For years, Scottish clubs have operated under almost identical transfer deadlines to their English counterparts.
This summer is a little different.
While England’s transfer window will slam shut at 11 pm on September 1, Scottish clubs will have until 5 pm on September 3 to complete their business.
It might only be a matter of days, but those extra hours could provide Celtic with an interesting opportunity.
By the time the English window closes, Premier League and Championship clubs will have finalised their squads. Players left out of plans, youngsters needing loans and fringe first-team stars searching for minutes could suddenly become available.
Celtic would then have a small window to assess opportunities and move quickly.
No, this is unlikely to be where the club finds its next superstar.
The elite talents will already have their futures sorted long before deadline day.
But squad building is not just about marquee signings. Depth matters.
Last season exposed that as much as anything.
When injuries hit and the fixtures piled up, Celtic found themselves relying on a relatively small core of players. The January arrivals of Joel Mvuka, Tomáš Čvančara and Junior Adamu failed to provide the impact the club had hoped for, leaving Martin O’Neill with limited options during key moments of the campaign.
That is where the English market could become useful.
Celtic have a strong history of identifying value south of the border.
Jeremie Frimpong arrived from Manchester City’s academy and developed into one of the club’s most profitable sales ever.
Aaron Mooy arrived later in his career but brought experience, quality and calmness to a midfield that needed exactly those attributes.
Even players who do not arrive as guaranteed starters can prove valuable over the course of a long season.
The key, of course, is recruitment.
Celtic cannot afford another transfer window where numbers are added without improving the squad.
Every signing has to raise the level, whether they are arriving to start every week or provide competition and depth.
With Champions League qualifiers looming and significant changes expected to the squad, Martin O’Neill and Celtic’s recruitment team have a major job ahead of them.
The extra few days at the end of the window will not define the summer.
But if used correctly, they could provide one final opportunity to strengthen the squad after the English market has settled.
And in a season where margins are likely to be fine once again, that could prove valuable.
All our business should be done long before then, ideally by the time players start their pre-season so that the coaches have time to work with new players and they are properly integrated into the squad.
For some reason, year after year (apart from during the Big Ange reign) we leave it until literally the last minute, so that we end up paying inflated fees to selling clubs for players who were not good enough to be picked up by other clubs during the whole summer.
Almost a month into the close season and we have signed no one.