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.
278 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- »
Auldheid
No idea it will be in the accounts 850k for Nicolson and nearly 600k for the Accountant McKay my goodness, i doubt they will be going anywhere else soon.
LIONROARS67 on 15TH DECEMBER 2025 8:18 PM
Desmond will need to hire a football operations hotshot
…
I was referring essentially to a company doctor who reshapes the business in a good place (TOM) , he can then invite incumbents to apply for new vacancies , performance properly defined …… this will result in a board cull but importantly replaced by something that works …. there must be consultancies that offer this expertise but the Big Dog needs to buy into this , own it and see it through to a conclusion.
To be honest the chances of this happening are low and will only come about if really terrible stuff happens eg shock Scottish Cup exit , god forbid.
Much as I admire MON the above stuff is not his bag
HH
TURKEYBHOY on 15TH DECEMBER 2025 8:32 PM
Stonewall penalty to Hibs.VAR cooks up an offside.Never ends.
——-
Given that , unusually, there are two teams challenging us ( assuming we don’t screw it up all by ourselves) it’s only going to get much, much worse.
They smell blood.
You can expect the mibbery to be off the scale and in your face in favour of the huns now . Unless the board replace Nancy , we are out of the title race which leaves a two-horse between the minis and the maxis. The MIB’s have the power to aid only one of the two to the title . Guess which one ?
Nothing to do so put on Hibs TV, don’t know who the woman presenting is but would bore you to death.
Fernandez btw is a complete bomb scare!
From jobo
*SENTINEL CELTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2025-26*
*RESULTS FROM GAME #27 CELTIC 1 ST MIRREN 3 (HATATE)*
Good evening, friends.
A dismal Sunday afternoon’s viewing saw Celtic fail to add to their trophy haul and instead make do with runners up medals for the second final in a row. Nothing to complain about, no in-game controversies, we were simply very poor on the day and well beaten by St Mirren. My match summary will be brief.
There were only 90 seconds on the clock when St Mirren took the lead. A decent corner from the right and with Hatate failing to challenge, Marcus Fraser was able to pick his spot, glancing a header into far corner.
Celtic did created a couple of half chances. Scales hung a cross in and Iheanacho’s well directed header was saved down low. Another cross by Scales saw Maeda connect with a diving header but the effort went wide. But on 23 minutes we got our equaliser when Hatate sneaked round the back to get a controlled volley onto Tierney’s cross and direct the ball into the far corner.
The turning point arguably came in the 33rd minute when Iheanacho, who had been leading the line well, went down with what looked like a hamstring issue. He was replaced by Kenny who made no notable impact during his hour on the park.
Level going into the second half, the opening 20 minutes were very scrappy indeed. But in the 63rd minute, a hopeful lob into a crowded penalty area led to indecision by Schmeichel on whether to punch or try to block. He contrived to do neither and it was 2-1 St Mirren.
Celtic had plenty of possession in the minutes that followed but created next to nothing. And in the 75th minute we were caught with too many players upfield. A St Mirren break down the left, where there were hectares of space, a simple pass across to the other striker and a simple tap in for a 3-1 lead.
And apart from an 83rd minute effort from Donovan – a well struck shot that the keeper did well to save and turn round the post – the final petered out to its dismal conclusion.
St Mirren fully deserved their victory and will hope that this reignites their poor league form where they have only won 3 games in 15. Celtic continue to be a major concern both on and off the park. And the saddest sight for me yesterday was the thousands of Celtic fans who decided against staying to the final whistle.
We have now played 27 games, and have won 14, drawn 6 and lost 7. We have scored 44 goals and conceded 27, a goal a game.
As for the voting numbers, I sincerely tip my hat to the 51 folk who continued to participate in my wee venture.
The total votes cast for each player are as follows, with my own nominations asterisked.
