Brendan Rodgers/Ange Postecoglou Transfer Comparisons – Facts and Figures | OneFootball

The Celtic Fans Collective statement today was perfectly timed as I was in middle of researching a Rodgers/Postecoglou signing comparisons, which you can read below. I think it shows outside of Ange’s first season, with all hands to the pump, and CAA Base and Frank Trimboli assistance, not to mention Dom McKay, we’ve been wasting fortunes since. Article on that below.

I’ve written another article on outside investment interest rumours. It’s perhaps more of a speculative one and that will follow shortly on The Celtic Star this evening….

CELTIC SIGNING COMPARISON BETWEEN ANGE POSTECOLGOU AND BRENDAN RODGERS SECOND TIME AROUND…

“What we witnessed yesterday was the result of repeated failures in the transfer market. This will continue until there is change at the Club – in both structure and personnel. Celtic fans have the power to force that change by staying united and taking action. Not Another Penny…”

Celtic Fans Collective, Founded September 2025.

That statement from The Celtic Fans Collective following Celtic’s 3–1 defeat at Tynecastle is, as we know, more than a protest against a single result.

Eight points behind Hearts in the title race is symptomatic of something far deeper, a squad construction problem that stretches across managers, windows, and the club’s structural approach to recruitment, arguably since the end of Ange Postecoglou’s first season in charge.

Brendan Rodgers. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Since Brendan Rodgers returned in the summer of 2023, Celtic have been extraordinarily active in the transfer market. Over two seasons, Celtic has signed 29 players, a figure that suggests ambition and intent. But dig into the details, and the reality is a wee bit more sobering.

Of those 29 signings, arguably only six have established themselves as ready-made first-team starters. Kelechi Iheanacho (Free), Sebastian Tounekti (£5.2m), Benjamin Nygren (£1.7m), Arne Engels (£11m), Kasper Schmeichel (Free), and Jota (£8m).

Jota and Reo Hatate celebrate. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

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Crucially, two of these players — Iheanacho and Schmeichel — came from Rodgers’ personal network, highlighting a reliance on his Rolodex rather than Celtic’s formal recruitment process. Another was the re-signing of a player we all knew well.

That leaves only four starters who were identified, scouted, signed, and trusted by the club’s recruitment team, and perhaps or perhaps not with Rodgers fully engaged, representing £25.9 million of expenditure for genuine first-team integration.

Beyond that core, Rodgers and the recruitment team has invested in a second tier of squad contributors and rotation players, a group designed to provide depth but who rarely influence games consistently.

Michel-Ange Balikwisha. Hearts v Celtic, 26 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

This tier includes Paulo Bernardo (£3.5m), Auston Trusty (£6m), Michel-Ange Balikwisha (£5m), Marcelo Saracchi (Loan), Ross Doohan (Free), Luke McCowan (£1m), Viljami Sinisalo (£1m), and Yang (£2m).

Together, these eight players account for roughly £18.5 million in permanent spend. There’s a mix of versatile and useful players, capable of stepping in when injuries strike, but few push into a first-choice role.

Shin Yamada. Hearts v Celtic, 26 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Rodgers’ recruitment also includes development or project players. Shin Yamada (£1.5m), Hayato Inamura (£0.25m), Callum Osmand (Free), and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey (Loan).

These players are low-cost, low-risk attempts to grow talent within the squad, representing a further £1.75 million of investment.

High turnover compounds the problem.

Eleven Rodgers-era signings have already departed, either because they were rarely used — Tomoki Iwata (£1m), Odin Thiago Holm (£2.5m), Kwon (£1m) Marco Tilio (£2m) Gustaf Lagerbielke (£3m), Nat Phillips (Loan) — or they had a chance, didn’t work out and have moved out on loan, or have been sold — Luis Palma (£3.5m), Adam Idah (£9.5m) , Alex Valle (£1.3m loan fee), along with Jeffrey Schlupp (Loan). It’s worth noting that that Rodgers had nothing to with any of the these signings except the last three. Also as Valle wanted to leave early, Celtic’s loan fee was probably around 50% of the sum quoted.

