When you and I discussed Kelechi Iheanacho on Thursday, I suggested “to retain a player who was not trusted to start games would be an admission of failure on the part of the recruitment and management staff.” It would be an admission that we do not have the resources to replace a player who by our own standards was not good enough to start games last season.
One day later, Celtic signed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Alex turns 33 next month. He did not make it off the bench in any of our last four league games (unlike Kelechi, who made crucial contributions) and he came on for a 15 minute cameo against Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup Final.
It does not worry me that Alex is our only signing so far this window, better to get it right than get it early, but it is enormously concerning that the recruitment team is so clearly unprepared to kick on from last season’s squad, that we have signed a player who was deemed not good enough to come off the bench during the fraught final few fixtures of the season.
This is a huge red flag but it is not a surprise. Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham were only added to the management team a week before Alex was signed. Martin O’Neill was in place earlier, but no one was in place to make the necessary decisions. We now have to hope we can play catch-up.
I don’t know the nature of Alex’s deal. It might involve a significant pay-as-you-play element, or some other circumstance that makes this a palatable decision. But what I do know is how to communicate a vision to the Celtic support. The vision we are being offered is not attractive.
Fifa
Not since the Heysel Disaster have I felt as concerned about the future of football than when I heard Fifa bowed to political pressure to reinstate suspended USA player Balogun.
Fifa has long been corrupt, but it largely conducted illicit matters behind closed doors. The game held its nose as Fifa awarded a ridiculous Peace Prize last year. Other sides did nothing when Iran was denied sporting equality at the World Cup.
If the body which appoints referees can act in this manner, the outcome of the tournament itself is invalid. The greatest tournament in sport has been reduced to a choreographed wrestling bout.
151 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- »
Celtic 1 Bhoycotters 0
Parkheadcumsalford on 6th July 2026 2:11 pm
HOT SMOKED,
You may well be right in your contention about the discontents. I wonder how many of those those on CQN in that category are also season ticket holders.
*I wonder how many are actually Celtic supporters
the Bada Bing on 6th July 2026 2:33 pm
The rags saying Duran incoming
*hope he’s hungry like a wolf
Hot Smoked on 6th July 2026 2:00 pm
Hi Jim. It is always thus.
I also hope this is true. It would be a phenomenal boost to us.
garygillespieshamstring on 5th July 2026 11:20 pm
https://auto-bio.com.ng/celtic-star-daizen-mae/?fbclid=IwVERTSAS3rNhleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR4G9gBq-UCyJOZq_zwA3BtrGfxh-unMdFQxvdAXcegILsrJJ8ltKpDPZlc56w_aem_qxro0JTnZH8vWKDLQ7UWHQ
I hope this is accurate.
Dublin Airport
@DublinAirport
The Celts are here! 🍀
A champion welcome was given to Scottish double winners @CelticFC this evening, as they arrived into Dublin Airport ahead of their sell-out pre-season match against @shelsfc on Tuesday.
Welcome to Ireland, Bhoys! 🟢⚪️
I’m ok with the AOC signing. I think a full pre-season along with experience and familiarity gathered during last season will mean we get more from him. Like most of the rest of us, with what looks like Paul now included following recent articles, my concern is the lack of activity on other signings. The Board members talked about reflection, learning lessons from before and being world class. They do seem like hollow words but you never know, well you do but there’s always that hope, isn’t there?
Holiday to Lisbon 23/26 May next year has just been booked. Selling out fast!
Paul 67 having a go as Lawwell is out of the club, or is he, who is making signing decisions?
Tontine Tim on 6th July 2026 2:58 pm
the Bada Bing on 6th July 2026 2:33 pm
The rags saying Duran incoming
*hope he’s hungry like a wolf
—–
I assume CalMac will introduce him to Hatate: ‘His name is Reo’.
Celtic are amateur in everything they do.
Vision, Strategy with no ambition.
I cannot think of one part of the club (apart from the support ) that is world class.
Desmond nearly 80 runs it like a junior club with Nicholson/McKay waiting patiently by the phone for instructions.
Sales of better players will happen but manager will not be given all funds— £80M buffer will remain untouched.
Recruitment has been a joke for years with about 1 or 2 good windows in 10 years. So why now a red flag…surely not.
Add stadium, academy, women’s team comms etc etc
A club like no other — we will keep the red flag flying high !!
Hrvatski Jim and Saint Stivs re season ticket renewal update from Celtic.
Cheers.
No pop intended.
IMHO, the broad “change” movement needs to reposition itself to something longer term and strategic …
… eventually aligning with one or both of the Low or Haughey initiatives.
When season ticket renewal boycotts were being discussed in the dark winter days, figures in the order of 5% to 10% were being speculated.
With the help of an unlikely double, nothing of the kind has transpired.
There’s a clear message to not another penny and the tangerine lobbers
… the season ticket holders are not with you.
Time to change tack.
A tough, (often unseen, largely thankless) multi year slog is required … to deliver fan influence in a controlled, intelligent way.
Rebels without a completion date and tennis ball tossers are not part of the solution.
