St Mirren, who are ninth in the Premiership controlled yesterday’s Scottish League Cup Final and won the trophy with an historic and deserved 3-1 victory. Celtic had the bulk of possession but were unable to turn that into enough chances to deserve anything more from the game.
For the third game in succession Celtic went behind from the first corner they had to defend in the game. That weakness was a painful feature of the Covid season is back. Those who successfully campaigned for a return to four at the back will have to contemplate the fact that the defensive formation is well down the list of problems Celtic have. Celtic were exposed at the back throughout the game, St Mirren had more shots on target and more attempts from inside the box, measures of which team was always more likely to score.
For the 35 minutes he was on, Kelechi Iheanacho gave Celtic a taste of what an effective striker can bring to a team. The recurrence of the hamstring injury which has limited him to fewer than 90 minutes since October cast a long shadow over an already dark day.
The performance was consistent with so many this year. When pressed one-on-one, Celtic players get rid of the ball quickly – and often backwards. Reo Hatate was the only one who took the ball in and attempted to get past his man. Without taking any opponents out of the game, there are no options for a forward pass.
In the hierarchy of responsibility, Wilfried Nancy has to take his share, but he is not at the top. The squad is not up to the task and needs a radical overhaul. Such an overwhelming reluctance to take responsibility on the ball indicated they are playing without confidence. Who can blame them? Managers have come and gone, one having publicly undermined them, while the feedback loop when a ball is mis controlled or a pass goes astray would have the best of us hiding on the field.
The challenge facing the new manager is significant. He needs to restore confidence to a squad who look shattered, impose a tactical regime which creates chances and fortified the defence, while nurturing the most fragile collection of hamstring muscles in sport.
You and I laughed at Newco fans who were so unable to cope with defeats they hounded a succession of managers out Ibrox and made the job toxic. That’s not how we fix this problem. The man needs our support right now as do his players.
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Somebody somewhere knows why John Kennedy left with Rodgers after hundreds of games under multiple managers. He was a given and a part of the furniture foisted on those managers.
Did John Kennedy after all those years and games get twisted by the Rodgers hyperbole painted on this blog or was he capable of making his own mind up?
It’s very easy to pick on Rodgers. You
Might even blame him for the state of the squad – say he refused the offer of other players or held some back from moving but? What about John
Kennedy?
Stevie Woods?
Some people are very very angry that their money is resting in Celtics account gathering mothballs or being handed over to HMRC is large amounts.
I don’t think any single person in the rotten festering incestuous sore has any moral fibre.
I’m not hearing much about entitlement today btw
Is Mark Lawwell not at Real Madrid?…..no?
lucky cody- I don’t think Tisdale will get bagged yet,he is the Board heatshield right now,if he goes there’s nobody else to blame,what an absolute shambles has been created from within our Club.
An Dún on 15th December 2025 6:10 pm
Brendan has secured a big money job 2 months after leaving Celtic.
Meanwhile, coming up on 2 years since he left, Mark Lawwell has a fabulous garden.
I’m sure Clubs will be lining up for Nicholson and McKay should they become available…
AN DUN P hope they all read that.
I’ll tell you about entitlement. I think I’m entitled to a an ambitious celtic board who show clear strategy of progression and back it up in the transfer market. I have season tickets, shares, and buy the goods – they have not done their job. I’m entitled to EXPECT them to do their job. I’m also entitled to expect that if they fail continuously to do their job – they should be removed!
Marcus Fraser would have been in the Celtic End with his son if the Tic had been playing another team….
the long wait is over @6.02
As every schoolbhoy k nows, it was Nero who fiddled while Rome burned….in AD 64
Or at least he would have done had the fiddle been around at the time…
Caligula on the other hand appointed his horse Incitatus as a Consul…..allegedly
He thought he was on a winner there…
stebhoy on 15th December 2025 5:03 pm
he talks of philosophy and dream scenarios
.
