VFB Stuttgart opened the scoring with their first genuine attack of the game and never looked troubled again. The 1-4 scoreline flattered them on the balance of play, but the Germans always had other gears to move through.
You feel for Benjamin Nygren. His anticipation to intercept a defensive pass was surpassed only by his calmness as he dropped a shoulder to shimmy past the keeper and roll the ball into an empty net for the equaliser.
Whatever ailed Reo Hatate was not evident when he came on as a second half substitute. Stuttgart had dropped into holding mode by then, but Reo still improved Celtic, his passing was flawless and he was fully engaged. Yang also picked up the performance. He was our most effective winger – not for the first time this season.
I was surprised to see Sebastian Tounekti start. He is a craft player, perfect for unlocking low-block Premiership defences. He is certainly not a workhorse who will get up and down the field all game, nor is he effective defensively. In Europe, we need physically robust athletes. The same might be true at Ibrox next month.
Kasper Schmeichel made mistakes for the first and third goals. Both were body blows to Celtic’s effort and arguably cost them the game. In my many decades watching Celtic, I have never heard a player being booed by his own fans for making a mistake. This indignity happened twice to Kasper. It was appalling.
Martin O’Neill is a man who is emotionally attached to the job he is trying to achieve for you and me. Winning for Celtic is why he is here at 73-years-old. He inherited a squad low in morale after the “Honda Civics” man and the Nancy experiment. He has so far managed to share his vision of our football club and inspire confidence in the players.
He is intelligent and this morning will know he needs to deploy all his skills to keep a squad of players ready to run through brick walls for Celtic. Last night’s treatment of Kasper made that job more difficult. It also complicates any decision to drop the keeper.
I am so far removed from those who boo Celtic players during a game I cannot imagine what is going on in their heads. Does being the fans who see their team win more trophies than anyone else in world football lead to Olympian Entitlement? Are they so successful in their own careers they see mistakes as a betrayal? Or are they just weak bullies who compensate for what really eats at them by abusing others. It was ugly, led to confrontations among fans and is clearly harmful to our cause.
I get what drives Martin O’Neill to be here at his age. I want Celtic to win this league as much as anyone could. Feelings of dread were punctured by absolute joy at the treble of late equalisers this month. Winning matters. It changes lives – your life and mine, and it becomes part of our social history. I am here for it.
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(Insert tennis ball and booing gif)
Buy your ticket, take your place, support the team, act lawfully.
It’s really not that difficult.
Tens of thousands of ordinary Celtic supporters do it every match.
I suppose some folk just think they’re special.
Celtic will need to be ready for Ibrox not might, otherwise they will crush us physically. Hibs are also strong and powerful that is next.
Happy St. Wulfric Day!
Petition:
One Celtic. Back our Board, Manager, Players and Charity.
https://c.org/kC24nkswRn
Ave Ave
Kasper Schmeichel needs dropped, he has made too many howlers in games from the SCF last year onwards including in internationals, he is over the hill,heavy, not agile never gets near a penalty ,we need to see what Sinisalo or Doohan have from now until the end of the season.
Well, if you’re going to miss the target, miss it by miles
Not a word on our player trading. On how we arrived here. Poor window after poor window. Always in a positive position finacially, while the on field regression presnts itself. Not a word on the coming summer – Chairbhoys excellent summary at 0834 gives further details
Still a dig at Brendan Rodgers
CQN has truly lost whatever plot it was clinging onto
(I disagree with many of the fan actions, though that did not cause our 1-4 reversal last night)
Will tomorrows saint be st Peter the scribe…?
Asking for a friend…
Brilliant stuff Paul.
Respect.
To your last sentence …
“Winning matters. It changes lives – your life and mine, and it becomes part of our social history. I am here for it”
What are we all, individually and collectively, prepared to do to help Martin’s team win the league?
If the answer is not “whatever it takes”
Or the answer is one or more of
“There’s a bigger picture here”
“I’ve been wronged”
“The board have done worse … so I’m justified in behaving any way I want … regardless of impact to the team”
IMHO – you’ve got it badly wrong.
