The 1967 European Cup winner believes the current Celtic squad is too big and must be trimmed.
Celtic legend Jim Craig has claimed that whoever gets the manager’s job permanently at Parkhead has a big rebuilding job on their hands, with one of the main priorities to trim down the playing squad.
The Hoops have won an eighth consecutive Scottish Premiership title this season and are on the verge of a historic treble treble but questions remain moving forward, including who should take the reins on a permanent basis.
On top of that, Celtic have a huge squad – 34 senior players according to Transfermarkt – and many players have barely featured over the course of the season, such as Eboue Kouassi and Marvin Compper.
With Old Firm rivals Rangers having struck two big blows over the course of the season – the two derby wins over Celtic at Ibrox – it is imperative that a lot of work goes on behind the scenes at Parkhead to stop them from catching up further.
Craig, who played at right-back on 25 May 1967 when Jock Stein’s men became Britain’s first European champions by beating Inter Milan, compared the current squad size unfavourably to that which made such an impact in Europe 52 years ago.
“They’ve got far too many players here, for starters. They need to get rid of a few because the pool is far too big,” Craig wrote in The Scotsman. “I would like to take you back 52 years. When we won the European Cup, there were two goalkeepers, three full-backs, three midfielders and six forwards.
“Now, if you compare that to what is around just now, it’s night and day. So you’ve got people who are not necessarily vital to the first team still here and still collecting a wage. I think that’s got to be reduced a bit and become more manageable.”
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