After a defeat there is often a bit of a scapegoat hunt. In truth, no one individual was more liable than the rest on Sunday. At the risk of kicking something along these lines off, it’s clear that we are flat in midfield. Benjamin Nygren has carried the side through so many games. Earlier in his Celtic career, Reo Hatate was often subbed through fatigue, recently he seems to have run his legs to a stump.
Callum McGregor’s leg strain is a sign that even the fittest cannot keep going forever. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is clearly a talent and could prove pivotal in the weeks to come, but he still has work to do to properly settle into the Premiership. Luke McCowan is used as a utility player. He is not the No. 6 Martin O’Neill hoped he would be when he started there against Newco.
All of this makes the news that Arne Engels will return to action after the international break very welcome. Arne played his best football just before his injury, attracting a £25m bid on deadline day. Martin will be desperate to get the Belgium international back.
One curious omission is Paulo Bernardo. Brief showings off the bench a week ago against Motherwell, and two Scottish Cup outings is all we have seen of Paulo this calendar year. He did well at Ibrox earlier this month and helped secure the win over Motherwell. Arne will not be fully fit for weeks, Paulo has delivered before and can do again.
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Chris McLaughlin
Scotland sports news correspondent
Published
16 March 2026
Updated 17 March 2026
Smoke bombs, pyrotechnics, balaclavas and punch-ups – welcome to the world of the football Ultras.
Inspired by European terrace culture, a new generation of young fans are making themselves heard inside, and outside, stadiums across the country.
But is there more to the social media driven sub-culture that has swept through Scottish football for the past decade?
Are Ultras a menace or a force for good in a game searching for relevance in a corporate footballing landscape?
Ultras
A three-part series looks at the rise of the Ultras subculutre in Scottish football.
Watch on iPlayer
Episode one will be shown on BBC Scotland at 21:00 on Tuesday 17 March. It is available on BBC iPlayer.
A new three-part BBC Scotland documentary looks at the phenomenon.
It comes just over a week after a Scottish cup tie at Ibrox saw Celtic and Rangers supporters clash in what Police Scotland described as “despicable” and “shameful” scenes.
It was a stark reminder of the challenges the more militant edge of the Ultra movement poses.
The Old Firm Ultras declined to take part in the BBC documentary, keeping to a long-standing code of silence and a desire to retain an air of mystique.
But their confrontational behaviour makes it harder for supporters of the wider scene to persuade sceptics that there is a softer side to the Ultras.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002st63/ultras-series-1-1-the-rise
Paulo Bernardo is unconvincing in any role given to him at celtic so far, it is blind optimism to think somehow this will change, something is going on with this player as he should be doing and showing more in games, maybe it’s just homesickness . I hope arne Engels becomes a player for Celtic over these next 7 games.
The troublesome torment the jealous about Bentleys
Win our 7 games and we win the league , Martin has done it already this season
Richard Leopold — Bentley’s Regional Director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa — personally announced that the Kyiv, Ukraine, Bentley dealership ranked third in Europe for dealer performance in 2025.
He revealed this ranking during the “Best of the Best by KPI” awards ceremony in Marbella, Spain, where the Kyiv branch received third place behind Padua, Italy, and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Leopold reportedly described the achievement as demonstrating “remarkable resilience” and used the phrase “What fortitude” in reference to the Kyiv team.
Tut tut tut.
Another rap across the knuckles for someone who should know better.
Benjamin Nygren has carried the side through so many games.
—-
This sentence pretty much sums up the state of this Celtic squad.
EKBhoy on 25th March 2026 11:34 am
CHAIRBHOY on 25TH MARCH 2026 10:01 AM
EKBhoy @ 9:53 am,
DD and MN said to Brendan Rodgers they were willing to give him an extended contract.
….
OK I’ll bite
So the 2 main guys at the club , de facto and owner and CEO want the manager to stay but because other people don’t like him , the manager leaves.
Bizarre reasoning.
The real reason Brendan left will never be revealed by the club as it reveals inadequate financial controls and as a plc heads ought to roll.
You’re too faraway from Celtic Park to understand this.
______________________________________________________________
OK i’ll bite :))
This assumes you believe only what DD says…….frankly I don’t believe very much that he says as I pointed out on an earlier post where I think he was very economical with the truth.
These days I don’t believe anything I hear from big business – they’re dedicated to selling you a shit burger for the highest price they can get away with and to hell with the consequences. No lie is too big if it gets the sale……..
I rate Paulo, I think he’s just became disenchanted with the blunt force trauma quality of our league. He’d be a starter in most continental leagues where they play a different game based on the ball.
Can’t help feeling this would all be a lot easier if we had a proper Celtic striker. One that scores goals. Alas, that was beyond the reach of our WC board. I’m sure they’ll learn from it. 😉
I see conspiracies being mentioned this past wee while. Surely the Epstein Files showed that there are none.
MoAttasPassportCSC 😊
Pinning your hopes on someone who was written off not six months ago, as a ‘Rodgers dud’ is one for the ages.
