Chris Sutton has launched a scathing attack on Celtic’s transfer strategy and questioned the decision to sell Arne Engels before the club’s crucial Champions League play-off against LASK.
🍀 “This is all to do with the way the club is run at the top end and that’s where the blame lies”
Chris Sutton discusses Celtic’s Champions League qualifying defeats from over the years, and where it’s gone wrong ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/YlETPDZRs4
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) August 30, 2026
Celtic banked around £22million from Engels’ move to West Ham earlier this month, leaving Martin O’Neill without one of his most influential midfielders heading into the biggest European fixtures of the season.
That decision has come under even greater scrutiny following Celtic’s extraordinary collapse in Austria, where they surrendered a four-goal aggregate advantage to lose the tie 5-4 and drop into the Europa League.
Sutton believes Celtic unnecessarily weakened themselves before the qualifiers and contrasted the approach with previous occasions when the club retained valuable players until their European fate had been decided.
“What they have done over the years is sell their best players before the biggest game of the season, and I don’t get that,” Sutton told Sky Sports. “And I don’t get that because in previous seasons Celtic kept Virgil van Dijk, Moussa Dembele for after the qualifiers.
“So it’s not a consistent strategy, I don’t get the Arne Engels thing. I don’t understand how Martin O’Neill talked about his influence, his legs in the team and they can’t replace him. So how did that meeting go? You have the signings of Kasper Hogh, Camilo Duran, everybody felt better because of the level of signing.
“But let’s get it right, they were only replacements for Kyogo 18 months ago and Adam Idah who should have been replaced a long time before they were. The fact that Celtic sell the best players, they don’t buy before the Champions League, I find that absolutely shambolic.
“I’ve had many arguments with Celtic fans about the Engels situation, Engels was happy to play at Kilmarnock when he got man of the match, but this is all to do with how the club is run at the top end and that’s where the blame lies. You should be giving yourself the best possible chance of qualifying and Celtic haven’t done that.”
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1 Comment
Sutton is right. Nicholson is no more than a bookkeeper and so risk averse with money that he won’t spend until he sells. By not replacing players and weakening the team, he’s not only gambled the CL spot for the last two years with the loss of some £80m but look at the utter shambles he oversaw last season. I wouldn’t trust him to negotiate his way to the corner shop as he’s proved to be one of, if not the worst CEO’s we’ve had in a long time.
He’s neither qualified nor competent to hold the position so should be replaced by someone who can actually do the job.