Chris Sutton certainly likes to back up his arguments with fact as well as opinion.
Since Celtic’s central defenders started falling down he has been vocal about the lack of transfer activity in that area of the park.
The BT Sport pundit described playing Nir Bitton in defence for the Champions League Play Off against Astana as a £30m gamble. It paid off.
Sutton’s criticism wasn’t aimed at the Israeli but the circumstances that saw Bitton pressed into defence for two vital matches.
When the deal to sign Rivaldo Coetzee from Ajax Cape Town failed at a medical there was an expectation that the need for a central defender would switch to plans B,C, D or E. It never.
Like Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, Brendan Rodgers treats spending the club’s money very much like it is his own. He doesn’t believe in throwing cash around for a short term fix.
It seemed that the profile he was looking for in a defender was someone youthful. At 20 Coetzee fitted the bill but there seemed to be no real follow up other than a check on Jason Denayer.
Sutton has picked out Celtic’s Head of Recruitment Lee Congerton a couple of times for criticism.
Scouts tend to be invisible in their job with just various levels of guesswork over what they are doing, their targets and who they are trying to sign up.
Last night on BT Sport Sutton stood by his view that a 5-0 home defeat from PSG was embarrassing, as a player he’d be embarrassed by that result.
One new central defender wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the match but it would have put Celtic in a better place for the Anderlecht matches.
Would Mathias Jorgensen make a difference?
On BT Sport last night the Huddersfield defender was mentioned by Sutton who repeated the call in today’s Daily Record.
With databases stretching down to u-17 internationalists Jorgensen would be known to Celtic, he’d have been in contention when Erik Sviatchenko was brought to the club 20 months ago.
Jorgensen has settled in instantly at Huddersfield who kept clean sheets in their first three Premier League fixtures to collect seven points in their battle for survival.
For £3.5m they appear to have got a bargain from FC Copenhagen who have been strongly linked with the injured Sviatchenko.
After a two year spell at PSV Eindhoven where he made little impression he returned to Denmark for £400,000 and three seasons with FC Copenhagen.
Whether he can last the pace in the Premier League remains to be seen, after losing 2-0 at West Ham on Monday Huddersfield may find the top flight tougher than their first three fixtures suggested.
The debate about the Celtic defence is likely to simmer on throughout the Champions League campaign with the spotlight heavily on Dedryck Boyata.
Sutton doesn’t shy away from the big issues and wasn’t proposing a deal that would have burst the bank.
Celtic survived the Bitton gamble but however their European fate turns out Sutton won’t be shying away from the questions and answers.
