Andrew Maclean

almost seemed like Celtic had to get it done because they were the staff that Martin O'Neill had last season they were the staff that helped Martin O'Neill have success last season you wonder where Celtic would have been first day of pre-season today if Sean Maloney and Mark Fotheringham hadn't got those deals in place Martin O'Neill out with a whistle doing the runs nah listen I think

The big concern now for the Celtic fans is that finally having Sean Maloney and Mark Fotheringham signed up to work with Martin O'Neill again, when are they going to get moving on the transfer front?

Because there is a transition at Celtic that's going to be massive.

And right now, nothing's happening.

Yeah, is that the hope, Joe?

First day back at pre-season, now that the staff is sorted, Martin O'Neill talked about it at the end of the January window, that it was a collaborative effort with the recruitment staff, with Martin O'Neill, with Sean Maloney, with Mark Fotheringham, when it came to getting players in in January, that now that everything's in place, that you'll start to see some bodies in the door?

we lost out on John McGinn didn't we that's Hugh Keevan's favourite topic I could write a book on that one alone but John now some years ago but the last three transfer windows that Celtic have had have been laughably bad

And all of the loanees and whatever that came in in the last transfer window, none of them were playing at the time when Celtic were winning the matches late in the season and getting that league and cup double.

I mean, for example, they paid £5 million for Balaquisha.

£5 million.

And to all intents and purposes, he was no longer a Celtic player by the time the season was getting to the...

the really business end of the premiership.

Joe, there's a report tonight that says Celtic have let the option for Kelechi Iheanacho for his one-year potential deal, they've let that run out, which means that he's now officially a free agent, that if they want to sign him now, they'll face competition.

Does that say to you that he won't be coming back?

Are you still hoping that he'll come back?

Martin O'Neill always gave the impression that he had a grudging respect for Iheanacho's talent but he never really believed that he was fit enough to do the job well I mean there was quite an obvious one where he was asked about Kelechi Iheanacho's fitness and there were a lot of calls from Celtic fans for him to start games because he'd made an impact off the bench and he essentially said after one of the matches Kelechi Iheanacho will tell you that he's fully fit but you know I'm not sure I think the same

I think Martyn O'Neill may have let the option period run out because he's not that bothered There's certainly going to be a shake-up in that area of the park for Celtic if there's going to be no Kelechi Iheanacho there's a lot of talk about Dyson Maeda Martyn O'Neill another thing he said towards the end of the season is that if Dyson Maeda you know potentially was getting a move to the English Premier League he wouldn't want to stand in his way so if Celtic are to you know move forward without those two there's going to need to be quite a bit of business done in that area of the park

You go back a year ago Andrew the famous or infamous Karat Almaty Champions League qualifier Celtic the beginning of the breakdown in the relationship between Brendan Rodgers and the club

And Celtic even apologised in a statement afterwards that they had made a mess of the transfer window.

But they continue to keep making a mess of them.