By Aidan Connor
“Back for the Future.” That was the club’s slogan for this season’s season ticket renewal campaign. But weeks into the summer, you’d be forgiven for asking—what future are we actually coming back for?
You don’t need to squint to see the pattern. O’Riley’s gone, and Nygren’s the answer. Kyogo’s out, and Yamada steps in. This isn’t bold squad building, it’s squad replacement. There’s no real progression, just like for like swaps with a focus on potential and resale. The faces might be different, but the logic behind the deals is all too familiar. We’re not building forward, we’re standing still, hoping that it’s enough to get by. It’s a system designed to keep the machine ticking over, not to move it forward. If that’s the vision, it’s a small one.
Then there’s the manager. Brendan Rodgers came back with a big welcome, framed as the man to carry Celtic into the next stage. But now, he looks like someone caught between two worlds – his expectations and the club’s realities. No contract extension. No long-term commitment. No clear alignment between the board and the dugout and no clarity for supporters who want to know if he’s staying or silently preparing for the door.
If Celtic crash out of the Champions League qualifiers, things could get messy fast. It’s hard to ignore the silence around Rodgers’ future. If he really is the man to lead Celtic forward, then back him fully. Extend the contract, fund the vision. But if the board are hesitating because they’re unsure or, worse, unwilling to trust his demands, then we’re on borrowed time.
That leads to the next problem, the people running this club keep saying they’re fans too. But fans don’t sit on cash while the squad visibly weakens. Fans don’t let top-level managers run down their contracts.
We’re told we have our own ambitions as a club but it’s quite honestly a lie. We only show ambition when Rangers do just so we stay ahead of them. But why is that the ceiling? It’s the same strategy from Celtic – react, adjust, stay one step clear. That isn’t ambition, it’s maintenance. Competing with Rangers should be a by-product, not the end goal. The size of this club demands more. European relevance and a clear identity.
Look at the summer signings and you’ll see two recruitment strategies playing out in real time. You’ve got Rodgers’ guys—Idah, Bernardo, Engels. Familiar profiles and players with a clear role. Then you’ve got club picks—Inamura, Yamada, Osmand. Raw, unknown quantities with resale value as the main attraction. On their own, each approach has merit. But together? It’s confusing. It doesn’t feel like a plan, it feels like a tug-of-war.
The end result is that fans are watching a squad that looks no stronger than last season, with no standout signings, clear vision or spark. It’s not even about results at this point, it’s about emotion. Last season, even with its flaws, there was something to look forward to. This year? It already feels flat, and we haven’t even kicked a competitive ball at the time of typing. That should worry everyone inside the club. Excitement matters. Fans are loyal, but loyalty isn’t infinite. If you keep asking people to buy into something vague, they’ll eventually stop believing altogether.
Celtic doesn’t need to spend recklessly. But they do need to show intent. Real, forward-looking ambition. Right now, everything about the club’s direction feels cautious, quiet, and conservative. There’s too much talk and not enough conviction. Behind it all, you can feel there’s now a growing feeling among supporters we won’t spend, Rodgers will leave and a certain Aussie will make his way home.
The club told us we were Back for the Future. But the future isn’t just about replacements—it’s about re-invention. It’s about showing fans there’s a plan worth believing in, not just hoping that what worked before will work again. We didn’t come back for the same old patterns dressed up in new names. We came back because we expect more. Now it’s time for the club to act like they do too.