There are folk at the games only to share in the glory, not to share the burden.
The Battered Bunnet on 20th February 2026 11:42 am
Very good.
Indeed, Paul. If you have played 43 games and don’t have a forward with more than 8 goals to their name then I don’t think goalkeeper is the biggest issue.
The manager was also spot on with his Masters of our own downfall comment, although probably not in the way he meant!
Lacking in quality in every department, a shadow of the team we could have become with proper ambition.
And so The Wilderness Years (European edition) continues to expand. But hey, Europe is just a pesky distraction from the old firm in any case.
100% agree with the lead criticising fans who boo our players. It’s not Kasper’s fault he’s playing.
Martin has a blind spot over keepers, see Rab Douglas……..
Honda Civic man and the Nancy experiment were products of our absentee landlord.
Rodgers delivered but was undermined by the lackies doing the landlords bidding.
The same lackies delivered Wilfred Nancy and told us he would be a great success and would be given time to deliver. He wasn’t and wasn’t.
The lackies and the landlord appear to escape any real scrutiny by Paul on here. They are the cause of our present predicament yet he loves to have a dig at one of our most successful managers.
Something needs to give….
We had to endure a nine in a row from across the city , no trophies for six seasons, you want a low try being at Ibrox and being beaten in a cup final by Raith Rovers , we booed Fergus FFS but right now we have reached peak “Olympian Entitlement” . We are all frustrated with how this season has worked out but we have one job until May support the bloody team Cop on and start behaving like Celtic supporters .
Honda Civic man openly criticised the Board and then the players ( sorry Honda Civics) , is it any wonder that the dumbasses in the support now feel empowered take their turn in the queue and start slagging off the players and generally behaving like wankers.
Genieoutthebottlecfc
Re your point Paulo… ‘I am so far removed from those who boo Celtic players during a game I cannot imagine what is going on in their heads.’
They used to say that anger is an energy. Now it seems more like an addiction. Mibby it’s a young team thang?
Advantaged/Disadvantaged by distance, I’m literally far removed from that type of behaviour. Sure; I get it with the bogeyman suits but ghuys – great pros – representing us onfield. The word ends in ‘….nnish’.
PS: The Battered Bunnet on 20th February 2026 11:42 am
Good post !
PS the Nancy encounter was less kindly described as an ‘experiment’ – it was a monumental debacle with a string of belief-damaging losses.
Fixed that for you Paul ;)
Och, Here we go again …
… the fan behaviour mentioned in the article wasn’t great
BUT what about this, this, this and this from the past?
My TARDIS is in the repair shop.
If you want Celtic to win the league then stand up now and contribute your tiny, tiny slice …
… and IF we can accumulate enough tiny, tiny slices into a single mass (it is not measurable) AND catch quite a few breaks?
We might just win the league.
Of course if removing the Celtic board is more important to you than the Celtic team being Champions of Scotland in season 25/26 ?
Free country. Go ahead and own that.
PS – can someone remind me which CQNer previously came up with the quite brilliant
“Winning trebles is papering over the cracks”
I genuinely don’t recognize this new era of Celtic fans, t’s honestly alien to me. To boo any player, regardless of the circumstances, is just bizarre.
What’s worse is the language being used on social media about MON this morning. It’s left me genuinely shocked. The kind of language being thrown around is something even the Huns would think twice about using. And it’s even worse when you read whats aimed at Neil Lennon, a treble-winning player and manager.
From what i can see, there is no plan, other than disruption. “sack the Board” reminiscent of “brexit means Brexit”. meaningless soundbites fed to the masses who want change at all costs, but dont give a moment’s consideration of what’s next,
I really feel very sad at where we are as a club,
What are you rebelling against ?
What have you got ?
MarlonBrandy&AkshulCoke CSC
For me, the mob have passed the point of no return.
Celtic need to stop pandering to these people and lance the boil once and for all.
