Chris Sutton is just as perplexed and irritated as many hoops fans after reading Peter Lawwell’s statement in Celtic’s interim report.
The Celtic Board appears to be concerned about the lack of movement during the January transfer window, but they haven’t provided any answers.
The dismal summer activities, which saw 10 players come while Jota, Aaron Mooy, and Carl Starfelt left the club, increased the demand for quality arrivals.
With the exception of two assists during the Scottish Cup victory at Motherwell, Luis Palma has been the only player consistently selected, but his production of goals and assists has significantly decreased over the past two months. None of the new additions have strengthened the Starting XI.
The way the January window was handled appeared to remain unchanged; in the summer, Joe Hart will need a replacement, and Matt O’Riley will probably draw offers that Celtic will find hard to turn down. Starfelt, a current international who was a mainstay in a team that won three titles, was sold to Celta Vigo in August for £4 million.
Sutton told the Daily Record that after reviewing the Interim Report, it had all the makings of a perfect storm:
Peter Lawwell had nowhere to go after receiving Celtic’s interim report. He essentially acknowledged that everyone knew it, too, and quite a few of his remarks didn’t sit well with me.
To be really honest, I don’t think there were enough satisfactory responses to the important questions. primarily, the disappointment at not being able to bolster the team further. Although there was a collective admission of guilt, nothing changed, and the key question remains: why were these errors made?
Who is to blame? If funds were available, there’s a culpability somewhere and, although they’ll never actually say, that’s the point and it leaves Celtic wide open to criticism and speculation.
The designated targets were not accessible. Okay, list a few or more alternatives. To put it plainly, are you telling me that Alexandro Bernabei is the only left-back available to cover Greg Taylor better than anyone else? Come on.
Furthermore, I’m not really sure how Celtic is related to transfer activity in England having reached its lowest point in ten years. Would they have spent a lot of money to acquire from the Premier League down south regardless of what was occurring in England, considering Brendan Rodgers mentioned that they needed to be more courageous in the market?
Who is mainly to blame for Celtic’s disastrous season?
Less activity in England should make Celtic’s recruitment of players less competitive, while Ange Postecoglou’s advance work in completing and announcing the deals for Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate, and Yosuke Ideguchi on December 31, 2021, disproved the notion that January is a difficult market.
Along with Matt O’Riley, two of those three additions were crucial to Celtic’s championship run that season, which earned them a spot in the Champions League group stage. It is hard to imagine Adam Idah and Nicolas Kuhn having the same influence at this point.