Schmeichel: 0
Ralston: 1
Trusty: 7
Scales: 3
Tounekti: 0
Hatate: 19
McGregor*: 30
Engels: 4
Tierney*: 43
Maeda: 3
Iheanacho*: 37
Kenny: 0
Forrest: 1
McCowan: 1
Donovan: 5
Yang: 0
Unused substitutes: Balikwisha, Bernardo, Nygren, Sinisalo
And so, the POINTS earned by each player for the League Cup Final are as follows –
25 points: Tierney
22 points: Iheanacho
19 points: McGregor
16 points: Hatate
14 points: Trusty
12 points: Engels
11 points each: Maeda and Scales
9 points: Donovan
7 points each: Forrest, McCowan and Ralston
4 points each: Kenny, Schmeichel, Tounekti and Yang
1 point: Balikwisha, Bernardo, Nygren, Sinisalo
And the cumulative points achieved after 27 games played are now –
424: Scales
378: McGregor
308: Tierney
297: Hatate
285: Engels
249: Maeda and Tounekti
232: Nygren
223: Schmeichel
217: Trusty
192: Donovan
189: Forrest
188: Iheanacho
172: McCowan and Yang
158: Carter-Vickers and Saracchi
134: Ralston
131: Kenny
92: Bernardo
82: Murray
70: Balikwisha
60: Johnston
49: Yamada
41: Sinisalo
40: Osmand
22: Inamura
19: Idah
10: Simpson-Pusey
5: Doohan
1: Hale and Isiguso
0: All the other players who’ve not yet made a matchday squad!
The games keep coming thick and fast and on Wednesday night Celtic travel to face Dundee Utd, kick off 8.00pm.
Hail Hail!
Today feels horrible. Like many have said before the only way we get caught is through our own lack of urgency and ambition. Our own lack of planning and professionalism has brought us to a spot where I struggle to see us winning in the next 2/3 weeks and where we have given away an enormous financial advantage.
It is almost unbelievable that an organisation like ours could be so incredibly badly managed and even more so that commentators on here cannot bring themselves to call out the perpetrators.
How others see us, eh Burnley & ol’ Tom? Then again what do they know? Low class oiks!
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/dec/15/celtic-st-mirren-football-daily-newsletter?CMP=share_btn_url
The most interesting and realistic views on here currently are, IMHO, are those of Saint Stivs and Auldheid. No-one is going to bounce DD out of Celtic. But the Sack the Board activists may succeed in making the atmosphere at Celtic Park so unwholesome that the major shareholder no longer thinks his position is worth the candle.
If that happens then Celtic’s ownership will pass to whoever can cough up the Dosh. That could be anyone – one of Putin’s pals or a Middle Eastern potentate who murders his enemies in his embassies. Just saying.
Nite all.
A wee tune that maybe the board should consider the sentiments of.
Alabama Shakes – Another Life (Live From Red Rocks)
https://youtu.be/ZbDDtg0t2UI?si=k46QnHP_1-gsNcAd
HH
Fritzsong – I believe you. I too think Desmond is sufficiently morally bankrupt to sell out to such parties. And if so, does it really make much difference if he is? Do we want such values driving our club?
10 subs,2 Vars at poundland,4 minutes added ,blatant cheating again by Robertson
Putin would be an upgrade on the shower who are currently thieving from the support, Pol Pot would be an upgrade on the current charlatans.
Manufactured decline – Operation Old Firm.
MAOLMUIRE O MUIRGHEASA on 15TH DECEMBER 2025 9:42 PM
Putin would be an upgrade on the shower who are currently thieving from the support, Pol Pot would be an upgrade on the current charlatans.
Manufactured decline – Operation Old Firm.
……
Crikey
Reminds me of wee Fergus being compared unfavourably with Sadam Hussein …
Getagripcfc
Maolmuire O Muirgheasa on 15th December 2025 9:42 pm
Putin would be an upgrade on the shower who are currently thieving from the support, Pol Pot would be an upgrade on the current charlatans.
Manufactured decline – Operation Old Firm.
……
Every word 100%
HH
oot.
Have to say.
I had a sinking feeling after 30 minutes v Kaity first game that we would not qualify.
Had the same feeling we might lose Sunday when Icheanacho had to go off that got worse when Tierney followed him.
Watching the last 30 mins of Rangers v Hibs Im getting the same feeling.
We have no one who can take on and beat a man with speed and assured touch that they have.
