IT really is good to see that Celtic have finally managed to achieve the dream that they had hoped to always become, and no I don’t mean a European football competitor, but a rival to Sports Direct, it seems, based on yet another kit launch.
An to be truthful, this year might be the best set of Celtic kits I have seen since they took on the Adidas deal in 2020. And in reality, it should never be this hard to support a successful football team and not want to hand over fistfuls of money for their casual wear range.
But, there-in lies the problem, Celtic are an anomaly of a football club which edges into the franchise category far too often for their own good.
Earlier in the year they signed a deal to become one of the ‘Adidas Elite Teams’, which for those who are not clued in on what that means, basically, Celtic fans are suckers and Celtic as a brand are rather fashionable.
The kit launches have become a running joke with fans, but it is really an indictment of how those of us who spend ten months of the year kicking every ball and heading every clearance with raw emotion are viewed – consumers.
One of the most marketable brands are at the disposal of the Hoops, and the launch of a brand-new jersey often came with the arrival of the newest signing, but at this rate there will be a competition to take part in next month's launch, and the fact that it seems to be prioritised over results on the pitch and bolstering the squad is worrying.
Martin O’Neill’s side kick-started their pre-season and despite still awaiting the return of some international stars – Alistair Johnston and Austin Trusty to name a few – the rest of the squad have returned and it appears frustrating that once again we look at the same faces for a mistake in a pre-season friendly before the inevitable ‘he can do a job’ label is attached.
O’Neill’s men played out a boring 1-1 draw last week against Shelbourne, and despite a dull affair it gave fans in Ireland the chance to see the Hoops in the flesh if they are unable to trek across the Irish Sea to Glasgow.
Friendlies are exactly that – friendlies – but that doesn’t mean we want to see these games filled with squad level players and third stringers, we want to see the newest signings embedded in before the campaign is set to begin.
Following the draw with Shelbourne, Celtic announced the signing of Camilo Duran and since the acquisition of the Colombian the Hoops began their intense warm-weather training in Lisbon where they took on Sporting Club in another friendly battle.
Despite a decent first-half showing, and the aforementioned Duran striking for an equaliser in the most Daizen Maeda fashion possible, the Glasgow side were on the end of a spanking and it came through multiple mistakes at the back from Dane Murray and Ross Doohan since their introduction at the break.
And yes, before I get my underwear tangled, I know these guys are not going to really make much of an impact for Celtic this season, but that is just the point, why are we continuing to ‘test the squad’ rather than quickly adding quality to the playing personnel and embedding them into Lennoxtown before the first competitive fixture.
The distraction of the World Cup has allowed those in charge to hide away, but that has slowly dwindled as those lucky or unlucky enough to attend the Jose Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon were in strong voice with ‘Sack the Board’ getting its earliest rendition to date in a single season.
I previously mentioned the tone-deaf nature of the higher-ups and that is of course more true than ever this summer, but imagine not only struggling to add to the squad, but failing to bring in two of the easiest signings from last season just to have the team at a base level. Of course I reference the length of time it has taken to re-sign Ihenacho and Saracchi following their expired contracts.
The Celtic fans are being towed along for a ride, and Celtic’s inability to separate football club and franchise from social media just leads to increased bouts of anger from the fans.
Daily posts from the marketing team who are just doing their job and a good job at that when it comes to promoting the newest purchase, but once again supporters feel like their noses are being rubbed in it. One new signing for every three kit launches is not a great ratio.
And at the rate Celtic are going, Parkhead will become the next flagship Adidas Superstore and football will be irrelevant, nevermind an afterthought.
