Utrecht arrive in Glasgow tonight after five successive defeats, four of them at home. That’s one more than Wilfried Nancy suffered at the start of his month in charge of Celtic. We’ve an easy night ahead of us, then? Perhaps.
Despite this run of poor results, only once in their previous 15 games have the Dutch side lost by more than a single goal, a 0-2 defeat to Genk. Nancy’s Celtic lost by more than one on five occasions across eight games. During that run, Utrecht lost to Nottingham Forest and Real Betis by a single goal, drew with Porto (despite being down to 10 men) and beat Ajax.
One thing they have in common with Nancy’s Celtic is a star quality when it comes to expected goal difference. Utrecht had a better XG than their opponents in four of the five consecutive defeats (including Genk, who were flattered by a late penalty) – the fifth game being in the Dutch cup, which I cannot find XG stats on. If you expect an easy night, think again.
After two exhausting games finished with 10 men Martin O’Neill has selection decisions to make. Reo Hatate, Julian Araujo and Tomas Cvancara are unavailable tonight, while Martin will hope Kieran Tierney does not relapse after limping off injured on Sunday. Benjamin Nygren for Hatate is the only change I expect from the side which drew in Bologna last week.
74 Comments- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- »
Agreed
Wow ! New article has been up for four minutes and there haven`t been any negative posts !
Hail ! Hail !
I expect little tonight, will be delighted if the team wins and plays well while less than surprised if we play like we did at Tynecastle and lose. Can’t see Utrecht being overly committed in a game that matters little to them but then again we are prone to gifting goals in Europe to anyone who wants them.
I’m optimistic.
Utrecht did indeed beat Ajax on the 9th November. Since then, they’ve won one match. One match won in 2 & 1/2 months of football. That win came against a second division side in the Dutch Cup. They come tonight playing their second string.
In purely football terms, not winning tonight would be even worse than Kairat.
A win tonight and a decent performance would be a good morale boost. Michael delivering our four new players tomorrow, even more so😮
Barkas!
Massive night for us tonight. Would normally be hoping the crowd could help get us over the line but not sure about that these days.
Hopefully the team can grind it out and get what they deserve for their efforts in the Europa so far.
AN TEARMANN
……is willing 👍
Hot Smoked 12.06
Here it is J.
We’re doomed! Storm the Bastille!
The Blogger Formerly Known As GM on 29th January 2026 12:15 pm
:-)))
A wee bit more subtle than BRRB at 12:22 PM :-)))
B78 – the seats vacated by the bhoycotters will be filled by those who genuinely want to be there in support of the team so it should make for a decent atmosphere 👍
Utrecht are 34th out of 36 in the table with one point and 3 goals. They are also on a rotten run domestically. They are missing their main goal threat and will likely play the B team. Still, they will be streets ahead of the Motherwell and Falkirk teams that have recently outclassed us.
In Michael we trust. We’re lucky to have him. And Ross Desmond.
Cheerio for now
All the best tonight for our team.
Now ‘The Crowd’ is in line to shoulder the burden.
It takes a special brand of self-congratulating genius, the kind whose vision extends no further than the margins of his own over-inflated ego, to misunderstand why ‘The Crowd’ might be a little sharp lately.
A truly breathtaking failure of perception and utterly commonplace in those who mistake their own arrogance for intellect.
Agree that poor Euro side is better than decent Scottish side.
Striking options limited as usual.
However, think 3-1 is realistic and reasonable
Martin has made us functional again
Europa league is our level according to Daddy Desmond.
Let’s just behave and be thankful……
onenightinlisbon
Has anyone asked him why?
If Celtic News Now is to be believed we’ve reached the Plan F choices for newcomers.
What a sorry state of affairs!
Thank you DD and your lackeys.
The Board lovers can rejoice.
We can but hope that the limitations imposed on our team by neglect , are less than the limitations imposed on Utrecht by their current form .
One thing is for sure , we will not have an easy night, or afternoon, until things change radically at the club
Whether it be against Utrecht or Auchinleck Talbot .
Vale Bhoy
In 70 years of supporting Celtic ,and seen a lot of poor teams,I have never been as sick as this .
The Kelly’s etc., were bad but these Parasites are even outdoing them .
Hapoy Sts. Sarbelius & Barbea Day. Ave Ave
Petition:
One Celtic. Back our Board, our Players, and Manager.
https://c.org/KFpKd6pRQJ
Paul67 et al
Don’t think anyone will be expecting an ‘easy night’, but that said we are not playing Roma or Braga who have done well in the EL league. Still think we are capable of winning though, if we match our performance at home against Sturm Graz, when and where we played good attacking football for a good part of the match. Only lost one away game in five in Europe over ninety minutes, so haven’t done too bad defensively over the piece, if you like those kind of stats. which Paul67 obviously does. The whole lower tier sold out with some availability around the upper stadium. Will leave the seat counting to Saint Stivs, but expect a good atmosphere, especially if we get off to a good start. Lets stay in Europe as long as we can.
Jørgen Strand Larsen has gone for £50m from Wolves to Palace – he’s scored 1 goal in 19 appearances
I don’t think Utrecht will outclass us, I’m concerned about who will score the goals we’ll need, maybe Scales or Trusty with a header or a penalty, not confident at all and if we aren’t going to bring in 3 or 4 first team starters playing in the EL is only for gate money.
£27 to take your kid to a Celtic match , greedy greedy plc.
Now here is a thought, if we go to a play-off match, price it in a way that says thank you to the fans.
£20 an adult, £10 a kid ……… but you know they wont.
CELTIC V FC UTRECHT TICKETS
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE | CELTIC PARK | JAN 29 | KO 8PM
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for the match against FC Utrecht are now available on general sale.