Nicolas Kuhn of Como 1907 looks on during the Serie A match between Como 1907 and US Cremonese at Giuseppe Sinigaglia Stadium on September 27, 2025 in Como, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Meanwhile Nicolas Kühn (£3m), was sold for big money but did contribute greatly in the time he was with the club.

Approximately £24.8 million was paid for those departing players – the Jota fee basically – not counting the value of loan arrangements. The high turnover, coupled with relatively few first-team-ready signings, paints a picture of a recruitment strategy struggling to convert acquisitions into sustained performance.

Continues on the next page with the signings of the Ange Postecoglou era…

Contrast this with Ange Postecoglou’s tenure from 2021 to 2023, and the difference is stark, though it must be understood in context.

Postecoglou inherited a squad in flux after the Covid-impacted 2020–21 season. Contracts were ending, players were leaving, and the dressing room was fractured. A rebuild was unavoidable.

New manager Ange Postecoglou poses for a photo at Celtic Park Glasgow. Photo Jeff Holmes

Over two years, Postecoglou signed 29 players — the same numerical volume as Rodgers — but arguably with more impact.

Twelve of those became trusted first-team starters. Kyogo (£4.6m), Liel Abada (£3.4m), Cameron Carter-Vickers (£6m), Jota (£6.5m), Daizen Maeda (£2m), Alistair Johnston (£3.5m), Carl Starfelt (£4m), Joe Hart (£1m), Reo Hatate (£1.4m), Matt O’Riley (£1.5m), Josip Juranovic (£2.5m), and Aaron Mooy (Free).

Celtic v AZ Alkmaar –  Europa League – Play-Off – First Leg – Celtic s Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates scoring. Photo Andrew Milligan/IMAGO

These twelve players formed the spine of the first team, with cohesion, balance, and a clear tactical identity, with a total spend of £36.4 million.

Behind them, eleven squad rotation options.

Four provided depth and consistency without undermining the first team Giorgos Giakoumakis (£2.5m), Oh Hyeon-gyu (£2.5m), Tomoki Iwata (Loan), Moritz Jenz (Loan).

Sead Hakšabanović of Celtic shoots at goal during the UEFA Champions League group F match between Celtic FC and Real Madrid at Celtic Park on September 06, 2022. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Seven others were less successful in terms of first team performances, Alexandro Bernabei (£3.75m), Sead Haksabanovic (£1.7m), Liam Scales (£0.5m), Yuki Kobayashi (Free), Benjamin Siegrist (Free), James McCarthy (Free), and Oliver Abildgaard (Loan).

In total these 11 players signed for £10.95 million.

These were not high-profile signings, but some delivered tactical reliability and allowed the system to function across league and cup competitions, others were less successful.

Continues on the next page…

Johnny Kenny arrives at Tynecaslte. Hearts v Celtic, 26 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Finally, Postecoglou invested in six projects and developmental players — Johnny Kenny (£0.125m), Yosuke Ideguchi (£0.85m), Bosun Lawal (£0.12m), Osaze Urhoghide (£0.2m), Liam Shaw (£0.3m), and Joey Dawson (Free) — for a total of £1.595 million. Low-cost, low-risk signings that could, in theory at least, integrate gradually or be sold on, depending on progression.

In total, Postecoglou’s recruitment cost approximately £48.9 million, slightly more than Rodgers’ £46.1 million, but the value returned in first-team-ready talent, squad depth, and system cohesion was perhaps far higher and you have to factor in that roughly half of the Rogders era spend has under Mark Lawwell’s control and had nothing at all to do with Rodgers, who simply agreed to work with the incoming signings in late June 2023.

Postecoglou’s replacements for outgoing players were timely in the first two transfer windows, creating a squad that was cohesive, cost-effective, and resilient.

