Ronny Deila isn’t expecting any quick transfer deals during the January window.
After tomorrow’s match at Kilmarnock Celtic head to Gran Canaria for a training break with games against PSV Eindhoven and Sparta Prague thrown in.
It’s highly unlikely that any new faces will be on board for that trip as the clock ticks down on a crucial period of the season.
During the summer Stefan Scepovic was the only player that Celtic paid a transfer fee for with Deila expecting business to be concentrated in at the end of the month.
“It is very hard to say if we are closer to signing anyone,” he admitted. “You can have a feeling one day it is going to go and then something new comes in and you are back on your heels again.
“It is so hard to do something very early in the window. We will try to do it but I think we will have to work on the 31st. I don’t think we will have anyone in early. If we do it will be a positive surprise.”
On and off the park Deila is getting used to the Scottish way of doing things with the after match chat and drink with his opposite number coming as a pleasant surprise.
“I have been having a drink with the other manager after games,” he revealed. “It is a new tradition for me and they are good, respectful colleagues. It is not so easy to talk with the other manager when you have won or lost.
“It has been good. It can be a lonely job so to sit and talk with the other manager, who is in the same situation, is positive.
“We didn’t do that in Norway, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did it a couple of times in his office but that was it.
“I’m starting get to to know the other managers better. You see their faces and you start to know what kind of people they are. It is important to have respect for each other and to treat each other well.
“Many of them have been very, very good with me and they are good people but there is nobody in particular who stands out.
“The managerial culture is more open in Scotland. I never spoke with the other manager in Norway. This is making it easier for us to get closer and it makes it easier for me to integrate into life here.”
