MONDAY evening saw Celtic’s higher-ups reportedly meet with manager Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney in what has been dubbed an emergency meeting by the Scottish press in the midst of a vital transfer window.
The squad, which I said two weeks ago needed major heart surgery, has yet to even have its consultation. This late in the window that's bordering on embarrassing. Celtic have completed just a single piece of business thus far – Julian Araujo from Bournemouth on a short-term loan with no option for a permanent acquisition.
What hurts Celtic fans is not just the lack of transfer activity, but that the powers-that-be seemingly have no idea what is truly at stake in the next few months.
In black and white, noted in plain English, Celtic still have three competitions to play for, and yet everything feels limp, as though everthing's done and dusted and the club is waiting for the season to end so it can begin again in a new one.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that league trophy already had maroon or blue ribbons, with only the formalities of fixture fulfilment left in the 25/26 season.
You’d be forgiven for thinking Celtic had been pumped out of Europe with any remote chance of success squashed months ago.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Celtic had been embarrassed and put out of the Scottish Cup, instead of stuttering on to the next round.
But the facts remain: Celtic still have 16 league fixtures remaining, with four of those fixtures including the aforementioned Jambos and Rangers and therefore huge scope for a turnaround.
Two more fixtures remain in the Europa League group phase, with a trip to Bologna before a home game with Utrecht, from which games Celtic require an attainable three points to earn themselves European knockout football.
And despite a turgid weekend display at Rugby Park in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup against Auchinleck, they went into the pot and have a home tie against Dundee.
Yet, despite the fact that there's everything to play for – or almost – Martin O’Neill has been reduced to virtually begging the media in the post-match press conferences not to mention transfer dealings, and jokingly claiming live on Premier TV after Sunday’s victory that he hoped signings will be completed "before the end of the season."
This joke-with-a-jag tells us all we need to know about the planning which took place prior to the transfer window opening. And of course the sharp dismissal of Wilfried Nancy following that defeat to Rangers most likely caused whatever plan existed to be ripped up.
A banner was displayed in 2020 by the Green Brigade
It's all beyond negligent and just at a time when a window of opportunity has opened for the Hoops. Celtic travel to leaders Hearts on Sunday, a team with the spine ripped out of it. Captain and leading Premiership scorer Laurence Shankland's hamstring will see him twiddling his thumbs for six to eight weeks; a recent red card means defensive midfield rock Beni Baningame is out; and Beningame's midfield partner Cammy Devlin is, like Shankland, looking at an April return after an ankle injury.
But Hearts immediately went on the front foot and look set this week to sign a replacement for Shankland. A shocking concept, I know. It’ll never catch on in Glasgow.
By way of contrast, the Celts have been making more enquiries than Scotland Yard when it comes to strikers and the concept of spending some of that £80 million currently collecting interest in the Bank of Scotland continues to provoke fainting fits in the boardroom.
The word is that any transfers over the £3 million mark require the sign-off of the moustache-twirling comic-book bad guy that is Dermot Desmond. And the shambolic nature of Celtic’s transfer dealings were held up for the world to see with two failed deal attempts so eye-gougingly stupid that you begin to think the board's intent on sabotage and not salvation. They went in pursuit of out-of-favour Leeds striker Joel Piroe, having somehow managed to forget that the Yorkshire club is owned by the same US outfit that owns Rangers. Before that, they went after Maccabi Netanya winger Jocelin Ta-Bin with the intention of handing a transfer fee to an Israeli club owned by a company that does business with the IDF.
The lack of foresight from the big wigs at Parkhead is truly staggering. Both Rangers and Hearts have already strengthened in January and continue to seek to do serious business, while again Celtic are again kicking tyres all over Europe and then either walking away or being chased away.
It’s as simple as this: fail to win the league and two things follow. Celtic will allow Hearts to get a powerful foothold at the top and before you know it they could swamp the green half of Glasgow. And even worse for Celtic, should Rangers become champions there's a possibility they could automatically enter next season's Champions League, which would again mean a very significant power shift in Scotland.
The gap that may open could become catastrophic, and a board which once saw their AGM as a chance to laugh at Rangers will suddenly be forced to stare glumly into the abyss.
But Celtic still have the chance to act fast and decisively. Sunday’s game with a wounded but still confident Hearts will tell a revealing tale, whether Celtic go into it reinvigorated or with the same stuttering squad. By the time the next Glasgow derby rolls around in early March, the league die will surely have been cast.
But with the right backing and a longed-for return to the astute business that brought the likes of Kyogo, Hatate, Maeda, Kuhn, Jota, Carter-Vickers, Simunovic and Johnson, Celtic can find themselves a side to be feared again before the end of the month.
The Celtic board cannot fall asleep at the wheel again in another transfer window. Because if they crash again, they're going to end up this time with more than concussion.
