There will not be many Celtic fans who would declare themselves 100% happy with our exploits in the 2023/24 campaign, but come the end of the year we had taken another domestic Premiership trophy and a Scottish Cup win, and then it was all eyes to the summer transfer window.
Manager Brendan Rodgers had made little secret of his desire to strengthen quite heavily in the January market as he looked to improve our form and cover the plethora of injury issues that we had sustained, and to put it quite bluntly, many believe that the club massively let him down with the business that we ultimately concluded.
That should have meant a far busier summer and the best sports betting apps would have given plenty of odds on us doing just that, and whilst undoubtedly the goalkeeping department was a major issue given Joe Hart’s prior announcement that he would be retiring this summer, whilst we did not see quantity, we will be hoping that we saw quality with a bit of a mix of youth, and then experience like Premier League winning stopper and Denmark international Kasper Schmeichel.
It has again been a summer though where, given what we can judge based on those transfer and loan deals that go down as being ‘officially undisclosed’, we have basically ended the window in a very stable financial state and with a healthy profit again.
It is now being reported that our net spend across the summer was only 12.58 million Euros, and much like last season and the high profile sale of Jota to Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad, the joint record transfer sale of Matt O’Riley late on in this window to Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion has more than kept our accountants happy.
Now, that figure will probably not be totally accurate given the undisclosed nature of many deals these days, and of course, transfer fee statements rarely ever factor in signing on bonuses and then the true details of the playing contract, which can often mean a deal is never as good as it looks on face value.
Whilst there might be some ‘devil in the detail’, turning in a £10 million profit should not be sniffed at, but rightly the questions from fans will be centred on whether or not the first team squad as a whole are improved or not.
The early signs are yes, we have improved as we have hit the ground running and four domestic league games in we have 12 points from four games, and we have clocked up 12 goals, and are yet to concede.
With Hearts up next, most eyes are on the Champions League clash with Slovan Bratislava in the new look league stage. Progress in Europe is key to the aspirations of many this year.
