A window of Floods for Celtic?

Just when the gloom surrounding Celtic should be partially lifted by the fun and games of transfer rumours, the name "Willo Flood" makes the headlines.

Actually, "headlines" is too strong as the former Dundee United man, Celtic's only signing during the previous January transfer window, has merely received a mention in a headline on the club's official site. Despite the fleeting mention, the name still brings back memories of how financial prudence was put ahead of winning the league last season.

To be fair to Flood, he was mentioned because he scored the equaliser as a Celtic XI drew 2-2 with Ipswich down south on Tuesday. Following the collapse of the reserve league (which was as competitive as a "worst manager" contest involving John Barnes), non-first-team regulars have been playing against a selection of opponents, although the effectiveness will take time to be proved or otherwise.

But enough about the second-string players. Football clubs don't win things (in the short-term) by having a decent reserve side and following the senior side's disappointing start to the season, which coincides with a disappointing start to Tony Mowbray's Celtic career, thoughts are already drifting to January's transfer window, which could be fascinating.

Some interesting names have already been mentioned, such as Brazil striker Ilan Araujo Dall'Igna and Honduras international centre-back Osman Chavez. The recently-named Asian Young Footballer of the Year, Ki Sung-Yong, is also worth a mention - and at least his transfer has already been agreed and he will be at Parkhead, assuming he gets a work permit.

Whether any of those players will make a difference to the way Celtic are currently playing remains to be seen, and it could be argued things won't get any better until the manager takes a long and hard look at his tactics. However, at least a decent net spend would show the board are prepared to sacrifice the best-possible set of accounts in the short-term in order to improve the football club.

Given the mess over at Ibrox right now - and even if Celtic should not judge "success" by what those jokers are doing, the board seem to - there can be few excuses for not splashing a bit of cash. Of course, this may mean players leaving and there are still a few with a decent price-tag, even if those prices (such as for Artur Boruc) are nowhere near where they were a few windows ago.

The fear is that for every Aiden McGeady that leaves, a Willo Flood will arrive, Or, for those who enjoy a bit of cynicism, perhaps the publicity for Flood is the first stage of convincing fans he is ready for the first-team and his promotion would be "just like a new transfer in itself". Surely not, though!

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