“I only have 13 practices with my team, usually we have four weeks of preseason.” That’s what Wilfried Nancy said on Friday, before the weekend’s capitulation at Celtic Park. He added, “It’s totally normal that my players need a bit of time, it’s totally normal that my players could be confused at certain moments.”
The Gods of XG back up Wilfried’s belief that Celtic have been unfortunate in not picking up more points than they did. The defeat to Hearts falls into that category, but the second half turnaround by Dundee United and Newco, and entirely inept performances against St Mirren and Motherwell, deserved nothing better.
“New players, a bit of time” – elements the manager suggests will help. True. Spending many millions on players to beat St Mirren and Motherwell will almost certainly work. This is Scottish football. Read the Uefa league tables, if you want to check the standard. Our player stock is already vastly superior to anything most of our opponents can acquire, adding even more £1m salaried pros will inevitably help.
We can agree that without a preseason to practice, it is normal that players look as confused as they appear to be. The concern many have expressed, is why, when the required practice time was not available, or the squad not suitable, did we cast off in this direction?
My suspicion is, Wilfried looked at our history of winning practically everything, and perhaps the Uefa tables, and thought, “We’ve got this”. He surely did not expect Motherwell’s new manager to win so comfortably at home to Celtic.
Five weeks into the job, it is too late for the manager to revert to the system Martin O’Neill used to get Celtic consistently over the line (and little more). Wilfried’s reputation has been staked on this being the correct path. He will continue until it works or he is relieved of his duties. To be fair to Wilfried, this is probably the only way he knows to win, so he has no choice.
You and I have no experience of defeats arriving at this rate, so the impact is bound to be profound. That we are here due to a tactical change which has not had the required practice, points to poor decision making.
At that presser on Friday, Wilfried said, “Do your job”. The lad is bold, if nothing else. Having the best plan in the world is worth nothing if you allow the foundations to burn around you. It is time to get the job done, Wilfried.
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Test-icles
Seems our bored has grown some
What now for Celtic….
Getting quality players in costs money, is that gonna happen?
DeflatedCSC
H.H.
Roy Wood :-)
https://youtu.be/PlXBi3NA7bE?si=NY4UEZNkB0jmookG
HH
DushanbeBB
Outwith- I can’t recall was that a cqn word thing ?
What are ye alerting me to?
For me was just meaning everything bout the decision making process that brought WN here is erred.DD much for his emotive bluster at BR2 resigning did not have a plan b.i feel sorry for WN
HH
Fated…but too involved in yer own head to recognise?
https://youtu.be/4ZbmR9VOx50?si=rCRDUAvUxvdiF2Zv
Celtic Exchange
Welcome back Martin and the gang you have been missed
Looking forward to visiting Celtic Park this Saturday
Under no illusions, this is no guarantee of success
Sadly another huge rebuild required, Ange Postecoglou did a great job after covid, but the root cause wasn’t treated and removed
Big Dog needs to remove himself from footballing decision making, his time is over
A mea culpa from the Dublin billionaire would be most welcome, Big Dog doesn’t do humble or humility
If rumours are true Michael Nicholson is uncomfortable with the CEO role, a new position apparently is in the pipeline
The root cause is the lack of a structure and personnel who are accountable through defined roles within a modern progressive football dept, there is a lot of work still to be done
Again if rumours are true the “board” are due for radical change, they won’t be missed
Avery lucky scrappy 1-0 win with a clean sheet and an Dundee Utd OG in the last minute will send this cCeltic man home happy
Beautiful inventive football had its time and what a time it was
Morning B2B you will have been waiting
https://x.com/aldamu_jo/status/2008390023964434925?s=20
Woman arrested mid-interview after criticizing Trump’s Venezuela invasion.
But you won’t hear a peep from the self-anointed “free speech warriors” like Elon Musk or Bari Weiss.
“Freedom of expression is not a privilege granted by the authorities, but a protected constitutional right. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution explicitly states that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government.
