Auchinleck Talbot are a sixth-tier club, so I didn’t want to mention this after Sunday’s game, but the passing at Kilmarnock was so much crisper than I have seen from Celtic this season. The observation was discarded as I assumed it was because the opposition were unable to press Celtic players out of their comfort zone.
We started the same way last night. The minutes before the opening goal were characterised by pass-and-move routines from Celtic that we scarcely saw throughout 2025. Bologna pressed but the man in possession was always comfortable and had options. That panicked feeling when we were pressed that the ball would inevitably go all the way back to Kasper Schmeichel, then possession would be lost, never materialised.
The calamitous opening goal Bologna conceded resulted in Celtic pressing an Italian home side out of their comfort zone. Cheaply given but thoroughly appreciated.
Racial stereotypes are best avoided, but is it safe to say Japanese players are just too honourable? A minute after Reo Hatate’s opener, Daizen Maeda was clean through 40 yards out when he was bundled from behind. Daizen is made of sturdy stuff, so was able to continue; if it was me, I’d have collapsed like a proverbial sack of potatoes. Had Daizen fallen, a red card would have followed.
Daizen stayed on his feet, Yang latched onto his pass and came close to adding a second goal with a shot the keeper only just got a hand to. A goalscoring chance was not denied, so the referee was unable to act.
Small incidents can change the flow of football games. On receiving a ball out of defence, Reo Hatate tried to hold the ball in, but it ran through him, allowing Bologna to open an attack and put Celtic under sustained pressure for the first time. The same thing happened 10 minutes later, when Reo was bundled to the ground, again Bologna were able to press Celtic for several minutes.
The two yellow cards Reo received soon thereafter were inexplicable for an experienced player. They should be a learning experience for the whole squad.
With Bologna still trying to figure out how to react to their one man advantage, Daizen forced a corner from a long ball into the right channel. Kieran Tierney has been written off by a few of us. His return has not delivered the same form he last enjoyed in green and white. Perhaps another appraisal is due.
A decision at Lennoxtown to have Kieran take corners from the Celtic right proved inspired. KT’s delivery was excellent and Arne Engels proved he can get on the end of deliveries. Auston Trusty was dominant throughout the game but no more so five minutes from the break, when he knocked this set-piece over the line.
The second half is so difficult to assess from a tactical point of view. Celtic had a two goal lead to defend, away in Italy, with 10 men, so doing so as deeply as they did was understandable. Martin pulled the full backs inside, Out of possession, Daizen dropped into the traditional left back spot.
There was a six-man back line with Yang, Engels and McGregor 10-15 yards in front. The relentless series of crosses and passing in front of the Celtic box inevitably led to a goal. Whatever the plan was at halftime, an early change in shape may have been more effective.
I have seen chat that Kasper Schmeichel could have done better at each Bologna goal, but I disagree. The first was from point-blank range and he was unsighted at the second. More than that, he pulled off saves I have yet to see from Viljami Sinisalo. The big Dane still has a part to play.
The match stats tell one story: Bologna 36 attempts, Celtic 8. Not all attempts are equal, though. All of Celtic’s were from inside the penalty box and four of those were inside the six-yard box. Bologna were hitting shots from 30 yards. Their two goals only slightly under-delivered on an expected goals of 2.46.
The prospect of playing 18 minutes plus added time after the equaliser was daunting, but Bologna had fired their bolt. Celtic’s defenders dominated the game from that moment on.
I don’t want to touch on a negative after such a good performance, but Colby Donovan, Anthony Ralston, Liam Scales, Auston Trusty and Kieran Tiernay have all looked poor this season. Each betrayed by a system which left them exposed. See what happens when a management team who can structure a midfield and defence are in charge? They were all excellent, Liam and Auston in particular. Even the recently maligned Anthony, who was calm personified in possession. Honda Civics they are not. It’s all about the system.
