Kelechi Iheanacho (28) fills the Adam Idah shaped hole in the squad a day after agreeing to terminate his Sevilla contract. The striker left Leicester City last summer after seven years but endured a torrid time there (11 appearances, no goals), then on loan at Middlesborough (15 appearances, one goal) for the second half of last season.
Brendan Rodgers worked with Kelechi for four of the strikers best years and managed him through his most productive period. The manager has a clear preference for experience and for footballers who have played at the highest level, he will know better than me what he can get out of Kelechi.
From a strategic position, it’s not on the plan I thought we were following. Squad and first team places are scarce and (with few exceptions) should be occupied by players with potential to develop to a Champions League level, be sold and release funds to be reinvested.
This increasingly has the look of a transition season. A paltry £13m spent with only Callum Osmand (19) under the age of 23 is a strategy that will not deliver sustainable development. This has the look of a ‘one season and out’ project.
Welcome to Celtic, Kelechi.
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Welcome Kelechi.
We bought Kyogo at a similar age, mind.
Saw in some of his goals highlights he scored against us in season 2016 for City. And he is still only 28.
Good luck to him in rediscovering his mojo.
From previous article:
Who said that lying Teary mann, or his suckullent sidekick, Scullybhoy, get to decide who is, or isn’t a troll?
A troll is everybody who can see through me clique!
Stick yer clique up yer erse!
Cliques are for Cowards, Sleekits, Huns, Masons, KSC, PLC boards, Parliaments, Easily rumbled and Untrustworthy Trusts, Away Ticket distributors, etc.
Morning boys – did I miss much?
Welcome Kelechi HH
Best of luck, Kelechi. 👍
No mention of Nicholson, as expected.
Did Brendan get what he wanted ?
Paul says:
“From a strategic position, it’s not on the plan I thought we were following. Squad and first team places are scarce and (with few exceptions) should be occupied by players with potential to develop to a Champions League level, be sold and release fund to be reinvested.”
Can he explain why the massive surplus of funds have not been reinvested? Sure Brendan had plenty of players he wanted to get these past 9 months
I hope by “one season and out project” you’re referring to Nicholson. Unfortunately, I don’t think you are
Literally, the only person this blog holds to account at Celtic, is the most successful manager since Stein.
So, once again we fail to strengthen from a position of strength. Incredible that this keeps happening. Can only be rotten bad luck I guess.
Maybe the phones all go down just as we are about to close the deals? Maybe the club gets struck down by a strange contagious bout of amnesia and everyone just forgets it needs to be done? Maybe the dog ate the list of signing targets?
Yeah, we really must be the unluckiest club in the world…..
Perhaps unfair
We throw Brendan a few scraps, then criticise him for accepting.
I guess we don’t need to wait for the contract end to determine the narrative on this one. Get the blame in early. Usual target.
He will create and score goals for us, I’m hopeful our manager will get the best out of him.
HH
Desmond, Nicholson, Lawwell and the rest…..
A VHS Board living in an AI world.
Everything wrong with the beancounter philosophy summed up in a single paragraph.
“From a strategic position, it’s not on the plan I thought we were following. Squad and first team places are scarce and (with few exceptions) should be occupied by players with potential to develop to a Champions League level, be sold and release fund to be reinvested.”
As a club we should be signing players who are ALREADY at Champions League level. This focus on selling them for profit is how we got into this mess. Different if we’re talking about a handful of projects in a strong squad, but that’s not what we’re talking about and we know it’s not.
We’re a business running a football team. That’s what these people want.
They’ll get what they want next season.
The experiment will be brief. Mercifully so. It will also be painful.
Kelechi’s conditioning will be the key to him being a success or a failure.
In recent years, even at Leicester, he has looked heavy.
I wish him well.
As for the strategy, well on the years you don’t advance? …
… The aim has to be to level off then go again the following year.
Based on the evidence to date, I think it’s fair to say we haven’t achieved levelling off.
Looking for positives, if Brendan is indeed going to be here for just one more season? … and a few of his signings are with just one season in mind?
An appropriate approach surely?
“From a strategic position, it’s not on the plan I thought we were following”
There’s a plan? That’s news to everyone as clearly there didn’t seem to be one judging by the business completed.
This has the look of a ‘one season and out’ project
Why would this be allowed to happen when we have £100m in the bank?
The “Nicholson window ” will harm us later in the season.
Cmon Celtic
A little bit tongue in cheek today Paul67
From a strategic position its not the plan I thought we were following either
Yep I agree – but although only 2 days ago you may have forgotten we did not buy a Centre forward after we sold one
So I am guess Kelechi was a last minute buy and the best of what was available
You could argue Brendan is digging the board out of a hole by securing Kelechi – but you wouldn’t want to do that would we !!!!
And yes it does seem like a Transition Season probably because Brendan will not commit to working with these clowns anymore also because the same clowns don’t have the balls to sack him
Reality is we have a Manager with one year left the only objective in town is to win the league – so lets get behind him
67ECW
Leftclick:
The Nicholson Window will be haunting us for years mate. Years.
ONENIGHTINLISBON on 3RD SEPTEMBER 2025 12:29 PM
Also, this is why clubs have a DoF so they can continue to recruit and build the team based on the club’s image then slot in a new coach seamlessly based on that philosophy.
