Thoughts of strikers we might have in the future should be nowhere near minds as we prepare to take on Dundee United at Celtic Park tomorrow. If it’s Johnny Kenny up front, back him. Same goes for Shin, Daizen or even Benjamin Nygren (don’t mock me, he knows where the goal is better than anyone in the squad).
The return of Martin has expectations sailing higher than they have been since his departure last month (it feels longer, right?), but there are reasons to be cautious. United bossed the same Celtic squad three weeks ago and have already taken a draw at Tynecastle and Ibrox this season. Anything less than 100% from the champions and they will do so again.
This game is reminiscent of that pivotal match against United four years ago this month. With the score at 0-0 and Celtic down to 10 men, Liel Abada scored a 90th minute winner to give us the chance to go top of the table next time out. That Celtic team is one we all remember fondly. They built the platform for the subsequent trophy haul, but even they needed to squeeze every ounce of energy and backing to get the result.
The same tomorrow, please.
257 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- »
Bada I agree but my expectations with this lot in charge are extremely low. I have no evidence to the contrary.
As I posted anything else is delusional.
Awe naw no Nero oan fiddlin again anaw noo.
Celt55 2.24
Many thanks for the Peter Oborne interview. It was very interesting. I thought he got quite emotional in the final minutes when he was giving his thoughts on Farage possibly getting into power.
Not a worry,its good getting it out there,and show narrative management/manipulations are bein̈g made.layered deeply in our own media,hh to you
👍
It is almost as if the decision was made that we would have no significant in this window.
If otherwise, there would have been some reasonable candidates when the window slammed open.
It’s how we roll…..
Weeron.
timmy7_noted on 9th January 2026 3:28 pm
As I’ve been saying for years on here anyone who suddenly expects our leopard to change it’s spots regardless of the manager really is delusional. Plus of course no one knows who is identifying any potential signing. Probably lawwell and Dermots boys.
*I widnae knock Peter’s son as it was he who pointed us in the direction of Ange after eddie howe ran away, oh how sevco laughed at that
Presser
https://youtu.be/8l5p0ehE-B0
HH
Nygren, all he does is scores goals, no good!!!!1
Now MON knows how Brendan Rodgers felt about this Celtic Board.
They have got him in under false pretences. They have lied to him like they lied to Rodgers about recruitment. MON actually said Maloney was having to give them names.
If MON drops points the sniping will be ramped up ; one individual was already belittling MON last week despite winning 7/8 games.
It’s only a matter of time before MON makes the call to Desmond — Rodgers can give him the drill.
Tontime it was the man city connection that lead to Ange. No one at Celtic deserves any credit.
An Dún on @1:45pm
“MoN will go with Maeda as his striker.”
……
THAT – is the problem right there.
A Celtic team playing with ONE striker is not what is known as “The Celtic Way” according to them with the puffed oot chists.
The decline:
Playing with One striker.
Hardly any scarves held up for YNWA.
Sauntering around the pitch at full time waving to empty seats.
Playing with 2 easily sussed wingers to supply 1 easily marked striker.
Then blaming the striker and wingers as Lawwell purchases.
Never point their corrupt fingers at RODGERS, it would never be him, he’s only the 75,000 per week tea bhoy.
Holding street parties to celebrate winning the one horse league.
Leaving piles of Hun-esque rubbish on the Glasgow streets after the celebrations.
A fan base who sucked up unbelievable levels of corruption, cover up, tickets costing 49 quid per soul to cover up Rangers death and now Sevco being accepted by all seated era fans as Rangers after their promotion in 2016.
If you buy a season ticket then you support the board who covered up the same club lie with 49 quid tickets, and you are therefore a “sucker” in the PLC’s eye’s!
EYE!.
To this day not a single Celtic fan in the entirety of Timdom, | KEVJUNGLE | apart has questioned the appointment of, RODGERS, in 2016 to “sugar-coat” the selling of Sevco tickets with old Rangers prices on them????
Did it work? lol
Sucking up corruption immediately ENDS the “BEST FANS IN THE WORLD” era, as the Celtic supporter base are either, suckers, or, sleekits, thinking that they are so fly as fk that no one would ever notice.
