THE Celtic board cannot afford to be as complacent in the January transfer window as they were in the summer window.

The champions simply must react in this window. Not to what Rangers are doing as such, but to what we have seen from Celtic of late.

You look at the Hibernian game and then the Rangers game, and there was a fragility there, certainly defensively, that we just haven’t seen from them before since Brendan Rodgers has come to the club.

So, they have to respond to that by bringing in fresh blood. I don’t mean bodies just for the sake of numbers, but players of quality.

Olly Burke has shown he has that in the past, Timothy Weah is young but is from good stock and has done well at PSG, and it remains to be seen what Vakoun Issouf Bayo can offer.

But Celtic simply had to react to the position they find themselves in the league. If they want to win 10-in-a-row, they have got to bring better players in and they have got to get them in the team and up and running.

As a fan, I’m desperate to see them win 10-in-a-row just as the millions of Celtic fans around the world do, because it might be another 100 years before any of the teams comes close to getting such an opportunity.

You have got Rangers and others signing players, and I think that Celtic need four or five good additions this month to make sure they don’t end up blowing their chance at making history.

The Rangers board are backing Steven Gerrard in every single way to try and halt this run, because that is the holy grail.

The summer window was so disappointing from a Celtic point of view, and there was nobody more upset by it than the manager. He didn’t exactly hide that fact. So, now it is vitally important that he gets the backing from the board to rectify that in this window.

With the signings of Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis, Rangers are bringing in that bit of experience they were maybe lacking. How Rangers are affording those players, only they know, but they are. By hook or by crook, they are managing it, so Celtic have to be proactive too.

I’m not saying that Celtic will be overly concerned about what is happening at Ibrox, because they have to concentrate on themselves first and foremost. But they have to take care of their business if they want to make sure that their run of seven trophies on the bounce continues.

There has been a massive gap in the last two years, and while I don’t believe that Celtic have deliberately been complacent, there is absolutely no room for it all this year. There is no gap now, and Celtic don’t have that comfort zone that they have had in the past two seasons under Brendan.

There are teams all across the Premiership now who can do damage. Everybody can beat everybody, and we’ve seen that time and again this season.

It’s the type of league this season that nobody has really got a hold of so far. Nobody has lain down a marker to say they are the best team in the division.

If Celtic bring in another three or four players of quality though including Olly Burke, then I feel they could really push on in the second half of the season. Hopefully that will be the case.

Tom Rogic will be back too after the baffling decision by Australia to prevent him playing in the Old Firm game to not even have him in the squad for the first match over there, but I digress.

I’m sure that Celtic will come back from the winter break refreshed and recharged, and they will have to, because the title race – as I have been saying for months now – is well and truly on.

If Celtic keep dropping points then other teams in behind them will continue to close the gap, and maybe even overtake them.

To that end, I am delighted that Brendan Rodgers is looking to bolster the frontline. Odsonne Edouard missed the Rangers game, and although Mikey Johnston has been great, he’s young.

Defensively we need to get a couple in too, because when you look at Dedryck Boyata’s performance in the Old Firm game, it was one of the worst I have seen from him. He was awful. Every touch, every header, every decision, he just looked all at sea.

It looked like his head is already on a move. His agent has come out lately and said he has loads of teams chasing him, and that can’t be good for the boy’s focus. It is great that Filip Benkovic looks as if he is staying, but overall, I would say Celtic need four or five arrivals.