Anthony Joseph's Celtic January transfer update makes Dermot Desmond's attack on Brendan Rodgers look ridiculous

Sky Sports’ Anthony Joseph has warned that Celtic will struggle to sign players in the January transfer window due to staff shortages.

Celtic fans have been watching January transfer window and wondering why the club is struggling to get players in the building and Joseph has made it abundantly clear why.

The summer window closed four months ago and the Celtic board have had months to prepare new targets and identify players to strengthen the first-team.

What would you say to Dermot Desmond about Celtic’s transfer model now?

So far, only Julian Araujo has been signed and as the transfer window nears its end, Celtic now appears to be scrambling around trying to find reinforcements.

But when Celtic supporters read what Joseph has to say about how the club are doing their transfer homework, it will leave the vast majority of fans fuming.

Anthony Joseph explains why Celtic are struggling in January transfers

Michael Nicholson once said he wanted Celtic to be ‘world-class in everything we do’. Dermot Desmond’s attack on ex-Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers defended the club’s structure and model for transfers and business.

Well, all that looks stupid now that Joseph has revealed what is actually going on at Celtic this month.

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Joseph told Off The Underside Podcast, “They have made a lot of enquiries with a lot of players, a lot of targets, only, probably a handful have made it out there.

“So, yeah, they’re working on transfers. I know tonight they’ll be having a bit of an emergency transfer meeting that involves with Michael Nicholson, Martin O’Neill, James Bell Walker, who’s the new senior scout who came in from Chelsea, and also Shaun Maloney. I think the issue Celtic have for transfers is that they’re not even operating.

“So a lot of people have been criticising how Celtic operates and have done over the years on transfer windows.

“They’re not even operating like they were, for example, last January or in the summer, because they don’t have a head of football operations, they don’t have a head of recruitment.

“They don’t have a head of scouting. A lot of staff members, analysts and scouts have left the club along with Brendan Rodgers as well.

Staff departures and lack of recruitment structure leaving Celtic short

A club the size of Celtic should have a succession plan whenever a manager leaves so that the business continues to function properly, right?

Well, not every club is a club like Celtic as Joseph goes on to explain who is responsible for overseeing the January window now that Paul Tisdale and Wilfried Nancy are gone.

Joseph continued, “They don’t have a football manager either for a long time. So I think they’re going to struggle to convince anyone other than projects to sign permanently.

“It’s very much short termism. It’s going to be it’s the loan market they’re looking at. You’ve got Shaun Maloney, who is mainly doing the groundwork of sounding people out and making sort of enquiries and things like that.

“But he’s also the assistant manager, who is basically the manager of the club, because he’s doing all the training, all the tactics and then after that, he’s working on the transfers. So it’s quite a lot for one person to do.

“So before, Celtic had like three, four people working on these sort of things. So they’re not operating in the same kind of way. They’re relying, almost again, on being offered players, agents coming towards them, teams coming towards them.

“Or in Transfer Room, which is like the social media for the football world where clubs will say, we’ve got a centre back available, or we’ve got a striker available or Celtic might put out that they’re looking for a striker or they’re looking for a loan and people will come to them with that.”

Maloney is clearly being overworked and it looks like Martin O’Neill has being undersold. If Celtic do want to win this league or risk the wrath of the Hoops support, the board had better hope that quality transfers are completed, and very soon.

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