It was never going to be Brazil 1970 but Celtic’s 2-0 win over Auchinleck Talbot fell considerably short of even low expectations. Johnny Kenny scored his first goal in over two months, as the confidence-sapping weeks took their toll on the player. He is a better finisher than the past 10 weeks have demonstrated. Hopefully he can start to recover.
All credit from the game goes to Auchinleck Talbot’s players, who threw themselves in front of everything Celtic could muster. Their performance reminded me of the 1-1 draw Arbroath took from Celtic Park in the Scottish Cup in 2012. The Angus side performed equally well in the reply, but went down 0-1. Nothing we watched in that tie could indicate how well 2012 would end for Celtic.
Delighted with the home tie in the next round and although Dundee have already beaten Celtic this season, they are ninth in the Premiership and should be a welcome visitor to Celtic Park.
Hearts’ home loss to Falkirk on penalties adds an interesting dynamic to our visit to Tynecastle next week. Regarding Hearts, we have been hearing ‘momentum is all’. That being the case, Sunday will be interesting.
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Agreed Paul.
Sunday will be interesting.
Re Dundee next round … we’re good at Celtic Park under Martin.
Home form might be important.
“Sign someone. Naw, no him”
Predictable responses.
Stating the obvious perhaps, but the existing leadership … whom many on here despise … will be the people making the signings this window.
That fact shouldn’t automatically illegitimise the new guy.
How about we reserve judgement on a player until (a) he signs and (b) we see what he has got to offer?
PLB earlier … Brendan wanted Balikwisha
How about we look at his form and his known personality traits.
Gene
condolences on the passing of your niece
Gene
My sincere condolences on the loss of your niece…May she rest in peace.
Starting eleven against Feyonoord
Schmeichel
Donovan Trusty Scales Tierney
McCowan Engels McGregor Hatate
Yang Maeda
Subs given decent time on pitch; Nygren, Tounetki, Murray
plus Ralston & Bernardo
Every one of those players fit and available for Bologna. Plus Kellechi if fit, Kenny if part of the EL squad.
Lets see if Martin & Co can get the line-up, formation, and tactics right for Thursday.
We know they will get the motivation right….
Gene.
Tragic news.May your niece rest in eternal peace.Candle to be lit at Our Lady’s altar Clonard Monastery Belfast this evening.
PETERLATCHFORDSBELLY on 19TH JANUARY 2026 2:01 PM
Fair play to Talbot, thought they were excellent. Our guys were dross. Because they are dross. Who is responsible for Balikwisha? Summary dismissal required.
————
Tisdale has already been sacked
Back to Basics
You are correct. BR insisted on Balikwishaw. To be clear he was not keen on the Tunisian lad but took him as last resort. So he can’t be blamed for both of these. As I understand it.
St Stivs
Rangers winning the league this season will almost certainly ensure they go into the CL directly.
This explains their activity in terms of inward transfers and risks taken even with a bloated squad.
I think you put out a post regarding the scenarios in the next week which would ensure this came to pass.
Would you mind refreshing.
I am pretty sure it involves rangers winning their next couple of games in Europa and Copenhagen and Galatasaray losing both theirs but not certain on it.
Thanks.
It’s always a pretty fruitless pursuit trying to work out who signed the successes and who should be shot for the failures, particularly when theyre taken in isolation but didnt we try and sign Balikwisha before PT was at Celtic and when we were told that Brendan was responsible for all signings?
Brendan certainly sounded like he wanted him when he signed
No criticism from me, it made sense at the time and we’d obviously done a thorough job of scoring him. Mistakes, if he is one, get made 🤷
Scouting
Another one for the Summer 2024 window though
Brendan Rodgers also to blame for Wilfred Nancy and the 12 point swing 👍
FWIW Michel – Ange Balikwisha is the perfect example of what we are up against in the transfer market. A stark reminder of what’s frequently available for a mere 5M of our pounds.
