It’s the paradox that haunts Celtic this summer

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·14 de julio de 2025

It’s the paradox that haunts Celtic this summer

There’s something about Stephen McGowan that commands attention among Celtic supporters. Over the years, his sources have proven solid, his insights sharper than most in the mainstream Scottish media, and when he writes, even behind a paywall, it tends to ripple through the fanbase.

Brendan Rodgers. Queen’s Park 0-1 Celtic. 4 July 2025. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

OneFootball Videos

His latest column in The Herald — with the headline – “Celtic are spending like a club in the throes of buyer’s remorse” — isn’t just another transfer window moan. It’s a gloves-off piece grounded in hard truths, uncomfortable as they may be for some.

LEIPZIG, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 06: Marian Shved of Shakhtar Donetsk celebrates after scoring their team’s first goal during the UEFA Champions League group F match between RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk at Red Bull Arena on September 06, 2022 in Leipzig, Germany. (Photo by Cathrin Mueller/Getty Images)

If you’ve followed Celtic’s modern transfer trajectory — the peaks of Virgil van Dijk and Moussa Dembélé, the valleys of Vakoun Bayo and Marian Shved — McGowan’s words strike a familiar chord – this is a club caught between ambition and anxiety. And right now, that anxiety might be winning.

“Despite a respectable tally of 21 goals, Idah is no one’s idea of a first-choice starting striker,” McGowan writes of Celtic’s £9m record-breaking signing. It’s a line that certainly cuts deep. For a club long obsessed with ‘value,’ throwing around that kind of fee demands more than ‘respectable.’ performances.

Then comes the equally brutal assessment of Auston Trusty: “If an English club offered Celtic their money back… they’d snap their hand off.”

Brendan Rodgers and the Celtic players post-match. theRangers v Celtic, 4 May 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

These are not cheap jibes. This isn’t kneejerk punditry. This is a reflection of a wider malaise – a recruitment policy lurching from hoarding to high-stakes gambles, with limited signs of a coherent plan. It’s worth highlighting McGowan’s framing of what might be Celtic’s existential transfer dilemma –

“If Dermot Desmond has made up his mind that Celtic are simply no good at spending large sums of money then the solution shouldn’t be a return to the days of raking around the bargain bin.” That one line deserves to be pinned on the wall of the boardroom. Because if the logic is, ‘We’re not good at spending big, so let’s go back to spending small,’ the club may be condemning itself to permanent mediocrity on the European stage.

The money is there. That much is not in question. McGowan notes that “Celtic could feasibly become the first Scottish club to store up bank reserves of £100m.” So, when Brendan Rodgers stands before the press and says there’s still work being done in the background, the fans aren’t irrational in asking -Where’s the ambition? More pressingly – Where’s the trust between the manager and the board?

Peter Lawwell, Chairman of Celtic, Dermot Desmond, Non-Executive Director of Celtic, and Michael Nicholson, CEO of Celtic, are seen in attendance prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and theRangers at Celtic Park on March 16, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Rodgers, after all, has been here before. The article pulls no punches in suggesting his patience may again be wearing thin. “While he deliberates, Celtic might be reluctant to hand millions… Ironically, that reluctance… makes it more likely that he’ll leave.” It’s a paradox that haunts this summer – don’t back the manager fully because he might walk — but by not backing him, you push him closer to the exit.

McGowan’s piece rightly points to the strange halfway house Celtic now occupy. They’ve spent — but not necessarily well. They’ve recruited — but not always with the manager’s full input, as Rodgers’ lukewarm comments on Hayato Inamura hint at. “He’s a part of the investment of the club,” Rodgers said, in what some saw as a polite shrug at best, rather than a ringing endorsement.

That disjointed approach is perhaps most frustrating given the sheer potential in front of them. Europe’s new financial regulations (70% wage cap) shouldn’t trouble a well-run club like Celtic. The Champions League riches are flowing. Key sales — like Kyogo, Kuhn, and the Frimpong clause windfall — have been banked. So why the caution?

Brendan Rodgers manager of Celtic meets fans before the game Cork City v Celtic, Pre Season Friendly, Football, SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork, Ireland – 0 Jul 2025Cork SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh Ireland Photo Lorraine O’Sullivan Shutterstock

It all circles back to the idea of fear. McGowan is honest about it – “Celtic’s fear of missing out on Champions League money has fostered a level of caution which makes that very scenario more likely.” And therein lies the trap. Hoard the cash, play it safe, and risk falling short. Spend recklessly and risk failure of a different kind. But the paralysis of inaction, or half-measured action, is arguably more damaging.

None of this is to ignore the good — the Barrowfield upgrade, the effort to bring Kieran Tierney back, the signings of Nygren and promising youth like Calum Osman. But the first team, as McGowan commented on — the starting XI that ended the season with Johnny Kenny up front and Greg Taylor in midfield — needs quality now. Not projects. Not maybe players. Starters.

Celtic manager Brendan Rogers meets fans before the game Cork City v Celtic, Pre Season Friendly, Football, SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork, Ireland – 08 July 2025Cork SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh Ireland Photo Lorraine O’Sullivan Shutterstock

McGowan doesn’t give you optimism wrapped in soft assurances. He offers something arguably more valuable – realism. And in a summer that could define not just Brendan Rodgers’ second spell, but the direction of the club for years to come, that realism should act as a wake-up call.

Because as McGowan warns — and history reminds us — “In the summer of 2014, Celtic lost a Champions League qualifier to Maribor… 200 angry supporters gathered in the car park.” Those days are never as far away as you think.

If the board is serious about keeping the manager, about competing in Europe, and about giving fans something to believe in — now is the time. Not in August. Not when the window’s shutting. Now.

As McGowan ends, “If keeping the manager is the name of the game, they really should get cracking.” Amen to that.

Niall J

Help raise funds for Celtic Youth Academy by playing the Celtic Pools Weekly Lottery and you could win up to £25,000. The lottery is £1 per week. Click on image above to join.