Any fan mentioning uncomfortable truths, will be the target of hundreds of sleekit emails being sent to the Mod to delete this evil whistle blower. lol
A Celtic supporter base that is now anti Whistle Blowers, has been thoroughly hollowed out, brainwashed, had a chip implanted at the back of their bloated heids, or maybe 5G targeted them all on the same day as they slept in their beds and they all walked out of the shower like Bobby Ewing, unaware of the same club lie cover up AND their 49 quid part in it.
What a time to be alive.
If MON goes along with no striker purchased and still plays with ONE striker then it is HIS TURN to be the Old Firm fall guy. lol
I need a shower now.
HH
oot.
They’re incapable of building on positive momentum.
Haven’t they figured out that their cherished income streams are 100% dependent on fan spend?
Aloof, arrogant horrors.
Once again the hunterlopers are ruling the blog
The Team needs strengthening, MON has said it, it isn’t being done fast enough, 9 days in no strikers, of course supporters will find that a point to be critical of the board on.
Tontime, call them out, who are they? That’s just B78 nonsense unless you back it up.
MON’s presser..is it me or does he look flat and pissed off?
The cognitive dissonance is vibrating at a very loud level on here today . . . . . . for some.
Picture becoming a little clearer as the weeks pass perhaps. . . . . .
A famous American once said “There is a sucker born every minute” and sure what worth is any circus without it’s alley of clowns to keep us amused.
FOURSTONECOPPI on 9TH JANUARY 2026 4:41 PM
MON’s presser..is it me or does he look flat and pissed off?
————————
Not you 👍
Asleep at the wheel of the Civic?
Never even got in the car……
It didn’t take long for Nicholson and the board to piss everyone off…yet again.
Still no strikers.
What chance do we have with these guys in charge?
fourstonecoppi on 9th January 2026 4:41 pm
MON’s presser..is it me or does he look flat and pissed off?
—-
I didn’t get that vibe at all.
I thought it was a bog standard MON performance
Hemmed and hawed intentionally while mentally analysing if the question had any traps.
Answered the topic of the question when he wanted to
… and changed the subject when he didn’t want to
Gave nothing away … which is his style
he said nothing
Suggestion to our useless CEO. Go immediately to our 10th choice for any given position. It’ll save time because you’re incapable of securing higher choices (apart from Balikwisha, one of our pound for pound biggest failures ever), per the latest with Kyogo.
Is the plan for this window the usual project shite? Will come good in 4 years and we’ll make a profit (the reason we exist)?
Tontine Tim on 9th January 2026 4:29 pm
Once again the hunterlopers are ruling the blog
————-
Lol.
I actually don’t think there are too many of these types currently posting just now, TT
For sure, there is one individual who is (intentionally) regularly reaffirming the negative and fomenting unrest in pursuit of a broader agenda …
but that is a different type of trolling than your comparatively unimaginative hunterloper
For the most part I see intense dissatisfaction (which I get) …
… from GENUINE Celtic fans …
… driving predictable posts and messages.
If one is routinely primed to be angry, frustrated, distrusting and dismissive of the suits?
… ones response to their actions (or inactions) will follow a pattern
“Sign someone !”
“No him ! He’s sh1te”
“I know because I’ve been on Wikipedia and TransferMarket.com”
And my personal favourite
“Why can’t we be more like R2ngers?”
(I’ll happily pass on that one 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔)
PLC board’s will always act at a glacial pace. Needing them to put pen to paper on any new signings is disastrous. Inevitably at least one needed signatory will be on a yacht somewhere uncontactable. A club like Celtic needs to be agile to gain an advantage over the competition. The Huns and Hearts on the other hand are both able to quickly and decisively. How may other clubs at PLCs these days? The only one I remember was Spurs…….
Martin O’Neill has a brain like a steel trap. He will give the media fook all. A remarkable man at 73 nearly 74. We are fortunate to have him.
I was shocked when I read a couple of weeks ago that any even moderately large signing needs formal Boar
Member sign off. Ludicrous. The Board should sign off on aggregate spend and let the executives do their job. Old farts with no clue how to run a football operation are the problem. And the PLC element means they have a reason to sign off (i.’.e. Fiduciary and statutory
Responsibilities).
And to state the obvious, the Board’s principal obligation is to Shareholders. Other stakeholders (like customers / fans)!are a consideration on paper, but in reality that’s always just puff.
