Martin O'Neill revealed he is eager to see Celtic bring in reinforcements "as quickly as possible" in order to help them out of their current "bit of difficulty".
The 73-year-old was summoned back by the Parkhead hierarchy on Monday for a second spell in charge this season after Wilfried Nancy was sacked following just 33 days at the helm.
O'Neill has a good grasp of Celtic's strengths and weaknesses from his previous stint, where he oversaw seven wins in eight matches, before they nosedived under Nancy.
With the champions currently six points behind William Hill Premiership leaders Hearts and head of football operations Paul Tisdale having also departed the club just days into the January window, O'Neill is relying on his assistant coaches Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham to help him secure the reinforcements he feels are essential this month.
"We definitely need to supplement the squad, absolutely no question about that," he said at a press conference on Tuesday. "Shaun, for instance, has been working in the background on certain things, I think he would get to know some players.
"Eventually, I would like to be sitting here in front of you and saying, 'listen, all these players are my choice', that's what I really like to do, so I don't have a great deal of time.
"Whereas before, I would be able to run the rule over players, players that I knew, players that I maybe didn't know, here, I will rely on Shaun and Mark, their opinion on players. But I will certainly have a look at the players before they come in, in some capacity.
"I'll reiterate, we need the players in, and as quickly as possible.
"If the board were to listen to me, then we would have 56 players! I think you'd be aware of what positions we need to strengthen in, and that's what we're going to try and do.
"It's a difficult window, in terms of buying players, that would be difficult, but we do need to supplement the squad.
"Of course if you could sign all the players that you'd want to have, it would be great, but it doesn't work like that. I generally work within the parameters of the club.
"But I'd be hoping that now we're in a bit of difficulty, we have to fight back. And I would say the same to the board. I think we're all aware, and so are the fans, that the squad needs strengthening, if we can do it.
"If we can get a few people in, I think the squad will benefit from it."
O'Neill stressed that he is keen to keep Daizen Maeda (above). The Japanese forward, Scotland's Player of the Year last term, was close to moving to Wolfsburg in the summer and has been touted for a potential departure this month.
"I just came in last night, so there's little point in me saying, 'oh, he's really happy, he wants to stay here', and then tomorrow morning he's gone, or something like that," said the manager.
"I don't know, I'll have a word and find out what he's thinking, even if it's through his agent, or whatever the case may be. I think there was a bit of disappointment with him, because the move didn't go through (in the summer), but he's got going again.
"If you're asking me, I'd love him to stay. It'd be actually really important for him to stay, if that's the case, but I genuinely don't know."
