We all know the scale of the Celtic rebuild that lies ahead of us.
Neil Lennon is gone along with Head of Football Operations Nick Hammond. Chief Executive Peter Lawwell will follow both out the door come July 1st. That means a new manager, director of football, and chief executive will need to come in. Granted, Dominic McKay will take over from Lawwell this summer.
As for the on-field matters we have four loan players that will head back to their parent clubs. We have three big-name players that may leave in Odsonne Edouard, Kris Ajer, and Ryan Christie (the reason being that all three are into the final year of their contracts).
We’re going to be short in a host of positions and the new manager will need to sort the vast majority of them out within a couple of months of getting his new gig.
So the scale of the rebuild is massive. But as for how LONG it should take? First off, the sole goal next season is to regain the league title. A cup or two would be terrific, but reasserting our dominance of Scottish football should be the immediate focus.
Yes, that means Europe is a bonus too. Given we won’t be part of the Champions Path in Champions League qualifying this year, it’s going to be trickier than normal. A run in the Europa League will be expected however.
But the league will always be the most important thing. And you can’t honestly say that Celtic won’t have the spine of a side that should be aiming for glory next season.
Celtic rebuild can’t go along without immediate success
The likes of Leigh Griffiths, David Turnbull, Ismaila Soro, James Forrest, Callum McGregor, Chris Jullien, Stephen Welsh, and Greg Taylor are just some of the names likely to stay on. There is plenty of quality there to build the team around.
Rangers, meanwhile, have proven that they will continue to bottle pressure situations. Last night’s Scottish Cup quarter-final vs St Johnstone at Ibrox was proof of it. As was their 3-2 defeat at St Mirren in the Betfred Cup final. Both competitions Celtic had been knocked out of and therefore the Ibrox side were favourites to win.
Had we applied real pressure to them during this title race, they wouldn’t have enjoyed the pressure. Chances are they would’ve been struck with a lot more draws and defeats than they have done. We’ve absolutely capitulated instead, and we have nobody but ourselves to blame.
But please spare us talk of potentially more years without success. Chris Sutton suggested that could be the case last month when he claimed about £50m-£60m could be needed for the rebuild [Daily Record]. That next season would be tough and it could take until the 2022/23 campaign before we’re back on our feet. That should never be accepted.
That is giving Rangers far too much respect too. We should be able to form a team over the summer that can bag victory after victory in the Scottish Premiership. A team capable of going on a run and pushing Rangers for the title immediately. To say otherwise is to act as though we’re up against Barcelona next year.
Yes, it’ll be a big rebuild with plenty of new faces. A lot is going to change at Celtic and it could take two or three years before we truly see what the new manager is capable of. But that shouldn’t mean we accept anything less than first place next year. That, regardless of how big the Celtic rebuild is, must be considered as the goal.
In other news, Zander Clark has been congratulated by Celtic fans for his Scottish Cup display.
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