Transfer window closed, what now – part one

The transfer window closed yesterday, but what does it mean for the Old Firm teams for the rest of the season?

A lot of the talk was about Rangers at the start of January and how they needed to add depth to their squad. We now have a sense of how deep the problem is at Ibrox when they ended a net five first team players down!!

Out went Ortiz, Jelavic, Hutton, McMillan and Bendikson all left permanently and Robert Fleck left on loan! The only player coming in Mervan Celik on a free transfer, and he is a defender rather than a striker! They even suffered the ignominy of seeing Honduran target Claros choosing to join Hibs allegedly for more money!!

There were stories on the last day they were keen on Grant Holt ofNorwichto replace Jelavic, but this never seemed to be a flyer given he is playing so well forNorwich!

There was also a string of trialists which came throughMurrayParkand none were signed up. This appeared to lead to a meeting yesterday between McCoist and owner Whyte, which ended with the manager frustrated no funds were made available.

This probably tells us more about Rangers deep financial problems than it does about anything that is going on football wise. I know there is a lot of brave talk from Ibrox but I would expect them to fall behind Celtic even further in the League as the run in kicks in.

Celtic brought in a couple of players, while letting a number of fringe players go out on loan. They completed the six-month loan signing ofPolandstriker Pawel Brozek from Trabzonspor with the option of making the move permanent. They also signed Nigerian midfielder Rabiu Ibrahim to bolster their push for the title.

With no major players heading out of Celtic Park they would appear to be well set for a real push to end Rangers run of Championships. It was also disappointing to read of the departure of youngster Paul Slane who went on loan to MK Dons, you just wonder how he might have developed if he had stayed at Motherwell.