When Kelechi Iheanacho limped off on Sunday, Wilfried Nancy had a choice: put Daizen Maeda through the middle and bring on a winger, or do a like-for-like swap with Johnny Kenny. You and I have seen enough of Daizen-through-the-middle this season that we doubtlessly shared a relief to see Johnny come on.
The remainder of the game did nothing to convince us this formation was better than the alternative. Johnny was significantly less effective than he had been in the semi-final, where even before his goal, he linked play and helped Celtic build attacks. Tonight, my preference would be for Daizen to play wide, give Johnny some scope.
Despite the defeat on Sunday, tonight’s game at Tannadice is unlikely to see a return to three at the back, with either Tony Ralston or Colby Donovan at right back and Kieran Tierney again asked to play 90 minutes. Yang should get the nod wide left. He offers more defensively than Sebastian Tounekti, who’s strength is not putting a defensive challenge in.
Celtic were not in great shape before Wilfried’s appointment. Wins over Dundee, St Mirren and Hibs were far from convincing, but a return to the system which got us through those games is needed for now.
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Shoot
Goal ⚽️⚽️⚽️
Did ye get a hat trick though?
It was the best of times it was the worst of times
You forgot to mention BR Paul.
Let’s talk about tactics 😂. It’s like the 30 minute video that the board wanted to put on at the AGM to stop any awkward questions. Total deflection.
Here’s hoping we don’t concede any corners.
Who would win in a podium fight between Kentucky and Prestonpans?
Nope read the article instead, I thought we were playing four at the back on Sunday, then 30 seconds later….
So if P67 says its a back four, has the French Russell Martin been warned from above?
Must have imagined a famous win in Rotterdam
I don’t see anything from WN that would suggest to me he’s gonna do a mea culpa. I see 3 at the back and a league season done in two weeks.
Dundee Utd have not won for 2 months. We’ve gone from criticism of BR for draws in Zagreb and Belgrade, only drawing against Brugge, to now fretting over Tannadice.
BSR
😂🤣😅
I was on SC reading this , no idea of the validity…
December 17, 2025 10:16 am
https://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/the-board-of-directors-arrogant-incompetent-coward-t138741-s29300.html
Then noticed the time 🙃
The Battered Bunnet @ 11:26 am,
Thanks for the reply and the insight, guess that is as clear as we are getting it…
Chicken Licken it is:))
“To my mind, that would be an equity project and there would be no shortage of uptake.”
What are the chances of DD’s 30+% stake soaring after that?
Another intesting question you lobbed…
“Come January, what will we do? What would you do?
You feel that WN’s fate would be determined by then, (actually I’m on the opTIMisTIC side for this evening), yet no matter who the manager is, we need to bring in experienced players with physicality to help this team compete.
If Tony Bloom sees an opportunity to strenghten in January and the R2ngers definately will, there will be no easy run ins or Cups this season.
Hail Hail
bournesouprecipe @ 11:14 pm
At the rate we’re banning folk Wilfried will be doing the pressers in an empty room.
—-
Works for me, BSR.
No more Hatate defending the six yard box at corner kicks please. Go zonal.
If we persist with WN man to man at corner kicks, Scales and Trusty will simply be shown wide and it’ll be carnage in our six yard box with a keeper that refuses to come off his line.
Keep Trusty and Scales central at corner kicks.
Hmm.
I might be tempted to play Daizen through the middle.
Not in great form but he scored our last winning goal.
Wing backs?
I’m old fashioned and have simple needs.
They need to be able to attack a bit, defend a bit, run all night, and sprint a bit (quickly).
Colby at right wing back for me.
Yeah, we don’t want to go back a few weeks to those ‘far from convincing wins’
Only malcintents and ne’er do wells would wish for that.
The board have played a blinder here and we should all support that. We’re lucky to have them.
Meanwhile…….
I asked yesterday: What is a Paul Tisdale for? No one seems to know.
No harm to the guy, but what is he doing at Celtic?
