You would expect a modern football club to have a dedicated recruitment and football operations team handling transfers.
At Celtic, however, the club’s board remains heavily involved in getting deals over the line.
The Hoops have had a number of people overseeing football operations and recruitment in recent years, but there is currently no head of football operations in place after Paul Tisdale left the club in January.
That has left questions over who is responsible for driving Celtic’s transfer business and negotiating deals with clubs and player representatives.
It is not unusual for directors to have a role in transfers, particularly at board level, but the extent of Celtic’s involvement has raised eyebrows.
CeltsAreHere has spoken to a number of clubs and player representatives throughout the summer as Celtic have pursued targets across Europe.
One word has repeatedly been used when discussing the club’s transfer operation: “unprofessional”.
The number of people who have made that observation has become difficult to ignore.
Now Sky Sports News’ Anthony Joseph has offered an insight into how Celtic’s current structure is affecting their ability to operate in the transfer market.
Speaking about the club’s recruitment, Joseph explained that board members are currently doing much of the work involved in negotiating deals.
He told Celtic Fans TV:
“But you’ve also got to remember with Celtic at the moment, they’ve got just board members really doing the deals,” Joseph said.
“And in the past, I know it’s still not been great, but in the past they’ve had a head of recruitment, they’ve had a head of football operations, they’ve had a team, more of a team of people doing these deals.
“So they have come to a point where they’ve had to go to, for example, where they were looking for a left winger, Adrian Blake was the top target, they’ve had to go to him and say, we’ve got too many priorities here to have a left winger.
“So we’ve got to get a left back, a goalkeeper, a right back and two central midfielders now.
“I know things change and injuries cause that as well. But if you are more prepared, if you wanted a left winger straight away, why not just go and get them?
“Adrian Blake costs, what, two, three million pounds and was wanting to come to Celtic, no matter whether they were Champions League or not.
“But in terms of actually doing the deal with the club, they had to put their resources and effort into other priority positions, which I can understand to a point, but if you have a bigger team of people doing the transfers, which most modern European football clubs do, then you’d be able to get all these deals done.”
The club’s priorities have shifted throughout the summer, with the Champions League exit, injuries and player departures all changing the requirements of the squad.
But the argument remains that a properly staffed recruitment department should be able to deal with several negotiations simultaneously rather than having senior board members juggling competing priorities.
Celtic have ultimately been active in the final stages of the window, with a number of deals progressing ahead of deadline day.
However, the question over who is responsible for the overall football strategy and recruitment operation remains.
With Paul Tisdale’s departure still not followed by the appointment of a permanent replacement, Celtic are operating without a dedicated head of football operations at a crucial time for the club.
The current structure at the club could be limiting the Hoops’ ability to move quickly when opportunities arise in the transfer market.
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