Celtic have 12 weeks to pull off a rebuild - Kieran Devlin The Athletic
There are 12 weeks left before Celtic’s first Champions League qualifier next season.
Week beginning July 19 — circle those dates in your calendar. Given time has lost all linearity in the last 13 months, that match will arrive sooner than you might think.
That is 12 weeks to hire a new manager and allow him the time to build enough familiarity with players and sufficiently prepare them tactically to compete in Europe and the league. Twelve weeks to hire a director of football or sporting director who already has recruitment targets in mind as a priority before he can enact changes in other sporting departments. Twelve weeks to coordinate as many transfer incomings and outgoings as possible, so that at least a majority of the players the new manager has at his disposal will be of a first-team standard and want to continue their careers at Celtic next season.
That is not a lot of time in which to achieve a tremendous deal.
It feels like a fortnight cannot pass without writing something anxiously highlighting how quickly the clock is ticking. There are almost certainly practical realities that are obstacles to progress for the time being; both Celtic and their favourite for the managerial position Eddie Howe are still patiently negotiating, and that, in turn, has knock-on consequences for the director of football appointment, which in itself holds implications for this summer’s transfer whirlwind.
It is possible, even likely, that Howe’s appointment would facilitate a domino effect in accelerating all the other changes required over the next three months. But for now, all that is subject to prediction and educated guesses. It is only in the domain of hypotheticals while in reality, the window to affect such change is shrinking with each passing day.
What has actually happened since Celtic were eliminated from the Scottish Cup, their final competition this season, by Rangers over a week ago? Patryk Klimala has left for New York Red Bulls. Somewhat remarkably, given his first-team struggles and the raised eyebrows over the cost of bringing him to Glasgow in the first place, Celtic have made their money back. Klimala’s loss will not be hugely impactful, but it adds yet another name to the intimidatingly lengthy list of probable exits over the next few months.
When we wrote about Celtic’s concerning squad depth and management in February, we did not anticipate Klimala or Hatem Elhamed’s transfers elsewhere. The Athletic understands that there is at least one other player not usually included in the list of wantaway usual suspects that is also disillusioned with their situation at the club. The group of players who want to stay at Celtic and are good enough to play in the Champions League is wearing thin.
It also begs the question: who sanctioned the Klimala move? The incumbent CEO and director of football operations, Peter Lawwell and Nick Hammond respectively, despite their departures this summer? How much input did incoming CEO Dominic McKay have? Did interim manager John Kennedy have a say, despite the temporariness of his duties? The boundaries, at least in public, are so blurred at this stage that they do not exist.
The Mail on Sunday also first reported at the weekend that Ryan Christie’s contract, initially thought to expire next summer, bizarrely expires next January instead, and The Athletic also understands that this is the case. This makes him eligible to speak to clubs to organise a pre-contract agreement this summer, presumably after he plays for Scotland at the European Championship.
Although the Christie predicament was introduced during his last renegotiated contract in November 2018, the recency of its revelation suggests that this is a club still going backwards, rather than one attempting to emphatically rectify this season’s failings. One of their most lucrative assets potentially being allowed to leave on a free transfer because of an inexplicable contract quirk captures in microcosm Celtic’s squad management problems.
Stories such as Klimala’s transfer will continue to prompt suspicion because there is a lack of clarity over the club’s direction. Developments such as Christie’s contract debacle will continue to aggravate and depress supporters until there is a new and inspiring project to meaningfully get behind. Christie leaving on a free transfer would be an abject business failure but it will not deal as significant a blow to morale if progress for next season is measurable.
The club are clearly conscious of this image of inertia, which is why they have not yet posted season ticket renewal forms, whereas they did so in March last season. They know that those supporters indecisive over renewing will want a compelling reason to do so. Even those who will renew no matter what want an energising incentive to vindicate their decision.
On paper, Howe would be a great appointment and if he were to join he would presumably already have a strategy in mind in how to use the current first team, what style and game plan to develop, and what type of players he would like to come in. A majority of the Celtic support appear to be excited by the appointment and would eagerly get behind him. It could be the perfect catalyst for course-correcting the club’s decline. But his success next season, if he were to join, could hinge on movement happening soon. Patience is losing its virtue.
Twelve weeks is not a lot of time in which to achieve a tremendous deal. Eight weeks, all that is left by the end of the season, is noticeably harder.