Our Head of Football Operations doesn’t have a published job description, but the club included the following when he was appointed little more than a year ago:
“In this new strategic role reporting to the Board, Paul will oversee the development and management of effective operations to support high-level football performance, including the identification and development of talent, in line with the club’s objective to develop Champions League players through our Academy and recruitment processes.
Additionally, Paul will work with the club’s analytics functions, supporting colleagues across the club to continuously improve our processes.”
Tisdale was a footballer with one specific distinction: He managed to sustain a professional career over 10 years while making a total of just 80 appearances for the 8 clubs that waged him, almost all of which in the lower divisions in England.
He spent 12 years managing Exeter City; 2 years in the Conference, a year in L2, 3 years in L1, 6 years back in L2.
He then managed MK Dons; a year in L2, 4 months in L1.
He then lasted 3 months at Bristol Rovers in L1, and had a time out before a 4 months stint at Stevenage in L2. Between the two stints he won 8 matches from 40 played.
After another year out he was appointed as Celtic’s Head of Football Operations.
Celtic, as we know only too well, aspires to be world class in everything we do.
My question is; What world class experience and capabilities does Paul Tisdale bring to the club?
He has never played with or managed elite players.
He has never coached at a level above the third tier in England, let alone at an elite club.
He has never worked in an elite football operation – he had 2 months as a technical Advisor at Colchester Utd in L2.
I doubt he has ever identified and recruited talent that developed into Champions League level players.
I doubt any of the clubs he has managed at ever utilised recognisable data analytics, let alone the advanced mathematics behind the leading systems of today.
In terms of the stated functions of his role, there is entirely nothing in his experience that maps to the requirement.
What is there in Paul Tisdale’s career profile that fits with the published functions of his job?
Why is he at Celtic?
CB and TBB last night and earlier.
Really good chat on growth and DD’s style.
In truth, I don’t pay much attention to potential growth projections based on propsed jurisdictional changes.
Both will either happen or they won’t.
I have no ‘in’ to board thinking …
… so speculated internally that their medium term plan was
– qualify for CL League phase 3 straight
– get to £100m – £120m cash position
– refurb Celtic Park including a new South Stand
And nothing more
In terms of the board’s strategic thinking
(and this is just an opinion not a dig)
I don’t think they are particularly imaginative.
BTW – the above plan – if it ever existed – is now dead, of course
BOURNESOUPRECIPE re: podium fight between Kentucky and Prestonpans?
No contest when I am at my fighting weight.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 17TH DECEMBER 2025 12:15 PM
Indeed
FWIW – Not in favour of ‘bans’ they don’t solve the problems they merely park them.
The Celtic board don’t like them either but have again resorted to a fully justifiable ban on the National Broadcaster based on the Clyde ( right next door to Rainjurz ) funnily enough.
This started when Brendan Rodgers returned and was intermittently imposed over the last 2 1/2 years. It’s no doubt back with the Wilfried Nancy appointment and Celtic have had to act.
Celtic supporters and licence payers through CQN have repeatedly commented on the obvious issues. Bans don’t work , as has been shown, we need to know what is being done to tackle and neutralise the ‘sporting’ narrative.
I took a little time to listen to the Huddle Breakdown podcast earlier this morning. You can catch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cch7DoqNGxc
Alan Morrison is always worth listening to and his discussion on the first principles failure of change management that is Bro Wilf’s first week in the job is very good.
Citing just the St Mirren match, we changed the shape of the team and the way it uses the ball, we played Ralston in a new position, Scales in a new position, Tierney in a new position, Tounekti in a new position and Maeda in a new position (No 10 space).
We have also changed to a strictly man-marking approach at corners with predictably crummy results.
Alan notes that good practice is to change one thing at a time, allow the change to be normalised, then make another. And so on. Changing everything at once is apt to end very badly.
BSR…
How WN ends his next media conference…
“”It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known”
Hail Hail
Yogi Junior time…..
https://www.youtube.com/live/ge-KJ1FbCOc?si=ITKykXOT-D82gShN
TBB
What seems to have been ignored is that Calmac was playing nearly CH and Jamesy was CMF.
But, Nancy doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone.
His arrogance is only matched by those idiots who appointed him.