Season Tickets holders can still purchase tickets for a special Season Ticket holder price, available from the Ticket Office only.
Special Season Ticket holder prices: Adults: £39, Concessions: £30, Under 13: £27.
Concession tickets are now available for this match, priced at £32.
Please note, Season Ticket holders are no longer guaranteed their seasonal seat.
Europe > Domestic
Just win (a minor miracle in current shambolism).
The attendance of ‘genuine’ fans should be a boost. 😊
Monet Selleck 🍀
dessybhoy
Think we have some goals in the team, Yang is capable, Maeda can do it at this level, Nygren too, and we have to hope that Tounetki could at least get into scoring positions. Engels might do something. Martin talked of Kellechi being available, has to get back on the pitch at some point, so you never know. As to last 16 play-offs if we get there, well our two loanees will be eligible, plus Seracci, and surely a couple more players if we hope to compete in three competitions. And getting the best out of all our players of course.
Regardless of the score tonight, I expect there will be another transfer summit tomorrow where Magic Mike can update Martin on who he is not getting so he can switch his phone off for the weekend.
Maybe we could dust off this old favourite. Anyone remember us singing this when we were crap in the 90s? Or am I imagining it?
Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad,
Other things just make you swear and curse,
When you’re chewing life’s gristle,
Don’t grumble,
Give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best.
And…
Always look on the Bright side of life…
Always look on the bright side of life.
B78
With over 100 possibilities surely we can get 2 or 3 signed up before the window slams shut
vale bhoy on 29th January 2026 1:04 pm
onenightinlisbon
Has anyone asked him why?
Dictators don’t like being asked questions.
Boondock @ last article
I feel your pain but most adult Celtic supporters have worked out that culpability lies, above the Football Manager revolving door.
It’s a question of how extensive the boardroom changes and the overdue modernisation will be, it might change from the very top, a change in principle ownership?
That’s maybe something to look forward to ‘change’ itself was already sealed. The bits that happened in between including 33 days of Nancy the development type manager and more sackings, was beyond any Celtic board remaining intact, we already have a temporary chairman, temporary manager, temporary assistants, and temporary players on the pitch and in the pipeline.
In the meantime we’re still septugenarian supporters faithful through and through 🎶☘️
Hail Hail
Celtic Mac on 29th January 2026 1:56 pm
dessybhoy
Think we have some goals in the team, Yang is capable, Maeda can do it at this level, Nygren too, and we have to hope that Tounetki could at least get into scoring positions. Engels might do something. Martin talked of Kellechi being available, has to get back on the pitch at some point, so you never know. As to last 16 play-offs if we get there, well our two loanees will be eligible, plus Seracci, and surely a couple more players if we hope to compete in three competitions. And getting the best out of all our players of course.
____
I think we can add three players. Not sure how this changes if players leave or are dropped from Europa squad.
Watched the whole Hertz game again.
I keep swithering as to can the Hearts really see out the league to be champions, one of my criteria being , you keep picking up points in adversity and win games while not playing well, this time of year on heavy pitches in shite conditions, the proverbial “grinding out results”, and I was getting that vibe, when they had players correctly sent off but still won.
But now there is a but …………
The same thing though also applies to us. In adversity, on that heavy pitch, with it being watered during the actual game, the hostility, the baying ugly bersekers in their crowd, McInnes stupid eyeballing of the celtic players in the warm up, his challenge to Fozzy , his rants before and after the game, a man up to a controversial decision ……… and they still couldnt win.
Ryan Stevenson, in a bizarre record column, claims, he knew Celtic were beaten from the pictures during the warm up ….. Ryan who has never won anything.
simple face, they didnt win, they celbrated the draw.
The wily Martin got a point, it was better for us than it was for them.
Had me thinking as well, allthough it was a poor performance, people are complaining about cowards in the team, body language, unhappy players, and punts up the park, let me tell you Hearts made the game that way, drop to the deck with every challenge, scrap for everything, but they didnt exactly play sparking free flowing football.
Its funny , the Hearts and the 2nd Rangers upporters dont mind poor football, as long as they are winning.
Celtic fans though, chased Brendan for playing keep ball.
Funny old game.
I am actually looking forward to tonight, just to be at Celtic Park, I dont need entertained, I do need us just to win.
I’d be very wary of playing Kelechi tonight. We’re going to need him for the league run in and that means managing his reintroduction very carefully.
It’s barely 6 weeks since he damaged his hamstring and a recurrence now would put him out for the season.
I’d say the importance of the remaining matches in the league outweigh this single fixture tonight.
Saying that, he’s got to come back sometime. Let’s hope the medical team exercise better judgement than they did with AJ all those months ago.
fanadpatriot
I was thinking similar. 60 years for me. The 80s and 90s were bad but we could see change coming.
This lot are worse.
They are beyond redemption. The don’t give a shit about us or the team.
We need professional, Celtic supporters (or just professionals who like to succeed) running the club.
Definitely not DD, his boy and his lackeys.
We must be getting down to the E and F choices.now …. or should I say ….boards A and B choices….cheap as chips …..be sad if it wasn’t so obvious
MoN:
“Who is to say we might not spend money?” He said. “There IS a willingness. I think we’ll get some in.
“What I’m trying to do is put a player into this football club that can do something for us now, that the new manager, whatever sort of ideas he has, will really like the player.
“Everybody has different ideas about things, but somebody who can go past people.
“I love players who can go past people. So we’re looking for something a bit explosive, and we can do that.
“I’m hoping that if we’re spending money on this particular player, and if it comes through, that the next manager stepping in, honestly, will say ‘Oh that’s good’, rather than thinking, ‘I’m not sure about this player.”