PS – partly agree with the point made by Vale Bhoy earlier.
Season ticket renewal rates are a sign of love of the club and the team, not a validation of the executive.
… As it should be.
Is Shelbourne vs Celtic on TV?
Yes. The game is being shown live on Premier Sports 2.
No idea who is playing but keep a look out for BRRB in the crowd 😉
Lucky Cody @ 3:50 pm,
True – very few decent windows in the last ten years…
Though the cowards flinched and the traitors sneered – I kept the red flags flying here….
Aff oooot
Hail Hail
Hot Smoked
at the local Boxing and Fitness club, there are more than a few tims
none post or even lurk here
none are content
I’m not content but here is my £1,000+ for my season ticket so that I can sing “sack the board” at you for another season afternegotiating all of Joh Swinney’s cylce lanes that nobody will ever use ALL .
And then these same types call the Huns “Gullibillys”?????
The game was over when Thatcher got away with telling you you needed a plastic seat to keep you safe from the Hillsborough disaster officers.
What a load of kite!
Seems we are close to signing Camilo Duran. To be honest I’d never heard of him before which means nothing as it’s been a long time since I’ve kept an eye out for potential signings .
My only concern would be is that he’s never been capped for Colombia, at 24 you would expect someone of quality would at least been given an opportunity.
Perhaps there’s a story there.
part 2
I’m not content but here is my £1,000+ for my season ticket so that I can sing “sack the board” at you for another season after negotiating all of John Swinney’s cycle lanes that nobody will ever use ALL around, and only around, the Parkhead area. lol
And then these same types call the Huns “Gullibillys”?????
The game was over when Thatcher got away with telling you you needed a plastic seat to keep you safe from the Hillsborough disaster officers.
What a load of kite!
Have a good rest of your day!
Maybe Paul67 is pining for his pal to come back
I’m sure Brian Wilson and the board will keep the red flags flying high for some time to come
SPIKEYSAULDMAN on 6TH JULY 2026 4:37 PM
If you’re wearing boxing gloves when you’re asking, I’m telling you exactly what you want to hear.
Evening all.
Just had a look at Camilo Duran reel (as you do, or as you should not).
So disappointed, not a mullet haircut in sight.😜
It was a nightmare trying to get hold of tickets for the games at the end of the season. Huge demand.
Nobody wants to miss out on the drama and pure joy of the run in.
Personally, I also think that most people have a long enough memory to remember we did win another double, and thats “adequate”. We’re not all grumpy old gits who sit on the internet arguing all day.
Good evening from me and Calton Tongues, Joxer Dalys, Dublin. It’s a hard life.
🎶Grumpiers are we who lives are pledged to …….🎶🇨🇮
I do hope the Belgian Football authorities take FIFA to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for the Folarin Balogun situation. The arse licking Infantino is every bit as corrupt as Blatter, Joao Havelange and Ricardo Teixeira before him, possibly even more so. FIFA’s reputation was already trashed but this man has shoved any remaining fragment of integrity into the bin.
OX
To say I’m underwhelmed is a joke, just like our club.
Is that signing supposed to keep us happy.
Nothing against accountants but the are totally incapable of lateral thinking.
As I see it no players will be signed until we sell our prize assets, typical
I reckon Henrik could do a shift for us, lets get him back, ffs
Sickened to my back teeth
kingLUBO
What a circus. From the NYT;
World Cup
Erica L. Green
July 6, 2026, 10:56 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Erica L. Green
“President Trump said that the U.S. team’s match against Belgium at the World Cup on Monday night will be more fair after his intervention because both teams will have their full rosters available. But as he celebrated the overturning of a suspension of the U.S. team’s top scorer, he invoked his baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
“We’re going to have a full team, and Belgium is going to have a full team,” he said. “And you know what? If they beat us, then they can be really proud. The other way, if they beat us, we’ll say it was — I’d say— it was rigged, just like the election was rigged in 2020.”
Erica L. Green
July 6, 2026, 10:28 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Erica L. Green
“President Trump said he didn’t know what a red card was before he intervened in a decision that would have caused the U.S. team’s top scorer to be suspended for an elimination game against Belgium on Monday. “When I found out, I said, ‘You got to be kidding,’” he said. Trump said he then called the president of world soccer’s governing body and asked him to review the incident”.
B-b-b-but Trump said it wasn’t even a foul, just two athletes running into each other and getting their legs tangled.
I really wonder if Trump knows the difference between telling the truth and lying. The dangerous nonsense he spouts every time he opens his mouth regularly frightens the life out of me. I really fear for democracy over there.
PAUL67 – you are finally catching up to the news that Celtic are all but in complete disarray. AOC eventually got fit by mid-April, and then spent the final 6-games of the season on the bench, seeing a total of 27-minutes action. Not good enough to start, but good enough to re-sign!?!?!?
FIFA – thank you Paul67 for triggering my compulsive hating disorder when confronted with the worst kind of behavior, from two of the worst humans on the planet; Infantino and BFOC. May they both suffer all kinds of unspeakable pain, and be exposed for the charlatans that they undoubtedly are.
