Davie Hay: No wage ceiling - but still tough to compete in English transfer market

However, I don’t think that it will upset the harmony within the dressing room if it transpires that there is some tweaking to the salary structure at the club to bring in the type of player that might have passed them by in one or two seasons just gone by, as Rodgers seemed to suggest the other day.

The reason for that is that I think players themselves understand that if you have one or two guys in there who can give you that little bit extra quality then you can get to a level that otherwise might elude you.

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And we all know that the remit for Brendan in terms of success is the same as every other Celtic manager – get into the group stages of the Uefa Champions League. If you have a dressing room hungry to earn some recognition at that level and keen to push themselves and be tested in that company, then bringing in players to raise the bar is something that will be welcomed.

In that vein, the draw for the first qualifying round that Celtic play has been relatively kind to the club. With all due respect to both Flora Tallinn and Lincoln Red Imps, they are teams that Celtic, once they are up and running, should be able to come through relatively unscathed.

The thing is, though, you can’t ever go into these games expecting them to be a walkover. You need to approach them with the right frame of mind and be as professional as possible.

I do think that the schedule next week in Slovenia should set them up nicely going into the qualifiers because they are playing a lot of games while also getting the chance to get out onto the training ground and hear how the manager wants to go about things.

We all know that there isn’t a lot of time for the manager to get in, assess the squad, implement his own philosophy and decide what his strongest team is. The clock is ticking but going away for 12 days gives everyone the chance to understand one another and get their head around how the manager wants to set the team up.

I am curious to see whether or not there are players brought in before that first qualifier. I am sure that the manager will have a couple of players in mind and he has been linked already with Joe Allen and then Scott Sinclair, but even although we are talking about the club going the extra mile in terms of salaries, you do still have to be realistic about players who are earning a living in England.

It is a different ballgame entirely in terms of finances and even for a guy like Allan who has a previous working relationship with Rodgers, the bottom line is that money talks.

However, with Jozo Simunovic and Dedryck Boyata still injured, there is a need to look at some defensive cover. The ting with missing pre-season training is that it is actually the worst time of the year to miss anything.

I had one year when I was injured and you do struggle to catch-up, even if you have a natural fitness. It is a crucial part of the campaign and players sometimes really find it hard to get to that level of fitness if they miss those early first few weeks.

And I also wonder if the injury situation to these guys also highlights Charlie Mulgrew’s situation. It is probably the last big contract of his career but unless his demands are outrageous, which I can’t imagine they will be, then I would think that some serious consideration should be given to getting him in the door again, even it means a shorter length of deal.

Charlie is a useful guy to have in your squad. He has experience, he understands the club and his versatility can be significant, especially if you have a situation like this where you look very thin on the ground defensively.

It goes without saying that the squad needs trimmed but Charlie is a guy that I think has a big role at the club and, personally speaking, I would be wanting to keep him.