It’s like watching a one legged man on a unicycle.
Good that Paulo didnt make the U21 Portugal squad for the long trip to Azerbaijan and then against Scotland next week less good that he won’t be getting playing minutes having had so few recently. He might be rested and fresh but probably lacking in match fitness snd sharpness.
Of the other midfielders Benjamin is the only one playing in the break, a game tomorrow against Spain then a home game against Poland or Albania. He doesn’t normally start so we can hope for a bit of a rest and him returning happy that he’s got the World Cup to look forward to
Having Arne back will definitely give the team a lift, even if it’s from the bench to start with
A good couple of weeks for the players to work on what went wrong in Dundee and for Martin to work his magic on the whole squad who looked mentally drained in the second half on Sunday.
When the whole is adding up to less than the sum of the parts and the parts aren’t nearly good enough to begin with then this is what you get. So avoidable.
Think Paulo is too old for the Portuguese U-21s now
PAul Bernard has had adequate time and multiple chances to prove he has what it takes to make it at Celtic. He has shown no evidence he is anywhere good enough. The current demise of the staring 11 gives plyers sitting in the stand an elevated status that there is no evidence to support ,,,the “bobo” syndrome
It’s not ALL of the parts that aren’t good enough, just to be clear.
The hand of God on 25th March 2026 12:36 pm
Yes, Paolo is too old. Sweden are playing Ukraine tomorrow as far as I’m aware, in a play off.
I didn’t know that about Paulo. He was on a plane back to Portugal, so hopefully some game time there
It’s Ukraine Sweden tomorrow in Valencia because of the war.
Paulo Bernardo is still part of the Portuguese under 21 set up, age is based on how old you are at the start of the tournament qualification process. In effect over age players can still play certain games
CQN lunch break news CSC
We just don’t look like a well coached team to me. Maybe JK was more influential than he was given credit for…..
Nygren and Hatate can’t play together in a 3 man midfield. I’m sick of watching them chasing shadows in the middle of the pitch.
One or other beside McGregor, AOC and Engels, please.
https://thecelticexchange.com/titlepredictor
If it was not for his goals,Nygren would be in the Central League team.
Another fact,I did not know.Before we signed the winger,Nvudlu,or WETF his name is,,Bodo Glimpt were trying to sign him.Does Knutsen ,the wonderful manager,know something we dont?Very strange.
Meanwhile,back at the ranch,,Michael Nicholson is taking a a wee holiday,a retreat,some call it,for a week to a Carthusian Monastery.A new venue for him,as he has normally stayed at The Trappist Monastery.Rumours abound,,he found the them a bit too chatty,hence the change.
He loves his silence.
Bernardo is captain,is he not.
Indeed he was but he isn’t now , he is 24 and was captain at the last Euros as he was eligible when the tournament started .
I thought Bernardo’s time with the under 21s was over after the 2025 tournament. He qualified for that as he was of age when the tournament started, although older as it progressed.
GlassTwoThirdsFull
Couldnt agree more. No pattern of play, no structure. Keeper will go long when it suits him but inevitba;ey kicks a ball directly to opponents CH or we try and play it out for a bit until a defender gets nery and kicks it up the park
Ox comes on and plays every position in the midfield within 30 mins
Set piece work appears non existent. Corner kicks (taken by our tops scorer no less) are randomly fired towards scales or the front post, the same Nygren given free kicks, no variation.
The room for improvement is enormous.
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL – I agree. We look bereft of ideas.
(Caveat – Nothing happening now will diminish MON’s status as a Celtic great. He answered the call not once but twice and is giving us all he has to give. And doing it with probably the poorest squad he’s ever had to work with.)
That does not MoN is currently a top coach or able to turn things around when his system is not working. His team selection. tactics and substitutions would be getting a lot more criticism if he wasn’t MoN. Nobody wants to criticise him because it would be ridiculously unfair to do so.
We remain wedded to 433. We remain weak up front, weak in the middle and weak at the back. The only three players who I think have played consistently well are KT. Calmac and Araujo. Scales gets an honourable mention for effort.
The crazy thing is if we had spent 10-15 million in January to get a striker who can score in the SPFL we’d probably be top of the league despite being so poor
Deniabhoy,
Hough,from Bodo was always available,as are all Bodos players,in January.Quoted at the time,around,£8 million.
Hauge,,the goalscoring midfielder,around the same price.
Alas.
If he does still qualify he’s not made the squad.
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1ryvy50/portugal_u21_squad_for_the_matches_against/
We are out of options up front, I would go back to Maeda as a striker, in the hope he can get a bit of last seasons form,Adamu,Muvka totally useless, Big Tam as back up striker
We need to sell as many as we buy in the close season.
Deniabhoy
Wasn’t intended as a criticism of MON. What he has done for us is incredible. It’s more specifically the coaching, which I don’t think has ever been his speciality. I just wondered if JK’s departure may be hitting us harder than might have been expected?