Reluctance to spend?, no wonder some might agree, Seb Tounekti funnily enough same price is somewhere on the same spectrum of millions of pounds of wee Celtic’s clung onto’s . All transfers are punts ©️ SFTB nowadays £5M is just the new entry level product.
In Balikwisha’s case MON can experiment and mentor in a Cup Tie, but it’s not looking good for this punt. He seems like a nice boy with a good first touch, but no second, third, etc . We might be doing well to get the player loaned away at the start of his 5yr contract! – like the daisy chain of players that preceded him.
The window is now open I’d prefer loan deals until the entire process is reviewed and revised hopefully with better judges to carefully pick our way through the football transfer minefield. We’re back trading blows in the same price range as Sevco, so anything can happen in the next five years. The ‘tightening of purse strings’ always ends one way at Celtic,
All Brendans fault !!!!…..don’t ya know it 🤪
He must still be hanging about turning loads of players down 🤔🤔
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 19TH JANUARY 2026 3:09 PM
Brendan Rodgers also to blame for Wilfred Nancy and the 12 point swing 👍
Relax, nobody’s blaming Brendan for anything here.
Should MoN not be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat vs Hearts, and a 9 point differential proves too much to overhaul, is it time for the board to retire themselves?
Thumbing your nose at a guaranteed CL 40 million, and the associated prestige of participation is surely neglect beyond forgiveness?
I can’t think of any other corporate institution or structure where the board would survive such oversight. It’s my own field of expertise and I speak with the insight of observation internally.
Celtics success isnt based on how much our players have cost.
We have never bought success, it’s always about value.
A bunch of pre-pensioners running an institution that requires modern day quicksilver thinking and reaction, whilst checking up on your preeminent social security pay days, is surely not a model designed to cope with the modern day information highway?
Another big win for Al Qadsiah yesterday 5-1 away from home.
Once the current board have their desks cleared, i could see Rodgers coming back for a third stint.
celtic40me on 19th January 2026 3:16 pm
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 19TH JANUARY 2026 3:09 PM
Brendan Rodgers also to blame for Wilfred Nancy and the 12 point swing 👍
Relax, nobody’s blaming Brendan for anything here.
*absolutely comments are just being made on who was in charge at the time ffs the Big Mhan had his fair share of mistakes in the market, one of them a failed striker was turned intae a stoatin centre half by our greatest ever captain and I believe was at one time our top goal scorer against 1872
A CEO who is a lawyer, with a track record already established in the field of law will never have the ability to react and respond dynamically to the demands of a corporate entity.
Lawyers are not built and educated that way. Law is the field of reserve, healthy hesitation, and deflection. Due diligence and discovery, natural instincts of a lawyer, get you run over in the field of commerce and negotiation.
Celtic40me
You are correct. BR insisted on Balikwishaw.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Admittedly is was only the Motherwell version to blame on BR – apparently
Brendan Rodgers is/was a very good manager. In his first iteration the team played fast, entertaining football. His second coming was, initially, promising. But, increasingly, a risk averse approach killed the joy in watching his team. Arguably, it also cost us last season’s cup final.
Those who direct Celtic do deserve commendation for their business acumen. A bank balance and insurance policy of £70m is unheard of in Scottish football. That said, Celtic is, first and foremost, a football club.
That makes its recent failures to add value to the first team deeply concerning. The lavish £20m spent two seasons ago has had minimal impact on the quality of the team. That’s bad business.
This has been a crisis season. With Martin there we may still win the title. But if we fail to modernise our recruitment we will enter a spiral of decline. Once in that spiral it will be the devil’s own job to reverse it.
Tom McAdam ?
Post-pensioners, even.
Squeezing every last penny from the club before they depart, never having done an honest day’s work, true parasites living off others’ labor.
No wonder Dahan is their go to agent, birds of a feather and all that.
Tontine Tim
I will never forget the equaliser at Ibrox in the 86th minute of the 2-2 game. I think it was Tommy Burns sent off that day and we still hauled our way back to 2-2 from 0-2 down.
