Celtic supporter loyalty must be rewarded with signings

[BBC] Seventy-one days after Celtic were last in competitive action, the champions finally returned as Martin O'Neill's side opened the new campaign with a 1-0 win over Dundee on flag night at Celtic Park. The scoreline mirrored last season's opening-day victory over St Mirren, played exactly a year earlier. But while the result was the same, so much about Celtic has changed, most notably in the dugout. Much of the pre-match excitement surrounded Celtic's two - and only - new arrivals as Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh made their competitive debuts. Both will undoubtedly produce better performances, but each showed enough to offer encouragement on a night when the three points mattered more than anything else. The decisive moment arrived in the second half and, almost inevitably, it came through Benji Nygren. The Swede continued where he left off last season, glancing home the only goal of the game to get Celtic up and running. With Rangers and Hearts both dropping points, the victory was important. The performance, however, did little to settle the unease that continues to hang over the club - in the stands, across the messageboards and throughout social media. Celtic's win over Dundee was far closer and less convincing than it should have been. The wider concern is that, had the squad been properly strengthened by this stage of the summer, Celtic might not have found themselves clinging to a one-goal advantage on the opening night. Martin O'Neill continues to play his cards close to his chest whenever transfers are raised, but even he must be growing anxious. Celtic's Champions League home leg against LASK is now just 15 days away, there's still time to strengthen before then but that time is disappearing quickly. That tie is comfortably Celtic's biggest fixture of the early season. Should the club once again fail to provide the manager with the additions he needs before it arrives, the reaction from supporters will be entirely predictable and understandable. Let's hope it does not come to that. The club must now do the right thing for O'Neill, the team and, above all, the supporters. The same supporters who buy the season tickets, the merchandise and the European packages. The same supporters who continue to do their bit, season after season. At a time when Celtic have rarely if ever been in a stronger financial position, rewarding that loyalty by properly strengthening the squad surely isn't too much to ask. Tino can be found at The Celtic Exchange