Callum McGregor has diplomatically put pressure on the Celtic board to fund Brendan Rodgers transfer plans in January.
After winning a treble last season but falling short in the Champions League there was an expectation that the squad would be strengthened over the summer transfer window.
Instead of an influx of quality three players left the club, seven projects brought in followed by two loan deals in the final week of the transfer window.
In relative terms this season’s Champions League group was probably as good as it gets but on Tuesday night Celtic crashed out of the competition and also the safety net of dropping into the Europa League.
On these occasions, as captain, McGregor has the unfortunate task of facing the media to explain away another failure.
At the end of February he was lifting a trophy at Hampden with Jota, Carl Starfelt, Aaron Mooy, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Liel Abada among his team-mates.
None were involved against Lazio, facing the inevitable questions the club captain told The Sun:
We always need help. If you ask any manager how many new players does he want, he will always say it’s as many as he can. And it’s the same for the players.
We want as many good players coming through the door as we can. That builds real competition in training and games all the time, and the level just accelerates from there.
We want to continue to push as a club and as a group, and I’m sure they will do that. January is notorious for being the one where they can see how the first half of the season plays out.
And whatever we need, they have a good track record of doing that, in terms of backing the team and backing the manager. I am sure that will happen in January.
With the transfer window opening in 32 days the pressure is on the Celtic board and Recruitment Chief Mark Lawwell to deliver the time served, quality additions that Rodgers and now McGregor have been discussing.
At recent media conferences and last week’s club AGM the manager made it clear that no more project signings were needed.
He’s got some neck on him.
Bullied in every CL game, hides when It gets difficult and loves turning his back on a shot.
Spend money to get an actual DM in and we might see some improvement.
Editor: Perhaps getting some decent players alongside Callum might help rather than hoping for the best with McCarthy, Ideguchi, Iwata, Kwon, Holm and Bernardo. A lot of wasted wages on that job lot.