Three Fixtures down, 7 goals scored, 1 conceded with six points gained and through to the next round in the League Cup. A good solid start to the season and although it is only three games, our rivals on the Southside are playing catchup with being 4 points behind already. You would usually expect the 'New Manger bounce' but under Russell Martin they have faltered in the bread and butter of domestic football. They have won 2 games in pursuit of Champions League qualification but the Rangers support are foaming at the mouth and already calling for heads to roll.

Since the Transfer window opened the Scottish media have been purring over the business carried out in Govan and at times have used it as a stick to beat Celtic and Rodgers with. Rangers have made 10 new signings with as many leaving the club bringing their spending to around the £20m mark. The new American owners have given Russell Martin the backing and it is now on him how he uses the squad in their attempt at closing the gap on Celtic.



The Scottish media and pundits have been quick to tout Brendan Rodgers with moves away from Celtic, citing that there is some sort of standoff between our board and him in regards to new signings. Rodgers has given many interviews and updates surrounding the issue. We have made six signings so far with five players leaving. Celtic have banked £21.8m from transfers, the bulk of that was £19m for Nicolas Kuhn. On the other hand, for the six players signed, our outlay is a miniscule £1.5m for Benjamin Nygren.

Of course we had the much anticipated return of Kieran Tierney who would have cost us at least £25m normally but he was out of contract at Arsenal and cost us nothing. As it stands, we go into the new season much lighter than we finished last season. We are crying out for two new wingers, one for each side and with Jota out until after Christmas, it makes the need greater. Yang is not the long term option for the right wing on his showings up to now and Forrest, whilst he has played well the first 2 games, we cannot depend on him getting through the season without injury and the same can be said of Tierney’s left back position.



The biggest need currently is a striker who knows where the back of the net is and I must say, Rodgers has given Adam Idah his chance to shine but up to now he has failed to convince that he should be the main man. Johnny Kenny has just extended his contract which Brendan was instrumental in and believes he is an exciting prospect, but again, he is not ready to lead the line and will require some more game time to confidently slot in when required. Maeda is the best candidate for that position, that is not an ideal scenario as it would mean taking him away from the left wing where he has terrorized defenders since joining Celtic.

It is quite clear that Rodgers feels he needs more signings, his frustration with the board has even had him comment about how successful teams don’t stand still. Every day the press bombards him with the same questions regarding new faces and you can see from his demeanor that he is fed up hearing it but I also believe he is currently holding his cards tight to his chest. Rumours persist with the same 4/5 players being touted as possible signings. One ship that has sailed is Lennon Miller from Motherwell. He has just penned a deal with Italian side, Udinese, To be fair though, it is a position where we have great options.



Champions League qualification will determine the standard of player we require for the season ahead and the money outlaid will also depend on that. Names like Balikwisha from Antwerp and Jakob Breum, another winger, from FC Cluj in Romania have been constant with reports in the Netherlands saying that Celtic tried to low ball Dutch club, Go Ahead Eagles, for their brightest prospect, 21 year old Breum. Go Ahead Eagles value the player at £6.5m and no less but we offered a derisory sum of £1.5m which was rightfully laughed out by the clubs Chief Executive, Van Dop.

He had already approved a deal without fuss with rangers for their Finnish winger, Antman, with the deal concluded at £4m. Von Dop said, “There was some interest from Celtic for Jakob Breum, but we felt the gap was too wide. Things moved very quickly around Oliver Antman and Glasgow Rangers. Celtic could have taken a leaf out of Rangers book.” This is scathing but true.

Our board will not compete for players in the market if we are going to gain a bad reputation for low balling clubs with silly offers. Considering the amount of money we have to play with, there is no excuse, yet nobody expects us to splurge huge amounts but if we want good players we have to pay the price. Chief Executive Michael Nicholson was brought in to oversee the fine details of transfers and budgets but up to now he has shown no promise as he just seems to lurk in the shadow playing the puppet to Lawell’s puppet master. We want to be amongst the big boys in the Champions League but fail to prepare, prepare to fail.



Celtic will face Kairat Almaty in the Champions League last qualifying round and it will be a very long haul to Kazakhstan after they put Slovan Bratislava to the sword after penalties. The away tie comes days before the first Glasgow Derby of the season at Ibrox and it could prove to be a stumbling block after all the travelling. However, it is imperative we beat Kairat but not so much with Rangers as we have that breathing space in the league already. The transfer window remains open until 7pm on the 1st September and I am hopeful that we will sign another 3 or 4 players that will add quality to the squad. We wait with bated breath.