Made a half arsed point about about lazy scouting being our main problem after the game yesterday. Looked a bit more into it & it’s worse than I realised.

A thread that has to be seen to be believed

For me, the decline started in January 2018. That was when the club inexplicably started pulling back on investing in the squad under Rodgers. At the time our squad depth & quality was unbelievably strong.

Gordon, De Vries

Ajer, Jozo, Boyata, KT, Lustig, Hayes, Gamboa,

Bitton, Kouassi, Ntcham, Brown, McGregor, Armstrong, Rogic, Christie (out on loan),

Sinclair, Roberts, Forrest, Griffiths, Dembele, Edouard.

General feeling was that we needed a GK to suit Rodgers style of playing from the back, a RB as Lustig was showing signs of decline & CB as Ajer wasn’t ready, Jozo injury prone & Boyata was erratic.

Celtic notably missed out on players like Castange & McGinn, but signed a further 14 players under Rodgers, at a total cost of £9m.

Compper, Hendry, Musonda, Bain, Morgan

Izaguirre, Arzani, Mulumbu, Benkovic, Burke, Weah, Bayo, Shved & Toljan.

Rodgers left & was replaced by Neil Lennon.

The likes of Boyata, Lustig, Tierney, Simunovic, Hayes, Izaguirre, Gamboa, Armstrong, Dembele, Roberts & Sinclair left too.

Lennon has been given roughly £35m to spend since he took back over.

Julien, Bolingoli, Abd Elhamed, Frimpong, Forster, Bauer, Elyonoussi, Taylor, Klimala, Soro, Barkas, Ajeti, Turnbull, Duffy & Laxalt were all brought in.

So we went from needing 3 players in January ‘18, to selling the majority of a brilliant squad, losing the manager & signing 29 different players by summer ‘20. The 29 that we signed/loaned collectively cost less than what we got for Dembele&Tierney sales.

As I said, it has to be seen to be believed. The scouting at the club is absolutely horrendous. The decline in quality in the last 3 years is absolutely inexcusable. The club need to recognise the investment that needs to be made in scouting & youth development side.