It’s fair to say Chris Sutton has been rather forceful in his viewpoint when it comes to the strength of squad available to his pal Neil Lennon for the season ahead, as reported this morning on The Celtic Star.

Lennon himself – as covered in The Celtic Star this week – also let his own guard slip when asked about Celtic’s transfer budget. His ‘what budget?’ comment certainly was out of character for the Celtic manager second time around, and would indicate frustration. Up to recently he’s been happy to keep quiet when it comes to transfer dealings, now with a week before the Ten-in-a-Row campaign begins it appears the nerves may be starting to jangle. Double figure exits and one loan signing returning is bound to be cutting it fine for the Celtic manager.

Sutton seems to feel Celtic require four new players as a minimum for the season ahead. A goalkeeper, Central defender, Winger and Left back. Personally I’m not torn on the need for players but I am when it comes to what we need and when we do it.

Celtic have operated around the fringes of the English market for some time and it appears a market Nick Hammond has contacts in. With English Premier League ending this weekend and the Championship only now reaching the play-off stage, it will take a bit of time before those clubs decide who is surplus to requirements or would benefit from being loaned out.

Bar a goalkeeper and central defender how much of a rush are Celtic actually in? Can we wait to see how the market opens up or do we shop elsewhere and miss out on the English market when it realigns itself? It’s a tough call when we will undoubtedly limit what we spend to two or three players.

Sutton’s and every Celtic supporter’s real jitters are linked to the goalkeeping situation. I genuinely don’t think the Southampton manager Ralph Hassenhuttl either rates or trusts Fraser Forster, I still think he will be told he is surplus to requirements as the manager eyes his wage for alternatives to strengthen his squad elsewhere. That would encourage Forster to seek pastures new and he may well fancy another stint with Celtic, but it could be we’d face competition.

Do we up the bid for AEK Athens Vasilios Barkas now, look to another option or hang back a couple of weeks and see how the land lies regarding Forster? It really is a tough decision to make.

It looks like a deal is almost now agreed with the Greek side that eliminated Celtic from the Champions League in August 2018 but the complicating factor for Celtic is that Fraser Forster’s people have reached out to the club. It’s like Glasgow buses, you wait for ages for one then two come along at the same time.

There are also concerns from some regarding cover on the wings. We could pick up a winger on loan to cover Mikey Johnston’s injury, we don’t need to buy. On the right Forrest plays most weeks, as cover can we really push Karamoko Dembele down the pecking order when he’s shown he is only short of experience now? There is no doubting his potential, the player now needs to see that his form can carry him into first team involvement. A signing of anyone for more than a year would surely leave the player questioning if Celtic is the place to develop.

In terms of left back, if you were Lawwell and had both Boli Bolingoli and Greg Taylor on the books would you sanction a third left back when we may not even play a back four for most of the season? I’d assume the bean counters would wish Boli to be moving on before green lighting another player for that position.

And for strikers we still have what we had at the start of last season plus Polish Paddy. It’s not an area for priority unless Sutton knows something we don’t regarding Odsonne Edouard. If Bayo, Klimala, Griffiths, Eddy and Afolabi isn’t enough, then bite the bullet and tell the ones that aren’t good enough to go, be it on loan or permanently. Don’t add to the numbers and push players who haven’t been given an opportunity yet to drop down the pecking order. It makes no footballing or financial sense to stockpile without moving players on, it also makes no sense to move them on without giving them ample opportunity to show what they have to offer.

Our squad now is in a position where we have very good players in key positions, we should now be looking for quality, say two or three maximum a season. For this season a left sided centre half and a goalkeeper are the only real necessities, assuming no-one moves on of course.

This would allow the young players on the fringes to see a pathway and know they will be offered opportunities. If we don’t think they are going to cut it then stop stockpiling them when he have little or no football on offer outside of the first team.

How many opponents below first team level will Celtic have to play to allow young players to develop this season at any rate? Certainly not much in the way of genuine competitive action. Many clubs are mothballing younger age groups, while Celtic may not wish to do that, we do have to have someone to play.

Celtic supporters have stood up and backed the club ahead of a Ten-in-a-Row campaign and it is clear money will need to be spent. The board on the other hand will wish to limit outlays ahead of an uncertain financial future.

What they can’t scrimp on is the goalkeeping position and on a central defender. Money will have to be spent and preferably sooner rather than later, however the vast majority of the squad that won 9-in-a-row remains intact and a couple of quality additions in key positions will suffice. With the transfer window open until 5 October this year we will have time to evaluate before we consider jumping in for other positions. In fact I’d argue we can wait for everything bar a goalkeeper and I’d even give that a fortnight.

You’d have to say Sutton is backing Neil Lennon when it comes to his comments this morning, you’d also have to say there is clear merit in his workings. However Lennon himself limited his own options last season and worked with a core group, rarely blooding alternatives outside of Jeremie Frimpong. He also stayed rather quiet and didn’t wish to rock the boat through two transfer windows last season. Now the Ten-in-Row pressure is starting to mount we hear the manager’s voice, before quickly returning to the party line.

If I was in his shoes I too would be concerned about the goalkeeper and to a lesser extent elsewhere on the pitch. Ten-in-a-Row was always going to be tough but add the Covid 19 situation to the mix then many managers are going to find their cloth has been cut a little differently this year.

Perhaps then in most positions Neil Lennon has more than enough to be getting on with. If he gets a goalkeeper and a central defender he has two players for every position and then some. If he needs more than that then he has a batch of promising young players that he and his coaching staff are paid to improve. Ten-in-Row or not.

Niall J