“I’m literally dumbfounded by it all,” Chris Sutton on Celtic transfer failings

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The Celtic Star

·9 Agustus 2025

“I’m literally dumbfounded by it all,” Chris Sutton on Celtic transfer failings

We have heard Brendan Rodgers over the course of the summer talk about his frustrations with the transfer business that hasn’t been done at the club…

The Celtic manager made it clear that IF things don’t change in the next few weeks then you can forget all about him staying on beyond the end of this season, his third and final season in his three year deal.

Brendan Rodgers is not going to be a maintenance manager at Celtic

Brendan said he is not going to be a maintenance manager at Celtic and urged the club to show ambition in the transfer window. Since then they’ve announced a loan signing and extended Johnny Kenny’s contract and there has been zero signs of ambition in the transfer market with that chap from Go Ahead ridiculing Celtic’s behaviour in excessively lowballing clubs with no real prospect of getting these deals across the line. A few weeks back we joked about Michael Nicholson being the equivalent of Still Game’s Tam – not that’s not even funny.

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Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson is sen during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic FC and Hibernian FC at Celtic Park on May 10, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Celtic pundit Chris Sutton addresses the current situation at his old club in his Saturday morning newspaper column today as he puts himself in Brendan’s shoes to assess what he’d be doing in similar circumstances. We’ll come to that in a moment.

Celtic’s lack of communication creates a vacuum

The other factors in all of this – which appears to be completely unnecessary given Celtic’s record breaking bank balance (build through decent executive management certainly but also by the incredible contributions from the pockets of Celtic supporters) – are why has the Celtic Board this year been reluctant to spend money to improve the squad and why they NEVER communicate with the supporters?

Kyogo celebrates at the Premier Sports Cup semi-final, Celtic against Aberdeen. Photo AJ for The Celtic Star

Kyogo left without a replacement and after six months that’s still the case.
Jota got injured and no replacement has been sourced or signed.
Nicolas Kuhn was allowed to leave for Como but no replacement was in place.
Daizen Maeda has NOT signed a new contract and there’s not even any talk about this now. Is he to be sold before the window closes?

Celtic players pose for a photo on pitch prior to the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between FC Bayern München and Celtic FC at Allianz Arena on February 18, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

So what the hell is actually happening at Celtic?

We know what the manager thinks? Supporters have been making their feelings clear online and I suspect at Pittodrie tomorrow but there’s been NOTHING at all bar one or two leaks to a first generation blogger who is notorious for having the Chairman’s number on speed dial.

Why can Celtic tell the supporters what is happening and why?

Is this to do with internal politics – the Celtic Board versus Brendan Rodgers? The manager clearing out the flops of the summer 2023 window being countered by the tightening of the purse stings to force him out? A (pathetic) power play.
Is the club being primed to be sold? (An option that can’t be dismissed, see the article by Naill J a few days ago).
What is Dermond Desmond’s position in all of this?
Are the people trying to run the transfer business qualified to do so or should the club be looking at the best possible people to do that job better? Michael Nicholson is a solicitor by trade, Peter Lawwell in an accountant.

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Ange Postecoglou and Dominic McKay Unveiling – Celtic Park Celtic new manager Ange Postecoglou poses for a photo at Celtic Park Glasgow. Picture date: Friday June 25, 2021. Photo: Jeff Holmes

Michael Nicholson arrived at Celtic as Company Secretary and handled all the various paperwork tasks including dealing with UEFA and all their requirements. Dominic McKay came in when Peter Lawwell resigned as CEO after the shambles of the COVID season but mysteriously lasted just a few months and we never really heard what happened there. We can of course speculate. Nicholson was installed as his successor and when Ian Bankier left as Chairman Peter Lawwell took his place. The Bhoys of the Old Brigade were back in full control.

Peter Lawwell, Chairman of Celtic, looks on prior to the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and Club Brugge KV at Celtic Park on November 27, 2024 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

We all have a decent idea of the plot and how it’s going to play out

Meanwhile Ange Postecoglou saw out two seasons before Brendan Rodgers came back to Celtic to repair his own legacy – with the blogger mentioned above trying at the time to discredit him before his return. It was like 2018/19 all over again. That summer of 2018 Rodgers wasn’t given the players he wanted (eg John McGinn) and Celtic subsequently lost a Champions League play-off to AEK Athens.

