When you are full of confidence, every game is anticipated with a sense of purpose. A ‘Bring ‘em on’ attitude lifts poor sides to great heights. When a team are on a losing streak, no game looks easy. Dundee United have won one game in all competitions since September, a 3-1 win over St Mirren seven weeks ago. Jim Goodwin is not in the position he endured in the late stages at Aberdeen, however, he needs any win almost as much as Wilfried Nancy.
United are the only Premiership side Celtic have yet to face this season, but there are reasons for more caution. They have played clubs from the top half of the table eight times, drawing twice with Newco and once each with Hibs and Hearts, once with Motherwell. Hearts and Motherwell managed wins against them, while United beat Aberdeen.
This trend was further evidenced by their home and away draws with Rapid Vienna, who enjoyed over 60% possession in each game, before eventually prevailing on penalties.
United’s problem lies when playing weaker sides who defend and give them the ball, their strength is playing on the counter. Goodwin’s gameplan for tomorrow is well-rehearsed and ready. On this issue, he will have the advantage tomorrow.
An interesting aspect of these games is the amount of goals scored. There were four 2-2 draws, a 3-3 and a 2-3. United are conceding like a team near the bottom of the table but score on the break more effectively than most. Saturday’s 0-0 with Motherwell was only their second clean sheet in 19 games since playing Luxembourgers in July.
Wilfried Nancy will know to expect Celtic will have chances and to defend against counter-attacks at Tannadice. That, at least, is one consolation for our new manager.
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Dessybhoy
While your statement about current Celtic ownership is undoubtedly correct, I am not sure what people expect the alternative to be?
A lot of clubs went down the plc route to raise money – but they didn’t morph into some sort of fan ownership utopia. Instead, they are now largely owned by investment companies, despots and tosspots.
I am not saying that DD is the best option – but is the big hope that we find a more benevolent dictator?
Auldheid: “The good news is DD will want the brand image restored and that is a reason that will see changes at Board and executive level as well as squad improvement, probably from the US to get more interest in Celtic than there is outside the Irish diaspora. That might explain the signing of WN.”
Very optimistic of you. If that turns out to be the case I would be staggered.
To me it is all just one big cluster f*** and our unelected leader’s unwillingness to put in place a proper, talented, forward thinking board (and then trusting them to get on with it) is the reason for it. He is surrounded by yes men and wields power like a despot in a tin-pot country.
Johnny Kenny media
https://youtu.be/ay81QlHXrnQ?si=KDTKjbj-w4fFaxTd
Wilfred
https://youtu.be/pnisOexeCow?si=eZoFV06V2Z21qW0q
Hah
Fergus McCann needed money to build the 3 stands 30 odd years ago, he got the buy in from 10,000 supporters paying £620 for 10 shares plus his own 9m , then some larger investors who got other benefits , job done out in 5 years with the club a plc with a relatively modern shell of a stadium, unfortunately when he sold up the wee guys couldn’t buy in again to even hold a decent amount of the equity, it fell into the hands of rich individuals or institutional investors, over time the stadium has changed little, outside it a bit with the Celtic Way although that might have been Commonwealth Games money, we now have a guy with 38% of shares but in effect he acts as the owner without owning Celtic, good if you can get it, as it stands if he offers his shares for sale anyone could buy, I doubt normal supporters could raise much to buy them up, so not a great prospect but neither is being held back by the conservative approach of this Board which sees us stuck as a big fish in a puddle , football wise we are on the slide bigtime.
Pal at annual Executive Shareholders Lunch,the Board cancelled, fkn cowards running this Club,just give us more money
I see Jonny Kenny has been rolled out to quash the lost and found rumours, pathetic.
The consensus is that WN will be gone at some point cos we will keep losing games, when will the board take this decision, IMO they will wait till their other half is a cert to win the league, cos surer than eggs are eggs, we ain’t gonna win it, mark my words.
THE BADA BING on 16TH DECEMBER 2025 3:28 PM
Pal at annual Executive Shareholders Lunch,the Board cancelled, fkn cowards running this Club,just give us more money
…..
Was that the one planned for yesterday ?
HH
“The cash at the bank maintains a minimum sale price”
I don’t know what you mean by this, but the cash in the bank – beyond that needed to fund continuing operations – is worth no more than its face value.
Consider: I have a £10 note in my pocket. How much will you pay me for it?
