CHRIS SUTTON has leapt to the defence of Celtic’s financial standings while the club fail to get results on the European stage.
The former Celtic striker believes the financial results coming out just before the Feyenoord game set a false narrative in motion and allowed many who want to criticise Celtic a lazy stick to beat them with.
However, the Englishman sees complexities in what supporters really want to see, and that’s serious cash being put down to buy players. Well that’s all well and good and Celtic clearly could go and buy a player worth £15m, Sutton points out you then need to pay them the going rate in wages a £15m player would demand. While that could still be financially achievable, Sutton believes if the model was broken for one player, there would be an army of players chapping the door of the board looking for similar.
Writing in his RecordSport column, Chris said: “Put simply, you can’t sign a £15m player without paying the weekly going rate for a £15m player and there’s the issue right there. Do it with one, you could have an army at the door wanting the same pay. Not even with riches in the bank can Celtic sign £15m players because they can’t be paying £60,000-a-week to any individual, so I don’t have an issue with not splashing on fees because it’s more complex than just a fee and the market is crazy.”
Celtic’s Gustaf Lagerbielke is shown a red card by referee Irfan Peljto REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw
It’s a fine balance for Celtic, but Sutton believes the bhoys could still find a lot of value in the £5m bracketed player, where the board have fallen down this summer is not getting deals done early.
“Bristol City’s Alex Scott to Bournemouth for £20m. Cameron Archer £18.5m to Sheffield United. Manchester City’s Under-21 keeper James Trafford going to Burnley for £15m. Chelsea paid £60m for Romeo Lavia, a development player. That doesn’t mean you can’t find gems for £5m or less and polish them up as Celtic have done successfully in their model. But with that approach, it must be done quickly. That’s where the key lies for me in the model.
“If you are going to think about achieving anything in the Champions League, you have to try and get those types in as soon as possible to get them working in a real rhythm before they enter the cauldron. We can all see that didn’t happen. The team against Feyenoord hadn’t played once as a unit and that’d be my frustration as a manager. You need time to get it flowing.”
Brendan Rodgers has made it clear he will work with the players at his disposal with an eye on the January window for getting in some more experienced players.
We don’t need to be spending 15 million. The Croatia keeper was available for 7 and would be on a reasonable wage. Dembele was available for free. There is players out there available but Celtic prefer to bloat the squad with unproven youngsters hoping that 2 or 3 come good so they can take the credit and sell them on. Simply not good enough