Celtic and Rangers Managers Reflect on Transfer Window Outcomes
Martin O'Neill walked out of the transfer window smiling. Derek McInnes almost staggered out of it.
On opposite sides of Glasgow’s divide, both managers insist they now have what they need. The tone, though, could hardly be more different.
O’Neill content after late Celtic scramble
Celtic did much of their heavy lifting with the clock ticking loud in the final 48 hours. Six of their 10 summer signings arrived in that frantic spell, the champions plugging gaps and racing the UEFA registration deadline.
Dutch midfielder Joel van den Berg came in from PSV Eindhoven and Swiss right-back Jordan Lotomba from Feyenoord on Wednesday night, just in time for Europe. Before that, the club had tied up loan deals for Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, Parma midfielder Oliver Sorensen and Chelsea teenagers Shim Mheuka and Landon Emenalo.
Not all of them made the cut.
With UEFA squad spaces tight, Van den Berg and the two Chelsea youngsters were left out of the Europa League list. It’s the price of late business and a congested squad.
"I'm delighted to get players. Genuinely pleased," O'Neill said. "The difficulty is that you only have to look at the UEFA list. Some young lads will be disappointed not being able to make that particular UEFA squad. So there's only so many places that we could fill.
"If we can avoid serious injury to the players here, people not being out for endless lengths of time, then I'm happy with it."
Celtic had trailed their Premiership rivals in terms of timing. While others moved early, the champions were still scrambling after their Champions League exit, trying to find a back-up to injured left-back Kieran Tierney and cover across the pitch.
The questions about that timing are already wearing thin.
"How many times are you going to ask me that each week?" O’Neill snapped when pressed on lessons from the window. "We started this in July time. So I'm pleased with the players that we've got in.
"We've got them in and I genuinely want to get on with it now. So, ideally, it would be great to have got players in earlier to get them bedded in. It doesn't matter. Happy, really happy to have the players that we have."
There was no hint of regret over missed targets either, including Torino midfielder Gvidas Gineitis.
"No, I'm really pleased with what we have now at this minute. So, honestly, not a problem," the 74-year-old said.
The squad build has a temporary feel. As well as the four loanees, Lotomba is only signed until the end of the season. O’Neill knows the risk.
"I sometimes concern myself about loan players coming in and maybe not seeing the club that they're going to as the club that they really want to play for," he admitted.
"But I've also had loans of players who have loved the football club. For instance, Julian Araujo took the club to heart last season and that was great. Honestly, he would have done anything for the club. So, from that viewpoint, you're never sure.
"Loans are sometimes a bit of a concern, but it depends on the player."
For now, he must do without Tierney and Kasper Hogh again when St Mirren visit on Saturday. The window is shut. The excuses are gone. O’Neill has his squad; now he has to live with it.
McInnes emerges from “war” with new-look Rangers
Across the city, McInnes described the same window in very different terms.
"It feels like I've been to war this window, to be honest. It feels like the longest window I've ever known," the Rangers manager said. Fourteen new recruits have come through the door at Ibrox, the final two arriving on deadline day.
Portland Timbers’ 22-year-old Venezuelan striker Kevin Kelsy joined on an initial four-year deal with an option of a fifth, a move reportedly worth around £9.5m. Algeria winger Badredine Bouanani arrived on a season-long loan from Stuttgart. Both are in the squad for Saturday’s Premiership meeting with Motherwell.
"We all took a huge sigh of relief when the window closed yesterday and we get on with the job in hand," McInnes said, also confirming that left-back Tuur Rommens will return to full training between the two upcoming games against Celtic after a groin strain.
The signings are only part of the story. McInnes has been just as focused on the personalities in his dressing room as the profiles on his recruitment list.
"At Rangers, I don't want to work with players who just see what's next and what's next after this, always maybe eagerly eyeing up other opportunities," he said.
"I want people who want to be here, who want to hang about the club for a period of time and want to be successful here.
"This club can provide so much opportunity and so many good moments for a player, manager and the like.
"I just want us to commit to being here and put all our focus on the club. The club is deserving of that. The players are deserving of each other, to get that tightness and closeness."
The tone hardened when he spoke about the recent atmosphere inside the Rangers camp.
"I need to say the dressing room, particularly over the last couple of weeks, has been so strong and so together.
"It actually feels like a football dressing room. The humour, the togetherness and how we work has felt far more like what I would expect my dressing rooms to look like and behave like."
That shift has been tested already. Rangers have had "stinging results", as McInnes put it, but responded with two demanding away wins at Falkirk and Aberdeen.
"That spirit and togetherness helps you get through difficult times, and you need that at any club, but particularly here," he said.
The manager knows he is working with a young group. That excites him, but it also sharpens his demands.
"We are a very young dressing room. That is exciting and there is a lot of potential, but there are also lots of learnings for these young boys.
"It's our job to help them fulfil that potential in a Rangers shirt, day in and day out.
"I just want the players not to waste their minutes or opportunities.
"Whether they're picked or training, don't see any day as a lazy day. We're not going to accept bad practice here.
"Every day has to be important. You train with motivation, professionally, and as if you're trying to get into the team on a Saturday."
The window has closed on chaos, churn and speculation. What opens now, for both Celtic and Rangers, is the stretch of the season that defines whether all that work was worth the fight.
