Former Scotland international Alan Brazil has criticised the Celtic board for their handling of the summer transfer window. The Bhoys went into the international break on the back of a crisis of sorts, losing three straight games that left Martin O'Neill reconsidering his position.
O'Neill has his shortcomings, but he has also been put in a difficult situation by a board that could not manage an efficient transfer window. Celtic were expected to be proactive in the summer, but they let around two months go by before they signed a player.
The Bhoys failed to address a number of key issues until the final day of the window, when they brought in a flurry of late signings that were made up of either cheap or young loan players.
But those gaps have already been exposed against better teams, with Celtic losing four of the five games they have played against anyone who is half decent, with no disrespect to some of their Scottish Premiership rivals.
Speaking about Celtic's poor window, Brazil said on TalkSport: "I think he looks a lot better, Martin. I don’t think you can question Martin’s judgement here. I’ve said it, and I’ll say it again, and I’m probably going to get pelters for this, but with the greatest respect, it’s my team and I can say what I like.
“Celtic, in my opinion, were very very fortunate – showed a lot of character, but very very fortunate to win the league last year. That’s when you invest again. You think, ‘We’re champions, we’re not going to make that mistake again, there’s a war chest. Come on, let’s go to war. We’ll continue this dominance’.
“And what did they do? They sat back, in their chairs thinking ‘Ah, we’ve just about got off again’. Which is wrong, and I don’t think you can blame Martin O’Neill for that.”
Brazil is spot on, and we have continued to repeat that while O'Neill does have some shortcomings, none more than his apparent inability to impact games during them. But many of the issues stem from poor recruitment, and the biggest issue is clearly the club's failure to replace Arne Engels, who was their best player.
Celtic have no midfield without Engels or a proper replacement, and it's tough to beat good teams without a solid midfield. That would be the case regardless of who the manager is, and it comes from the board's inefficiencies not O'Neill's.
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