NO-ONE WHO goes to Tesco or Sainsbury's does shopping against a running stopwatch. There is no-one who grabs your hand and races you round the aisles of the supermarket. Gordon Strachan and Walter Smith must envy the peace in which most people are allowed to do their spending. No such leeway is afforded football managers, least of all the men in charge of Celtic and Rangers. It isn't enough that they buy well, they are expected to buy early.

In Celtic's case a low grumbling began a couple of weeks ago and has slowly grown in volume. Why had no-one been signed yet? With the realisation that Paddy McCourt will need time to find his feet and is a cheap, speculative signing rather than a major one, and that Georgios Samaras does not feel like a "new" player given that he has been at Parkhead on loan since January, Celtic have still to deliver their supporters anything fresh. The teams which started the friendlies at Southampton on Friday and Fulham yesterday were put together only from well kent faces.

Celtic have recently completed three major, expensive pieces of signing business. Artur Boruc, Scott McDonald and Aiden McGeady - their most valuable, top scoring and most skillful players respectively - have all committed to lengthy new contracts which will keep them at Parkhead or protect the club financially if they move on. But being able to hold on to an existing player satisfies football fans rather than exciting them.

Nothing stirs the blood quite like a totally fresh incoming player. A team has to be seen to be evolving as a continual work in progress. That was what Sir David Murray was getting at when he once spoke of having to change the menu each season.

Gabriel Tamas will fit the bill if there is a successful conclusion to what is not proving to be a straightforward move from Auxerre, but otherwise there isn't the sense of anything new about Celtic. The need for a left-back and a striker remains and it is the nature of football, certainly in Glasgow, that Strachan will be accused of sitting on his hands if one or both of those positions have not been addressed by the time the transfer window closes.

But that's the point: he still has six weeks to sign one, two or more players. A lifetime. Loud declarations made here and now about whether Celtic or Rangers will win the SPL are ludicrously premature because their squads still may be enhanced or diminished by the arrival or departure of a hugely significant figure, perhaps in deals which will not happen for several weeks. They may be transfers not yet even contemplated by their managers. Barry Ferguson rejoined Rangers on the last day of a transfer window and Craig Bellamy signed for Celtic on the same evening. Stilian Petrov unexpectedly left Celtic late in one summer window when the club had expected him to stay.

What if an irresistible offer comes in for Boruc in August and he agitates for it to be accepted? What if someone successfully throws money at Rangers for Carlos Cuellar days before the window closes? Similarly, Celtic could land a major signing, or Rangers' spending power might belatedly grow because they make it through to the Champions League groups from the final qualifying tie on August 27. If they do, Smith would have new money and four spending days left before the window closes.

There are advantages in bringing in a new signing in time for him to experience pre-season training with his new team-mates, but it is not the end of the world if the circumstances prevent that from happening. Manchester United played a testimonial fixture in Aberdeen last weekend without a single new signing. If anyone had been brave enough to tell Sir Alex Ferguson it was proof that he was slacking, he would have looked at them as though they weren't right in the head.

Smith has been far busier in the market than Strachan but only because his hand has been forced. Celtic do not have a competitive game for another three weeks, but Rangers' opening Champions League qualifier is in the middle of next week. The greater sense of urgency at Ibrox was inevitable.

But neither club is finished in the market. Celtic are still trying to get Tamas and others while Rangers are pursuing Glenn Loovens and will look elsewhere if Cardiff City price him out of their budget. Judging either club's transfer activity so far is like reviewing half a film or an unfinished song. Perhaps the man who will decide the SPL has not even been mentioned yet, let alone bought.

The one new addition we could do with on the Old Firm scene wouldn't cost a penny: a little patience to let the whole story unfold.

No wonder Vladimir Romanov liked the cut of Csaba Laszlo's jib. It seems Hearts' new manager is a man after the owner's own heart. Laszlo scarpered from his job with Uganda, leaving behind a trail of officials seemingly a bit miffed at not getting so much as a handshake from him on the way out. "Csaba absconded from duty and only sent a Fax: informing us that the vehicle he was using is parked in the yard," sighed their clearly hurt spokesman, Rogers Mulindwa.

Who else do we know who is renowned for doing his business - and everyone else's - by fax?