Or: A Qianlong porcelain vase from the Qing dynasty sold at Sotheby’s for £43 Million. How much more would it have been worth if there had been a £10 note inside it?
Cash is worth its face value and no more.
Businesses are valued on their ability to generate cash. Celtic hoarding cash at the bank provides no greater benefit than the interest it earns, and the multiplier on that is 1.
We’re told (condescended) by Ross Desmond that it’s need in case some calamity occurs. This is the Chicken Licken school of business management: The sky is falling down, or if it’s not, it might.
I’d like him to tell us how many other of his Daddy’s businesses keep sufficient cash in the bank to fund eight months operating costs. Indeed, which peer football clubs do this. Or indeed, what other football club does this.
The answer is… None.
Cash needs to be invested to drive the business. Absent investment, stagnation and decline. Use it or lose it.
And here we are, underinvested and underperforming and that huge pile of cash at the bank is getting smaller every day to cover the consequent losses.
STYOOPIT. STYOOPIT. STYOOPIT.
EKBhoy- today,as I read it
Credible reports that Nancy’s lost the dressing room already? Not a peep.
Analysis of DU’s strengths and weaknesses – definitely the priority for a blog today.
Personally I blame the peasants in the stands.
Oh and remember, you and your pals own this now. It’s all yours. No more excuses, no-one left to blame…
Anyone any more enlightened as to how Celtic are approaching and playing games after listening to Nancy’s press conference? To me it is utter incoherent junk.
THE BATTERED BUNNET
The seller of your vase would
Be looking for the Quianlong vase at £43,000,010.
That tenner was never his though – someone else put it in there
Say the demand for Quianlong suddenly gets diluted because the market for such fine China was actually populated by an unknown number of fakes – it’s still got someone else’s tenner in it.
In fact you can use it to demonstrate that you can keep using it for storing other people’s tenners for quite a long time – year in year on year
Big wily Wilf will take us to the bottom 6.
PLC Sleeper Cell, BROONY, will be recruited once Wilf is jettisoned as the PLC know that BROONY will not make a good manager, so they will recruit him before the dim Tims realise how pish BROONY is as a manager, he’ll take us down a division with a Lottery sized golden PLC envelope up his jook, then act all shocked about what happened to Celtic, etc, etc, etc, etc.
Within days BROONY will be on a sun kissed beach with the PLC for the rest of their lives whilst Tims hold vigils in the car park etc, etc, etc, etc.
Newco = The company died NOT the club.
That is why the tickets remained the same price £49 per Celtic soul.
The Celtic Football & Athletic Coy Ltd 1888, were 8 minutes from death because Celtic without Desmond White’s leadership did not have the stuff to call out the lies attached to the Thatcherite “Taylor Report” of manufactured lies about Football terraces being unsafe.
All Football terraces would have been unsafe if the police were ordered to crush fans to death at every stadium, like they were at Hillsborough 1989.
Thatcher needed an excuse to bring in all seated stadiums, to end English National Teams Fan Hooliganism problem, and they got it by killing 97 innocent working class lefty Liverpool fans. RIP
Desmond White would have directly called Thatcher out as a murderous lying bitch.
Emphasising her Governments treatment of Irish Catholics, in Ireland, as a reason as to why her Governments “targeted” killing of 97 Liverpool fans as to why NO THATCHER GOVERNMENT can be trusted with football fans safety never mind anything else.
And fans would have gotten to see why the Scottish Media were terrified of the way that Desmond White presented Celtic’s case.
No media could lay a glove on him and that was at a time when Scotland actually had some decent journalists.
We have had ZERO executive leadership since the death of Desmond White, in 1985.
When Desmond White died, the first Old Firm game after his death was at Parkhead in August/September/time, and ended in a 1-1 draw. And before the game started, the Rangers end held up a huge banner celebrating DW’s death with words from a phrase the wee lassie spoke in the “Exorcist” film.
As soon as the Rangers end held up that banner, thousands of Celtic fans in the Jungle charged towards the Rangers end to try to knock down the mesh wired fence separating the Jungle/Rangers/end and some fans raced along the touchline to get to the Huns, then the Huns fans did the same so almost a riot inside Parkhead because Celtic fans must have respected Desmond White enormously or they would not have reacted that way, and the Huns obviously knew how much of a formidable opponent Desmond White was or they would not have celebrated his death in the way that they did.
