Celtic’s transfer business this summer has frustrated the life out of many fans.
Celtic supporters have had to watch as Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers lost Nicolas Kuhn this summer to Como and Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes in January.
Now in August and ready to kick-off the new season against St Mirren this afternoon, fans are yet to still see the board replace those two players adequately despite Celtic having tens of millions of pounds swimming in the Parkhead bank account.
The Hoops support has long held a suspicion that certain people in the Celtic boardroom get involved in Brendan Rodgers’ transfer dealings.
However, Hugh Keevins appears to have dispelled that rumour as he shares what Celtic chairman Peter Lawwell told him in a private phone call last season about this very matter.
What Peter Lawwell told Hugh Keevins about his involvement in Celtic’s transfers
The frustration at the lack of transfer activity has never been more intense than it has been at Celtic this summer.
This is partly down to the fact that the fans can see the squad is weaker, Brendan Rodgers wants to strengthen and Celtic clearly have plenty of money to do so.
However, Lawwell has denied that he is involved in any of that as Keevins reveals what the Celtic chairman told him ‘during an early-morning phone call last season’.
Keevins wrote in the Daily Record, “One radio caller last week referred to Celtic’s board as the “spreadsheet champions” – a reference to the men in suits allegedly seeing a balance sheet as a trophy.
“There will be no reply to such a charge because Celtic’s board is non-verbal, other than on the day of their Annual General Meeting when corporate law demands answers by word of mouth.
“I do know, however, that transfer policy has absolutely nothing at all to do with the chairman Peter Lawwell.
“He told me so in no uncertain terms during an early-morning phone call last season – and I have no reason whatsoever to doubt his word.”
What Brendan Rodgers has said about Celtic’s transfers this summer
The Celtic boss is clearly frustrated at the lack of activity this summer as Rodgers spoke about the deals taking time to get over the line at the pre-match press conference this week.
Rodgers said this week [6m], “Yeah, I don’t know. I think it’s… I don’t conclude the deals. The deals are…there are always time lags on them for different reasons.
“But I think that, come the end of that period, of course, we would want to… we would love to get players in earlier. There’s no doubt I would have liked to have players in now, but it’s not the case.
“So I’m not going to kill my own joy and overthink stuff. I focus on what’s here. We know the work that we need to do, and it’s my responsibility to convince the club that we really need them.
“I’m not doing that job as well as maybe what I can, but I will continue to pursue that because it’s something that’s important for us.”
With just under a month to go in the transfer window, Celtic fans and Rodgers will be hoping that the deals the Hoops boss wants are completed before the big Champions League qualifier later this month.
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