Current Celtic Squad Accused of Playing for Themselves and Not for the Jersey

Alan Stubbs has followed up on the point that John Hartson was making earlier in the week by saying that Celtic need to appoint the successor to Neil Lennon as Celtic manager now. There is, according to the former Celtic defender, no more time to waste and the new man needs to come in and begin what Stubbs believes is going to be a massive rebuild of the team, the personnel and the collective team spirit that has been completely lacking in a season where so many players have been playing for themselves and not the jersey.

And Stubbs, speaking at a Premier Sports event to promote the Scottish Cup, reckons that the reliance on too many loan players has been a factor in the dressing room not functioning properly.A point he doesn’t make though is the financial aspect. If you were hitherto regarded as a mainstay in the Celtic starting eleven (maybe someone Ryan Christie) and you were on lets say £8-12k per week, how do you feel if Moi Elyounoussi is on four times your wages? Ditto Kris Ajer and Shane Duffy, or just about everyone in the squad as when they’ve been gossiping about how much Diego Laxalt is earning.

Celtic has had a very poor return from these loan players – Elyounoussi apart – and even we we had the best of them all in Fraser Forster, his decision to stay at Southampton rather than head back up the road for the Ten unsettled Celtic enormously. So loan players going forward should be for emergencies only, surely.

“Whoever is coming in, I can’t stress enough that they need to be in as soon as possible, because it’s going to be very difficult to build a championship winning team in six weeks’ time,” Big Stubby said, as reported by Glasgow Times. “To get all these players in is going to be so difficult, as well as trying to do well in Europe.

“I’ve spoken about Celtic this season, and they look short on so many fronts. There’s such a huge job ahead, I think it could potentially be Celtic’s biggest rebuild that they’ve ever seen this summer. I think it’s that big, because of the amount of loan players that would be going back, and because of the amount of players that will be looking to leave.

“Just off the top of my head, there’s a good chance Edouard won’t be there, there’s a good chance Ajer won’t be there, there’s been rumours around Christie being sold,” he added. Incidentally our story from over a week ago that Norwich had made a formal approach to Celtic on Kris Ajer was in the papers yesterday – as their exclusive! He’s right about Ajer, Edouard and Christie, all three ‘want-aways’ are off and incidentally we refer you back to the financial point made above.

“Then you have all those loan players going back, Elyounoussi, who I think has been one of the better ones, and then you had the recruitment of certain players,” Stubbs continued. “You had Ajeti, Klimala who has obviously gone. The recruitment has been so far off it, with David Turnbull being the exception. He’s been really good, he’s been one of the bright sparks this year.

“There’s so many question marks. I wouldn’t be surprised if Celtic are in a position where they’ve got to recruit a whole new back four plus a keeper.

“You might have Mikey Johnston and James Forrest back, which will be a huge help, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s offers for Callum McGregor. Scott Brown is going, and the impact of that not just off the pitch, but on the pitch too, is going to leave a huge void to fill.”

Stubbs notes that he’s seen a togetherness about theRangers this season that has not been seen at Celtic. “I look at Celtic and I see an individualism with them, and not a collective team.”

On the over-reliance in loan signings, a safety first penny pinching Peter Lawwell policy, Stubbs did a good job in outlining the flaws. “You’ve got to be careful that you don’t bring in players that use the club as a springboard, and they buy into what you want to do,” he said. “That is huge.

“When you have so many loan signings, it’s very difficult for them to really get a feel for the club, because whether it’s for six months or a season, it doesn’t bring stability for me.

“It’s very easy when things are not going well for people to say ‘You know what, I can go back to my parent club.’ But when you’ve got a player there who’s there for a number of years, you have to buy into what is needed.

“I really don’t feel as if the foreign players – and I don’t want to put all the blame on them as that’s not right – but in terms of understanding the enormity of what was at stake this season, if they did get it then it didn’t come across that they got it.”