This remains Celtic’s worst season in five, but the club which wins more games and trophies than any other in world football is edging back on track. That will confound those who spend their emotional energy trying to convince friends, readers and media colleagues that Celtic are a badly run football club. God help them if the result on Sunday goes against their world view. It’s so much easier just to complain than to self-reflect.
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Congratulations on the petition advancing to 19. Another one and you score.
MN is as well going out on the piss.
its not as if he has anything else to do.
a CEO without portfolio.
he has a job in name only.
I picked the wrong week to stop reading Ibsen, Joyce and Conrad. What a half back line up that was.
The big Swiss centre half starts for Frankfurt so not a good sign for us but don’t worry we have the wonderful very own produced Murray and Welsh to rely on.
🤯
Good afternoon CQN
Another fine day to be a Celt
Aipple @ 1:03am – thank you for link but it wasn’t that one.
I still can’t recall who posted it … but I do recall the post including a comment from the coach in question
“Google me”
From that (actually googling “Google me”) I was able to find the guy’s name.
Curt Cignetti.
Unleash him
CELTIC MAC on 24TH JANUARY 2026 10:32 AM
moisey17@9.24
“Having said that he has little effect in anything he does really”
Apart from the effect his going to Bologna to support Celtic FC has had on you that is….
———————————
If you feel this is the best use of his time during the January transfer window then I reckon prioritising and time management ain’t your forte.
Still waiting to hear how his presence in Bologna helped the team and/or the club as a whole – this should be good…..
FYI. Its common sense. Not rocket science.
“It is generally beneficial for a football CEO to travel abroad with the team, as it allows for better communication, support, and representation of the club during international matches or tournaments. This presence can also help strengthen relationships with sponsors and stakeholders”
HH.
Saint Stivs @ 12:43 am
nicholson being suckered into the hug with the drunk or whatever guy . pulling him in. around his neck.
how do you react ?
run away ? fight back ? defend yourself ?
————
Cheers, SS – just catching up on this thing having watched the two video clips you linked.
Couple of observations, both just IMHO.
1. The reaction on here from the majority of other posters should be applauded.
“Condemnation” is too strong a word and action for what are isolated incidents of crass, stupid behaviour by individuals.
No need to overcook this.
Simple denouncement from a distance is an appropriate response.
Problem we have as a support with a tiny minority of individuals?
When their hatred of a person runs so deep and so binary, they feel morally and emotionally comfortable seeing that person subjected to anything.
Baddie wears black hat in Old Westerns stuff
Pathetic and childish.
2. For his part, in response to your question.
I’d mildly criticise Michael (admittedly from a few seconds of footage) for not taking control.
Football club CEOs should assert and be ready to take control in every situation.
CEOs should be respected, and perhaps liked or even feared a little … but not adorned.
The second something like this manifests?
The professional executive instinct, rather than the “we’re both Celtic fans” gut feeling ..
… should kick in automatically.
Perhaps unkindly, I see this as a microcosm of Michael’s tenure as CEO.
(And, no, I’ve NEVER met the guy ! )
I suspect he is an excellent (O)fficer
I reckon he could be a decent (E)executive
The most important bit – (C)hief ….
… is where I believe he is weakest.
I see Fromm Newsnow , Keevins has plumped for the Hun to take the league , that’s it settled then double for the Bhoys!
HH
I’m struggling to think of a season where Keevins hasn’t tipped the huns to win the league. He’s an eejit unlike his brother, who is a fine priest.
In my opinion, Michael Nicholson is a legitimate target for Celtic supporters ire. He is the Chief of Executive and has failed miserably in that position. He has cost the club the best part of £50 million pounds between his failure to adequately recruit and prepare the team for qualification for the CL and the his equally baffling appointment of a obviously poor manager in Nancy.
Adding to this, our recruitment department is not fit for purpose. All of this is in his remit.
He will not resign due to fact that he is grossly overpaid for his obvious lack of skill for the position of COE. Therefore, I have no doubt that at the end of the season he will be given an NDA to leave his position.
