Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton reckons that the club’s preparation for this season’s edition of the UEFA Champions League was ‘unforgivable’.
Celtic sit rock bottom of Group E after four matches having only managed to pick up a point. It’s been another season of regrets and difficult encounters.
Sutton believes the transfer work done in the summer should have been far more organised and smoother. He’s now called on the club to get its act together in time for next year’s UEFA tournament.
Chris Sutton calls out Celtic unpreparedness
Writing in his Daily Record column, Sutton said: “Celtic knew the date of the first Champions League group matches in the second week of May when they won the title against Hearts at Tynecastle and guaranteed their place in them. That is four whole months. That Postecoglou team was building. They had their experiences of the first campaign and those that were staying could use them.
“Those who were leaving needed to be replaced properly and strengthening was also needed because, having finished the campaign with two points last term, it was clear that even the side who ended that term required more furnishing. Instead, Celtic went backwards.
“You can’t legislate for injuries to the likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liel Abada, but even if those two had been available for Rotterdam, the squad on night one was still weaker than the one that finished last term’s campaign against Real in the Bernabeu. I’m going to repeat myself in one sense. That was unforgivable. But I’m not going to keep repeating myself and neither should Celtic. This direction of travel has to stop. It has to be altered now. In fact, it should already be happening.
“Rodgers is a quality manager. He’ll know what he needs and what he can expect to get on that recruitment front within the parameters of the club model. As a club, Celtic have to be on that right now. I know the market is changeable and targets can alter, but Rodgers will have a grasp of what he wants and they need to be brought in either in January or on the first of June next year.”
It’s easy to see where Sutton is coming from. For much of the summer Celtic fans, myself included, were waiting on the big transfers to happen – but they never really arrived.
Most of the players coming into the club were young players who needed to be developed over time. What the squad was crying out for was two or three first-team-ready players. Nobody was expecting Celtic to shell out £20m for an individual, but the champions can certainly shop in the £7m-£10m bracket.
Can the Celtic board really look at themselves and say the club did everything in its power to prepare for this Champions League campaign? I’m not sure they can. And that’s Sutton’s point.
It needs to start changing in January.
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