Martin O'Neill walked out of the window with a smile, Derek McInnes with a sigh of relief. Two managers, one city, and a transfer period that stretched nerves on both sides of Glasgow.
O'Neill content as Celtic scramble late
Celtic left it late. Very late. Six of their 10 summer signings arrived in the final 48 hours of the window, a rush that spoke of urgency more than design, yet O’Neill cut a contented figure.
Dutch midfielder Joel van den Berg came in from PSV Eindhoven and Swiss right-back Jordan Lotomba arrived from Feyenoord, both pushed through just before Wednesday night’s UEFA registration deadline. They joined a clutch of loan arrivals: Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, Parma midfielder Oliver Sorensen and 18-year-old Chelsea duo Shim Mheuka and Landon Emenalo.
Not all of them made it in time for Europe. The Chelsea pair and Van den Berg were left out of the Europa League squad, victims of the tight limits on registration slots.
"I'm delighted to get players," O'Neill said. "Genuinely pleased."
He knows the flip side. Young players who thought this might be their European breakthrough now sit outside the squad list.
"The difficulty is that you only have to look at the UEFA list. Some young lads will be disappointed not being able to make that particular UEFA squad. So there's only so many places that we could fill.
"If we can avoid serious injury to the players here, people not being out for endless lengths of time, then I'm happy with it."
Celtic had watched their Premiership rivals move early and steadily. They did not. They went out of the Champions League still hunting a back-up to injured left-back Kieran Tierney and filling obvious gaps in the squad as the clock ticked down.
So when the inevitable question came about timing, O’Neill bristled.
"How many times are you going to ask me that each week? We started this in July time. So I'm pleased with the players that we've got in.
"We've got them in and I genuinely want to get on with it now. So, ideally, it would be great to have got players in earlier to get them bedded in. It doesn't matter. Happy, really happy to have the players that we have."
One target who did not arrive was Torino midfielder Gvidas Gineitis. O’Neill did not indulge any sense of regret.
"No, I'm really pleased with what we have now at this minute. So, honestly, not a problem."
The shape of Celtic’s rebuild carries risk. Four loanees, and Lotomba only signed until the end of the season, give the squad a short-term feel. O’Neill has lived both sides of that equation.
"I sometimes concern myself about loan players coming in and maybe not seeing the club that they're going to as the club that they really want to play for," he admitted, with Tierney and Kasper Hogh again missing for Saturday’s meeting with St Mirren.
"But I've also had loans of players who have loved the football club. For instance, Julian Araujo took the club to heart last season and that was great. Honestly, he would have done anything for the club. So, from that viewpoint, you're never sure.
"Loans are sometimes a bit of a concern, but it depends on the player."
The message from O’Neill is clear: the window is over, the tools are in place, and excuses about timing will not be entertained. Now it’s about survival of the fittest and keeping key men on the pitch.
McInnes rebuilds Rangers’ room, not just their squad
Across the city, McInnes has gone for volume. Fourteen new faces through the doors at Ibrox, the final two arriving on deadline day, and a manager who sounded as if he had just come out of a storm.
"We all took a huge sigh of relief when the window closed yesterday and we get on with the job in hand," he said.
Portland Timbers’ 22-year-old Venezuelan striker Kevin Kelsy signed a four-year deal with an option of a fifth, a move reportedly worth around £9.5m. Algeria winger Badredine Bouanani joined on a season-long loan from Stuttgart. Both are in contention for the Scottish Premiership clash with Motherwell on Saturday.
"It feels like I've been to war this window, to be honest. It feels like the longest window I've ever known. There's always so much to consider."
McInnes’ focus is not just on who wears the shirt, but how they inhabit the building.
"At Rangers, I don't want to work with players who just see what's next and what's next after this, always maybe eagerly eyeing up other opportunities.
"I want people who want to be here, who want to hang about the club for a period of time and want to be successful here.
"This club can provide so much opportunity and so many good moments for a player, manager and the like."
The recruitment drive has been about more than talent. It has been about character, commitment, and resetting the culture.
"I just want us to commit to being here and put all our focus on the club. The club is deserving of that. The players are deserving of each other, to get that tightness and closeness."
He likes what he sees now when he steps into the dressing room.
"I need to say the dressing room, particularly over the last couple of weeks, has been so strong and so together.
"It actually feels like a football dressing room. The humour, the togetherness and how we work has felt far more like what I would expect my dressing rooms to look like and behave like."
That new-found spirit has already been tested. Rangers have taken "stinging results", in McInnes’ words, but responded with back-to-back away wins at Falkirk and Aberdeen.
"That spirit and togetherness helps you get through difficult times, and you need that at any club, but particularly here."
There is youth everywhere in his squad, and with it, volatility.
"We are a very young dressing room. That is exciting and there is a lot of potential, but there are also lots of learnings for these young boys.
"It's our job to help them fulfil that potential in a Rangers shirt, day in and day out."
Left-back Tuur Rommens will return to full training between the two upcoming Celtic games after a groin strain, another piece of good news for a manager who has spent weeks juggling absences and arrivals.
Now the demand hardens.
"I just want the players not to waste their minutes or opportunities.
"Whether they're picked or training, don't see any day as a lazy day. We're not going to accept bad practice here.
"Every day has to be important. You train with motivation, professionally, and as if you're trying to get into the team on a Saturday."
In Glasgow, the window has closed, but the real scrutiny starts now. Celtic bet on late quality and careful rotation; Rangers on numbers, youth and a rebuilt dressing room. Only the coming months will show which vision holds its nerve when the season tightens and the pressure bites.
