The besieged Celtic directors must have thought that sanctioning the signings of Mika Baur, Camilo Duran, Haissem Hassan and Kasper Høgh for a combined outlay of over £30m this summer would bring the unrest about their parsimony, transfer strategy and stewardship to an abrupt end.
But 120 minutes of football in Linz last night, coupled with arguably the most calamitous European result in their entire history, disabused them of that notion.
Martin O’Neill, the Scottish champions’ manager, and Callum McGregor, their captain, both accepted full responsibility for the inexplicable collapse which the visitors suffered in the second leg of their Champions League play-off double header to LASK when they were interviewed in the immediate aftermath of the excruciating 5-1 loss.
Majority shareholder Dermot Desmond and his associates, though, must shoulder their share of the blame for an embarrassing 5-4 aggregate defeat which consigns the Glasgow club to Europa League football once again in the 2026/27 campaign.
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McGregor, whose deflected first half shot put the visitors 1-0 ahead on the night and 4-0 in front overall, attributed the reverse to the Celtic players being far too passive after they had taken the lead.
However, exactly the same accusation can be levelled at the Parkhead hierarchy when it comes to their business dealings.
Bringing in Duran, the Colombian forward who once again played on the right flank, Høgh, the Danish striker who led the line, and Hassan, the Egyptian winger who remained on the bench due to his lack of match fitness and sharpness, should certainly address the issues which they experienced in attack last season. All three men are outstanding footballers who will improve their side greatly at home and abroad in due course.
But has leaving it so late to bring in reinforcements in those key positions cost them a place in the league phase of Europe’s elite club competition alongside the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Porto and Roma as well as a £40m pay day?
Would Celtic have been bossed in the middle of the park if Baur, who arrived from Paderborn in his native Germany in a £4.5m deal just a fortnight ago, had been given more time to integrate himself into his new side, familiarise himself with his new team mates and adjust to a new gameplan?
Was it wise to allow Arne Engels to depart to West Ham in a £22m switch before the LASK matches? Could he not have been offloaded once a place in the competition proper had been secured? The Belgian midfielder’s physical presence, football intelligence and penetrating deliveries were badly missed last night.
Luke McCowan, who took over from Baur with around 20 minutes of regulation time remaining, struggled to impose himself on proceedings and gave the ball away in a dangerous area just outside his own penalty box before Samuel Adeniran scored what ultimately proved to be the winner.
Colby Donovan impressed during the first leg last week and the teenage right-back, who has been drafted in to deputise for the injured Alastair Johnston, stuck to his task manfully last night. But should O’Neill not have had more options in the position than the young Scot and his compatriot Anthony Ralston?
He didn’t have a specialist left-back to put on at all when Kieran Tierney had to leave the field and ended up playing centre-half Liam Scales at full-back. He had, too, no fewer than 12 substitutes to choose from.
Viljami Sinisalo, the Finnish goalkeeper, must have been cursing his defenders and midfielders for giving the LASK players so much time and space on the ball as attempts on his goal flew in thick and fast. But doubts remain, despite his late penalty save, that the 24-year-old has the nous required to compete at such a rarefied level.
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None of the replacements who came on – and Scales, Dane Murray, Ralston, Reo Hatate and Sebastian Tounekti were all pitched in to the fray as Celtic unravelled – were able to spark an upturn in fortunes.
Inevitable questions about the strength in depth of the squad were asked following the final whistle. McGregor dismissed the suggestion that there was insufficient quality available to get the job done. But the pregnant pause as he thought about his answer perhaps told a story. “No, I guess not,” he said eventually.
It was obvious to many of the travelling supporters in the Raiffeisen Arena as well as those fans who were watching on television at home that more acquisitions are desperately required. Their heroes were lopsided and paid a high price.
Major signings tend to be made by Celtic, and many other clubs across Europe, in the final days of the summer transfer window and new arrivals are sure to be forthcoming. Ermin Mahmic, the Bosnia and Herzigovina attacking midfielder, is poised to complete a £10m move from Slovan Liberec in the Czech Republic.
Landon Emenalo, the Chelsea midfielder, Balazs Toth, the Blackburn Rovers and Hungary keeper, Gvidas Ginetis, the Torino and Lithuania midfielder, and Fares Ghdjemis, the Frosinone and Algeria winger, have also been linked with the club in recent days.
But the words which Brendan Rodgers uttered exasperatedly entering the final days of the window two years ago ring as true today as they did then. “We shouldn't be in the position we're in,” he said. “It’s definitely something we have to put right as a football club.”
Champions League qualifying losses to AEK Athens of Greece, Cluj of Romania, Ferencvaros of Hungary, Midtjylland of Denmark and Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan have not had a tangible impact on transfer policy. Will this latest costly humiliation?
O’Neill declined to discuss the matter in the wake of a reverse that he rated as painful as any he had suffered as a manager last night. “Talking about the squad?” he said. “That is for another day.” But privately the Northern Irishman is sure to have had some concerns about what he had to work with.
It may be harder for Celtic to lure their targets to the East End now they no longer have Champions League football to offer them. But they need to spend serious cash to ensure this latest calamity to befall them in Europe does not have a detrimental impact on their domestic endeavours going forward. Doing so may not placate the baying hordes.
