Celtic have had a torrid 2021 to this point, and that’s been due in large part to the custodians of our club not professional enough to put us in the best possible position for this season.

Scott Burns of RecordSport is now claiming Dermot Desmond has now stepped in and is being more hands on in trying to recruit players than he usually would be at this time of year.

The paper claims the majority shareholder has offered support to our new CEO and manager ahead of the new season.

Right now, Celtic feel a million miles away from where they need to be be. It beggars belief when you look back and think we could have been planning for this season since around January/February time this year.

The biggest mistake was allowing Eddie Howe to string us along for so long without getting the Englishman to sign anything. It meant all our preparations couldn’t get started until we finally got Ange in the door – which was much further down the line this summer.

Ange hasn’t had a lot of time and recruitment has been very slow in key areas. Yes, we’re expecting Carl Starfelt and Kyogo Furuhashi in the door this week but there’s still major deals to be done.

Celtic have never been quick to bring players in and on Wednesday we will play against Midtjylland with a backline that will no doubt be subject to a pub quiz question in ten years time.

If Dermot is offering support, he has to be pushing these deals through for Celtic and going that extra mile.