Dithering Celtic overpaying on transfers is not the fault of Brendan Rodgers but 3 signings must now happen

Back in the olden days at journalism college there used to be a few mantras would-be hacks were encouraged to stick by.

The Four Ws – who, what, when and where – ended up tattooed on foreheads, while some of the more adventurous would add a fifth in ‘why’.

But another one was the line about how folks should never assume – because it makes an ass of u and me.

It’s a solid set of advice.

Who? Celtic. What? Lost the Scottish Cup Final. When? On Saturday. Where? At Hampden.

See?

As for the why?

Celtic assumed they would win – and they ended up making an ass of it.

The next question though is slightly different.

What now?

Look, winning two out of three trophies and reaching the Champions League knockout stages is a superb season by any definition. Even if it did threaten to be a sensational one earlier in the campaign.

The fact Celtic have normalised Trebles over the last decade means they are judged to a higher standard than is probably fair.

But that doesn’t mean they can escape a post Hampden post mortem.

And the more eagle-eyed fans would have seen there would have still been questions to be asked even if Kasper Schmeichel had thrown his bunnet on the ball rather than scoop it in to his own net, or if Daizen Maeda had slotted home rather than slam straight at Dimi Mitov in the final moments.

The punters would have enjoyed the pre-planned party outside Parkhead and lapped up lording it over Scottish football.

Yet there would have still been issues lurking underneath and it’s not the usual Three Rs, it’s another one of them – Recruitment.

The transfer window opens in just over a fortnight and there is work to be done for Celtic to improve this squad and get them prepared for a treacherous Champions League qualifier and