GARY KEOWN: Celtic saw the future in Engels this week… while Rangers are stuck in the past with the same old tired faces

IN the quiet confidence and calm of the fresh-faced Arne Engels, Celtic fans can see real glimpses of a future worth believing in. For everyone in Glasgow, the same old names having the same old arguments about the same old problems makes Rangers feel like a club stuck firmly in the past.

And the smarter punters who are able to take off their blue-tinted spectacles and see life as it really is must fear that this was the week when the practice of lagging behind their richer, stronger rivals – Espanyolification, as some like to call it – finally began to transform from much-discussed theory into self-evident truth.

Celtic thrash Slovan Bratislava 5-1 in their first Champions League match, which in itself guarantees nothing. The Slovaks were as bad as the Parkhead team were good. Much tougher tests await Brendan Rodgers and his team, and they offer a greater chance to judge where their summer renovation has taken them.

Engels scores from the penalty spot in the 5-1 Champions League win over Bratislava

Likewise, wisdom would suggest that it is best to temper enthusiasm over the £11m signing of Engels. However, even after a handful of performances, this lad simply looks like the right person. He fits the profile of the player Celtic should have signed years ago instead of dabbling in shallower pools for the likes of Gustaf Lagerbielke, Yuki Kobayashi and Oh Hyeon-gyu.

At 21, he already seems to have the physique and technique to compete at a high level. He is clearly being quickly integrated into the Belgian squad, which is being rebuilt after a disappointing European Championship. He made his debut as a late substitute against Israel this month.

Even in the way he conducts himself off the pitch, he gives the impression that he is cut out to reach the top. Asked about the pressure of taking penalties after the Slovan game, he smiled: ‘I am always cool. I trust myself.’

Before the match, as he lined up, chest puffed out to the beat of the Champions League, his body language screamed: ‘I’m here — and I belong here’.

In a country where players two years older than him are still seen as children and generally have every ounce of personality beaten out of them by whoever runs their club’s media training – you know, ‘watching game by game’, ‘just happy to be here’ – it’s refreshing to hear him say that he thinks Celtic can beat anyone in Europe’s top flight. Even if they can’t.

This is what you get when you grow up in a system and clubs that have encouraged him to be himself. Celtic have won a watch by signing him. Keep fit and healthy and he will be a star who makes serious money.

But here’s the thing. He can’t be a loner. This has to be the norm at Parkhead now. Sure, bargains can be picked up at lower prices and a bit of gambling on the market is fine. However, your chances of success — both on the park and in terms of making a profit from resale — increase significantly with a higher initial outlay.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has received a lot of support in the transfer market

They will also grow by building a good recruitment line-up. Rodgers admitted during the window that Celtic needed to review their operations in that department — and they need to.

They have brought in English with what is there now, but that is not enough. There needs to be a head of recruitment or sporting director. Maybe both. Rodgers will also have to accept that he cannot have complete control of the show either.

But Celtic are currently strapped for cash, with their main domestic rivals in crisis, and they cannot let this moment pass without putting the right structures and people in place for the long term, something they have failed to do in the recent past.

Committing £11m to a player remains a big deal in Scottish football, and signings of that level are not always guaranteed to work in terms of raising future funds.

Think £9m Christopher Jullien. However, if Celtic can break through that barrier of selling talent for £30m-plus and build a reputation for selling to genuine, top clubs – something chairman Peter Lawwell spoke about regularly during his time as chief executive – even the odd failure at that price tag can be absorbed.

Unless Rangers find a sugar daddy with a ton of money, and they don’t look likely to, Celtic are in a virtually unassailable position if they get their act together. They won’t have to have showers fitted or recruit people whose fathers have held prominent positions for a while.

Yes, this is the last year of guaranteed Champions League money from an automatic place in the league stage – certainly more than £40m for the Parkhead side this season – but the Champions Path remains via qualifying and that should give them a great chance of staying at the top table in the future.

Compare that to where Rangers find themselves. Where Celtic fans are swooning over the English, Ibrox punters are burying their heads under the covers as former chairman Dave King starts grumbling from stage left again.

Honestly, does anyone have the stomach for this anymore? It’s depressing. Just a sign that a club is going nowhere. Except backwards, that is. For tired old faces and guys who have lived around the corner before.

Former chairman Dave King wants to return to Rangers management

John Gilligan has returned to Rangers as interim chairman after John Bennett stepped down

King had his chance to run the train set. He did a few things right. He did a lot of things wrong. Then he left. Internal warfare and EGMs to get him back in are the last thing the place needs.

John Gilligan is back as interim chairman after the resignation of John Bennett. No offense to Gilligan. He has an impressive business background, but he has been a director before.

The man who is supposed to help him, George Letham, has been a director before. Graeme Park clearly has a say too and the shadow of his father Douglas still hangs in the air.

All these guys did their best when Rangers needed them almost a decade ago, but it feels like they’re going round in circles. Only now there’s discord and no clear picture of where Rangers are going. Or want to go.

Rangers manager Philippe Clement has had limited resources to work with in the transfer market

The squad is poor considering the money spent to put it together. There are few assets, probably none, that could fetch an eight-figure transfer fee. The summer transfer window showed that there are limited resources.

Vital positions within the club remain unfilled. It is an organization that stinks of stagnation.

Even manager Philippe Clement admitted, without much fanfare, just over a week ago that he “had the choice in the summer” to continue, even though he realised “the challenge is much bigger than last season”.

He chose to stay, of course. If Domenico Tedesco had been fired as Belgium coach, as was widely expected after the European Championship, that decision might have been a bit tougher.

Short of a new long-term contract, it’s hard to say what has prompted Clement to keep the faith. With his calls for unity likely to fall on deaf ears as the club’s biggest shareholder complains from the sidelines, he must surely have had doubts over the past week.