>>KEITH JACKSON

SCOTLAND'S MOST INFLUENTIAL SPORTS COLUMNIST

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TIME is just about up for the men in charge of Celtic's transfer strategy.

By tonight the alarm bells will be earsplitting when Brendan Rodgers has to submit his squad list for a Champions League playoff against Kairat Almaty and at that point there will be no wriggle room left, no excuses, nowhere left to turn.

On the contrary, unless they suddenly pull a collection of unforeseen rabbits out of hats which appear not to exist, Rodgers will be shoved out front and centre, attempting to render their inexcusable mismanagement as just some minor misdemeanour.

Yes, the chances are that he'll find a way of doing precisely this.

Scotland's champions may willingly be entering a period of regression but Rodgers remains an elite tactical and managerial performer.

And true, it’s probably reasonable for his paymasters to assume he's got enough talent at his disposal to get through a doubleheader against the Kazhaks, even without a late rush of oven-ready reinforcements.

But given the holes in his squad that remain both glaring and gaping, it’s by no means a sure thing.

And no matter how these European qualifiers turn out, the man charged with holding the fort is highly likely to find the inaction of his superiors as absolutely unforgivable. And, really, who in their right mind could possibly disagree with him?

So the most pertinent and pressing question in all of this is, where exactly is Michael Nicholson, Celtic's invisible man of a chief executive?

You may just about remember Nicholson from his yearly appearance in front of shareholders at the club’s agmeven though his offerings are, for the most part, instantly forgettable.

And that's probably the way he likes it. Nicholson is a reluctant and reclusive leader. So long as Rodgers remains standing there in the spotlight, delivering one title after the next, he may believe there's no real requirement for him to step out of the shadows.