“The cost has gone up, it’s the same for everybody,” John Collins | OneFootball

John Collins reckoned that the Celtic Board would have learned a lesson from last season’s shambles in both the summer and the January transfer windows…

Sadly it looks like that is NOT the case as the clock ticks down towards a tough Champions League qualifier against Austrian Champions LASK.

Speaking at a Premier Sports media opportunity, the former Celtic midfielder and Assistant Manager believes that the terribly disappointing summer 2025 window lingered around Celtic Park for six months or more and almost completely derailed the season.

John Collins, Glasgow Celtic FC, 27 September 1994 Photo Mary Evans Allstar/IMAGO

Lady Luck intervened but it’s impractical to rely on that again as Celtic seem to be heading down the same path which is causing concern and frustration among the Celtic support.

“I would like to think they have learned a lesson after last season,” John Collins stated. “Everybody in the building at Celtic Park from below the directors to the owner to the fans.

“It was obvious the recruitment was not good enough. It wasn’t done quickly enough and it left them bare for the Champions League. It cost them dear, not just in terms of qualification, but in atmosphere.”

Collins explained: “That’s what Celtic Football Club is all about: the atmosphere that makes them unique inside that stadium when the fans are united behind the team.

“No matter what anybody says, it pushes them on and makes them win games. People say the fans cheering and singing gives players energy and they lost that last year. For six months, it was not a great atmosphere.

“So I thought they would’ve come out all guns blazing in the transfer market and had five players in the building by now, five players that would have made the team better. But it’s not happened,” the former Celtic star admitted.

That said, Collins does have an appreciation of just how tough a task player recruitment can be as he’s been there himself while working alongside Ronny Deila a decade ago.

Celtic manager Ronny Deila lifts the trophy after the Scottish Premiership Match between Celtic and Inverness Caley Thistle at Celtic Park on May 24, 2015. (Photo by Jeff Holmes/Getty Images)

“I’ve been there, it’s not easy to get the players you want at the right price you think is fair. They’ve got a wage structure that they don’t want to break.

“They’ve got transfer fees that, in reality, they have to break, because what was an £11m player now compared to three, four years ago? There’s not a huge difference in the quality of the players, but that’s just the state of the market. The cost has gone up, it’s the same for everybody.

“But the challenge is finding the diamonds in the small teams, in the small leagues that the data hasn’t thrown up. It’s not all about the data, it’s about a trained eye. Can they find a little diamond in a small team that’s got a bit of magic?”

So far the answer is clearly no and it’s perhaps no surprise because Celtic do not have the key recruitment personnel in the building and haven’t really made any moves as far as we know to rectify that.

30th December 2025; Fir Park, Scottish Premiership, Motherwell versus Celtic; Chris McKay of Celtic chats to Head of Football operations for Celtic Paul Tisdale. Photo Vagelis Georgariou.

The so-called Football Doctor Paul Tisdale, who did not have the CV to be anywhere near a giant tub like Celtic, having operated in the lower leagues of English football, managed to convince the Celtic Board that he was the man for the job, Wilfried Nancy was the ideal candidate to replace Brendan Rodgers and that Celtic was NOT in the Top 100 clubs in European football.

Tisdale lost his job in early January and eight months later the club appear to be no further forward in bringing in a replacement.

Celtic Manager Martin O Neill. Celtic v Dundee, Scottish Premiership, Celtic Park, 3 August 2026. Photo Stuart Wallace IMAGO Shutterstock

The Champions League qualifier is upcoming over the next few weeks and there’s around £40m at stake. Martin O’Neill is desperate for more signings and is getting fed up having to answer the same kind questions that were being put to Brendan Rodgers last summer.

Fares Ghedjemis of Algeria looks on during an international friendly match between Algeria and Guatemala at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on March 27, 2026 in Genoa, Italy. (Photo by Simone Arveda/Getty Images)

Michael Nicholson should be looking at bringing in a goalkeeper, finalising a deal to bring Greg Taylor back if that is indeed the plan, as cover for Kieran Tierney. Getting the Mika Baur deal over the line and stretching the club’s ambition to sign Fares Ghedjemis, moving on from Haissem Hassan who looks like he has alternative plans.

John Collins was promoting Premier Sports’ coverage of Scottish football including over 80 matches from the Scottish Premiership, Premier Sports Cup and Scottish Cup. Fans can watch an entire season of football for only £99 using promo code FITBA26.

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