After a defeat like last night’s a generation ago, the English media would be limited to a handful of hacks destroying the reputation and social life of the national team manager. What they did to one of their own, like Graham Taylor and Bobby Robson was bad enough, what they would have done to a German coach is unimaginable.
Today, while Tuchel is getting the blame for England’s second half capitulation, there is a wider ecosystem in journalism and another theme has emerged. You can change the players, coaches and manager, but some teams are culturally compelled to win when things are tight, and some continually blow it. Argentina, Spain and France win, England and a host of gifted smaller nations don’t.
Last night was a carbon copy of Celtic’s final league game of the season against Hearts. Just like England when they needed to hold what they had, Hearts sat ever-deeper as the game went on, Celtic hit the post and relentlessly prodded for an opening.
We will wonder how we won that league for the rest of our lives. Martin O’Neill’s run-in saw us 2-0 down at Kilmarnock and Ibrox, going behind at home to Newco and then at Motherwell, and that finale against Hearts. 15 points won from losing positions across the last 13 games – 15 points! It was statistically unlikely, achieved by the weakest Celtic title winning squad this century, but they are winners.
Some teams in football have a winners’ mentality, while some are cursed to be losers, who can get results under no pressure but will bottle it when they come up against a genuine challenge.
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AULDHEID on 17TH JULY 2026 1:44 AM
I like that, if only both sides would enter into a meaningful dialogue.
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Yes, though the irony would be that a PE firm would value that opportunity, while our current investors apparently prefer to remain in the shadows and express no opinion.
Celticplc plan is buy low sell high, if you don’t like it go away, a billionaire with an ego runs it full stop. No collaboration no change and bought execs who if they might be inclined to do things differently have had their loyalty bought, seems this now extends to the Football club as well now.
Good Morning CQN
The Covid season should have been a stark reminder of what happens when you hold onto players who had deals available and wanted to leave
Daizen similarly last season had a deal and wanted to leave, club denied him his opportunity, we all seen a reduced Daizen as a result, thankfully he eventually kicked in latterly at the end of the season
We are known to be a stepping stone for the bigger leagues, if we get a reputation for being obstinate to players and agents for transfers, they naturally will leave Celtic as an option at the back of the queue of clubs to deal with
All fan organisations, shareholder orgs and Res12 have complained regarding meetings, consultation and communication with the club, the common denominator in all of these interactions is the club, recently the”Interim Chairman” and he repeated this recently to the Irish supporter Orgs that the club has a communication problem, maybe if the Club changed its attitude towards all sections of the fanbase in relation to ‘communication’ and became pro active with engagement, they hold all the power, let the drawbridge of Castle Celtic down, although we play in one of Europes financially small leagues we do have an enormous fanbase here at home and around the world, an opportunity exists for the club to get ideas and opportunities from talented people, we have nothing to lose to reach out and engage
Below is our present manager stating that even he didn’t know what the clubs strategy was………comunication
At this point Martin O’Neill took the mic and advised that aside from a long-term strategy (which he was only reading the week previous), his strategy as a manager is more selfish and short-term. But he did state that both strategies need to align, because you can’t be the best club you can be, without performing on the pitch week to week, and he has acknowledged that the product on the pitch at the minute is not good enough to compete at a higher level without strengthening.
Until we get personnel who don’t see obstacles in player recruitment but opportunity to sell the club and have the ability to charm and convince players to choose Celtic we will IMO struggle MN is not that man as illustrated below
Michael Nicholson took the question and advised of the difficulty in dealing with agents, competing with the premier league and even the championship. He advised that the easy signings are the players that are out of contract, and these are being worked on immediately. Without any real hint of active engagements with potential players, Martin O’Neill then proceeded to confirm that he has put to the board that we are in major need of signings, as the current squad, despite their heroics last season, are not strong enough to compete. He mentioned the focus on finding talent and developing it, because targets he has identified already, were difficult to attract to Glasgow. Michael Nicholson also mentioned the silence being intentional because the media will run with any story and paint the club in a bad light no matter what the barriers to signing a player may be.
Meeting up with a couple of nearly lifetime friends today 60 years, one of whom had a short spell as a Celtic player
aff oot
Maeda should have been sold before last season started. We played him in the CL play off and his head wasn’t in the game. We lost. We cannot make the same mistake this year.
That old saying about staying quiet and letting people think you were a fool, rather than talking and confirming it, has just been validated by Nicholson. Openly admitting he’s not up to the job. Now being widely reported on MSM. He must go now.
Whilst I don’t have full context or minutes, the summary from the recent fans Q&A is a little concerning.
My opinion is that we were the top 6 team who regressed most last season. I’d hoped for an immediate and determined reaction this close season. No sign of that so far
We’re running out of excuses
Good morning all.
Given the paucity of proper Sellic transfer news – did anyone see a hippy in Shawlands yesterday Could be the new midfielder?
Glenowen
I get you but Where we not champions last year?
HH
I see minutes of the AICSC meeting have been released, demonstrating yet again that Michael Nicholson is the wrong actor in the wrong movie.
Fools and silence, etc.
