It is very clear that Celtic need to ring in the changes if they are to keep up with the times. The club have not transformed with the evolving nature of football, especially over the past decade or so, in which so much has changed about how successful teams are structured behind the scenes. If they do not adopt those measures, they will continue to lag behind the rest of Europe.
We saw a perfect example of that in this summer transfer window. The club constantly made bids significantly lower than what others were looking for and unsurprisingly, we saw a lot of transfers fail to materialise and even collapse at the last step.
Nicolas Kuhn left in early July and a replacement was not brought in before late August. By then, the Hoops had already failed to qualify for the Champions League. Or they sanctioned Adam Idah's departure despite not having a replacement in place beforehand. Such decisions make no sense and clearly, there needs to be a change behind the scenes.
It is about time that Celtic adopt the sporting director model and Jim Goodwin, who is enjoying a ton of success as the manager of Dundee United, has been backed for a role at Parkhead.
Celtic tipped to make move that could solve major problem
As reported by the Daily Record, when asked how to fix Celtic’s broken recruitment set-up, Graeme Young said:
"Dundee United fans won't like me for this but Jim Goodwin is the type of manager who has excelled at recruitment. I would get him signing players in a very important role, a new role at Celtic. They haven't operated like other clubs, but I think you can find a role in the club for a sporting director. Now, to me, Jim Goodwin has been the best in Scotland at finding players. Miovski at Aberdeen, the summer list, Dundee United, Dolcek's the latest, but there's been multiple players that have excelled. He seems to have a great eye. And Celtic aren't. There's something missing here. I think there's a real role for someone in Scottish football to reimagine how Celtic do business. The manager is far from being immaterial, but there needs to be a new structure."
The job that Goodwin is doing at Dundee United right now is certainly impressive. They have exceeded all expectations.
Last season, they finished fourth in the Premiership and it would not be a surprise if they manage something similar this time around as well. The recruitment has most certainly been one of their strong suits. It remains to be seen if Celtic do end up making a move for someone like Goodwin in a sporting director role.