shut that transfer window... there's a draught coming in

The transfer window's shut, the comings have come, the goings have gone and big Bobo doesn't seem to know whether he's coming or going.

And so, until January at least, we now know what Gordon Strachan has to work with in his attempt to mount a credible challenge for a title that Celtic - almost literally - can't afford not to win this season, with automatic qualification for the Champions League up for grabs at the end of it.

The merits - or otherwise - of the players that have spun through the Walfrid revolving door coming in will be debated as the season goes on. But to accentuate the positive, there are a few who look as if they are going to be very useful players indeed; Boruc, Nakamura and Zurawski in particular all have the potential to be a success at Celtic Park. They are also all first team players by the looks of things, a welcome change from acquiring big money bench warmers.

With the mythical window about to clang shut, Celtic completed the signing of Chinese captain Du Wei. Like the Nakamura deal it is a bold, imaginative move and one that was concluded to Celtic's advantage in terms of the financial arrangements.

It should have generated some much needed favourable publicity. Instead, utterly predictably, it was overshadowed by activity on the south side as the Laptop Loyal obediently went into full drooling mode over Rangers' latest assortment of freebies from lastminute.com and refugees from I'm A Bosman... Sign Me.

Darryl Broadfoot in the Herald, for example, was almost gushing as he hacked out the news that, 'Rangers prepare for an assault on the Champions League with a trio of HIGH-PROFILE transfer moves and Celtic conclude their outstanding business'. Leaving aside their other transfer business, which included offloading Mladenovic at a cost of nearly a million quid and signing a player they've already brought in two to replace, these final day transfers included Francis Jeffers from Charlton reserves and Filipo Maniero from Serie B (his fourth move in four years). How 'high profile' can you get? The Inter Milan defence must be filling their shorts at the thought of facing this dynamic duo - Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy.

Why such poor quality reinforcements (three loans and a Bosman) on a day when David Murray was busy announcing that they've had such a tremendous year financially?

Perhaps the coincidental announcement - together with some more fluff about lowering the pitch at Ibrox so they can cram in more seats - I'd wait and see what demand's like at the end of this season if I were DM - hides the real story of the day. Operating loss for the year at the Death Star was almost £8 million. Interest was around £3m which makes approximately an £11 million loss.

This figure was ameliorated by the inclusion of cash from the sales of Boumsong and Arteta. There was also a figure of £8 million attributed to 'Negative goodwill' as well as another from buying back shares in Rangers Media of £14,999,999.

This last one is interesting - at least as interesting as this kind of stuff gets. Rangers buy their own media company shares for one pound sterling, then value them for £15 million in their accounts. Salabim, Salabam! Loss becomes profit and a rabbit appears of the top hat.

The Herald - the paper that Murray was urging the Orcs not to buy ... as if - reported the £15 million shares bought back by Rangers for £1 the accounts do not name the seller! Together with the '£50 million rights issue' it represents a paper exercise and not the true financial strength of the club; the transfer activity is more of an indication of that.

Even after all that their debt figure is £23 million.

Commenting on this year's Celtic accounts in his annual report, Brian Quinn pointed to what he called 'the things companies in other sectors do in order to ensure survival'. In other words, ensure that there's more money coming in than going out. He wrote: 'thought should be given by the football authorities and accounting professions to a more transparent market for footballers and, by extension, to the valuation of football stadia, the principal fixed assets of clubs.'

Wonder who he had in mind there.

The real bottom line? Celtic have had a nightmare start to the season... and we're ahead of Rangers in the league. Maybe that's another story the hacks might like to pursue with vigour.

MARMADUKE BAGLEHOLE