So while we don’t know the Board’s position – because they never actually say anything to Celtic supporters – we have a decent idea of the plot and how it’s going to play out.

Celtic FC coach Brendan Rodgers looks on before the Como Cup match between Al-Ahli and Celtic FC at Giuseppe Sinigaglia Stadium on July 26, 2025 in Como, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

As things stand Brendan Rodgers will either see out this season or they will sack him. The last time he left he took all the blame because of the way he decided to leave and Celtic even picked up £7.5m in compensation from Leicester City. Meanwhile the Green Brigade were attacking Rodgers on their banner at Tynecastle.

The only way that Rodgers stays beyond this season is if there is significant investment in the squad

The only way that Rodgers stays beyond this season is if there is significant investment in the squad in this window. So if you want him out all you have to do is nothing at all.

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“If Celtic aren’t going to show the ambition to match the manager before this window closes, I’d say you needn’t bother talking about extending contracts because it’ll be done. All over. Terminado,” Chris Sutton stated in his column in today’s Daily Record.

Celtic player Kieran Tierney is embraced by manager Brendan Rodgers before coming on as a substitute during the pre-season friendly match between Celtic and Newcastle United at Celtic Park on July 19, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

“All I can do is try and put myself into Rodgers’ shoes. If it was me, I know I’d be absolutely sickened at how this is all going.

“Seriously, he returned to the club with the aim and the challenge of maintaining domestic dominance and restoring the club’s pride and standing in the Champions League. I don’t think you can argue that he has achieved both. Four out of six trophies is fair enough and the progress through the league phase of Europe’s elite competition earns pass marks,” Sutton said.

The squad quality has regressed

The former Celtic striker continued: “Rodgers said before last term ended that he wanted to take it further. He’s said recently he’s not even here to maintain things. Yet, right now, it’s not even that because the squad quality has regressed. There are just over three weeks until the close of this transfer window. But, perhaps even more crucially, I believe there are only five more days before the first deadline is reached for the play-off stage of the Champions League.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers applauds the fans at full time Sporting Lisbon v Celtic, Pre Season Friendly, Football, Estadio Algarve, Portugal – 16 Jul 2025 Estadio Algarve Portugal Photo Carlos Rodrigues Shutterstock

“It seems you can add a couple prior to the tie after the August 14 cut-off, but it’s bad enough bringing a player into the squad the week before the two-legged affair, never mind one or two days. As it stands, Rodgers is going into these do-or-die matches with a squad that is weaker than the one that finished last season. That’s an outrageous state of affairs,” Chris Sutton stated and he is 100% correct.

“Kyogo still has not been replaced six months after he’s gone. Currently, it’s the same with Kuhn”

“You can’t get all the players just exactly when you want them. We all know that. But I come back to Nicolas Kuhn. I don’t care what his attitude was like, if he was causing a stir and wanted to leave. Celtic simply could not afford to let him go unless a replacement was lined up. I said it on the day when the manager confirmed that the German was heading for Serie A.

“Folk were throwing out flowers at the fact Celtic had got £17million, but I said that it didn’t matter about the fee if Kuhn wasn’t suitably replaced and the club went out of the Champions League. Kyogo still has not been replaced six months after he’s gone. Currently, it’s the same with Kuhn.”

Mg Como 23/07/2025 – amichevole / Como-Al Ahli / foto Matteo Gribaudi/Image nella foto: Nicolas Kuhn. IMAGO / Gribaudi/ImagePhoto

Sutton added: “I’m literally dumbfounded by it all, but, to be honest, there’s quite a few fans who are not so shocked because they have seen all of this before.

“Hands up, if I was Rodgers, I’d be thinking: Why would I sign a new contract and hang around at Celtic if this is what’s going to happen every summer?

“Now, like I said, Celtic might pull a few rabbits from hats over the next few days or the imminent three-week period to bolster the squad and add the quality and depth that it clearly needs.

“But it’s going to have to be something highly impressive now and, no matter what gets said publicly, you have to wonder what the manager is thinking deep inside. The bit that, as he says, only he really knows.

“I know if it was me, and these issues were not addressed by the deadlines, I’d be just about done with it.”

Comments welcome below…

Conor Spence attended the Celtic fan media conference at Celtic Park on Thursday to represent The Celtic Star and to speak to Celtic legend James Forrest. Here’s the video…