As soon as I heard him say that on watching a first interview I thought uh oh to myself.
I get much the same response when I mention philosophy or anything philosophical like Plato’s Cave.
Philosophy is the last word Celtic indeed any club supporters want to hear.
It requires leaving comfort zones.
Funny thing is that when things get really uncomfortable suddenly philosophy has a chance of getting attention.
Mine is there is no such thing as separation. Everything in existence depends on something else and The Celtic Board and Celtic supporters are no exception. The Board cannot be starved with the supporters feeling the consequences.
.
Separation is a mad idea that the benefits of unity corrects.
without the supporters feeling the consequences.
Were any other Managers approached before Nancy was appointed? It’s looking more like a favour from Tidsdale to a pal
st mirren second goal. At tha stage it was all Celtic. Trusty has a free header and went for power instead of composure – he had 2 free celtic players to drop the ball to. The ball breaks and for to Johnny Kenny , his lack of control gives st mirren the ball. they break and calumn tackles brilliantly to win the ball , it breaks to trusty who then gives it straight back to st mirren – they flick it onto striker and he scores. Comedy of basic errors
prior to that Nancy is running, jumping , screaming, waving – I hate that type of coaching – it makes players over think and they get anxious. It basically tells his opponent we are not a team on the pitch with a plan and a structure where players can solve problems .
The ultimate entitlement is nepotism.
Law Professor Dr Francis Boyle, Who Drafted the 1989 Biological Weapons and Antiterrorism Act, Claims Covid-19 mRNA Injections are Weapons of Mass Destruction in New Affidavit.
https://x.com/BlackTomThePyr8/status/2000588242287013953#m
THIS is why these Parliaments full of creeps and who knows what else, are desperate for WW111.
Because only nuclear war can now hope to conceal the biological war which was waged by our own governments against us.
HH
oot.
lionroars67 on 15th December 2025 6:22 pm
Fans forum was in the first instance a Celtic Trust proposal
==============
Yes I know. I was not talking about the Fans Forum but an online presentation of a Celtic Focus Forum .
Easy to mix up the two.
I met JPT the SLO soon after he started and he told me that communications would be based on the models of other clubs like Liverpool.
The problem was the audience was physically limited and the majority would not be able to participate which the Membership Scheme approach would have addressed.
The CT did put forward a Resolution better than The Fans Forum idea and after attendance at a few disengaged because the Fans Forum as constituted did not align with what the CT proposed.
I think I got the blame for that which was nonsense. I could see the shortcomings in the Fans Forum as Celtic set it up to be a live version of The Celtic View where there was no significant response possible apart from odd letters.
PL tried to sell me the idea the SLO was Celtic’s idea but I had to stop him mid flow when I said I had read UEFA FFP and it was a requirement in them that every club seeking a UEFA Licence had to have an SLO in post. Later I was introduced to JPT to talk about the Membership Scheme an idea DD thought worth exploring when it was put to him.
stebhoy on 15th December 2025 7:12 pm
st mirren second goal. At tha stage it was all Celtic. Trusty has a free header and went for power instead of composure – he had 2 free celtic players to drop the ball to. The ball breaks and for to Johnny Kenny , his lack of control gives st mirren the ball. they break and calumn tackles brilliantly to win the ball , it breaks to trusty who then gives it straight back to st mirren – they flick it onto striker and he scores. Comedy of basic errors
========
Wow that is exactly how I remember it from Kenny losing the pass from Trusty. I need not worry about Alzheimer’s yet
Evening all.
Rome indeed was not built in a day
Who however is our Nero whilst Rome burns?
