By the time the 100th minute of a desperate struggle against Kairat had come and gone, it had become impossible to ascertain what Celtic’s plan was.
Liam Scales, nominally a centre-half, was playing at left back. Daizen Maeda no longer seemed sure if his role was through the middle or out on the flank. Shin Yamada, a striker who’d replaced a midfielder in Benjamin Nygren, was everywhere the ball had just been.
A bench which began with £6million Auston Trusty and £11m Arne Engels seated on it had been accommodating £9m Adam Idah since half-time with James Forrest giving the Irishman company once his 34-year-old legs could give no more.
With a bang average visiting team comfortably defending their box on the rare occasion a dismal Celtic side ventured anywhere near it, there was an air of resignation among the home support long before the Norwegian referee mercifully blew for time.
If ever a display mirrored a club’s off-field preparation for a match then this was it: The most pitiful transfer window in recent memory manifest in a woefully inadequate show.
Brendan Rodgers could only look on in frustration as his side were held at Celtic Park
Callum McGregor and Co struggled to break down their visitors from Kazakhstan
While Brendan Rodgers’ players still ought to have acquitted themselves far better than they did, it was telling that the fingers of blame were angrily pointed in the direction of chief executive Michael Nicholson and chairman Peter Lawwell.
Frankly, the level of rancour in the stadium suggested it’s going to take more than an unlikely triumph in Kazakhstan on Wednesday to stop the disconnect between the supporters and the boardroom from deepening.
Celtic’s hierarchy had known that Scotland’s champions would require to negotiate a play-off match since April of last year.
They made £40m through direct entry last season. With a modest investment across the past two months, they’d have been all but assured of banking that gargantuan sum again.
Instead, a squad with glaring inadequacies must pull this one out of the fire next week. Make no mistake – if they fail, it will be nothing short of a humiliation. Rarely has the old wisdom about what happens when you fail to prepare felt more apt.
In the media room afterwards, the manager did his best to answer questions which mostly related to the chants of ‘Sack the Board’ – the response of thousands present to the lack of backing he’s enjoyed from his paymasters to this stage.
When pointedly asked if the fans should fans accept how their club’s being run, the Northern Irishman played a straight bat. ‘Well listen, that’s not for me to answer.’ In other words, ask those above me.
If only we could. This speaks to one of the main issues at Celtic. The complete lack of communication between the boardroom and the rank and file.
If the directors did hatch a plan beyond crossing their fingers and toes to get through this tie, then no one has made it known. It’s not a good look to be stockpiling money when the team is crying out for reinforcements.
Has Nicholson hit the bar with a succession of deals for players with pedigree or has he not even come close? In the unlikely event that he ever agrees to be scrutinised on the matter, it would be interesting to hear.
From 20 paces, the picture is inscrutable. At last check, Celtic had £65.4m in the bank – with the promise of more money to come from the back end of last season’s commendable run in Europe.
Another £10m was piled on top when Kyogo Furuhashi left for Rennes in January. A further £16.5m followed when Nicolas Kuhn joined Como.
As well as the regular season ticket money, the pot was further swollen by the sales of Gustaf Lagerbielke and Kwon Hyeok-kyo.
Daizen Maeda spurned a good chance late on to to win the first leg of the play-off tie
All told, that’s approximately £100m. More than enough to bolster the squad with plenty left in reserve.
But instead of refuelling the vehicle and trying to go one better than their near miss against Bayern Munich, Celtic have put a few drips in the tank.
Kieran Tierney returned from Arsenal on big wages but for no transfer fee. The £1.8m spent on Nygren from Nordsjaelland is the biggest outlay so far with Yamada costing £1.5m from Kawasaki Frontale.
As well as the outgoing transfers of Furuhashi and Kuhn, the side has lost Jota to a long-term injury. That’s an awful lot of pace, ingenuity and goals.
The need to compensate for that ahead of Kairat was abundantly clear. Rodgers said it time and time again. They had the funds, yet they failed to deliver. You cannot blame those who’ve parted with their hard-earned cash feeling angry at watching the engine cough and splutter on Wednesday.
Celtic as a club have never been more astute at making money. Their inability to reinvest it this year made Wednesday’s debacle feel like an accident waiting to happen and again raises questions about how it operates.
Appointed head of football operations in October, one of Paul Tisdale’s stated roles included the ‘identification and development of talent’.
What’s become of him? Have the targets he’s presumably flagged up not matched up with the manager’s expectations? Or have the club simply not been able to get deals over the line? Whatever the reason, it’s clearly dysfunctional.
There was a moment towards the end of Rodgers’ pre-match press conference which got lost at the time but is now worthy of revisiting.
Asked why Hayato Inamura, a defender who joined to much fanfare from Albirex Niigata, wasn’t in his Champions League squad, the manager’s answer was revealing.
‘Yeah, very easy,’ said the Rodgers. ‘He’s not quite at the level, as of yet, that I would expect.’
What’s happening now mirrors the first spell when Rodgers was in charge at Celtic
Seriously? So why, you might well ask, is he even here? Who’s sanctioning a move for a 23-year-old who isn’t up to scratch when the team’s crying out for players to help them reach the Champions League? It doesn’t smack of a club where everyone is on the same page.
Rodgers stopped just short of admitting this is the heart of the matter after Wednesday’s stalemate.
‘I don’t necessarily need control,’ he stressed. ‘If there’s alignment, I want what’s best for the football team.’
While it would be hard to argue that Idah, Trusty, Arne Engels or Paulo Bernardo (an unused sub against Kairat) have delivered value for money so far, a failure to give the manager what he so clearly needs to take the club forward serves no purpose.
It’s all becoming very reminiscent of seven years ago when Rodgers’ barbs at the board preceded a loss to AEK Athens at this juncture and his departure in the February.
As things stand, the smart money is on him heading for the hills when his contract expires next summer. The difference, this time around, is that no one will blame him.
