There is a tradition of football managers mouthing off in the dressing room after a defeat. I doubt Martin O’Neill went there on Sunday. The squad he had available to him was depleted by a run of exhausting fixtures and a persistent enforced change in line-up. The tank was empty, perhaps mentally as much as physically.
Listen to what his former players tell you about the interim manager and they talk about motivation, a desire to work for him and his ability to bind the squad to a cause. He has never been tactically innovative. By the time we face Dundee at Dens, the players will believe they can still win this league, perhaps even that they will win the league.
Motivation will not raise injured players off the treatment table, only the passage of time will do that, but in four weeks we only have two league games: Dundee and St Mirren. That gives injured players the chance to return, and the manager an opportunity to demonstrate who knows how to win and league and who does not. We slipped from first to third favourites on Sunday evening, but do not bet against Martin O’Neill.
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Shoot
We needed to get to the international break without any damage. We nearly did…
Goal ⚽️
Would you take a barren season, to clear this Board out?
TBH I don’t think it would happen….
We are still in this title race, the other two are just as bad as we are 🙃
It’s times like these you appreciate how fortunate we are to be a well-run club…..
Depleted squad?
Who to blame?
I think we all know the answer.
We alway did need to beat Rangers and hearts in the run in.
The other two are as bad as us, no doubt.
Let’s take Hearts though, they’re 5 ahead of us, 6 in effect because of goal difference. So we need hearts to drop points in 2 games. 3 games if we don’t win all our games. 2 draws for us means we need Hearts to drop points in 4 games !!
We only win this by being perfect. I don’t even believe we’ll beat Dundee yet alone 7 on the spin.
I wish I shared your optimism, Paul . Before Sunday we weren’t great but we were in a groove that somehow got us largely decent results . Can we find it again ? Can we reset ? It’s possible . Players recovering from injuries or who have a chance to build up fitness will help and if anyone can get a tune out of Sunday’s broken down danceband , Martin can .
I just can’t escape the feeling that there’s a Tannadice lurking in every fixture in the remains of the season .
There are some odd views going about that finishing third will be good for us and two fingers to the board who will then be radically changed and a new dawn will start. It won’t. Whether we win or not little will change. Desmond will continue to unilaterally dictate how the club operates and the numerous patsies in place will nod and keep quiet whilst the rest of us get sapped of all joy. Send us your money though!
Celtic will lose 15 players in the summer. Some on the 1st June and plenty more across the summer. If we do win the league we will be humiliated in the CL if we qualify. This squad is done. A fully fit squad has some decent players such as Johnston, CCV, KT, Mcgregor and maybe Engels. Aside from that Reo and Maeda are gone along with possibly AJ and Engels. Thrown in six loan signings that should all leave – maybe The OX will be better if match fit – and then we have others that need to go. We will need a new manager BUT SURELY we must look to improve the recruitment department. I would rather see us sign Scottish level players in June than wait to get supposedly superior players late August. We could be out of Europe and behind in the league by the end of August – again.
To win the league this season would be a huge shock but it won’t make a difference to what DD does. He isn’t involved in the daily running, understates the disgust that the majority have for him and his rich cronies and doesn’t understand that things have now changed, Hearts are not going away. rangers will have more money if they win the league.
MON can help to create history but it will make no difference to the summer. The job is bigger than one summer of repair. I think we may see some on the waiting list finally get some joy and get a season ticket.
Prestonpans bhoys on 24th March 2026 12:05 pm
We are still in this title race, the other two are just as bad as we are 🙃
I haven’t given up mate,seen a stat yesterday, that the 3 top teams,have only all won once on the same weekend/ midweek fixture list….
I said at the start of the season that if improving the team would take us too far ahead of our friends across the city we should spend £40m and give them £30m, and I’m struggling to see how we wouldn’t be a lot better off if we had done that.
We would have a far better team on the park, we wouldn’t have had all the shambolic managerial changes, we would have taken Hearts out of the equation and had a genuine old firm title race (which we would almost certainly have won) and we would have made the money back with Champions League participation.
Instead we went down the regression route with an outcome as damaging as it was predictable.
Ah well………..
the Bada Bing on 24th March 2026 12:04 pm
Would you take a barren season, to clear this Board out?
TBH I don’t think it would happen….
———-
I think that is a hypothetical question.