TurkeyBhoy – alas indeed. I imagine the cost of the Bodo players will now be a fair bit higher after their CL heroics and they’ll be looking to move to a CL team which is not likely to be us.
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL – I didn’t read your post as criticising MoN. I thought mine might be construed that way hence the caveat.
EKBhoy @ 11:34 am,
The issue isn’t the “real reason” Brendan Rodgers and his staff left may be insightful.
Yet, it is the fact they left that is the issue.
Any functioning organisation would be doing their best to keep quality staff, even if it was in the short term until the contingency planning kicked in…
Yet the club didn’t have a contingency plan – it got lucky that Martin O’Neill answered the call…
Then of course it was about appointing long term replacements and strengthening tje team in the next transfer window… the less said about that, the better…
We have the Roger Hannah piece in The Sun, the official statement from the 6th September, DD’s hissy fit at the end of October
So we are talking about the bizarre aren’t we, space cadet bizarre.
Not being close to Parkhead is a disadvantage no doubts – but the local conventional wisdom is not always the best wisdom…
Also having worked “in the City”, I have a clear insight into the bizarre personalities and their m.o.s who make up Celtic’s hierarchy.
DD learned his trade on the CitiBank floor in Dublin – at the turn of the century I saw the Citigroup trading floor in Canary Wharf – not a pretty sight…
Hail Hail
As Mr Stein said: “Football is a simple game. But some people over complicate things which is unnecessary.”
So with that in mind, don’t play with any more of Rodgers pishy wingers that we paid a fortune for, and he still cried for more.
No wonder DD got rid of this Toxic spoiled manchild.
Play with Zero wingers as they are pish.
Play 2 strikers like a real Celtic team.
Zero McGergor to slow everything down in midfield with his Rodgers wiretap in his ear feeding him instructions.
Play a flat back 4 with the instructions for the 4 to blooter the ball up to the 2 strikers and try to play the Rope-A-Dope-Hit-On-The-Break that Walter Smith used against us for 9 horrible years.
Or what LOU MACARI did to Sir Walter twice at Ibrox before we got a new Celtic Way manager who handed the next 3 League Titles to the Huns.
Why are we incapable of learning from one week to the next?
Or keep dreaming about the LONG AGO SUSSED OUT Celtic Way piss.
Rodgers hasn’t responded to DD’s erchie kicking = GUILTY!
Dim Tims crying their eyes out for Rodgers who sat at the AGM like a Nodding Dog thanking the PLC for their Transfer Window efforts.
And then he started disagreeing with the board behind their backs when the pishy players that Rodgers bought were not measuring up, is the antics of a coward spreading toxicity throughout the club because he knows that the VAST MAJORITY of Tims are dim and incapable of reading the real Rodgers.
And now these blind cliques of grassing, snitching, curtain twitching, fans are seeking power to run the club?!
Just shut it down and throw the key away FFS!
The opportunist Sir/Lord Haughey sees an opportunity for YET ANOTHER shafting of these dim Tims even further!
The club has been a scam since BRIAN DEMPSEY walked out in 1994 when Fergus revealed who he really was, and only BD walked out, as Sir/Lord Haughey, and many dubious other faceless wonders, remained and sucked up Fergus’s shafting of Celtic fans.
They knew that the Celtic fans as a force died because all seating created a 60,000 family section sheep pen!
What happens to sheep?
Sad are the homes….
Maolmuire O Muirgheasa on 25th March 2026 12:22 pm
“Richard Leopold — Bentley’s Regional Director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa — personally announced that the Kyiv, Ukraine, Bentley dealership ranked third in Europe for dealer performance in 2025.
He revealed this ranking during the “Best of the Best by KPI” awards ceremony in Marbella, Spain, where the Kyiv branch received third place behind Padua, Italy, and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Leopold reportedly described the achievement as demonstrating “remarkable resilience” and used the phrase “What fortitude” in reference to the Kyiv team.”
Except of course the Marbella and Padua Bentleys aren’t at nightly risk of been blown up by Russian drone and missile strikes. That Russia signed an internationally recognised treaty, The Budapest Memorandum in 1994 agreeing to respect Ukraine’s boarders and sovereignty in return for them handing over all their nuclear weapons, cruise missiles and long range bombers but a minor detail. That they then went and trashed this by their annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Ukraine in 2022, committing multiple war crimes including a cruise missile strike to a Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, a drone strike on a nursery in Kharkiv and abduction of 19000 Ukrainian children is truly reprehensible.
Nazi Germany invaded Russia in 1941, funny how history repeats itself cept Putin’s Russia engaging in some serious role play and behaving just like the Hitler’s Nazis this time, whilst claiming invasion was to carry out ‘de-nazification of Ukraine.’ Yeah, course it is…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/08/ukraine-horror-russian-bombing-kyiv-childrens-hospital
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9q1w9ypl8jo
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/budapest-memorandum-25-between-past-and-future