But sadly for Celtic and the beautiful game, Desmond White died 4 years before Hillsborough, or the Capitalist colonisation of the beautiful game might not have happened.
And other clubs who were also about to be financially crushed by having to build new stadiums would have rallied around the Desmond White’s flag of resistance to the capitalist theft of the beautiful game.
And fans would have moved on and hardly glanced at the all seating question ever again.
And 30% of the young Celtic fans who did not work would still be getting a lift over the turnstile for free, the Celtic way.
Desmond White RIP.
Liverpool 97 Martyrs RIP.
HH
oot.
Auldheid @ earlier
Wise words.
It’s not done with smoke and mirrors, he’s a billionaire but not a magician, Celtic supporters pay for the club directly or through Adidas, the PLC gets all the money, and with no net spend, it stays right there. All the board do is keep to the budget under net spend, everyone happy.
Not quite, the supporters get further and further away from football satisfaction, having contributed to record turnover.
Now the board who started mildly contrite, has inconceivably decided to go to war with our own supporters, they can’t ban or cancel fast enough – apparently.
HH
he is a waffler , blah blah blah , it is beyond winning , jibberish chat, don’t think many of media understood what he was going on about.
Broony has previous for cheating Celtic fans.
Who could ever forget the 3 amigos who threw the 10 in a row season under the bus.
BROONY – LENNON – LAWWELL destroyed the 10 season from within, a classic PLC inside job. all to save the Old Firm.
Post MON 2005 and his warnings about “THE SLOW LANE” not a word can be trusted from Celtic FC since then.
Apart from MON pulling us out of the fire a few weeks ago. lol
HH
oot.
There’s a bit of a quandary approaching. We would ordinarily expect the club to front load investment in the team when a new manager is appointed. Moreover, the team is badly in need of strengthening. Immediately. Striker, right wing, central defence.
Problem is that confidence in Wilfried Nancy has markedly dissipated in the short time since his arrival. Meanwhile the recruitment team has delivered a string of lemons in recent times. Who’s making the decisions?
We’ve got 5 players who (when fit) all play on the left wing and only one (James Forrest when fit) plays on the right. With Iheanacho injured for the foreseeable we don’t have a striker worth the jersey, while our defence is as secure as a bare bum in a snake pit. Meanwhile we haven’t had a player who can hit a dead ball since Leigh Griffiths lost his mojo years ago.
How much are we going to spend to rebalance the team, and who’s making the decisions on who to spend it on, even supposing we have someone that can actually close a deal?
And what kind of players are we going to target? What system must they fit into?
The manager has put himself in a very difficult position and it’s probably fair to say that he has a very short number of matches to try to get himself someway out of it. Six league matches including Motherwell away and The Rangers at home are what he’s got before the transfer window opens.
Come January, what will we do? What would you do?
I don’t know what’s worse: Backing Wilfried Nancy then sacking him; Or not backing him and not sacking him. Other perms are available, of course.
Sack him now get a new Manager even as a temp who knows the Club MON for me,with Maloney and Fotheringham, we need to sign a right back urgently TR is not an adequate backup, we Need 2 Centre Forwards as we have none available, being greedy i’d sell Hatate McCowan and get 2 middies in as well
TBB,
My money would be on a bunch of loanees in January to hedge our bets – and I don’t think it will end well.
I’d also play Sinisalo from now on as No.1
Tidsdale got his job after a chance meeting with Dermot. This was then spun as Rodger’s personal choice.
Tidsdale tried to force yamada on Rodger’s in January 2025 but Rodger’s rejected him.
Summer 2025 Tidsdale goes to Japan, unbeknown to Rodger’s and signs yamada and inamoura.
The first interview after this Rodger’s announced them as club signings. The Marion shved of his second term and so it begun.
Rodgers openly begged for quality players to progress from the highs of the Alllianz in February.
So who did he get.
KT already signed has been our best player but not fit enough
Yamada ignored by 3 managers
Inamoura ignored by 3 managers
Osmand ignored by Rodgers until given a chance by MON out of desperation. Looked promising until his hamstring.
Saraatchi has looked promising until his hamstring twice.
Nygren has floated in and out the team with three managers not convinced.
Balikwisha virtually ignored by Rodgers and ignored by O’Neill and Wilf
Tounetki decent ball carrier but nothing else. Dropped by O’Neill and bizarrely reinstated by Wilf
Iheanacho a desperate post window pick from Rodgers black book who looks the best we have upfront but clearly has fitness and hamstring issues.
