfer matters. Yet, over 17 years as chief executive, he carefully micromanaged Celtic’s financial affairs. And supporters believed his managerial reach extended to a role as an unofficial director of football.
That’s why no one really blamed Ronny Deila or Neil Lennon when signings like Mo Bangura, Amido Balde or Stefan Scepovic went wrong. No one really thought they knew much about them in the first place.
With Lawwell gone — for now at least — there’s a new sheriff in town. And Ange Postecoglou has wasted no time in locking up new signings like a modern-day Wyatt Earp.
A throwback to the old days when football managers managed the signings as well as the training, the former Australia boss admits he’s an ‘old-school’ operator. Were he less diplomatic, he might also admit he has no real alternative.
Nick Hammond left his job as Celtic’s head of football operations on March 31. Months later, Lawwell retired as CEO. And, after dodging a bullet when Eddie Howe said no to the manager’s job, Celtic welcomed Postecoglou into a club so damaged he should have been posing for pictures in the garden of 10 Downing Street.
Despite the mess he took on, Postecoglou found a way to win the League Cup. He forged a strong working relationship with the new chief executive Michael Nicholson.
And, nine months since Hammond walked out the door for the final time, Celtic show no sign of appointing an experienced replacement. Facing the most important January transfer window in years, the job of signing players has been left to Postecoglou and his agent Frank Trimboli. The current Celtic manager seems happy enough with the arrangement.
Content to place himself at the front and centre of transfers, Postecoglou has made it clear he won’t point fingers at others if things go wrong. If Celtic fail to win the league, it’s on him. And, in music to the ears of Dermot Desmond and Michael Nicholson, the bold Ange insists he has all the help, support and back-up he could ever need.
Yet the recent moves for Hatate, Maeda, Ideguchi and McGree — players he alone knows and likes — tell a different tale.
In the coming weeks, we’ll find out if the capture of Kyogo Furuhashi was a flash in the pan. Or evidence of a single-minded Celtic manager worth his weight in gold.