I was in the main stand enclosure. From memory one of their stands was being rebuilt. It was just 4 months after our 10 men won the league.
bournesouprecipe on 19th January 2026 3:09 pm
“Brendan Rodgers also to blame for Wilfred Nancy and the 12 point swing 👍”
Did BR not also choose Tisdale? Or did I dream reading that?
Maolmuire O Muirgheasa on 19th January 2026 3:28 pm
“Once the current board have their desks cleared, i could see Rodgers coming back for a third stint”
Is Dermot part of our board? NED?
Even if they were all sacked, I cant see it as they will be replaced with other suits with the same agenda assuming DD doesnt sell up.
You could debate all day about the inefficiencies of employees: managers, scouts, players, coaches etc. However, and unfortunately for the board, the buck stops with them. They are the custodians who must consolidate success and oversee further strategy that it propagates.
Nobody is saying that they are bad people, however, if they live and breathe Celtic (which they should), and their tenure is resulting in failure, accept your inadequacies, and allow someone more suited to then take the business forward.
No blame re Balikwishaw. Just facts. Time and a run in the team will determine if he really has anything to offer. The guy has not had a chance really in anything resembling a decent team in his preferred position.
The facts are simple though. BR wanted him. Lots BR got wrong but none as big as DD getting it wrong bringing him back. That really is massive. And yes it did lead us to the Nancy debacle and where we are now.
He should have been sacked in April. Only one guys ego (and very weak execs on the board) wouldn’t allow it. Had that happened we would be in a very much better place right now.
TONTINE TIM on 19TH JANUARY 2026 3:28 PM
celtic40me on 19th January 2026 3:16 pm
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 19TH JANUARY 2026 3:09 PM
Brendan Rodgers also to blame for Wilfred Nancy and the 12 point swing 👍
Relax, nobody’s blaming Brendan for anything here.
*absolutely comments are just being made on who was in charge at the time ffs the Big Mhan had his fair share of mistakes in the market, one of them a failed striker was turned intae a stoatin centre half by our greatest ever captain and I believe was at one time our top goal scorer against 1872
——-
Every football manager is accredited mistakes in the transfer market, it’s done almost daily on and every day on the internet.
Celtic had an HFO just sacked, and two managers sacked, most adult Celtic supporters are able to reconcile that one individual person isn’t to blame for the recruitment fiasco, and resultant current downturn in the general Celtic experience.
Celtic is an emotional attachment as we know. History, family connections, charity, and acceptance are all at the core of who we are.
However, our current demise calls for dispassionate reaction.
I can’t vouch for emotional attachments of minority shareholders or wealthy supporters, but when their involvement has created a fractured Club eating itself in acrimony and simmering silence, then it’s time to move aside.
“It’s not about me. I want Celtic to be the very best that it can be. My ambition is for the club, for our supporters, for the players.
“It’s not a personal thing for me. I can only do my very best to improve what it is we need to improve. Whatever situation I’m in, I will then look to be the very best that I can be.
“The first time I was here, I probably left because of that (frustration at lack of backing). But I won’t be doing that this time. Absolutely no chance – 100 per cent.
“My duty is to be here and help the team, the squad, the club get back again and moving on.”
Asked if a window that Rodgers admitted “could have been better for us” had made him ponder quitting, he added: “It didn’t. It didn’t make me think to walk away. I just felt empty, if I’m honest.
“It was a long process and the weight is on your shoulders when you’re here, carrying everything. When it doesn’t quite go the way you want, then of course you have an empty feeling.
Martin O’ Neill must be asking himself the same questions, looks like he was duped too.
* daily on here ☝️
“It was a long process and the weight is on your shoulders when you’re here, carrying everything. ….. ….”
MoN is accredited with the statement: “Welcome to the slow lane.”
Here he is again living his own prediction.
Mature, honest pros are once again required such as he presided over in his first term.
The days of projects are over.
First minute of the game boot a diet-hun up in the air.
Ask Barry Robson for his template.