The Scottish Premiership is back, and Celtic have picked up where they left off: strong, purposeful, and fully intent on making this title their own from the first whistle of the season. There is no question they remain the dominant force in Scottish football.
But with a new campaign underway, it is worth pausing before the momentum builds too fast. Last season was a genuine warning shot. Hearts in the title conversation was not a fluke or a footnote; it was a sustained, credible challenge that lasted 250 days.Â
For a club that has won 14 of the last 15 Premiership titles, that is not just a close shave. It is a signal. What went wrong, and more importantly, what needs to change so it does not happen again?
How Hearts Managed to Stay Top for So Long
To understand what Celtic must do differently, it helps to understand what Hearts did right. Under Derek McInnes (who now manages Rangers), Hearts were organised, settled, and relentless in their consistency.Â
What made Hearts dangerous was not just their quality; it was their stability. While Celtic were burning through managers and lurching from one crisis to the next, Hearts simply kept winning. McInnes provided calm authority when everything around him was straightforward.Â
He did not overcomplicate the task. His team knew their roles, executed them week after week, and accumulated points while their rivals were distracted by internal drama. That is a lesson Celtic’s next era of leadership should take seriously.
Celtic’s Self-Inflicted Chaos Made the Gap Closeable
Celtic’s problems last season were largely of their own making. Brendan Rodgers departed in circumstances that reflected poorly on everyone involved. His public frustration with the club’s recruitment decisions became a recurring theme at press conferences, and the relationship with the board deteriorated badly.Â
The appointment of Wilfried Nancy as manager in December was another misstep. Celtic saw parallels with Ange Postecoglou (an attacking coach who had won titles abroad), but the fit was wrong almost immediately. Six defeats in eight games followed, and Nancy was gone before January was out. Martin O’Neill, 73 at the time, stepped back in to stabilize things, and, to his enormous credit, he did exactly that. But Celtic should never have needed that. A club of their size and ambition cannot afford to cycle through multiple managers in a single season and expect to win titles every year. Last season, they got away with it. Next time, they might not.
The Recruitment Problem Cannot Be Ignored Any Longer
Arguably the most damaging issue of all was recruitment. Celtic entered the season having sold Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah. That is 73 goals worth of attacking talent gone from the previous campaign without adequate replacement. The failure to sign a main striker target (Kasper Dolberg slipped away on Deadline Day) summed up a summer that frustrated supporters and made Rodgers increasingly vocal in his criticism of those above him.
The January window brought five loan signings, only one of whom commanded a regular starting position before injury ended his season. Free transfers like Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain delivered match-winning moments, which was genuinely fortunate, but fortune is not a recruitment strategy.
Why the Start of This Season Actually Matters More Than It Looks
Celtic’s strong start to the current campaign is encouraging, but the lessons of last season should still be sitting at the back of every decision-maker’s mind at Parkhead. A fast start is useful; it builds momentum, settles the squad, and keeps rivals at arm’s length early.
But Celtic led for only 34 days last season. They were behind Hearts for most of the year, scrambling to close gaps rather than forcing others to chase them. That is not the Celtic way, and it cannot become the default again.
The players currently in the squad have the muscle memory of winning titles. That matters. But muscle memory alone does not win championships when the surrounding structure is unstable.Â
What Celtic need this season is the kind of clarity and consistency that Hearts demonstrated last year: strong summer recruitment, a manager who commands respect inside and outside the dressing room, and a board willing to properly back the football operation.Â
Last season ended with the title back in the right hands. This season, Celtic need to make sure the race is not as close as it was, and that starts with learning exactly why it got that tight in the first place.
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