BRRB- He is,but turning water into wine won’t happen without about 4 additions now
Bada
Aye indeed.
“After recommending Nancy for the job Tisdale told the audience of well-heeled supporters that the Frenchman bought into the club’s strategy in a way Brendan Rodgers never did.”
“the Frenchman bought into the club strategy … ”
Is that a euphemism for “someone who could be pushed around?”
The cynic in me would assume so.
Has the person / people who brought Nancy to the club been sacked yet?
Good luck to young Kenny tomorrow HH
balhambhoy on 9th January 2026 5:45 pm
From what I’ve read previously, our muted CEO doesn’t have any delegated authority to go beyond a set price.
TBH looking at his attributes, I wouldn’t either 🙄
Prestonpans
Who asked you anyway ya St Joe’s hooligan?🤔
I wouldn’t like to be in the padded seats if we lose tomorrow HH
A couple of days ago MoN said that wee Shaun had been working behind the scenes looking at players, I think it was his first presser, not sure, now again I may be wrong but I was under the impression that when Wilf came in Shaun left, again I could be wrong, but if he didn’t infact leave, why was he looking at players ?
Definition of a total shambles
bigrailroadblues on 9th January 2026 6:03 pm
Prestonpans
Who asked you anyway ya St Joe’s hooligan?
That’s it, you’ve forced me to open a bottle of red 🍷. No gin in the hoose 🫣
Stephen McGowan the Herald (ex Celtic)
Wilfried Nancy’s time as Celtic manager ended on the 12th night as trees and decorations came down for another year. For the players left behind, the news felt like Christmas Day all over again.
“Within 10 minutes players will judge a new coach and make up their mind on whether he knows his stuff,” said a source with knowledge of how the Frenchman’s 33 days panned out. “The Celtic players passed judgement straight away.”
Accustomed to elite coaching standards under Brendan Rodgers, then Martin O’Neill, first impressions were underwhelming. Rumours of players and backroom staff being unimpressed with the new manager surfaced in no time at all.
We have spoken to a number of sources with knowledge of Nancy’s spell as the least successful manager in Celtic history. A relatively inexperienced coach hired from MLS club Columbus Crew midway through a season, the 48-year-old was a risky appointment ill prepared for the culture shock of a new life in Glasgow.
The team had won seven games from eight under legendary interim boss Martin O’Neill. Inheriting a squad with no natural goal scorer and injuries to key players Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter Vickers, Jota and Kelechi Iheanacho, luck was never on Nancy’s side. Neither, for that matter, were the players.
Luke McCowan gave the game away. Speaking after a 3-1 defeat to bitter rivals Rangers forced the board to act on Monday, the midfielder from Greenockhad struggled in an unfamiliar role as a left wing-back. Asked if the team were still behind an increasingly besieged manager, he came as close as any player can to a summons from HR.
“We have to be,” said McCowan, “he’s the manager. I don’t know what else to say on it. But he is the manager. What do we do?”
At Montreal then Columbus Crew, Nancy took charge of 215 games, winning 109 and losing 58, with 48 draws. Despite a win rate of 50.7 per cent, he was granted the time and scope to develop a system where full-backs functioned as outside centre-backs with a licence to play high and wide like conventional wingers, leaving one centre-back exposed at the back.
Applying the same principles to Celtic, a decision to install wingers Sebastian Tounekti and Hyun-jun Yang as wing-backs overlooked the fact that neither player showed the slightest sign of possessing a defensive bone in their body.
Hearts had already beaten Celtic 2-1 at Tynecastle and guidance on how to avoid a repeat was scarce. Assurances that they had little to worry about failed to offset the reservations of those who felt it made more sense to carry on with a back four until players who could slot into the manager’s tactical system were physically in the building.
In contrast with Celtic’s new management team, Hearts carried out some due diligence.
A clutch of Columbus Crew games were studied in preparation for what they might come up against at Parkhead. Even then there were doubts that Nancy would rip up a winning shape to go with something new and unfamiliar on matchday one after little or no training.
When the team-sheet arrived in the away dressing room, it confirmed an instant switch to a 3-4-3 formation. Spirits were raised a little further when Kieran Tierney, Liam Scales and Auston Trusty were named as the back three. All were decidedly left-sided and Trusty drew the short straw of playing on the right side.
