Elena Sadiku, erstwhile manager of Celtic’s women’s team, left her post for a similar job in her native Sweden. BK Häcken is hardly a step up in class in the sport, albeit one that takes her closer to home.
However, she only made the move after expressing frustration at the club hierarchy for its failure to invest sufficiently in the first-team squad.
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“I feel right now that we are in a situation where teams are investing strongly, and you can see how tight it is every season,” she said in October. “Teams are getting better and better, and we need to push in the same direction as well. It is not about having a fear factor but the fact that other teams are investing really well.”
If that sounds familiar, it should: It’s essentially what her counterpart with the men’s team, Brendan Rodgers, said from about mid-July until the time of his surprise resignation in October, minus the car analogies.
Does it suggest an institutional problem at Celtic? It sure looks that way.
New men’s manager Wilfried Nancy may have secured his first win as Hoops manager—in five tries—on Sunday, but the performance (a 3-1 victory over 10-man Aberdeen) hardly did much to paper over the cracks in the squad, such as the lack of an experienced and ruthless striker.
Nancy looking to Rebuild at Celtic
Indeed, as the January transfer window approaches, Nancy and new women’s manager Grant Scott will both be busy rebuilding their respective squads (the women are currently seven points behind leaders Glasgow City). Or at least they should be—in fact, there is no guarantee the board will provide either with the resources needed to do so, in spite of public assurances.
“I met with Wilfried this week to discuss recruitment ahead of the January transfer window and also looking ahead to the summer transfer window because we know that we’ve got a project to support here,” chief executive Michael Nicholson told the BBC this week.
At this point, supporters will hold him to that. And, as loath as they may be to read the comparison, so will their counterparts across the city. At Ibrox, new manager Danny Röhl has improved results for Rangers, but Sunday’s 2-1 loss to league leaders Hearts once again showed there is work to be done.
Both Celtic and Rangers will need to spend if they want to catch the Jambos. And both know it. The only question is: Will either actually do it?