AULDHEID on 15TH DECEMBER 2025 7:33 PM
After agreeing to the proposal of a fans forum which would hold the PLC to account on a regular basis with the all of the main fans organisations, Celtic unilaterally decided to alter the agreed structure without further consultation
It was then opened up to invitation for selected fans, thereby diluting the fan organisations input and ability to ask questions, Celtic PLC have never liked being held to account by answering difficult questions
Celtic Trust then withdrew due to Celtic PLC reneging on an agreed structure and process which the PLC agreed and signed up to
To the best of my knowledge you were never mentioned P, nor blamed
Nice dry night tonight for the Hun game.
Raining in Dundee on Wednesday
Lovely.😥😥😥😥😥
There will be final gathering for the year for The Old Ship Bank, Shipwrecks this coming Friday the 19th.
If you can, please come along. be in the company of fine Celtic fellows
Excellent chat, poor jokes, (BIG JIMMY) and a sing song led by our ‘Pub Spy’ BRRB.
All kidding aside, it’s always a cracking day, you will not be disappointed.
No idea what the main topic of conversation will be. 😉
TinyTim on 15th December 2025 5:18 pm
We are a house divided.
From Dermot right through the board ,the management team ,The players ,and the fans .
We are in trouble .
Unless Dermot Dermot takes positive action to right the wrongs and build bridges with the fans ,this will spiral downwards .
===========
Absolutely but it might take a while . There is no Tooth Fairy .
This might encourage you that Celtic are listening.
I asked a question of Comp Sec in September about The Purpose of Celtic: A vision of what it might look like and the Strategy and Policy to make is a reality.
The CT put forward a Resolution on Strategy too.
Neither got answered at the AGM as it ended abruptly but I read Celtic’s response to CT Res in the AGM papers.
I had a look and what I read did not match my experience of what a purpose statement should look like.
So I took it up with them diplomatically, providing a draft of what I would expect to see in a Purpose Statement and my points added to some in the Fans Review were taken on Board.
I expect at some point to see a replacement for what was in the AGM papers.
Celtic’s purpose and the lack of a statement that embraces it is for me the start point for unification, so we’ll see how matters progress.
CELTIC MAC on 15TH DECEMBER 2025 7:05 PM
the long wait is over @6.02
As every schoolbhoy k nows, it was Nero who fiddled while Rome burned….in AD 64
Or at least he would have done had the fiddle been around at the time…
Caligula on the other hand appointed his horse Incitatus as a Consul…..allegedly
He thought he was on a winner there…
———
Ha!
You are of course correct.
Auldheid
I’ll give it a go,Celtic’s purpose is to make as much money for the plc to Bank and spend the bare minimum on the team etc, doubt you will see that in any document though.
https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/25694673.port-glasgows-holy-family-church-close-66-years/
Desmonacus on the other hand appointed his horse Laweli-i as a Consul…..allegedly
Just watched again, the farcical situation yesterday, Ralston down with a bad facial injury, and Nancy is subbing Tierney, Woods and another coach told him to wait,but no KT off and Ralston 2 minutes later.This is basics and common sense ,to wait and see what happens.
Modern football is tricky to analyse but not that tricky.
We have had a few dreamers over the last few decades, John Barnes ‘I know how to play football’ , Tony Mowbray charge forward no tracking back ‘both managers had serious issues in structuring a defense.
Wilfs set up with 3 at the back , with no defensive wing back cover , seems at least domestically, to survive until half time , my general rule of thumb is a dodgy defence can last for 60 minutes , the opposition get wise
What we are witnessing goes against everything we’ve watched and played as kids for the last 50 years. The answer to this faulty tactic is Wilf doubles down push at least one wider centre back up and leave a back 2.
The next 2 games are season defining based on our current tactics I’m not hopeful of any points , how can a manager survive losing 5 games in a row.
We are a medium sized family business disguised as a plc running a football team ( I know it should be the other way round ) but who on earth has any skills in the building to re-organise , recruit and refocus.
My hair (whats left of it ) is not on fire but I know where the matches are kept.
Desmond will need to hire a football operations hotshot to re vamp the club , he’ll need to pack some olive branches. Traditional, company doctor approach to mend a very serious under performance.