To be perfectly honest, I really don’t care who or what is on the board. My focus is my life long passion with Celtic which is non conditional on consistently winning domestically.
If we are to believe a prominent poster on here, nobody is queuing up to replace existing board members.
I get that and have no reason to disbelieve it.
I have even seen the first signs of dissatisfaction with MON.
Now if we had some potential names in the frame with a viable fiscal and team plan then I think the question would be valid.
In my opinion of course, I respect others may feel differently.
HH.
Personally, I think this is a time for experience so didn’t see the wisdom in the Brentford loanee and Colby when Auston and Tony were fit.
Still, least Yamada is heading back with 105mins of game time under his belt.
Sharp suits are not for second best, they do not shrink to fit inferior executives.
Who is going to score the goals we need to win games?We sold them all, nygren contributes nothing as a player but he is the top scorer, players seem to know we are vulnerable and its too much for most of them ,they take the easy safe pass all the time, 7 wins would be a miracle with this squad.
I wish I shared the optimism that we can still win the league.
Currently Martin is playing a 433, which is similarish tactics to the last 2 managers.
From a distance it looks as though he has stuck with the structure the players are used to, with a few tweaks.
I wonder if he go for a radical overhaul of tactics with either a 442 or even 352.
A 352 may be associated with Nancy, but from what I saw he only had 1 defender as KT and Ralston pushed up to wimg back, leaving us exposed to 1v1 and a lack of height at set pieces.
We have little to lose, so how about
Scales, Trusty,Arthur
KT Calmac, Nygren, Engels / Paulo and AJ /Yang
Daizen, Big Tam
who bought lt shares ?
Paul,
The squad was not depleted by injuries,and an exhausting run.The squad was depleted by the Board acquisitions in the Summer and January windows.For God sake man,you sound like Karoline Leavitt standing at the Press lectern every day spinning lies about Trump.
Still no replacement strikers for Kyogo and Idah,tells the whole story.We can’t score goals,thats the problem.
The squad has been depleted,yes,with injuries,but when BR was manager,we could change 6 at HT,without damaging the team.Patching the team up with loans.5 in January,and still not a striker worth mentioning,only highlights the long running disgrace of this Board concerning the problem
You might be able to flannel the Happy Clappers,but the majority are not falling for this nonsense.Get a grip man.
Over the previous four seasons we scored countless goals from the far-side winger arriving at the back post to finish off a ball across the box. How many have we scored like that this season? I struggle to see a clear style in our attacking play, although the drop-off in quality of player is obviously a huge factor.
Our two best managers of the last 25 years in BR and MoN have struggled to get this squad to win consistently.
There’s no amount of gaslighting that can disguise the fact we sold our best and replaced them on the cheap.
Yamada isn’t even making match day squads in the German second division and his side sit bottom ! Kenny is at Bolton ! That’s what we handed to BR.
The board are an utter disgrace.
If we can get a few players back from injury, could still make a fist of it. Like McGregor said in his Presser, players need to stay calm. Our support is just as big a concern, they’re anything but calm, having “collectively” lost the heid.
MON is weakening the team to play Nygren in midfield.He cannot play there.How many times does he have to watch it.Invisible on Sunday.If he plays,it must be behind a from two.If that’s Iheanacho,and Cvancara,all we have,give It a go.Forget wingers,we never get two games the same from any of them.Too unreliable,too often.Sub’s if needed.
Calmac Ox ,Hatate,Engels,hopefully for Dundee.Get the boy Donovan as far away from the defence as possible.When Sarrachi first arrived,we were told he can play RB as well.
What’s the problem?Get him in.
Just seems to be same old.Not blaming Martin,football has moved on immensely.This style needs excellent players we don’t have.Adapt.
One thing this season is our consistent inconsistency! I wonder, I’m sure there’s someone out there with the information, have we played the same starting 11 in any 2 consecutive league games this season? It doesn’t seem like it, if we discount the huge numbers of injured players for whatever reason I doubt we have fielded the same team in consecutive league games and if we have it must be very, very few. That, as well as all the other well documented issues, has to have been a major issue with our form this season. I went to the Motherwell game with a few family, some had never been to a game, some others not for many years and one or two others who go on occasion. We had a chat about the first half performance at half time, the consensus was that that the team plays with fear and almost like they don’t know each other and how they should play. The 100% agreement was also that Yang was terrible and should be substituted, notwithstanding his firs half goal!