Their fan boys will whinge and whine for a while or maybe never come back, but ultimately nature abhors a vacum.
It’s just as well Kaspar couldn’t hear what I was muttering about him when those goals went in but that’s quite a different thing from concertedly booing one of your own players . I’ll be amazed if Sinisalo ,or even Doohan, isn’t between the sticks on Sunday . Martin will do what’s likely to give us the best chance of the points, and that ain’t Kaspar .
The Battered Bunnet on 20th February 2026 11:42 am
*Excellent post, I woke up with trepidation this morning, not because of the final score last night, but at the Celtic fans, NOT supporters and “others” on here tearing the place up, also credible mentions to carrigtwohill and ekbhoy for their welcoming posts, oh and one night at lisburn, who the eff are you to criticise MON in his choice of goalies, he gave us some of our greatest days and nights on here and only left due to the ill health of his spouse, he didnae run away twice and leave us in a lurch, he proposed WGS as his replacement another who was told to GTF but stayed and gave us Tommy Burns Thursday which is up there with 10 Men Won The League and Albert Kidd day
We really need a new starting 11,the Board delighted with the downsizing plan,to tell us European football is ‘unbridgeable’.The Motherwell manager looks a cert now,got cheap,very average playing as a good team,he fits what these cnts want,a cheap fix with minimal investment, and anyone who boos a Celtic player don’t come back,forget Hargreaves he’s another stodge,it’s Desmond who wants the GB banned.
Big Tam looked like he has a bit of strength, play Nygren off him as he doesn’t have the legs for MF but is our best finisher
The toxicity inside Celtic Park derives from the board room. Martin will need to see a significant uplift in performances if our title challenge is to survive the next two weeks.
I suspect the ‘entitled fans’ want to see accountability. KS has been throwing them into the net for weeks now. Martin should have dropped him already. It’s now too late in terms of Europe but hopefully he’s on the bench on Sunday.
I’d like to see accountability in the boardroom too. The toxicity will go up several gears if things fall apart on the pitch.
We signed 17 Players ( yes 17 ) this season ,
Tounekti (after Kairat).
Balikwisha (after Kairat)
Yamada (away on loan)
Inamura (away on loan)
Tierney
Nygren
Iheanacho
Doohan
Osmand
Araujo
Simpson-Pusey (away)
Cvancara
Adamu
Mvuka
Saracchi
Arthur
Oxlade-Chamberlain
What a pickle 🥒
Not the bus 12.30pm
I don’t think it is a new thing. I recall Peter Grant getting horrendous abuse and Darren Jackson being booed. That was a long time ago.
I do think we have a militant element of our support that we never used to have. It is one of the reasons that the club appear to be struggling to get the GB back in. Remember the statements issued at the board by the GB? Some of the language showed total hatred and not just frustration. You can never meet in the middle if you have such contempt.
Re Abuse at MON and NFL. If that is the case it is depressing and I also don’t understand that. I do understand the frustration at being a Celtic fan.
This is where it seems to differ with fans.
For me it is not about entitlement. It is about trying to be the beat version of a club we can be. This whole shambles was totally avoidable but tbe board have ignored many of us for many years as has Paul. He believes signing 20 year old potential is the way to run the club. I disagree.
So many fans have been broken by the behaviour of the board. Truly broken.
To hear booing a Celtic player whether he has previously done well or not does not matter. It is disgraceful.
However Paul gives several lines to this and nothing to the other issues at the club. No blame attached to the board. Just blame BR for not turning Shin Yamada and Balikwisha into Dembele and Roberts. Embarassing.
Petrov spoke really well last night when he said we are behaving like an ordinary club. I fully agree.
We have been going down this route for years. Many deny our history, many suckle on the teet of Celtic in retirement enjoying the status of being a board member yet offering little.
Change is needed and it starts with communicating well with fans.
Some fans are idiots. That is society.
The overall majority would be fine if we just ran the club in a much better way.
Anyone know why the tennis balls were thrown onto the field of play last night?