All of this, of course, does not deal with the ‘elephant in the room’, Dermot Desmond. He has been founding wanting in his leadership of Celtic FC in the last few years through his lack of commitment and equally baffling appointments. If he doesn’t want to sell his shares it will be extremely difficult to remove him.
To be at this stage of the transfer window and only brought in two loan signings is testimony to a management team that has been found wanting.
theoriginalsadiesbhoy@11.30
Ding Dong! You were the one who brought the idea of a dead Jimmy Bell being a better option than Wilfried Nancy not me. And now you are all upset at it being thrown back at you. It’s funny how all the haters and graters on here feel there are no limits to the language they can use on here to abuse, villify, attack, disparage in no particular order, Paul67, Mike Nicholson, Dermot Desmond, Ross Desmond, Peter Lawwell, Brian Wilson, the Celtic Board, Celtic players, the Celtic squad and anyone else remotely connected to Celtic and yet when some on here have the temerity to pick up on it, to question the bile, you immediately become the victim of the piece. Snowflakes and Buttercups every last one of you. Tant Pis.
I do not give a damn how old you are, keep your memories of Jimmy Bell to yourself….
moisey@1.41
That ship has sailed…
Next question!
ICeltic Mac on 24th January 2026 2:27 pm
It’s funny how all the haters and graters on here feel there are no limits to the language they can use on here to abuse, villify, attack, disparage in no particular order, Paul67, Mike Nicholson, Dermot Desmond, Ross Desmond, Peter Lawwell, Brian Wilson, the Celtic Board
With the exception of Paul67 the rest of the band of brothers on your list deserve every piece of criticism the receive on here for allowing our once great club to fall into disrepair and disgrace. These bastards care only about themselves and have set themselves up for the rightful anger of the support.
Let’s not forget baby Desmond’s insulting comments at the AGM or Peter’s “behave yourselves”……
How some on here can defend these charlatans is beyond me…
Some on here would need to take a good look at themselves before casting aspersions on hatred of individuals. . . . . .
Pay Attention.
Behave…..
Celtic Mac
I’ll mention and reference Jimmy Bell as often as I like on here or anywhere else. Here’s another dead person I don’t like Margaret Thatcher. Don’t try to guilt trip me over Jimmy Bell. I don’t give a stuff about the little bigot. As for snowflakes?? Desperate. Your whole response to me because I called you out about attacking Celtic fans has been a defence of Jimmy Bell. Hahaha!
As for bile. I haven’t been guilty of any bile either.
TheOriginalSadiesBhoy on 24th January 2026 2:46 pm
Jimmy Bell was a bigot who hated Celtic and the Catholic faith.
Facts are facts…..
onenightinlisbon@2.35
Wasn’t referring to “criticism” was referring to the bile and abuse directed towards all those mentioned….
Think hate just about covers most of it….
Not good
B2B
It was me that posted about Cignetti. A serious guy. The very definition of a winner.
Michael Nicholson is the very definition of a loser. He broadcasts weakness and in the shark infested environment of professional football that’s a huge liability. Get a winner in there to transform our fortunes and the atmosphere around the club. Sadly the moustache favours weak, so yes men are the order of the day.
Celtic Mac on 24th January 2026 2:51 pm
onenightinlisbon@2.35
Wasn’t referring to “criticism” was referring to the bile and abuse directed towards all those mentioned….
Appreciate your view but I don’t recall seeing much bile or abuse on here.
theoriginalsadiesbhoy@2.46
Yes he does seem to have found a special space and place in your mind no question…
Cannot help you there….maybe best that you keep it to yourself
DingDongCSC
Good afternoon from a dry but overcast VALE Park for the 150th anniversary game.
Let’s hope it’s a celebration
Most companies have a zero tolerance to employee harassment.
MN has the same rights as any other employee.
Does anyone seriously think this kind of harassment to an employee and his wife is justified and helps the reputation of our club.?
Make no mistake in this digital age this damages our reputation and makes it sooooo much harder to procure a reputable replacement.
