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Celtic’s Annual General Meeting this week was quite popular, but for once, the most important takeaway didn’t come from the administrators.
It came from Brendan Rodgers – and his insistence he had the final say on all signings. That is the way it should be but there has been a sort of grey area around Celtic’s transfer activity, and not just in Rodgers’ second spell in charge. It gets painted by some that the manager is somehow given the players to work with and he just gets on with the job of coaching them.
That has been a sharp contrast to the Ange Postecoglou era, where he was adamant that any player coming in was fully his man and that he’d stand or fall on his transfers. In fairness, he got an awful lot right in the market so it was never an issue. But with Rodgers it all felt a little hazy when it came to recruitment. You go back to his first time at the helm when he talked about having a million wingers when Maryan Shved was signed by the club.
Already in the summer there was the feeling that Celtic were recovering all their clients so that the coach could continue. But that is now being set aside. Rodgers says he has final say on all arrivals. He has taken it on his shoulders and now he can be judged by the players he recruits. And that’s fair enough.
What may be harsher is his view that more players called up for assignment deserve not to be drafted in January. I’m sure Celtic enthusiasts will be pleased to hear that the manager needs to sign proven and experienced players who will improve the starting line. up. Doing so is another matter.
It’s also a slight replacement in the message. This summer it was all about the model: recruiting players with potential, making them young and reasonable in order to perfect them and, in all likelihood, make them profitable. It has to be said that it is a policy that has worked spectacularly. for Celtic in recent years.
There is the European angle of course, and their struggles at that level, but on the home front, Celtic have been utterly dominant while managing to sell for massive profits. In that respect you’ve got to say they’ve got the balance right. The days of signing players in their prime from the English Premier League are long gone.
People like me, Alan Thompson, Neil Lennon and John Hartson, were in their 20s and 30s when we came to Celtic, but trying to sign a normal EPL in those days would cost you around £40m to start with. They’re going to be good.
A lot is made about Celtic having £70m in the bank. There are plenty of English clubs who’ve blown that on one or two duds.
It’s incredibly complicated for my old club. I look at Patson Daka, who doesn’t have many league games at Leicester City.
He scored plenty of goals at Red Bull Salzburg and would do the trick, but there’s no way Celtic will make it, unless it’s a loan deal with Leicester being charitable with the wage breakdown.
They have to work in another market, and that’s where that gets tricky for Rodgers. He might have become an asset by taking responsibility, but it’s a challenge he’s thrown at the board of directors.
Rodgers needs “quality,” but don’t all managers do that?I’d like to see how he does it. Over the summer, there was talk of recruiting more customers when they needed upgrades.
But they’re the same. Matt O’Riley arrived as a prospect for just £1. 5 million. Two years later, he wouldn’t settle for 10 times that amount to sell it.
And as for proven players with experience? That’s no guarantee either. Marvin Compper had plenty of experience in the Bundesliga but sunk at Celtic Park.
On the other side of the coin, Lubo Moravcik was expected when he arrived and it turned out to be a masterstroke. It’s not a natural expense: Odsonne Edouard was a £9m progression player, but it was also a sensible purchase.
The challenge of recruiting leads is recruiting the right leads. Many are made up of those who have not succeeded, but there are many who have.
During Rodgers’ first reign, he signed deals with the likes of Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair, who were great good luck stories. There were others, such as the lesser-watched Compper, who weren’t so lucky, but at this point it was recruiting leader Lee Congerton who faced much of the complaint.
You can’t have both. He used his knowledge of the Japanese market to land Kyogo, Reo Hatate, and Daizen Maeda.
But Celtic also have Cameron Carter-Vickers, Jota, Josip Juranovic, Alistair Johnston, etc. Postecoglou has taken over and Rodgers is now doing the same.
It is elegant among some enthusiasts to check his hand with Mark Lawwell, as they will oppose any involvement of Lawwell. But this is the same Mark Lawwell who has been directly or indirectly involved in transfers over the years, adding the hiring of Postecoglou himself. .
The signing of players happens to many other people, but it is the coach who bears the blame. With amateurs, if they’re good, it can be black or white.
But at least there’s no longer a gray domain over who’s in charge.