TBB – Tilsdale is our very own conundrum. As a certain PM once said, he is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
Your question would have been an interesting one for the AGM. Though you would probably have been accused of trying to bully personnel.
B2B – it would be entirely ordinary to self-fund the redevelopment of the main stand and the footprint, and overdue. Absolutely.
But that’s not on the radar, is it.
It seems a bit mental that a guy (DD) who’s career is defined by putting money to very good use, insists on Celtic sitting on a pile of money that does nothing but earn a smidgeon more in interest than the value it loses to inflation.
“…we doubtlessly shared a relief to see Johnny come on.”
Count me out of that royal ‘we’ P67.
i rarely feel anything close to relief to see Johnny Kenny take to the field.
A bolton Wanderers player every day of any week.
PS Lundulu should have had a second booking for wrestling with Reo but Clancy gave him a free pass.
Abolish this monarchy now none of these chancers should be near our club.
Chairbhoy
God bless Sydney, – as Wilfried Nancy said of Martin O’Neill “ What a guy, what a guy “ 👍
Vale Bhoy, in addition to Jamesie at No 10, you can add young Donovan to that, playing right centre back for the first time, and Luke McCown at left wing back. CalMac largely stayed centrally, whether deep or stepping forward. But his two sidekicks swapped positions time and again.
Mental.
Paul67
Aye, it’s a shame we’ve talked about it so often, then the next manager got landed with it.
Poor big guy can’t buy a break, the players better get on board the Wilfried bus.
God bless Wilfried and his Bhoys on the very rocky road to Dundee ✌🏽☘️
He should be gone , that he isn’t does not surprise me as this Board only act against its own support. I expect nothing different tonight from Nancy’s team, a team that cannot defend nor attack effectively to win games.
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 17TH DECEMBER 2025 12:27 PM
———
I don’t know the answer to any of your questions tbh.
It certainly can’t be to have radically overhauled our recruitment practices.
We have been profligate there and , for me , almost of all our problems flow from that.
Our signings since he started are here:-
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/celtic-fc/transfers/verein/371/plus/?saison_id=2024&pos=&detailpos=&w_s=w
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/celtic-fc/transfers/verein/371/plus/?saison_id=2025&pos=&detailpos=&w_s=
There’s not one ( maybe Jota aside ) I would regards as an unqualified success.
Paying over £5m for Tounekti just looks like madness now.
When he deployed Kenny through the middle rather than Maeda I literally cried.
Kenny is a Dunfermline. Raith Rovers. Partick standard nothing more.
WN has been unlucky with injuries but my God he’s not helping himself
I see p67 has jumped on the …we weren’t very good under MON either ..well that’s partly true, but we lost two goals in 6 domestic games BOTH to dodgy penalties…no goals conceded from outfield play and NONE from set pieces!!!
So Wilfried had a 15 minute hand over meeting with MON. It stinks of arrogance. I would have expected such a meeting to take several hours.
As for Tounekti. The number one metric for any winger we recruit must be the ability to hit the bye line. Why did we recruit him we he can’t do that. We are told he wants to play on the left but can’t go down the outside. All he wants to do is cut inside into traffic. How long did we scout him for? It’s stunning and infuriating incompetence.
It’s indefensible on all levels. If tonight is another car crash then Nancy has to go tomorrow.
Tisdale and Nancy are a couple of rungs down from Thelwell and Martin….and that’s saying something.
Back to Basics – Glass Half Full @ 12:28 pm,
Yes, the three season UCL automatic qualification seemed to take care of itself as a strategy.
The issue is, under the two seasons of Ange’s incremental improvement, then the two seasons of BR’s incremental improvement, we got to the end of the automatic qualification.
We should have been planning to aim to become a perennial UCL “play-off” contender, another seasons incremental improvement would have done that imo.
However – we heard it from the horses mouth, in Europe, Celtic don’t swing and miss – rather than make sure we become proficient and connect, we just don’t swing.
Where the Board wanted to take us showed a huge lack of ambition in Europe, where we have actually ended up show a great lack of competence domestically.
Hail Hail