Paul’s comments hint at potentially another Ange window were we had to replace an entire squad and hope Sevco continue to be rotten.
Only wanting to stay at the same position for wver is a strange plan.
There is no plan. We are run by people with no energy for their roles and with another nodding dog of a manager. Strachan was the first to accept anybody given to him and it has continued since.
BR will go after earning £9m plus whatever bonuses and he will pretend all is well.
We are an also ran of a club. A laughing stock.
Nonsense once again.
At what point do you stop and think, maybe the fans who post here had a point.
When Brendan is chased out of town?
When that mob have a full trophy cabinet?
Brendan is keeping things together just now under the most ridiculous circumstances.
First to walk should be Nicholson then we might see some semblance of recovery from this embarrassment.
….and before people start getting uppity about ny comments, i went my first game in 1983 and I have and continue to go to CP. Season ticket and all.
I have less respect for those that run the club than I did the old board.
James Forest writes: As a club we should be signing players who are ALREADY at Champions League level. This focus on selling them for profit is how we got into this mess. Different if we’re talking about a handful of projects in a strong squad, but that’s not what we’re talking about and we know it’s not.
Is that not the real problem here as Brendan Rodgers is increasingly discovering. Getting players of that level to come to play in Scottish football is difficult, Dolberg is the perfect example. Most of the players that Celtic have had have graduated to that level rather been at that level when Celtic signed them. Holding out to secure players already at that level as has happened this summer has proven to be a risky business and a failure. The manager is right to have ambition but the means to achieve that may be limited within Scottish football.
If a non exec director is not allowed to be involved in the day to day operations of a business according to the companies act, why does our minority 34% shareholder have so much influence. Why does our football managers meet with him each window. Why has this never been challenged at an AGM
I remember him breaking through at City, he looked a great prospect, quick and strong and confident.
Theres a suggestion hes lost a bit of pace due to injuries and his work rate has been questioned by fans of his old clubs. And he seems to have a very streaky goal and form record, but if Brendan can get him fit, happy and starting consistently we might have a decent no 9
Croftcelt:
No, that’s NOT the problem at all.
Rodgers and the scouting department have identified the players they want. The players this club needs.
After that it is up to the beancounters and the company men to get the deals done.
Which part of this is difficult to understand?
Everything stops at Nicholson’s desk. Everything.
The look of a transmission season Paul 67.
As opposed to an ambitionless one.
The signals where there when the planning was rolled out emphasising Europa League.. just in case.
We planned to fail and we did
At a professional level,after last week we look amateurs,world class at bollixing it.
HH
…”release fund to be reinvested.” 🤣🤣
If our scouting and recruitment was reliable (or actually existed), with our money reserves, we could handle a transition season relatively easily.
The thing is, with a new manager to bed in next season that’s going to be a transitional one as well, and God alone knows how will be sitting in that seat.
I’ll tell you this; I have no confidence in these people and their ability to convince someone decent to take the job. Next summer could be several degrees of magnitude worse than this one and if we aren’t successful in pushing for changes to the way this club operates it will be.
When does Rodgers, who has ordered EVERY ONE of his players to 100% ignore the Green Brigade, get put on notice that he is a pish manager if he can’t defeat Russell Martin?
Today’s version of Celtic fan would still be in the car park since Sunday’s unacceptable embarrassment, bawling their pretentious Tim eyes oot for the sacking of Neil Lennon if he was in charge on Sunday.
And why pay £56 for a ticket to watch Celtic playing a club pretending to be Rangers?
How many faces have Tims actually got?
So, Kelechi trusts Rodgers, after Rodgers got Leicester relegated?
Is there anybody at Celtic, on the board, in the dugout, in the dressing room, sitting in the stands, in Celtic TV studio, who isn’t 2 faced?
What kind of club, company, half-way house, is it?
Rodgers failed to lay a glove on the pathetic Russell Martin.
Deal with it…..before its too late!
PS, The board gave Rodgers £32 million worth of players, and they all sat on the bench watching us go out of the CL, whilst Rodgers was whining about not getting properly funded, KNOWING, that most Celtic supporters are incapable of thinking for themselves as they consistently proved during Covid scam, Ukraine scam, Russia scam, Climate change scam, Online safety scam, etc.
Rodgers is a scam….who was used to make 7,000 unthinking Tims buy £49 same club lie tickets in 2016, whilst the Rangers and Celtic boards laffed their asses off, pointing over to the Broomloan saying: “Look at the clowns HAHAHAHA” as the Broomloan sang “you not Rangers anymore!”
What a time to be alive!
Blame the trolls!
I would wait until the lad plays a few games for us before judging him.
Nice to see a few huns laughing at him on social media. Hopefully come back to bite them.
In Brendan we trust…… (never thought I would ever say that again….)
rodgers is a fake on 3rd September 2025 12:47 pm
Belter…….
An Tearmann on 3rd September 2025 12:45 pm
“The look of a transmission season Paul 67.
As opposed to an ambitionless one.
The signals where there when the planning was rolled out emphasising Europa League.. just in case.
We planned to fail and we did
At a professional level,after last week we look amateurs,world class at bollixing it.”
……..
Shhhhh ya troll! lol