We can definitely still win the league. Not because we’re any good (we’re the worst Celtic team in 30 years, built on the cheap by our private equity master and his place men), but because the huns and Hertz are also largely rotten.
I make the huns slight favourites but they have still to come to us and Hertz, amongst some other tricky fixtures. I reckon 18 more points might be enough for us.
Great strikers we have had since 2000,
Larsson,,Sutton,Hartson,Hooper,Mc Donald,Stokes,Commons,Dembere,Edouard’s,Samaras,Maloney,Kyogo,Griffith’s,Forrest.Idah.Sh
Some goals there,and always someone to replace outgoing one.
Desmond has been a curate’s egg for Celtic over his controlling tenure. He should be given credit for the many good contributions he’s made, including all of our smartest managerial appointments.
However, this has been a season too far for him and his most negative traits have dwarfed all of his merits. He has actually been a disgrace, sabotaging the whole season from a position of enormous strength.
He is the main problem but Nicholson makes a bad situation worse. Probably a nice guy to go for a pint with but worse than useless as Celtic CEO. Can’t stand up to Desmond when he’s behaving destructively, makes serially awful appointments and is utterly hapless and hopeless in his transfer dealings.
OUT!!!
PADDYF on 24TH MARCH 2026 1:10 PM
Unfortunately the last couple of years of constant conflict have brought us here. We knew (or should have known)we were getting a divisive manager – it was always going to happen – and so it proved. A large number of our fans wouldnt be too disappointed if we don’t win the league because they feel that it will bring the chance of some changes at the top. Theyre wrong, but, ultimately it will probably have an impact on the outcome of the league. Hearts have every fan totally behind the team, they play to sell out crowds while we have boycotts, the Huns are still behind their team the manager and the club even though they’re a poor team and got knocked out of the cup at Ibrox by a poor Celtic
It’s by no means the only, or the main reason, but everything adds up and ultimately small differences are going to decide the title
Another sleep brings more perspective and while less angry about the performance on Sunday the nagging worries we’ve talked about have become full-blown screaming neuroses.
The players aren’t robots as we were frequently reminded by more forgiving managers and we have had a tough run recently but I had hoped that one game in two weeks shoujd have meant we were a bit fresher at Tannadice. You would also have hoped that the results at Ibrox and at Celtic Park against Motherwell would have the players full of self-belief.
That fatigue levels are a problem isnt a surprise but injuries aside it’s not a problem we shouldn’t have at least planned for. Ange talked about his squad peaking at this time, but we have, deliberately, a small group, who haven’t been rotated. Going into a sixty game season with six midfielders then not playing them all was crazy. We then signed a player who will be match fit in time for the split. The over reliance on Calmac who has played 47 games before April is really poor management. Bernardo has six starts and lasted until half time in two of them. Arne and Luke didnt contribute enough early on in
It suggests lazyness or desperation or both.
The tactical failings remain – our system means a slight drop in intensity and our midfield isnt a match for any SPL jobber manager. It’s too late to change either tactics or personnel and hoping that Martin is able to motivate a bunch of players who haven’t won in 20 of their 49 games to win 6 of their last 7 is probably blind faith but hopefully Sunday sees a turning point up there with the victories against the Huns in the Strachan gtf season and the Hearts game in Ange’s first
PETERLATCHFORDSBELLY on 24TH MARCH 2026 1:54 PM
A curates egg but 99% percent of the problem
Does MN take the other 1% or does that get split into tiny fractions for everyone else responsible
Turkeybhoy on 24th March 2026 1:01 pm
“You might be able to flannel the Happy Clappers,but the majority are not falling for this nonsense.Get a grip man.”
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Season ticket renewal day will be the big test.
Then we’ll see who is really to blame.
If there was any integrity among the supporter base then the PLC would have been cleared out in 2012.
But clear out the PLC and replace them with what?
Hypocrite Virtue Signalers?
Fans who vote for cross dressers?
Fans who twice voted against JEREMY CORBYN’s ‘Peaceful United Ireland’ proposals and now that JC has soulled out to the Lobby as he showed 2 weeks ago, sitting like a nodding dog on Sky News saying: “Iran are psychopaths, etc etc….” yeah right you are!