THE BADA BING on 6TH JULY 2026 12:18 PM
Engels £25 million … The Ox £ zero
There’s your replacement 👍 Economics Celtic style…
* There are all sorts of openings at Celtic Park, you should send in a resume! 🤣
BHOYS TOWN on 6TH JULY 2026 12:19 PM
I was willing to extend benefit of the doubt over Nancy’s appointment. It was a mistake but it was at least a forward-thinking mistake.
* As you say “Utterly baffling” that we could have spent the last 6-months working hard to get to exactly where we stand today.
SPIDEY101 on 6TH JULY 2026 12:44 PM
Paul sounds like he’s had his “ But the Emperor has nothing at all on” moment!
* There is plenty missing from your list, as I’m sure you realize, but the gist of your post is pretty clear – our board is not fit for purpose, and the resulting shambles is becoming increasingly obvious, such that even the board apologists are seeing what we’ve been seeing for months.
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL on 6TH JULY 2026 12:54 PM
There is no vision! – not beyond the old firm at least. Most seem quite content with that though, so why change anything?
* “World class at everything we do” – not visionary enough for you?
BASHI-BAZOUKS on 6TH JULY 2026 12:55 PM
“Who are the named individuals currently driving and contributing to recruitment?”
In fairness to Paul – he has asked this several times this summer.
* Hmmmm, maybe. But he also said that there was a scouting/recruitment structure in place, before then realizing that whatever did exist was not working.
THE BLOGGER FORMERLY KNOWN AS GM on 6TH JULY 2026 1:58 PM
With due respect P67, today’s missive is a tad hyperbolic for my taste.
* I’d agree, but at the same time it’s hard to reconcile the AOC decision. Perhaps the devil’s in the details, and he’s happy with being on the bench only getting paid by minutes and contributions. It’s still an odd way to fill up a bench when so much work needs to be done.
BORGO67 on 6TH JULY 2026 4:54 PM
My only concern would be is that he’s never been capped for Colombia, at 24 you would expect someone of quality would at least been given an opportunity.
* To be fair there are some very good players ahead of him in that team. None of them called Morelos! That said, it is not encouraging that this is the market we are shopping in.
I remain hopeful that all of the signals emanating from the club are indicative or a business which is about to undergo major change. Celtic are behaving like a homeowner who is selling their house and is only weeks away from moving out. There is a huge amount of deferred “maintenance” and some basic operational stuff that is routinely neglected. Truly the “it’s someone else’s problem” attitude. Time will tell, but if the board are negotiating a transaction, then even the acquirer would be looking on asking if they have given up pretending to be competent.
The alternative view is terrifying. That’s to say this is considered “Celtic just doing business the Celtic way”. Even if I were without strong opinion on the capability of the board, and objective assessment of their work would have to conclude that they are not fit for purpose.
#wakeupandsmellthecloverCSC
Itwould be a great thing for football if Belgium walked off the field if the suspended player was included in the USA team.
The rest of the remaining teams would have to support them .
The competition would come to an end ,with the USA being presented with the trophy.
What a embarrassment that would be to Trump
Belgium appeal rejected – Reuters:
“FIFA rejects Belgium challenge over Balogun eligibility, Trump calls red card U-turn ‘brilliant’ –
https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/uefa-says-fifa-crossed-red-line-with-balogun-red-card-u-turn-world-cup-2026-07-06/
This has really blown up in Infantino’s face. If the decision had been over-turned quietly with no public statements by anyone he could have blustered it out as a bad refereeing decision for which an exception to the rule was needed. That would still not be acceptable but just about explicable.
But Trump has thrown him under his new jet by detailing the fact that he phoned Infantino and called in a personal favour. Infantino has now lost all credibility and UEFA, the real powerhouse of world football, will makes sure he gets emptied.
Cucurella’s haircut is less professional footballer and more Hippy Tribute Band.
A can of worms:
https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2074202262931476931?s=46&t=sv-Pdy_Omy4gHWjIzzeiwA
fanadpatriot on 6th July 2026 7:42 pm
It would be a great thing for football if Belgium walked off the field if the suspended player was included in the USA team. The rest of the remaining teams would have to support them . The competition would come to an end ,with the USA being presented with the trophy.
*Or the US beats England in the final for a repeat of 250 years ago in the “new “King’s 80th year as he takes the trophy back to Mar A Lago, lets face it nobodies stopped him so far
re thus –
Celtic are behaving like a homeowner who is selling their house and is only weeks away from moving out. There is a huge amount of deferred “maintenance” and some basic operational stuff that is routinely neglected.
Celtic PPM and upkeep runs to £2m per annum, it is in the accounts.
Refurbs to Main stand exec boxes.
Refurb the Number 7 restraunt.
Opening of the bar, name escapes me at the moment, but attenind it for the Rangers game, i could see where the monies was spent.
They are speniding money, they just dont tell ye, and it is favoured to the Cattus Fattus demographic, as per the fans survey, that is used for justifying where they spend, ie the areas with the greatest roi.
https://i.ibb.co/WWB08tZ1/AICSC.jpg