I think I’ll go and eat worms.
Celtic Football & Athletic Coy.
Would not have our saintly green & white hoops bedecked in Adidas genocide scumbagerry.
Would not have Celtic’s good name trashed by participating at ANY level in Uefa competitions, nor would Celtic players be available for ANY Fifa International competitions which have been rigged to suit wrong’uns.
Celtic’s soul would NOT be for sale!
No Nay Never!
Celtic without ethics, integrity, dignity = NOT Celtic anymore.
HH
oot.
PeterLatchfordsBelly @ 4:55 pm
Yes they have a stranglehold on the shares hence my point they might burn the club down alongside themselves. Only they can make that decision but they have no control over the fans withdrawing their support.
———–
Cheers PLB.
Hear you but don’t think it would play out like that.
Institutional investors (15% ?) probably mostly likely to dump shares.
Not sure who buys them.
All depends on extent of withdrawal clearly.
Still sore after our dire performance……………….
Having a wee read back………..
I’d have to say that those hopeful of Major Shareholder change on the back of supporter unrest and activism might remember that DD is a strategic commercial financier to his core.
While the current climate may be uncomfortable I’d doubt it’ll alter or overly influence his stewardship.
HH
ThereIsNoSanityClause CSC
dessybhoy on 15th December 2025 8:34 pm
Auldheid
No idea it will be in the accounts 850k for Nicolson and nearly 600k for the Accountant McKay my goodness, i doubt they will be going anywhere else soon.
===========
They may well be overpaid for working 5 days a week for x hours a day but they are earning it for work done.
I have no idea of what a decent lawyer and accountant can earn outside of Celtic either to make a comparison.
The Directors would not have same attendance/work requirement but they are entitled to get some compensation for their time.
I was thinking more on the line of dividends based not on earning them but having a shareholding that entitles them to be paid.
I think I read a figure of £500k a year in total leaves Celtic accounts, which is unlikely to make any difference to the wage a few quality players can be paid to sign up.
So I am not sure the prime purpose of Celtic is to make lots of unearned money for Directors.
KevJungle on 15th December 2025 10:06 pm
Celtic Football & Athletic Coy.
Would not have our saintly green & white hoops bedecked in Adidas genocide scumbagerry.
Would not have Celtic’s good name trashed by participating at ANY level in Uefa competitions, nor would Celtic players be available for ANY Fifa International competitions which have been rigged to suit wrong’uns.
Celtic’s soul would NOT be for sale!
No Nay Never!
Celtic without ethics, integrity, dignity = NOT Celtic anymore.
HH
=========
If that happened the game v Auchinleck would be a Junior club fixture with Auchinleck favourites.
Might be a good game though.
Where is Tontine Tim ?
If Celtic were lucky enough to still have, DESMOND WHITE, as our Chairman in and round about the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, then THATCHER would not have been able to pull off her all seating scam, and Celtic supporters wouldn’t have been turned into easily brainwashed sheep.
We might even have had another European trophy or 2 in our history books had we not had that break in the chain of the Best Fans In The World through all seating with the new seating arrangements of, One “Not The View” reader being surrounded by, 50 “Celtic View” brainwashed Sheep.
Not a viable environment ala THATCHER’s plan for seating, which she got on the back of her goons murdering by crushing to death, 97 innocent uppity lefty Liverpool FC comrades. RIP.
HH
oot.
Auldheid throughout the evening.
Cheers.
When I mentioned the relative silence of proponents of unity, I did overlook your sterling individual efforts.
Respect.
Auldheid on 15th December 2025 10:21 pm
Hi man hope you are well.
The options for Celtic inside the game of football should be:
Suck the swamp, or drain the swamp.
13 years ago we became the swamp to get David Murray off the hook.
HH
oot.
Back to Basics – Glass Half Full on 15th December 2025 10:33 pm
Auldheid throughout the evening.
Cheers.
When I mentioned the relative silence of proponents of unity, I did overlook your sterling individual efforts.
Respect.
+++++++++
No problem it gave me an opportunity to remind folk that an opportunity for bringing about a cultural change already exists.