It is counterproductive in the extreme . And just feral, hun like behaviour
I am really saddened as the place was so positive after a great European result against the odds.
A section of our support are so far removed from the Saville times where we won uniformed praise for our behaviour despite a sickening defeat.
No more on the subject from me.
COYBIG tomorrow.
The big boy is calling me names…
And you lot are just the same: eternal weaklings, the type with perpetual sniffles, always sprinting to the teacher to tattle.
You were despised for it, not just by the other children, but even by the adults you crawled to. Their contempt curdled inside you, didn’t it? Fermented into this brittle, late-blooming arrogance.
But when the morning comes cold and clear, and every one of your little delusions is dragged, squirming, into the light, that’s when you really can’t bear it.
It must be agony, finally seeing yourself as the rest of us always have.
Greenpinata on 24th January 2026 3:04 pm
Most companies have a zero tolerance to employee harassment. MN has the same rights as any other employee. Does anyone seriously think this kind of harassment to an employee and his wife is justified and helps the reputation of our club.? Make no mistake in this digital age this damages our reputation and makes it sooooo much harder to procure a reputable replacement. It is counterproductive in the extreme. And just feral, hun like behaviour. I am really saddened as the place was so positive after a great European result against the odds. A section of our support are so far removed from the Saville times where we won uniformed praise for our behaviour despite a sickening defeat.
*I think that you’ll find the hunterlopers and algorithms are doing a fine job on here, some on here want tae get a life or mibbees this is their life, as Paul Anka once said “I’m just a lonely boy (NOT bhoy) lonely and blue”
Mo
Did yet get yir co-pilot tae write aw that fir ye?
If so tell it tae keep up the good woiks…
Celtic Mac
Oh why on earth would I be upset about the mention Jimmy Bell being thrown back at me?
Ridiculous notion. You’ve run out of ideas so you cut and paste your list of ‘victims’ that fans have dared to criticise for their incompetence.
Tontine Tim
For God’s sake don’t mention Saville. He’s dead you know.
TT
Only joking. I know you meant Seville.
Oops my last post should have been addressed to
GreenPinata.
St Martin rescued big Chris Sutton fro a real dip in form, and look what happened ! I have exactly the same feeling with Big Tomas
kingLUBO
TOSB@3.18
He does seem to be taking up a lot of your thinking…..
Losing count of how many times you have mentioned him since you first put him forward as a better option for Celtic Manager than Wilfried Nancy…..Not good
DingDongCSC
CELTIC MAC on 24TH JANUARY 2026 3:32 PM
TOSB@3.18
He does seem to be taking up a lot of your thinking…..
Losing count of how many times you have mentioned him since you first put him forward as a better option for Celtic Manager than Wilfried Nancy…..Not good
DingDongCSC
………………..
Setting The Kaiser aside for a moment. Who is this Ding Dong whom you seem to be obsessed with? You mention him in every post. Unless he’s a ball winning Korean midfielder or a prolific striker please don’t mention him again. We’ve got enough to contend with on CelticNewsNow.
Is there no end to this folly?
To Maestro.
They both speak well about Celtic’s history, born out of politics, a Working Class fan base, Irish historical and everlasting Irish connections to the club.
All good stuff.
My only differences are that we still call the Irish Genocide a “famine” which is a get out for the British establishment who starved millions of Irish people to death, cascading millions more all over the world.
Commenting on the Working Class roots of the supporter base, but at the same time, failing to point out that the vast majority of Celtic fans vote for anti Working Class political parties Snp, Greens, Labour, is just a blatant lazy stupidity.
ACSOM are about the only Celtic Website to have George Galloway on their show, as they mention here, but fail to emphasise that George Galloway is the leader of thee only genuine Working Class political party in Britain, why the laziness to join dots here?
Probably Kelly Given, journalist from, The National, would have been sacked just for mentioning, George Galloway’s name, so must have been agreed that she is not to mention his name before the show I’m guessing?
