Celtic and Rangers: Transfer Window Reflections

Martin O'Neill walked out of the transfer window with a smile that has been hard-earned. Derek McInnes staggered out of it sounding like a man who has just come back from the trenches.

Two managers, the same city, the same relentless spotlight. Very different moods, but one shared conviction: they now have squads they can trust.

O’Neill content after late Celtic scramble

Celtic left it late. Very late.

Six of their 10 summer signings arrived in the final 48 hours of the window, a frantic dash that only underlined how much work remained after their Champions League exit. The champions needed depth, needed cover, needed solutions. They got them, just in time.

Dutch midfielder Joel van den Berg came in from PSV Eindhoven, Swiss right-back Jordan Lotomba from Feyenoord. Both deals were pushed over the line just before Wednesday night’s UEFA registration deadline.

They followed a flurry of loan arrivals: Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, Parma midfielder Oliver Sorensen and Chelsea teenagers Shim Mheuka and Landon Emenalo. Four loans, two permanent late additions, and a manager who insists he is satisfied.

"I'm delighted to get players. Genuinely pleased," O’Neill said, before immediately acknowledging the catch that comes with such a busy finish.

The UEFA list tells its own story. Spaces were tight, and someone had to miss out. Van den Berg and the two Chelsea youngsters did not make Celtic’s Europa League squad, a harsh early lesson for players still unpacking their bags.

"Some young lads will be disappointed not being able to make that particular UEFA squad," O’Neill admitted. "There's only so many places that we could fill."

The subtext is clear. Celtic’s business was necessary, but the timing has consequences. The club went into the final week still searching for obvious pieces, including back-up to injured left-back Kieran Tierney, and did so from the unfamiliar vantage point of watching the Champions League from afar.

Asked again about whether the club had left it too late, O’Neill’s patience snapped a little.

"How many times are you going to ask me that each week? 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. 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 missing out on Torino midfielder Gvidas Gineitis either. The chase ended, the door closed, and O’Neill moved on.

"No, I'm really pleased with what we have now at this minute. So, honestly, not a problem."

The squad, though, carries a particular texture. Alongside the four loan deals, Lotomba has only signed until the end of the season. Short-term contracts, borrowed talent, and a manager who has seen both sides of that coin.

"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 said, ahead of Saturday’s Premiership meeting with St Mirren, a game Celtic will again face without Tierney and Kasper Hogh.

Then came the reminder that it can work beautifully.

"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 O’Neill, the equation is simple now. Stay fit, keep the core intact, and let this hastily assembled group settle.

"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."

The business is done. The questions about timing will linger. O’Neill, though, has made his stance clear: no more talk of windows. It is about what happens on the pitch from here.

McInnes finds his Rangers dressing room at last

Across the city, Derek McInnes greeted the end of the window with something closer to exhaustion than elation.

"We all took a huge sigh of relief when the window closed yesterday and we get on with the job in hand," the Rangers manager said. Then he went further. "It feels like I've been to war this window, to be honest. It feels like the longest window I've ever known."

Fourteen new recruits have walked through the doors at Ibrox. The churn has been dramatic, the rebuild extensive. The final touches came on deadline day.

Portland Timbers striker Kevin Kelsy, 22, signed on an initial four-year deal with an option of a fifth, in a move reportedly worth around £9.5m. Algeria winger Badredine Bouanani arrived on a season-long loan from Stuttgart. Both are expected to be involved against Motherwell on Saturday.

McInnes has not just been hunting for talent. He has been hunting for character.

"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."

The message is unmistakable. Stability over speculation. Commitment over career stepping stones.

"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."

It is in the dressing room that McInnes senses the biggest shift. After a turbulent period and some “stinging results”, he now feels the atmosphere has finally turned.

"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 matters at Rangers, where pressure is constant and setbacks are never far away. The team have already had to respond, and McInnes pointed to back-to-back away wins at Falkirk and Aberdeen as proof of that emerging steel.

"That's important when you come through adversity and stinging results. Equally, we've bounced back really well in two tough away games.

"That spirit and togetherness helps you get through difficult times, and you need that at any club, but particularly here."

Rangers are young, raw and, in McInnes’ eyes, brimming with possibility.

"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."

The standards, he insists, cannot dip. Not in training, not in selection, not in attitude.

"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."

There was one more piece of good news for McInnes. Left-back Tuur Rommens, out with a groin strain, is expected to resume full training between the two upcoming games against Celtic. Another option, another sign that the squad he has fought to reshape is finally coming together.

The window is shut. The noise, for a moment, has dipped. Now comes the real test: in a season where both halves of Glasgow have rebuilt, who has done enough to carry the weight of what comes next?