Any attempt to silence voices or restrict criticism is not a matter of policy, but a direct violation of the Constitution. Democracy is not measured by the power of the authority, but by its ability to tolerate the voice of the people.”
We have 6 home,7 away games.Huns,Heartts,opposite.Means both will have to play us at Celtic Park post split.On paper,all 3 have about the same difficult run in.
We really need to get reinforcements in.Martin needs a budget.
They owe this to the fans.Do they see it that way?
Springtime for Trump and America
Palestine, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, Greenland
Germany was having trouble; what a sad, sad story.
We need our new leader to restore its former glory.
Where, oh where was he?
Where could that man be?
We looked around, and then we found the man for you and me!
And now it’s
Springtime for Hitler and Germany
Deutschland is happy and gay
We’re marching to a faster pace.
Look out! Here comes the master race!
Springtime for Hitler and Germany,
Winter for Poland and France.
Springtime for Hitler and Germany,
Come on Germans! Go into your dance!
I was born in Dusseldorf and that is why they call me Rolfe.
Don’t be stupid, be a smarty! Come and join the Nazi Party!
Springtime for Hitler and Germany!
Goosestep, a new step, today!
Bombs falling from the skies again.
Deutschland is on the rise again!
Springtime for Hitler and Germany!
U-boats are sailing once more!
Springtime for Hitler and Germany!
Means that
Soon we’ll be going
We’ve got to be going
You know we’ll be going
to war!
Trump has trashed the Constitution in America.
Good morning from a snow covered North Staffs.
Of course Martin and Co. are inheriting a group of players with little confidence after the disastrous appointment of Wilf and Co. Saturday will not be easy.
Top of the morning but I will only be fully satisfied once the imposters runing the club are gone but in the more immediate term Kenny and Shin need replaced now.
Nancy’s appointment came from nowhere, was high risk and proved highly damaging. Tisdale has paid the price but it’s clear our execs carried out little to no due diligence on what is the most important appointment at any football club.
I had major doubts regarding Nancy from the get go, his CV didn’t warrant his appointment. My fears were realised having watched his first few interviews, it was clear he didn’t know what was demanded off him. So the failure to screen this appointment should cost Nicholson his job.
We’ve now half a season to try and win this title. We’ll certainly give it a very good go under MoN. Let’s get the GB back in and a few players in. A striker should be in this week.
Good morning CQN
A chippier day to be a Celt than yesterday no doubt.
Slippy underfoot.
Watch yourselves out there.
My uninformed tuppence on incoming players
… I think we need 2 or 3 sturdy hired guns for five months apiece.
In terms of finding these fellows?
Who at Celtic was (over the last month), is and now will be?
No idea.
But I’ll keep the faith
Hail hail
… & Heal heal
Not sure on strikers but Maswanishe at Motherwell is excellent and too scorer from right wing. He’s 23 and will be very good value.
The midfield Watt also Motherwell is also interesting – very tidy and composed and dare I say it a little Calmac like and we do need to think about that position.
Mulligan at Hibs is also interesting – energy and stature at RM, RWB or RB.
A chilly day. A lot colder I suspect for those who, for reasons only they can understand, take their footballing pleasures in Govan and Gorgie.
Come on MON and the wee man – intae them…
While there’s much rejoicing at the rturn of MON (how many result stumbles will he be permitted??) I’m wondering about how we can possibly conduct a satisfactory transfer windae.
Point being, surely our extensive/famed recruitment model will have been targeting jugadors who fit into Wilf-shaped holes, rather than O’Neill or Maloney’s preferred pegs. What kind of player would Shaun prefer (given he’s actually the go-to ghuy for the coaching stuff, while Martin does the amiable inspirer) ?
And if MON, Shaun and co. are only on til the end of the year, how wise is it to stock up with players to fit their system who may not be the right fit for the next incomer (Musky, Robbie K, Jens Bertel etc)?