HH
Fearohdearohdearcfc
lionroars67 on 15th December 2025 7:43 pm
AULDHEID on 15TH DECEMBER 2025 7:33 PM
After agreeing to the proposal of a fans forum which would hold the PLC to account on a regular basis with the all of the main fans organisations, Celtic unilaterally decided to alter the agreed structure without further consultation
It was then opened up to invitation for selected fans, thereby diluting the fan organisations input and ability to ask questions, Celtic PLC have never liked being held to account by answering difficult questions
Celtic Trust then withdrew due to Celtic PLC reneging on an agreed structure and process which the PLC agreed and signed up to
To the best of my knowledge you were never mentioned P, nor blamed
========
Yes what you said is my recollection of events as an observer.
The accusation of interference was made in a Twitter exchange and someone in the CT had to be put straight about me in a private group by a mutual acquaintance who knew me and my motivation well over the years.
Desmond will need to hire a football operations hotshot
We did on a very temp basis, the temp outshone our intended target by a country mile, we ignored the temps success, his experience, his list of previous achievements in fact we never even asked if the temp wanted to extend his stay, guy had previously guided to a European final, and had Celtic FC running through his core
It is commonly referred to as a no brainer appointment
I would very much support a membership as a way to broaden the base of the ownership. I have always thought a club with Celtic ethos, A PLC was a Capitalist way for Fergus to raise Capital and there was no debate, I bought shares as did my father and we wanted a club owned by the support, However, Fergus sold to one man enough shares that gave him effective control Dermot Desmond
Dermot said it was not for profit but was an emotional investment. However, the first sign of Desmond influence was him turning up at a Board meeting and introducing Martin O’Neill as the next Celtic Manager. He has appointed every one since.
He also announced that his family will never sell his shares, If he were to sell his price would be in excess of £150m, Not affordable,
Clubs like Real Madrid have a membership scheme and I think would satisfy Brother Walfrid, But its all likely to come to anything as Billionaire Desmond will never need the money
dessybhoy on 15th December 2025 8:02 pm
Auldheid
I’ll give it a go,Celtic’s purpose is to make as much money for the plc to Bank and spend the bare minimum on the team etc, doubt you will see that in any document though.
=========
Any idea how much money Celtic make finds its way into Directors pockets each year apart from what is declared as remuneration in the accounts?
I know MN is way overpaid but much less than PL was.
I have no idea how much an CEO experienced in management of a football club like Celtic would cost but it is not a job easy to sell under current conditions to get the right person with the right skills.
Perhaps that is why MN is still in post? He would be best gone from that role for his and Celtic’s sake.
Rangers 1-0 up
Against the run of play it seems too from the BBC website.
Auldheid 8.09
The accusation of interference was made in a Twitter exchange and someone in the CT had to be put straight about me in a private group by a mutual acquaintance who knew me and my motivation well over the years.
No comment on a private twitter exchange I have no knowledge of P , I can only reiterate what I know to be true, in relation to discussions at CT meetings regarding the Fans Forum you were never mentioned nor blamed
Best to leave it at that
Damn Govan works team take the lead, Hibs had been having the better of the play as well
Good night CQN
Hibs dangerous up to the box then they dont get a clear shot away, Sevco scored with a header
bigbhoy on 15th December 2025 8:20 pm
Celtic are a huge Community Club wearing a PLC Coat.
It is a bad fit but unlike a normal PLC business Celtic are very risk averse to investing in what would raise share value.
Strange behaviour for a PLC who only want to make money.
Strange Fernandez didn’t bless himself this time?
lionroars67 on 15th December 2025 8:25 pm
I know that fine but there is a lot of what I’ve had to put up with and still do in my pursuit for unity.
At some point and I have no idea where, apart from one individual for sure, it got personal.
He is no longer with CT.
Stonewall penalty to Hibs.VAR cooks up an offside.Never ends.