Celtic have a 13-point lead in the Scottish Premiership table, as of this writing, and have advanced to the playoff round of the Champions’ League, with a tie against Bayern Munich coming next week.
They have already won the League Cup in Scotland and, again as of this writing, are in line to defend their 2024 Scottish Cup victory.
With that platform of success, just over midway through the season, they brought in the versatile Jeffrey Schlupp—a player with a Premier League winners medal from his time at Leicester City—and prolific winger Jota (back for a second stint) during the recently closed January transfer window.
And yet… It’s not enough.
The Full Scottish
Served by Brian P. Dunleavy
By his own admission, manager Brendan Rodgers had hoped the club could bring in a proven striker during the window, what with the departure of Kyogo to Rennes 10 days ago.
That they failed to do so, despite knowing of the Japanese striker’s desire to leave months ago, was puzzling to say the least. But it’s hardly the case that the cupboard is bare. Irish striker Adam Idah seems to have found his scoring boots over the past week or so, and countryman Johnny Kenny (granted, a younger player) has shown promise during brief cameos with the first team (after an outstanding season on loan at Shamrock Rovers).
Celtic academy product Daniel Cummings—reportedly wanted by West Ham—is also waiting in the wings.
Further, winger Daizen Maeda also plays through the middle with Japan when on international duty. He “only” has 18 goals this season across all competitions, some of them, at least, while playing as a striker.
A few weeks ago, in a completely different context, Rodgers pleaded with Celtic supporters to “trust the team” and the coaches.
He may want to expand that request to include the club board.
Speaking of a disconnect between supporters and club, just a little over a fortnight after, reportedly, driving manager Stuart Kettlewell out of the door, Motherwell supporters have been accused of racial abusing one of their own players during a 3-1 loss to Celtic on Sunday at Fir Park. Shameful.
No wonder former Celt Scott Brown, currently bench boss at Ayr United, has removed himself from consideration for the manager position there.