When Celtic played with a flat four, the American defender’s pass of choice was usually straight to Callum McGregor.
Derek McInnes stopped the supply chain to the Celtic captain by detailing Icelandic midfielder Tomas Magnusson to restrict his freedom. Trusty was forced to carry the ball out on his weaker right side and, while Celtic threatened with two early through balls over the top for Daizen Maeda, the Japanese international took a heavy touch for one and missed the other.
The visitors grew in confidence and capitalised on calamitous defending before half-time to open the scoring through Claudio Braga. No team in the SPFL Premiership has been more effective from set-pieces than the team built by Jamestown Analytics. So far this season 31 per cent of the Tynecastle side’s 39 goals have come from a set play.
When Harry Milne’s deep corner picked out an unmarked Oisin McEntee to plant a header past Kasper Schmeichel for 2-0, then, it was a sign of things to come. A recurring theme of Nancy’s Celtic would be the loss of goals from corners.
As Russell Martin will attest, even the clothes worn by a manager of Rangers or Celtic provoke comment when he is losing games. And a narrative was set – bizarrely – when the Celtic manager was captured wearing green training shoes and moving red and blue magnets around a whiteboard.
By the end of the night the tactics board would be an internet sensation. The focus of a thousand memes.
The image of the day arrived when captain Callum McGregor was called over to the sideline for a tactical demonstration and a photographer captured a picture of opposite number McInnes peering over his shoulder.
As Nancy explained a switch from 3-4-3 to 3-3-4 – pushing Jonny Kenny through the middle as a second striker in place of Benjamin Nygren – the Hearts boss seemed to have a clear view of what was going on. It may have been mere coincidence that central defender Jamie McCart was sent on as a replacement for winger Alexandros Kyziridis minutes later and the tactical advantage Nancy sought was cancelled out. Despite Kieran Tierney’s late strike, Hearts made the necessary adjustments and won the game.
Roma were next up in the Europa League. On-loan Brighton striker Evan Ferguson – linked with Celtic during a disastrous summer window – scored twice in a comfortable 3-0 win then offered the view in a post-match interview that there were times when some Parkhead players ‘didn’t know what they were doing.’
After two defeats the Premier Sports Cup Final against St Mirren became a high pressure game. An early test of Nancy’s fragile credibility.
Stephen Robinson aped the Hearts trick by detailing midfielder Alex Gogic to stick close to McGregor. While Celtic full-back Anthony Ralston added a natural right footer to the back three the Paisley side still took the lead after 93 seconds. Despite Celtic drawing level through Reo Hatate a pattern was taking shape.
Devoid of a quality striker, Nancy’s Celtic would miss chances. Lots of them. Opposition managers would take advantage by deciphering the unusual tactics and getting to grips with things at half-time, adapting and tweaking their system and personnel.
McInnes, Robinson, Jim Goodwin, David Martindale and Danny Rohl all found a way to make their teams better after the break. Nancy never did.
In-game management was patchy to non existent. When the opposition sussed out how vulnerable they were to a high ball through the middle and breached a flimsy defence, Celtic folded like a pack of cheap cards. Mentally and physically they looked fragile. The late onslaughts of club yore became a thing of the past. Players looked as if they could scarcely get off the pitch quickly enough.
The morning after they lost the Premier Sports Cup to St Mirren Celtic’s head of football operations Paul Tisdale addressed a group of influential supporters. Like Nancy the Englishman was a curious appointment. Despite reinventing himself as a consultant spells at Exeter City, MK Dons, Bristol City and Stevenage offered no hint of a technical director in waiting.
Tisdale had already overseen a dysfunctional summer window and failed to modernise or improve a recruitment system not fit for purpose. Data, bought and paid for, went unused as subjective judgements were reached on targets.
After recommending Nancy for the job Tisdale told the audience of well-heeled supporters that the Frenchman bought into the club’s strategy in a way Brendan Rodgers never did.
The one thing Rodgers did grasp was the need to win games of football. After defeats to Hearts, Roma and St Mirren, Nancy wasn’t winning any.
He became the first Celtic boss in history to lose his first four matches when he persisted with one recognised centre-back against Dundee United at Tannadice. Against a physical team with a talent for exploiting set-pieces, he was asking for trouble.
