For Celtic, the problem is no longer just the pace of the transfer window. It is the shrinking amount of patience around it. With only one new recruit through the door, the possibility of Daizen Maeda moving on within 48 hours, and a Champions League playoff first leg arriving on August 18 or 19, the club are running out of room to treat delay as a workable strategy.
That is why Martin O'Neill is now being framed as the figure who may not keep going along with the situation much longer. Cillian Sheridan said he did not know how much longer O'Neill would accept it, adding that it would have to get to the stage where something happens. The point is not simply frustration for its own sake. It is that Celtic are preparing to defend their Scottish title while trying to avoid a repeat of last season's Champions League qualifier problems, and the schedule is giving them very little time to get this right.
A thin window, a growing risk
Earlier this month, Michael Nicholson set out the barriers facing Celtic in the market, but those explanations do not soften the practical issue. On August 3, Flag Day at Celtic Park brings Dundee to Glasgow's East End. Soon after that, the Champions League playoff first leg arrives on August 18 or 19. Those dates do not leave much margin for hesitation, especially when the squad still looks unfinished and the club may yet lose Maeda.
Sheridan's wider criticism was not just about quantity, but about process. He suggested Celtic are returning to players and targets from previous windows, including names such as the Bodo/Glimt striker Hogh and Camilo Duran, rather than operating with a clear modern recruitment structure. His point about there being no real Head of Recruitment goes to the heart of the issue: if the club are relying on old plans rather than a sharper current system, then the delays are not accidental. They are structural.
That helps explain why the mood has become more volatile. Last weekend, angry fans stayed away from the pre-season clash with Middlesborough, a reminder that support for the current approach is not unlimited. The sense of pressure is only increasing because Celtic are being asked to do two difficult things at once: build for a Champions League playoff and defend a domestic title, all while the squad is still in flux.
History is starting to repeat itself
The comparison to last season's Champions League qualifier problems is hard to ignore. Sheridan called the situation almost a carbon copy, only worse, and said many supporters expected Celtic not to repeat the same mistakes. Instead, the club are again moving toward a familiar point of danger. That is where the Martin O'Neill angle matters most. If the transfer business does not accelerate, the concern is not merely whether the squad is strong enough. It is whether the senior figures around it can continue to defend the pace of progress.
Michael Nicholson has been backed by the board, but Sheridan also suggested he could become the figure sacrificed to the fan base in some way. That is a sign of how quickly these issues can become political inside a club like Celtic. A summer that began with hopes of orderly planning now feels increasingly like a test of nerve.
And that brings the story back to O'Neill. At 74, he does not need the spectacle of uncertainty, delay and repeated explanation. Celtic do not have the luxury of it either. With August 3, then August 18 or 19, fast approaching, the club need movement, not more waiting. Otherwise, the warning around O'Neill may become less about patience and more about a breaking point.
