Celtic Need to Strengthen This Month

Last season's SPL title was arguably won and lost off the park in January.

The majority of column inches that transfer window were devoted to the record sale of Alan Hutton to Spurs, for a fee widely reported at the time of £9m. Hutton was Rangers' most impressive performer of the season to date, providing much-needed width as an attacking fullback. His replacements, Steven Whittaker and Kirk Broadfoot, were nowhere near as effective.

Rangers managed to bring in Steven Davis from Fulham on loan, but the transfer window ended in embarrassment for them when their attempt to bring in Georgios Samaras ended with the player joining Celtic on loan instead. The Greek international went on to score some crucial goals in the second half of the season, including winners against Aberdeen and Motherwell.

Rangers' embarrassment was compounded by their manager, Walter Smith, being sent on a wild goose chase to Italy, in the forlorn hope of signing Andrea Caracciolo, who chose to join Serie B Brescia instead on a day of low farce.

Champions Celtic meantime, also signed German international defender Andreas Hinkel, and the impressive Barry Robson, who would go on to play such a crucial role in the Celtic midfield during the title run-in, including two barnstorming performances against Rangers in April, capped off with the winning goal in a 3-2 win in the second match.

With the current transfer window approaching the end of its second week, things do not look promising for Rangers fans. A deal was struck with Birmingham City to take top scorer Kris Boyd to the West Midlands. In an echo of last January's protracted sale of Hutton, Boyd failed to agree terms.

The suspicion remains that Boyd is simply looking for a pay-off from Rangers, similar to the £1m eventually given to Hutton to persuade him to leave the cash-strapped club. Rangers admit they need to raise £3m from player sales this month, and are quite open about the fact that no player is off-limits to potential buyers.

Several key players are rumoured to be heading for the exit door, as speculation mounts about the long-term financial health of the self-proclaimed "second-biggest institution in Scotland."

One thing looks certain—Rangers will end the month of January minus at least one of their most influential players.

Over at Celtic Park, the incoming transfers began even before the window opened. Niall McGinn, a highly-rated 21-year-old, recently capped for Northern Ireland, has been signed from Derry City, and Milan Misun, a Czech Republic U19 international joined from FK Pibram. In addition, Dundee Utd goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska will sign on at the end of the season.

So far so good, but none of these will have a major impact this season. There are contradictory messages emerging from Celtic Park, with Chief Executive Peter Lawwell stating that funds are available for Gordon Strachan to strengthen the team this month. Strachan himself on the other hand has this weekend suggester there will be no major signings, telling reporters, "In January I expect rumours, speculation, time-wasting nonsense and very little activity...We're all open to something but I don't think there will be anything special."

Despite the win over Rangers at Ibrox, Celtic have stuttered of late, dropping seven points in their past five league matches. The Celtic squad as it is should be strong enough to retain the title that has been theirs for the past three seasons, but if the club want to make certain of that, they need to bring in some reinforcements.

Do not be surprised to see at least one £1-2m signing and a possible loan deal being concluded before the end of the month.