Despite Daizen Maeda claiming a first-half lead, the visitors missed chance after chance to put the game out of reach. Johnny Kenny – last season’s fourth-choice striker – had a night to forget. For the first time in 11 years United fought back to beat Celtic through second-half goals from Krisztian Keresztes and Zac Sapsford. High above the technical area Celtic’s travelling support chanted, ‘Nancy, Nancy, get to f***.’
The first time a team in green and white had lost four in a row in 47 years, Nancy finally won against Aberdeen and then Livingston. Neither performance offered much assurance. Solid in defence prior to his arrival, one goal never seemed to be enough. During his eight games in charge, Celtic failed to keep a single clean sheet.
Some regarded the defeat to a Motherwell side coached expertly by the impressive Jens Berthel Askou as the most comprehensive drubbing Celtic had sustained in domestic football – outwith defeats to Rangers – for decades.
Reminiscent of an away game in Europe, a team assembled at a fraction of the budget utilised smart recruitment, astute use of data and concise, smart coaching to outplay the champions of Scotland. A triple Celtic substitution at half-time felt like a coach throwing jelly at a wall, hoping something might stick.
A predictable defeat to Rangers rendered Nancy’s position untenable. Enduring their worst start to the season since 1978/79 under Russell Martin, the Ibrox side had clawed their way into contention under the pragmatic stewardship of Danny Rohl. While Celtic enjoyed the best of the first half and claimed the lead through Yang, they missed one opportunity after another to add to their advantage. At half-time supporters harboured a sense of foreboding over what came next.
Withdrawing the advanced Thelo Aasgaard, Rohl pushed Mohamed Diomande into a middle three, ramped up the press and exploited the unsustainable stress placed on Auston Trusty, Celtic’s only recognised central defender.
As Trusty failed to get to grips with a rejuvenated Youssef Chermiti, Nancy stood with his arms folded, impassive and unmoved.
Rangers had the run of Parkhead and won 3-1. Celtic supporters took to the car park and chanted ‘Sack the Board.’ Escorted by stewards, players ran through the spectrum of supporter emotion en route to their cars and, not for the first time, cursed the day they had ever heard Wilfried Nancy’s name.
The task of replacing Martin O’Neill as Celtic manager was like taking the microphone after Sinatra.
Former Scotland defender Steven Caldwell covered Nancy’s Montreal side as an analyst with Canadian Sports Network TSN. An admirer of his work the brother of former Celtic defender Gary spoke to Herald Sport in November and confessed to being ‘sceptical’ over his prospects of success in Glasgow.
Currently travelling Europe filming a new football series ahead of the World Cup finals he was at Parkhead for the Old Firm fixture before travelling on to Newcastle, where he played for seven years. Reluctant to sink the boot into a man he likes and respects Caldwell derives no satisfaction from being right.
“Once he reflects I think Wilfried will realise that he made a lot of mistakes,” he said. “In terms of understanding the culture of Scotland and the SPFL and magnitude of Celtic.
“I think if he is honest he will probably see that. But he didn’t have a hugely talented group of players and he probably made mistakes in his press conferences in the way he worded certain things and expressed himself.
“He tried to set out his stall for the manager he wanted to be and went too early.
“I always thought, from knowing Wilfried a little bit, that he would do what he did right from the start and the fact is that it backfired. He probably didn’t read the situation as well as he should have.
“He didn’t have as much knowledge of Celtic as a club and the players that they had as he might have. He mis-read what he was getting into.”
In that respect Nancy was far from alone. A risk-averse body of men and women – cautious and conservative with a small c – the Celtic board of directors took a needless gamble on their latest permanent manager. When they gave him a two-and-a-half-year contract and sent him into his first press conference alone, with no moral or executive support, they appeared to harbour the same doubts as everyone else.
After 20 years of careful stewardship a senior figure at one rival club came to regard the Wilfried Nancy experience as a good deal less damaging than the decision to appoint him in the first place.
“Celtic were self harming,’ he said on condition of anonymity.
“They were self harming and that’s the only way to describe it. They played football in a way where they brought the pain on themselves. It was madness.”
celtic40me on 9th January 2026 3:02 pm
This is worth a watch, Henke on “We are the overlap”
Roy Keane looks like he’s in love 😻
https://youtu.be/pQxpL-rNAhE
———————
Great watch mhate .hh Henrik