KevJungle on 15th December 2025 10:33 pm
Auldheid on 15th December 2025 10:21 pm
Hi man hope you are well.
The options for Celtic inside the game of football should be:
Suck the swamp, or drain the swamp.
13 years ago we became the swamp to get David Murray off the hook.
HH
=========
Aye but it wasn’t just Celtic who wanted to continue to suck the swamp. 10 other clubs had their say.
Celtic’s power is not limitless.
What would change everything but will never happen is PL explaining the business fears of all remaining SPL clubs and so Celtic that drove the 5WA .
The read-back was quite entertaining; some lovely barbs and quips fuelled by what Maestro called ’emotional angst’.
On that… I think I’ve a flavour for – if not addition to – the ole emo-angst. I think it comes with being a football follower not just a Celtic fan. Dons, Hibees and even Currants know all about the angst business anaw.
Is this angst a poison of my own choosing or just the fact I love this sport a lot (I dreamt I was playing at RB again last night – did a nice flick away from a forward – in an amateur game).
As someone else said, I cant help but feel for Wilf who is experiencing the pressure big style. Howeverm whether he does good or bad, he’ll be a rich man after a spell with us so clearly I hope he recovers and does us a solid in terms of making us Bodo-like in our Euro exploits. My best hopes are just as likely to come true as my worst fears, as they say in the rehab biz.
Quip of the day came from that Irish Inde article shared earlier:
“Maybe someone at Celtic thinks Ted Lasso was a documentary.”
KTF
Auldheid on 15th December 2025 10:45 pm
……
Why did Celtic not take anything to do with 2012 events?
Celtic fans were cheated out of 20+ trophies makes it entirely our business.
Celtic PLC knew that their easy meat fans would sneak along with them.
50k Rangers season ticket holders should not have been punished for what David Murray did through EBT’s.
Celtic and their fans danced and partied along as the wrong folk got hung for crimes that they did not commit.
If we go along with cowardly sleektry then we are no longer Celtic FC. Imho.
Lets hope that our lovely board haven’t been caught with their drawers down at some unfortunate moment.
As Hun flavoured justice will see Parkhead raised to the ground, whilst the PLC will be lying on whichever beach it is that they lie on all week before jumping on a luxury flight to the game at the weekend.
Maybe the jet-lag made Daddy Lawwell sleep through the entire Roma game. lol
Big Wilf is here for the bottom 6.
BROONY is a PLC sleeper cell awaiting his call….
The PLC must be aware by now that Scott Brown learned hee haw in the One horse league environment as captain and is looking like he won’t make it as a manager.
So, If Wilf gets us to the bottom 6 and is then dumped, look for Broony coming in to take us down a division before he too gets dumped with a lottery sized golden envelope.
PLC look like they hate the Celtic ecosphere and want it burned!
Remember: BROONY, LENNY, LAWWELL, thick as thieves in the night to make sure a Timmy 10 in a row didn’t end the Old Firm.
Just think, one year The Tims blow 10 in a row, blaming it on Covid-19, whilst £20 million Rangers team were defeating £200 million Dortmund on their way to a European final. lol
The Old Firm. lol
HH
oot.
Back in February The Celtic board and football department met to discuss our season so far and our CL campaign which had just ended in unlucky failure against Bayern.
The board congratulated the manager who had built up a considerable lead in the league and returned our best CL performance in 12 years. Discussions were had on how he could be further supported to take the next step in 2025/26. The squad was discussed and which players needed to move in order to keep it fresh as they had served their time. Targets were identified for the summer window and discussed along with the profiles of the type of players and positions that would be required. Budgets were discussed and agreed to the satisfaction of all parties and the meeting closed with a declaration of intent from all parties to work together, build on our progress this year and be ready to go again early in the forthcoming pre-season.
Or did I just dream all that!
I plead for unity of support. Each and every aspect of wilfs actions have shown a man totally and completely overwhelmed. His team is rubbish, back to front – schmichael is a dreadful keeper ATM, forever doing the stupid side kick to the other teams, etc- Kenny to blame initially for the goal, but what’s he doing in the centre circle? He’s striker ffs.
