After summer praise for Lawwell Rodgers makes recruitment u-turn.
The Irishman quit Celtic in February 2019 soon after the infamous comment over ‘a million wingers’ when he was asked about the likely arrival of Marian Shved.
From the summer of 2018 when the club failed to sign John McGinn and came up with Youssof Malumbu instead there had been friction between the manager and executive over the extent of the club’s ambition.
Surprisingly in June Rodgers returned to Celtic, much of the same faces are still in place but it seems that a change in recruitment policy had convinced the former Leicester boss that the club could make an impact in Europe.
On June 22 The Sun reported Rodgers saying:
One thing I’ll start by saying the recruitment team – Michael [Nicholson, CEO] took me through the structure.
Since I was here I can see the clear change in the infrastructure and the team behind the football team.
Mark (Lawwell) has done a brilliant job with the recruitment – you can see the market the club is operating in. He’s done a great job bringing in the players which fit the profile of Celtic.
The reality dawned on Rodgers last night, assessing where Celtic stand in European terms he told The Sun
It’s the overall quality. We need to have our very best players available going into this competition.
We have been competitive but what makes the difference is that bit of experience and genuine quality.
That’s something we can hopefully resolve over the next couple of windows.
This group has gained more experience and shown they can compete in some games but we need to add quality. That’s the glaring thing that stands out.
With the January transfer window opening in less than five weeks there is a quick opportunity for Lawwell and the Recruitment Team to deliver the quality required to make Celtic competitive in Europe.
On last night’s evidence the recruitment or profile is clearly not ready to play in the Champions League.
An off form Lazio sitting in the middle of Serie A and on the back of a defeat against bottom placed Salernitana on Saturday only had to raise their game for 10 minutes to secure full points.
The reality dawned on Rodgers last night, assessing where Celtic stand in European terms he told The Sun:
It’s the overall quality. We need to have our very best players available going into this competition.
We have been competitive but what makes the difference is that bit of experience and genuine quality.
That’s something we can hopefully resolve over the next couple of windows.
This group has gained more experience and shown they can compete in some games but we need to add quality. That’s the glaring thing that stands out.
With the January transfer window opening in less than five weeks there is a quick opportunity for Lawwell and the Recruitment Team to deliver the quality required to make Celtic competitive in Europe.
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