These layers of deceit are anti Celtic.
Pretentiousness is anti Celtic.
Fearfulness is anti Celtic.
Telling half of the story is anti Celtic.
Being bent to one side like the media is anti Celtic.
All seating is anti Working Class, that is why the seats were implemented.
An Independent Scotland, which they mention here, is an open goal which they also miss here, as Independence under the Snp will not be Independent.
Which a, The National, journalist will not mention.
How can you be Independent when you want to retain the Royal Family, the British £, Protestant Supremacy, giving Scotland’s wealth generating resources to the UK government Chancellor to divvy up and give Scotland the crumbs from the UK Masters table, financing the Gaza Genocide out the back door through the Scottish Enterprise crooks charter, and upping peoples taxes to pay for a troublesome border between Scotland and England?
Breaking small islands up into 2 with borders does not work.
That is why, George Galloway was pro United Ireland and anti Snp Independence.
The island of Ireland should be One island for Irish people, and Britain should be One island for the British people.
Only solution to this has come from, George Galloway and his party, end the Monarchy, and Britain and Ireland become 2 Republics without border polls etc.
If you don’t vote for Working Class politicians then you are the source of all of your problems, because you fail to see beyond the nose on your face.
ACSOM, Failing to point out that George Galloway is, living in exile, the leader of the only non compromised party to vote for, is saying a lot about the density of the fans knowledge levels, and their sleeping at the wheel awareness levels.
Celtic have been run by anti Working Class types since 1994, not a mention here, on ACSOM.
These Celtic fans websites lazy approach to joining the dots is hugely contributing the collapse of everything that you all take for granted.
Fan media who did not call out the club for going along with the same club cover up, after the Huns promotion in 2016, are pretentious, powder-puff, merchants.
Naively mentioning that X-Twitter has become compromised since Elon Musk bought it?
So, Cancel Culture is more preferable to these writers of the future?
EM isn’t Working Class, but he was correct to sack 95% of his workforce who were planted bots, from dubious anti freedom countries, misinforming the World for many years, on numerous issues, which goes a long way in explaining why huge numbers of people, including Celtic fans are woefully misinformed.
EM exposed all of the World Wide Corruption and his created, DOGE, was going to drain the swamp, until Trump was reined in and EM was out on his ear.
Millions of people did not know the truth about Covid or Vaccines until EM decolonised X-Twitter, it is not perfect, but is a million miles better than it was before EM.
Celtic fans are playing the Anti Working Class game by not even showing any intention of taking up the Liverpool fans suggestion, when they visited Parkhead when our standing area was installed, and they suggested that the game of football was conned by the all seating scam, and 97 Liverpool dead fans were used as pawns to spin a narrative, by the Thatcher Government, and the Thatcher controlled Mainstream Media, of that time in 1989.
Kelly Given speaking on the ACSOM podcast who writes for, The National, who have yet to question Snp corruption, fails to mention the 2 faced Scottish Government sending money to finance the Gaza Genocide, is she even aware of that, or is she part of a Scottish Media cover up of this Snp scandal?
Was she happy with the Scottish Government being Fascist like during the Covid era, and lots of other unacceptable stuff?
She seems nice enough but works for the lying media?
Maestro 24th January 2026 12:23 pm
https://youtu.be/pk43mUxHPkU
Kelly Given on ACSOM
For what it is worth my only real collection of Jimmy Bell, courtesy of someone on here who posted the link, was the the video of the very first time Stephen Gerrard walked into the dressing room at Ayebrokes back whenever it was…Jimmy Bell, for it was he, was hanging up the players shirts as Stevie G came in… with a huge portrait of Elizabeth R up on the wall behind him, dumbfounded that a suspected Catholic was entering the blue room…..a reaction to which Stevie glanced over at him with such a level of contempt that no Celtic supporter could have bettered…not even the OriginalSadiesBhoy….
MemoriesaremadeofthisCSC
. . ..and then i ran to tell the line supervisor.. . . . .