Ange Postecoglou with the Glen’s manager of the season award at Lennoxtown, on May 06, 2022, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The difference is not luck. It is structural. Postecoglou relied on a network-driven approach, with deep knowledge of Japanese and wider Asian markets and the influence of Frank Trimboli and the CAA Base agency. Signings were targeted, market-aware, and system-aligned.

Rodgers, by contrast, hasn’t been so lucky. He has leaned on the English and Premier League-adjacent market, for Schmeichel and Iheanacho. And we had an old bhoy returning in Jota.

While Ange was well backed in his first window and very much involved, Rodgers’ initial transfer window relied on Mark Lawwell-era signings that largely failed to integrate long-term. Meanwhile Rodgers’ reliance on Rolodex signings — Schmeichel and Iheanacho — who are both first team players, highlights the limits of Celtic’s standard scouting and recruitment when unmediated by overseeing tactical insight.

The contrast is pretty clear and worrying too. Postecoglou’s era, initially at least, produced a first team that was ready, cohesive, and durable, while Rodgers era has delivered more churn, less integration, and dependency on a small core.

Brendan Rodgers with the Scottish Cup on 25 May 2024, after Celtic’s 1-0 win over theRangers in the final at Hampden Park. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

When injuries hit — as they have for Jota, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alistair Johnston, and Daizen Maeda lately — Celtic’s squad depth under Rodgers is tested in ways Postecoglou’s teams rarely faced. Rotation under Postecoglou rarely meant compromise, under Rodgers, it risks instability, as we saw on Sunday at Tynecastle.

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Ultimately, this comparison is a cautionary tale. The budget is there, the intent is there, but execution lags behind vision. Exactly what the Celtic Fans Collective is insinuating in today’s update.

Rodgers’ recruitment has been ambitious in spend and decisive in parts, but high turnover and limited first-team integration underscores clear systemic weaknesses.

Postecoglou’s model, across his first two transfer windows, backed by targeted networks and thoughtful market strategy, produced sustainable, tactical outcomes that Rodgers’ squad has yet to replicate.

Celtic fans are right to demand smarter, coherent investment and spending aligned to structure, not circumstance. Until that alignment exists, the cycle of turnover, unmet expectations, and over-reliance on manager Rolodexes will continue.

Celtic Park under the lights before kick off Celtic v Sturm Graz, UEFA Europa League, Group Stage, Celtic Park, – 23 October 2025. Photo Stuart Wallace IMAGO/Shutterstock

Not Another Penny isn’t a protest about spending ambition, it is a call for strategic clarity, system-led recruitment, and a squad capable of enduring injuries, maintaining style, and competing at the level the club and fans expect.

Most of Celtic’s success stories have come down to manager knowledge of their own past working environments. Postecoglou had the advantage of using his own talent finders and dealmakers, in the first two transfer windows in particular.

And where Postecoglou had CAA Base, Frank Trimboli, and initially Dom McKay to complete the deals. Rodgers has had to lean on the Recruitment input of Mark Lawwell and Paul Tisdale, alongside the contract wheeling and dealing of CEO Michael Nicholson and CFO Chris McKay.

Michael Nicholson, Celtic CEO and Chris McKay, Celtic CFO, look on from the stands during the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD3 match between Celtic FC and SK Sturm Graz at Celtic Park on October 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

It’s fair to say Postecoglou had the most success. But he also had the most help, internally and externally. Rodgers however has clearly suffered with two recruitment leads who have poor records for talent identification, and a CEO and CFO who don’t appear to have been in the same league as Dom McKay, or even perhaps Frank Trimboli.

Celtic’s issue then isn’t spending money. It’s how they spend it. And the strategy, or lack of a coherent one, used.

Rodgers it would seem is the fall-guy now for a recruitment strategy that started to fall apart in Ange Postecoglou’s second season in charge. And the quality in comparison to quantity has been evident to all since.

We’ve outsourced our PR team by all accounts. Perhaps it’s time to do the same for our recruitment strategy.

Niall J

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Celtic in the Eighties and Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style both by David Potter. Photo The Celtic Star

Danny McGrain signing copies of Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Photo: Celtic Star Books

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