NEIL LENNON doesn’t trust easy, you have to show him what you’re made of and for new signings that come in from the scouting department – it can be a tricky thing to do.

Patryk Klimala and Ismaila Soro have both found this first hand, even if you put in the work, it’s no guarantee the manager will take to you. Our sources at Celtic Park say Neil Lennon didn’t know much about either when they came to the club and trusted Nicky Hammond and the scouting team.

That’s all well and good, but Celtic have wasted a lot of money on players scouted who come in and the manager sees little to no value in them for the squad. There has to be a more cohesive and methodical approach. From the outside looking in, Neil Lennon says he needs a left-back so they go find him a left-back.

When players come into the club, the manager must be confident they can make an impact. Shane Duffy and David Turnbull are two signings which look like they’ve had the Lennon seal of approval from the off which means we’ll likely see these lads sooner rather than later. For signings coming in outwith Neil Lennon’s scouting radar, it’s an uphill struggle. You have to wow the manager like Jeremie Frimpong or you could be left behind.

The approach to Celtic’s transfer problem predates Neil Lennon; the number of players we’ve taken a punt on who have had no impact before heading out has been a big reason why the club can’t gain a foothold in Europe.

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No club is ever going to have 100% transfers work out but we must address the amount of waste. It hasn’t affected our ability to win trophies but it has hampered being as competitive in Europe as possible and the more money we waste, the more likely it will come back to bit us in the long run.

2 COMMENTS

  1. If, as you accept, no club is going to have 100% success in the transfer market, what would be an acceptable level od success in this sphere? what percentage of success have Celtic had over the 5 seasons you list? Is this poorer than the average percentage for comparable clubs? And finally, how do you measure it?

    You might have 8 players- 2 successes, 2 squad members and 4 who dis noot make it so you could calculate that as a 50- 75% success rate.

    However, if your 2 sucesses are each sold for £25m plus and you break even with the squad members, but take a loss of £5m for each of the 4 who did not make it, is that a financial success of +£30.

    And then, there are the value of the trophies won by the players when with your club. Even a player sho did not quite make it, could be responsible for pressuring a first team member to improve his game so that the team benefits. How do you value the trophies and titles won?

    This critiquing of the club is not as easy as it looks.

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