Weve conceded three in three from corners, ive never ever seen a team do that.
He talks coach book gibberish and flaps about like a sick bird while telling us he wants his team to be calm. If we have unity of purpose as supporters we can perhaps get him out. To continue to support him is making things so much worse. Arguing that we should support him only encourages the board to let him stay. He must be removed.
Dundee utd are total certainties on Wednesday at Tannadice, always a difficult place.
Shuggie on 15th December 2025 11:26 pm
…..
Wilf is a plant.
A serious board would not have sourced Wilf.
The carnage has just begun.
It begun when Wilf took his trainers off because the media remarked about them.
Wilf could have shot the media down by saying that Adidas scumbagerry was all that was wrong with his shoes. lol
But of course “plants” don’t speak out of turn or they’ll draw unneeded attention to themselves.
What a time to be alive!
HH
oot.
Paranoid my erchie! CSC
HH
oot.
Hoop hoop Hooray on 15th December 2025 11:23 pm
…….
Any deal that Rodgers has signed up to isn’t worth the paper it was written on.
Why do I say that?
Because:
After EVERY Transfer Window that Rodgers has been involved in at Celtic, has Rodgers declaring how welcome the efforts of the board have been during the window.
AND THEN.
One banana skin and…..Rodgers says he didn’t sign those players, the club did.
WHAT?
How can there be trust between sleekit Rodgers and the sleekit board?
How does that work?
Rodgers has shown every Celtic fan that the board only have enough balls to ban the Green Brigade.
Rodgers should have been sacked after EVERY Transfer Window for his 2 faced duplicity.
Just look at all of the unrest he has caused.
He even forced DD to take his slippers off and put his big SIZE TEN Steel Toe-Capped Jungle boots back on to kick Rodgers lying erchie oot the door and doon the Celtic Way.
On a cauld night as well!
HH
oot.
So from what I understand…Brendan had us competitive with Bayern Munich….and expected our Board to help him improve the squad. What happened was
Brendan was expected to do more with less….he baulked….and waited to see how much he was gonna be undermined…and it turned out it was total
Brendan, after calling out the board for months…resigned in protest…so the Boared gaslit the fans and attacked the manager
St Martin was appointed through emotional guilt…and he admitted it was only an interim position…through strength of personality he papered over the cracks of our managed declined squad
Rather than having a proper handover over weeks…St Martin left and Wilfried was left holding the bag….but that’s ok….the Board are shielded
Wilfred overestimated the squad quality and stupidly tries to implement wholesale changes on them, but they’ve become complacently lazy. Taking their cue from the executive?
The managed declined squad struggles…
SacktheBoaredCSC
H.H.
H.H.
TLT
Well at least someone has been paying attention ;))
HH
KTF
KevJungle on 15th December 2025 11:17 pm
Auldheid on 15th December 2025 10:45 pm
Do you understand that professional football is not like normal independent businesses where puting a competitor out of business by having a better product means the successfull business gets their rivals customers and so profits from their demise.
In football supporters do not become paying customers of teams that put them out of business.
That makes football interdependent businesses and so different.
Im not been patronising or condescending here. I am asking a key question that once the answer is accepted makes it a lot easier to explain events in 2012 and why the 5WA happened and why Celtic accepted it when it was presented to them for acceptance by Neil Doncaster.
I went through this on Sentinel Celts last week but the explanation was as welcome to some, who think Celtic are William Wallace and can fart fireballs from their arse, as a fart in a space suit.
If you look at the matter from a interdependent football business perspective you will have a better understanding of what took place and why.
You wont like it, I didnt and put a lot of effort into exposing the LNS sham but at least you will have a more informed view of what took place.
If you dont accept the fact football is an interdependent industry I’m not going to spend my time trying to find what I said on Sentinel Celts..
What I will do is link to a narrative that covers LNS and damage done to the integrity of Scottish football which has made it more toxic than it was pre 2012.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LgNu5ECIDhTzbJcHzlBJNpLnBt7_2CY8/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=107947982974245186134&rtpof=true&sd=true
It is a long read but it was a complex matter to put on paper.