And we should replace the board with….
Fans who agreed for 49, 52, 56, quid tickets that Sevco are Rangers since Sevco’s promotion in 2016?
Fans who are so shallow that they still cannot see that Rodgers was a lying grifter?
Fans who’ll be took to school by Sir/Lord Haughey and David Low the mugger of the untrustable Celtic Trust?
Fans who cannot see through Royal erchie kisser Sir Rod the Fraud Stewart, apart of course from the Green Brigade who called him out.
There are no stand out options to take control of Celtic from a dumb and dim 60,000 stadium who continually prove that they are just suckers, apart from the formidable Green Brigade who are Humans, and all Humans suffer from Human frailty, the frailty to see that MILLIONS of all young foreign men of fighting age are NOT refugees, where are their wives and children?
What would the people of say, Afghanistan, say if they saw MILLIONS of all male foreign young men of fighting age, not arriving on boats like the lying media claim, but being flown in during the night on luxury flights, with no wives or children with them?
Do you think the Afghanistan people wouldn’t say: “Yeah, refugees my erchie!” or words to that effect.
Would the Afghanistan people then be racists? Or rightly concerned citizens?
And they would be correct to question such blatant media lies.
So there are no plans to revolutionize Celtic FC or it would have been triggered in 2012 or the flow of events after that.
Only common sense stuff has come from the banned Green Brigade who are savvy enough to see through the all seating scam that does Zero for safety and Everything for dumbing down to dim level the entire 60,000 boring stadium were fans are so dim that they accept “YNWA” to be sung in the dark, how dim is that?
The JUNGLE era fans would have burned down the directors box if they had switched the lights off when “YNWA” was played.
Uppityness has been removed by turning a 60,000 stadium into a docile sheep pen scam.
So Apathy will remain Celtic’s greatest rebel since 1994 when BRIAN DEMPSEY knew that FERGUS McCANN had shafted the Celtic supporters and BD would have no part in that, so he walked out, the only member of the Rebel Consortium to do so it has to be noted, and gone was Celtic’s last rebel.
When will David Low write a book about “Why I refused to walk out with BRIAN DEMPSEY.”
Just like KEVJUNGLE was the only Malcontent to walk out the front door with, MARTIN O’NEILL, after MON warned Celtic Supporters in 2005 that “THE SLOW LANE” would now be the way forward for the club.
And here we are.
Imho.
Sad are the homes since they lost they’re Giant Pride…..
Was the sabotage intentional?
OldFirm.com must be placed front and centre when board discussions arise about direction of travel.
We saw the same hymn sheet being sung from during covid, getting square pegs for round holes, mostly loans so the dreck can be released when the season is over. It’s the same playbook this time around, the franchise must remain relevant at all costs, if this means slitting our own throats, so be it.
For over a year we’ve been watching being outplayed by poor teams with poor managers because we refuse to change outdated tactics that have been found out and have signed a squad full of players who aren’t suited to them.
We’ve spent too much of our energies chasing a dream, the ultimate pragmatist, Tony Bloom, has rocked up and showed us up in one season.
Celtic40me @ 2:31 pm,
Spurs boy…
You are at it…
Nothing divisive has happened in the last three years at Celtic Football Club.
Yes, on the blogs a lot of divisiness by the likes of you Burnley78, the other placemen…
The groupies who believed, the ones on deludamol who wanted to believe…
Divide and rule…
Ages ago I telt Burnley78 his ways and means were known to me…
Now all reasonable Celtic supporters see it.
Last summer I telt you…
Becareful what you wish for…
Now all reasonable C3ltic supporters see it.
Go back to Tottenham Hotspur and get your toxic comments out of our club…
Hail Hail
Paul67
What’s this running on empty, – Honda Civics?
Maolmuire O Muirgheasa on 24th March 2026 2:41 pm
Yip!
YNWA Mhan.
They are hardly sophisticated in their machinations.
Their own ego’s will always leave them with their pants at their ankles, you just give them enough rope and they’ll construct the noose and the gallows.
Celtic40me…
What is your angle mate!?
You come on hear with your divisive toxix nonsense and we don’t know who you are??
Obviously not a Celtic lover – so is it business, is it friends, is it family
Just what is your angle, ’cause you guys are hurting our club and it’s well beyond a joke now…
Hail Hail