Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has shed light on the club’s summer transfer strategy, defending its approach as consistent with Celtic’s long-term model.
Rodgers further elaborated that Celtic’s spending is guided by a sustainable model, saying, “The club has a model that is sustainable for the club and they’ll work to that model. That’s where it’s at and it’s proven to be successful.”
The Celtic gaffer also touched upon the limitations imposed by the Scottish Premiership’s market, adding, “I think there’s a certain market for a player to come to not so much Celtic but the league and that’s the reality of it.”
Discussing the state of his squad, Rodgers acknowledged the desire for further improvements. “I think every manager will tell you by the window they always wish they could have done more in certain aspects,” he told RecordSport.
He also mentioned that the club would look to the next transfer window to fill any gaps, stating, “We would have wanted to improve the squad this window then whatever we can’t get because of either the availability isn’t there or the players aren’t affordable then we move to the next window.”
While Rodgers seemed generally satisfied with the summer’s activities, there was a palpable sense of frustration that some plans might be pushed to the January window.
This sentiment is likely shared by the Celtic faithful, who are keen to see the club strengthen further and compete at a European level. With Rodgers’ comments, the focus now shifts to the winter transfer window, where Celtic will aim to address any remaining weaknesses in the squad.
However, Europe could be a distant memory before we get to the January transfer season.
Whimsy I totally agree that there is a strategy, whether it’s he right strategy to take us to a different level is another thing… if, IF, the Huns were spending big and threatening our position, would we spend more?! Imo absolutely we would… so… are we really pushing ourselves as a club to be better? Hmmm
Rodgers commented on the limited Scottish market, well it’s up to everyone involved with it, to get rid of this ludicrous split, and get back to a symmetrical top league, where everyone plays everyone else an equal number of times, home and away. Get rid of this 4 divisions of 12, 10, 10, 10, which makes no sense, and instead have 3 divisions of 10, 16, 16. Introduce an extra two legged cup competition, to make up for the 6 match shortfall there would be outside of the top division. Combine the top 9 teams in the Highland and Lowland leagues, to make a new ‘Countrywide Alliance’ top division of the non-classified leagues, so that teams relegated from the bottom classified league, would now go into this Countrywide Alliance, instead of the regional Highland or Lowland leagues. Then under this league, the Highland league would evolve into the Highland and Northern league, and the Lowland league would evolve into the Glasgow and Southern league. You could then make the Scottish Cup (which you could now call the Scottish Clubs Association Cup), more exciting, by having 60 teams from the non-classified leagues, enter the first round of the Cup, together with the 16 teams in the 3rd level, thus ensuring that there would be at least 22 teams from the non-classified leagues, in the second round draw, when the 10 top level and 16 second level clubs, joined in the competition. Also, by having the 10 top level sides play each other twice at home and twice away, it would give Scottish football the opportunity to play some league matches in foreign countries, because of the extra home matches each club would play, as opposed to the single home matches that the clubs would play in other leagues. So, for example, you could have St. Johnstone .v. St. Mirren, played in St. Lucia. Two Sainted clubs playing a league match in a Sainted country. So much better than a boring Luton Town .v. Bournemouth encounter, at Kenilworth Road, in the over-hyped and over-rated England-based premier league. Celtic and Rangers would also be more able to make use of their worldwide fan bases, and other clubs would be able to enlarge their global exposure. There’s a lot Scottish football could do to improve and bring more excitement to the game, but those who run it are lazy, have just given up, and are obsessed with ‘splits’ for some reason i do not understand.