The Celtic board have, of course, received dog’s abuse from fans for the business they’ve done in recent times – too many projects and not enough first-team ready operators.
Their most recent turnover was £120m and they hold £67.3m in bank reserves. Their advantages over a struggling Rangers are vast. And that’s before you factor in their guaranteed windfall of around £40m in the new-look Champions League.
Rangers have to get through two tough ties to get a piece of that action. The odds are against them.
They won’t say it publicly, but Rangers envy Celtic’s player trading model. Over the last dozen years Celtic have brought in transfer fees somewhere north of £170m. On Fraser Forster, Virgil van Dijk, Stuart Armstrong, Moussa Dembele, Kristoffer Ajer, Odsonne Edouard, Jeremie Frimpong and Jota alone they made a profit of over £80m.
They’ve spent plenty of money on duds, too, but taken as a whole their business has been strong.
Now that they’re holding all the aces on the domestic front, Rodgers, and the supporters, want the board to show a bit more ambition in the market. If not now, when?
Short of getting the words ‘speculate to accumulate’ tattooed on his forehead, Rodgers can’t have been any clearer about what he’d like to see next.
They will spend, but will they spend wisely? And how daring will they be?
In domestic terms, Celtic are good enough to win a fourth title in a row just as they are, but parochialism is the enemy of progress. If beating Rangers is all that you’re about then it’s a comfort zone you’re living in – and Rodgers doesn’t want to live in a comfort zone.
The month ahead, before the transfer window closes, represents a chance for Celtic to sign a level of player (nobody is expecting superstars) that will not just put more green water between themselves and their city rivals, but also give them a better shot at improving their European performance, which has been utterly dismal for too long.
The new Champions League format has an increased number of games and a single 36-team group. Celtic will likely have a few more winnable games, but what’s winnable in Celtic’s Champions League world?
Under Rodgers they have played 19 group games in the Champions league, winning two, drawing four and losing 12. They’ve scored 15 and have conceded 49. They’ve won 10 points from a possible 54.
For a club that talks about its European story it’s time they added some new and cheerier chapters.
That goes back to improving the team, not just with Rangers in mind. Celtic will almost certainly win the Premiership and could win it by a large margin, but the big question is what else are they going to do?