Bhoycie 
There was one line from Michael Shearer’s latest piece on Celts Are Here that immediately grabbed me.
Internally, Celtic’s summer transfer window is reportedly being viewed “in a positive light”.
Apparently, the feeling inside the club is that the recruitment process has improved, with Celtic moving towards a more evidence-based approach and accepting that every squad problem couldn’t be solved in a single window.
Fair enough.
But here’s my problem.
Celtic have dropped their own standards so far that they’ve created themselves a lovely wee loophole where almost anything can now be presented as progress.
Spend a bit more money than normal on two or three players? Progress.
Sign six players in the final 48 hours? Progress.
Finish the window with more squad depth? Progress.
All of those things can technically be true.
It still doesn’t make the window a success.
Because the biggest objective Celtic had this summer has already disappeared.
Celtic didn’t get the squad ready in time for LASK, surrendered a huge advantage and failed to qualify. You cannot simply detach that from the transfer window because a load of players arrived afterwards.
Martin O’Neill himself has now admitted that ideally he would have had players in earlier to get them bedded into the squad. He also says he’s now “really, really pleased” with the players Celtic eventually brought in.
I’ve no problem with Martin being pleased with his squad.
I hope he is.
My problem is with anybody above him using that satisfaction to rewrite how we got here.
Because after spending significant money on the likes of Kasper Høgh earlier in the summer, Celtic eventually reverted right back to type.
Deadline approaching?
Here come the loans.
Five of Celtic’s six additions across the final 48 hours were temporary deals.
We’ve seen this movie before.
January windows have ended like this.
Previous summers have ended like this.
Gaps remain until the clock starts terrifying everybody and suddenly Celtic are rummaging through the loan market trying to finish the squad.
That’s not the revolution I was promised.
That’s Celtic with a slightly bigger budget doing Celtic things.
Worse still, one of the deals they couldn’t complete was Gvidas Gineitis.
Celtic chased him for much of the summer. Martin wanted the midfielder. Negotiations continued towards the deadline, but Torino boss Ignazio Abate subsequently confirmed the saga was finished after what he described as a month containing “borderline situations”.
So we haven’t suddenly become some ruthlessly efficient recruitment machine.
Celtic still failed to complete a major, achievable target.
We still left important business ridiculously late and loaded up on loans.
Most importantly, we still weren’t ready when the biggest matches of the summer arrived.
That’s why I cannot call this window a success.
Has it been better than some Celtic windows?
Absolutely.
Did Celtic spend proper money on certain players?
Yes.
Do I like several of the footballers we’ve brought in?
Very much so.
But that’s exactly what I mean about moving the bar.
Being better than Celtic’s previously dreadful standards isn’t the same thing as being good.
The club cannot mark its own homework against how badly it operated before.
Judge this window against what Celtic actually needed to achieve.
Build Martin O’Neill a squad capable of retaining the title.
Improve the quality.
Prepare properly for Europe.
Give ourselves the strongest possible opportunity of reaching the Champions League.
Three of those objectives can still be achieved.
One already can’t.
And that one failure potentially cost Celtic tens of millions of pounds before the transfer window had even closed.
So, by all means, hold the review meeting. Identify what improved. Keep the things that worked and fix what didn’t.
But please don’t dress this up as some roaring success because the club eventually got busy.
Celtic promised us different.
What I saw was a better start followed by a very familiar ending.
More loans. Deals left late. A major target missed.
And another Champions League campaign gone before Celtic had finished building the squad.
If that’s now considered a successful Celtic transfer window, perhaps the biggest thing that’s changed isn’t the recruitment process.
It’s the definition of success.
Keep Your Eyes On The Board.
Firstly, ty Bhoysie. I have been astounded that blogs and some fans are stating that this past window has been a roaring success, and tearing my hair out as a consequence. Firstly the question itself is nonsense, and as you point out, a cursory glance shows you that it’s not that different from previous windows, right down to European elimination by a ‘lesser’ team.
The fact we managed to identify a couple of positions, and spend proper fees to fill them, is to be lauded, the fact that one of the positions had needed filled for 2 years, is not. The last minute panic and loan signings is as it always is. We might even have outdone ourselves here, which is astounding, cause you’d think we couldn’t go any lower, but we managed to loan a guy who has played zero senior football, and is injured, for a position that we knew early we needed cover in. Of course that mess is without even mentioning Sarrachi.
Great article.