Brendan Rodgers has conceded Celtic "could have been braver" in the January transfer window.
The Parkhead boss was understanding of fan frustration over the lack of activity before the deadline on Thursday night.
And Rodgers boldly agreed that the club could have done more to land players of "another level" to strengthen the squad.
However, Rodgers insisted the blame should not be pointed at the recruitment team - or any individuals - as he stated the club still has to be careful in the transfer market.
The frustrated manager explained: "You can't just purely label on the recruitment team. The recruitment team clearly has a job to do like we all have a job to do. But this is a collective responsibility.
"What I would say is, I understand where we were at in the summer and coming in. I understand now you haven't been in here the, structurally, where we're at.
"And yeah, I would go with the supporters thinking we maybe could be a little braver in terms of bringing in another level of player.
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"But that's something that's up to me to try and fix that over the course of the my time here. But listen, you look up the strategy here at the club and you have to be careful.
"Because in some ways it has worked. You know, you bring in players for a minimal fee and then they go out and they make the club a lot of money
"What I want to hopefully try and balance in my time here, is that we could still do that because that has been important part of the modern game, bringing in a player that has growth left in them. But we also want to be brave enough to to hang our hat on a player who's a ready made player.
"So I totally understand the support and where that's coming from. It's time, isn't it?
"Like i said before, we've got to be really careful here because I get a sense of looking for someone to blame. And that's not what this club's about. This club is about being together. The minute there's a separation, it's a difficult club."
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