I have previously inquired about the stewards who attacked paying customers, children, recently and if their was an update about this, i heard nothing from the club, perhaps someone on here might have details.
Olympian entitlement? Try giving jobs at the club to someone on the basis of being your son/relative/mate/crony, with predictable results.
That’s Gold Medal Olympian Entitlement the Royal Family would be proud of.
TIMMY7_NOTED on 20TH FEBRUARY 2026 9:05 AM
I wonder what it is like to be a perfect blind faith Tim?
Going 60/70/80. Years having never doubted or even quietly suggested that a player isn’t very good. Having never heard any criticism from the stands until 19th Feb 2026.
If your post was directed at me I’ve never been a ‘blind faith Tim.’
My apologies if your post was not directed at me.
…………………………
I don’t know if your post above is directed at what I posted earlier but if it is it twists what I actually said. I have been going to watch Celtic for 68 years and in that time I have heard plenty of Celtic players being criticised on the terraces and in the Stands. I was criticising Schmeicel last night as were many fans around me but in a discursive way. We were mainly saying that he was having a nightmare and shouldn’t be in the team. I imagine that was happening all around the stadium. What was awful was the jeering of him and chanting that he should ‘get to ….’ by some fans. That and the imbecilic disruption of play just after the game started.
LeftClickTic
Thanks for the heads up about the new article being up.
Paul I agree we should not be booing our own
The task is hard enough without internal abuse
But you are a bit of a hypocrite telling us not to boo Kasper yet you continue to abuse Brendan
In case anybody has forgotten we are only in this mess because Peter did not like Brendan
Had Brendan been supported last summer our predicament would have been a lot more palatable
67ECW
PS: BR got dogs abuse for spending £26m on Trusty Idah and Engles
One has gone for £7m we could have got £25 for Engles
I know Trusty is a bit inconsistent but Im guessing we could get £8 for him
Perhaps he could see a player
Our situation is all because Peter did not like Brendan
The goalkeeper should be dropped immediately he is costing us goals in every game ,.
He comes across as arrogant and self serving.
To boo a Celtic player during a game is unacceptable and the ones that did should be ashamed of themselves.
I know we can’t drop our two centre halves ,as we have no one else,but they must be replaced next season.
I know Nygren scores goals but he is a liability in midfield,play him just off a main striker and we might see the best of him.
Martins got a massive job ahead of him Good Luck HH
forget Hargreaves he’s another stodge,it’s Desmond who wants the GB banned.
—
yeah but he is a different type of stooge to nicholson.
nicholson doesnt appear to have a job to do, certainly not a CEO-style day to day job.
hargreaves does have a job to do however – as you say it is desmond who wants the GB banned – so who better to get to do that job than an ex cop chief whose task was effectively to criminalise football fans.
so now he can do the same job under desmonds employment, allowing desmond to get reasons fed to him about who should and shouldnt be banned.
hargreaves needs to get to fk, or be chased out, hopefully literally.
but i dont wish nicholson any harm at all, i just think he should leave and do a job that he would be allowed to actually do instead of being a puppet.
and obviously desmond should get to fk as well, though that is in a metaphorical sense in that he is never actually here.
He won’t get dropped now,because of the booing
A poster on another forum has posted some stats on KS. They don’t make for good reading. He’s statistically the worst keeper in the Europa league.
Last night for the first time that I can recall, I genuinely feared every single shot on target.
I’m still disgusted by the booing. Fuck that.
I am clear about who is responsible for the mess the club is in. However, MO’N is going way above and beyond to bring us the title DESPITE the shitshow he inherited.
Be clear thinking. Support the guy. Support the players. Including a goalie who had a stinker last night but is still capable of bailing out our fragile defence at least once a game.
The club placed Europe beyond us this season. It’s all about the league, starting with Hibs.
Get a grip. Let’s focus our energies in defeating our principal enemies.
Then let’s see what happens in the summer.
Bodo Glimt have 8,000 fans