Martin O'Neill says he is happy with Celtic's late-window business, even after the club crammed six of their 10 summer signings into the final 48 hours. Rangers also moved late, adding two deadline-day players to take their total to 14 new recruits at Ibrox. The manager comments point in different directions, but both men finished the window sounding pretty pleased with the state of their squads.
Celtic's late arrivals and UEFA limits
O'Neill's main point was simple enough: Celtic got bodies in, and he is not fretting about the timing. Jordan Lotomba joined from Feyenoord just before the UEFA registration deadline on Wednesday night, while O'Neill admitted the club had to work within the limits of the Europa League squad list.
He said: "The difficulty is that you only have to look at the UEFA list. Some young lads will be disappointed not being able to make that particular UEFA squad. So there's only so many places that we could fill."
That is the trade-off here. Celtic needed cover after Kieran Tierney's injury issues and his absence against St Mirren, and they also had to work around the fact that the Chelsea players and Joel Van Den Berg did not make the Europa League squad because of limited spaces. O'Neill still came back to the same view: "We've got them in and I genuinely want to get on with it now. So, 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."
He also said: "I'm delighted to get players" and, on the missing targets, "No, I'm really pleased with what we have now at this minute. So, honestly, not a problem."
Celtic arrive with five straight wins in all competitions, so the late activity sits on top of a winning run rather than a rescue operation. That is a decent place to be in, even if the window itself looked chaotic from the outside.
Rangers' deadline-day haul and McInnes's dressing room
McInnes, by contrast, sounded most satisfied with the mood inside his group. Rangers won at Falkirk and Aberdeen, and their recent league form has steadied with two straight wins after a mixed spell. He said the window closing brought relief, but the stronger theme was the feel of the squad.
"We all took a huge sigh of relief when the window closed yesterday and we get on with the job in hand," he said. "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 is where Rangers' business matters most. Kevin Kelsy arrived from Portland Timbers on an initial four-year contract with an option of an additional year, and the deal was reportedly worth around £9.5m. Badredine Bouanani also came in on a season-long loan from Stuttgart. McInnes said he wants players who want to stay around the club for a period of time, and he was equally direct about the group he has now: "I need to say the dressing room, particularly over the last couple of weeks, has been so strong and so together."
He added that Rangers are "a very young dressing room", which leaves room for development as well as energy. That fits the way he is talking about the club now, more about standards and commitment than short-term noise.
The one thing that stands out is how neatly the two clubs have landed in opposite places. Celtic are managing late arrivals and UEFA omissions from a position of strength, while Rangers are talking about cohesion, age and commitment after a busy deadline day. The window is shut now, and both managers sound comfortable enough to move on to the football itself.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