If the suits thought they’d ended the matter well, their ongoing issues may just be getting started.
PS: Couple of decent A-League players for our recruiters to check out: Sam Klein (midfield); Lauchie Brooks (attacker) and Lucas Mauragis (LB).
Of course MON is not a miracle man. Celtic have so far lost 6 SPL games. 1998 was the last time a team lost 6 games and won the league. We can’t afford many, if any, further losses if we are serious about the league. I hope O’Neill has some transfer guarantees , to include loans, to improve that team. Otherwise he’d be as well staying in London.
Its been a long time since I did a bit of scouting
Clearly it should be left to the professionals at Celtic park, I hope MO’N and team are spending time looking at what’s required and what’s available, I’m happy to leave it with them
Takes time to get over a cluster***, players and staff readjusting, confidence to be restored, players futures both in the short term and long term to be decided
I aint looking for miracles immediately
Team sheet latest…………. Liam Scales 🍀
Wonder when MON and Co. were asked this time round …..probably been on standby since Wilftone arrived.
LIONSROAD – re poss targets; if I thought the club scouts were scouring this blog waiting for us to identify targets it’s be a worry. It’s just a bit of blog banter.
Whenever I see handy managers or players I wonder if they could do a job for us – like I did with Ange. That said, I do think the A-League develops some decent and cheap young players and I’d hope we scout it on a regular basis.
And the lad Miguel Di Pizio can play a bit too ;)
Martin O’Neill in a transfer window
“ We might do something, we’ll try and do something, – if we can we’ll do our very best to do something “
QUADROPHENIAN on 6TH JANUARY 2026 8:22 AM
Our recent demolition over at FC Midtjlland in the Europa league
Outfield players excluding G\K
7 African
7 European
5 Sth American
2 Denmark
1 Norwegian
Scouting is now a global enterprise, no need to travel games matches and players assessed on a laptop
Fair enough I understand harmless banter playing at championship manager
Forgot to add 2 Sth Koreans to the FC Midtjlland squad
From Scandinavia to most European countries, to Asia, to Africa and Sth America
For a small club to scout and recruit as they have is certainly astonishing
By the way any of the “in the know” crowd know who is sourcing players this window?
Things are really in a pickle when even the Guardian can see the nonsense at Celtic Park.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jan/05/celtics-nancy-catastrophe-is-another-indicator-of-a-club-embroiled-in-turmoil
Ave Ave
PeterLatchfordsBelly on 5th January 2026 10:34 pm
Peter, apols, guilty of posting before reading back. Hope you enjoyed the read and the fact that this is going beyond our wee shores. The Despot doesn’t usually like bad press at anytime, but being made to look asinine beyond Bonnie Scotia might just encourage a positive response?
Ave Ave
Yet, Nicholson survives.
Why?
Martin O’Neill on TalkSport in a bit, talking to Jim White, from Lennoxtown I think.
Gets around, Fort William, Kilsyth, Glasgow and back to Milton O’ Campsie
TheCrowRoadCSC
Well, it did actually happen, then! Surprised but delighted.
Genuinely feel for the guy on a human level, but it’s the right call and he didn’t make things any easier for himself. No way we could have backed him in the window and bought a bunch of players that would have tied the hands of any future manager. Hope he manages to get back on track most likely back in the States.
As for Tisdale my sympathy would be more in line with his positive contribution to the club.
Welcome back Martin!
Next leader headline
Asleep at the wheel, we crashed the car
Next headline will not be ‘The Nancy Drew Mystery’ – a draw seemed to be beyond him.
67EuroCupWinners@10.57.pm
Great post! Probably a wee bit too nuanced re MN for some on here and elsewhere in some sections of the Celtic support.
LR67
How does that squad comply with regs on academy and country trained players, 4 and 4 I believe it is?
A squad of 30 ? The other 8 being homers ( no Simpson )
Would love to hear how much money is available for new signings at Celtic Park.Just a thought mind you.