Maurice Switzer CSC
auldheid et al
For the record, and as far as I understand it, UEFA abolished the “cup-tied” rule a few seasons back, (cf Alan Thompson) meaning that auldheid’s scenario of playing both Maeda & Engels in the CL qualifiers would not restrict them from playing in either the CL or the EL for other clubs after that date. Not ideal of course, especially if there is money on the table or in BRRB land……whiskey in the jar…..bhoy
Went to Waitrose yesterday , they had this really nice wine that I like , thing is it was £12 per bottle …
Went to the checkout and asked the girl if she would take £9 for it , she looked at me as if I was some sort of weirdo and said sorry sir that is the price.
Thought feck this , went to Aldi seen another nice bottle , this time the bottle was £10 per bottle , again took it to the counter , said to the bloke , how’s about £8 for this bottle mate , said sorry pal that’s the price take it or leave it.
This happened five times…. What is it with these supermarkets these days , they just don’t want to negotiate… …….or perhaps is was my negotiating skills !
Anyhows wee guy in Lidl said if you hang of for 3 weeks we have some rally cheap shity wine coming in .. might be right up your street..
Fekin brilliant I thought , three weeks is a bit long to wait but at least it’s cheap….. and shitty !🥴🫣
Auldheid on 16th July 2026 11:30 pm
and into the wee hours with Gedinte and others.
If the strategy is to spend on the basis of achieving EL qualification – the club is mostly successfully achieving that. Maybe if it set out the strategy to qualify for CL say in 2 out of 3 years, maybe we could actually achieve that too. If you set yourself a lower target, don’t be surprised that you don’t achieve the higher one.
If you won’t invest in the stadium because we want to wait until we get into a more lucrative league, then (I think 30 years + experience shows) then don’t be surprised when we never get a stadium upgrade. If you believe you are getting maximum cash return from supporters already, why invest effort in having better supporter relations.
Celtic have been having the best run of sustained success of just about any team anywhere. There should be a great feeling about the club. it should be ambitious and looking to see how it can do better ( it is always possible to do better). But it seems that the current group running the club don’t think their is actually any point in making the effort.
Blimey, no wonder they take a vow of silence , everytime they are asked to speak the wrong words come out.
It’s impressive, really. Every answer is a masterclass in saying exactly the wrong thing with complete confidence.
Argentina clearly divides opinion.
WBC @1.56pm – I think the end of the world geography and lack of empire explains the absence of non-white faces. Resulting insularity presumably contributes to the racism you describe but certainly does not excuse it. Didn’t present as an issue for me, but then I’m white European. Depressing.
I was mostly thinking about the football culture off the pitch, which is an amazing spectacle. On the pitch we saw both sides of Argentina on Wednesday. The thuggish side in the early part of the match and then showing they can really play. Exactly in line with my dad’s recollection of the despicable ’67 Racing Club side.
I retain an affection for Argentine football because of Maradona, Messi and the unique football culture of the place. And the fact they are regular England-skelpers.
These days a CEO should be a salesman for a club…..not the Cardboard Cutout
Someone needs to put Nicholson out of his misery.
PLB…Thanks for the response.
Did anyone notice in the game the other night when John Stones got injured and received treatment in the goal area, he left the field, as is required, but rather than wait one minute before re-entering, he immediately ran back on to the pitch? A couple of Argentinian players raised their arms to protest but as they were on the attack they played on and the second goal came shortly afterwards. This I believe was incompetence which the American referee displayed throughout the game. He was not up to a game of such importance.
Auldheid @11.19pm
Two problems with that:
1. Celtic have adopted this approach of relying on departing players before and it has always failed.
2. No-one has any faith they have a plan for the last 7 days of the window. Based on all previous experience.
That said the content-seeking hysteria of the Celtic fan pods is increasingly wearisome.
I admit to being totally baffled about what is going on at the club. And that in itself is wrong. For such a long time there has been almost zero communication and whenever someone does say something it doesn’t sound convincing or truthful. I find it hard to believe someone with the business experience of DD would be so spiteful and childish to punish the fans for protesting against him, his son and the other members of the board. He could be a hero to the fans but instead, rightly or wrongly, he has become a hate figure. Seriously, we at least should have an inkling of what is going on behind the scenes, instead supporters are being wound up by the negativity of the needy click-baiters on social media…
FIFA confirms Trump will present trophy to winners on Sunday.
Please, please, please let it be Spain. The country who he has repeatedly criticised for being a lost cause, terrible, useless etc etc.
Even better if the Spanish players could find a way to snub him, even if it is subtle. Refusing his handshake might be too hard but would be beautiful to see.
AT
Valid point- indeed we were
However, our winning margin went from 17 points to 2. The signs are there.
I would hope our key decision makers are keen to give Martin et al the greatest chance to compete on all fronts. We’ll know soon enough
Deniabhoy…
I hope Pedro Sanchez is there too. And to add to the enjoyment, perhaps after presenting the trophy Trump falls down the stairs and breaks his big orange heid…
WBC – hard not to conclude DD is being exactly that. Spiteful. His true colours were shown in his BR statement and in junior’s AGM speech.
There is absolutely no evidence of him putting in place a fit for purpose executive team capable of delivering the supposed objective of being world class at everything it does.
Instead we have a shambolic mess which is being allowed to worsen rather than being addressed.
new article posted.
Comforting to know that our chief transfer negotiator has just told anyone who is interested that he doesn’t know how to negotiate.
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”
I