Kenny given a new contract. Virtually ignored by 3 managers. Started well with MON but then dropped,
Simpson Pusey ignored by 3 managers although MON gave him one start and promptly dropped him again.
Wilfred Nancy who bizarrely ended up working with someone who had been tisdales U19 coach at Exeter and from that became our no.1 target as our next manager.
All this cost us a multi trophy winning manager who stated he was here to improve not maintain and completely threw the toys out when he realised the extent to which he has been stitched up. Even though he approved all incomings and outgoings from the club so he did. Aye.
So it looks like there are two options now. Let tidsdale spend again to support Nancy or clear the lot out and accept that the gross negligence of the clubs hierarchy for which there are no consequences, ensures that this is a disastrous transition season.
From Allianz to Also Rans.
In 9 months.
And it’s all Brendan’s fault of course.
Nancy Out Now
THE BADA BING on 16TH DECEMBER 2025 3:45 PM
EKBhoy- today,as I read it
…..
It’s probably the same one I had a buddy due to attend, previous feedback on the capabilities of our sort of middle management guys would literally set your hair on fire. Feels like a family business with their head in the sand but got the veneer of a plc so they can start to enjoy plc salaries , all very depressing.
HH
TMWT – a decent shout. Problem is, January tends to be loans central. If we load up with loans I’ll now think they’re following your advice 😂
I can’t even watch the press conferences. He doesn’t know the players, doesn’t understand that we must win every domestic game, doesn’t know the league, doesn’t know the opponents, probably has never played winter football before.
And he says nothing specific about which players in which positions. Doesn’t he even know himself what he wants?
He is all theory and no practical application.
We all know how this ends. The only thing that saves the season is if he’s out by the end of the month.
Off to write my letter – Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is a new manager, any manager…
Does anyone have a link to today’s article in The Herald by Stephen McGowan?
The Battered Bunnet
Which of Desmond’s other businesses build up cash in the way that Celtic has?
Shamrock Rovers
https://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/as-shamrock-rovers-prepare-for-european-night-teenagers-transfer-fees-and-uefa-prize-money-lift-club-into-profit/a2047435447.html#
dessybhoy on 16th December 2025 4:27 pm
I’d also play Sinisalo from now on as No.1
Dessybhoy, thanks for that I thought I was in my own wee club. Kaspar was an inspired signing when Big Joe left and was terrific in season one and the first part of last season. Then he got that bad injury playing for Denmark and has never been the same, IMO. The goal he lost in the Cup Final looked against Aberdeen was a bread-and=butter save, but he looked as if he was physically unable to actually reach the ball.
And some of the goals he has lost this season have verged on the ridiculous, two obvious ones in Europe from outside the box, and the second goal on Sunday when the game was still in the balance.
Yep, time to free the Finn.
Ave Ave
Just watched the presser.
Who at Celtic sat through an interview with Wilfried Nancy and thought he was suitable?
This is a car crash.
I feel for our players trying to get their heads around this gibberish.
Slipped up there Foxy.
EMERALDBEE \O/ A DOUBLE NINER!! on 16TH DECEMBER 2025 5:24 PM
dessybhoy on 16th December 2025 4:27 pm
I’d also play Sinisalo from now on as No.1
Dessybhoy, thanks for that I thought I was in my own wee club. Kaspar was an inspired signing when Big Joe left and was terrific in season one and the first part of last season. Then he got that bad injury playing for Denmark and has never been the same, IMO. The goal he lost in the Cup Final looked against Aberdeen was a bread-and=butter save, but he looked as if he was physically unable to actually reach the ball.
And some of the goals he has lost this season have verged on the ridiculous, two obvious ones in Europe from outside the box, and the second goal on Sunday when the game was still in the balance.
Yep, time to free the Finn.
Ave Ave
……………………
I’ve been saying this for the last month. Sinisalo was great in the games he played earlier in the season. Since then he hasn’t had a look-in.
Johnny Kenny did very well at the press conference.
Crazy!
https://x.com/UnityNewsNet/status/2000928534924341678#m
Sad are the homes…..
HH
oot.
Ziggy, but he shouldn’t be wheeled out for press conferences right now, noticeable that Callum hasn’t done post match stuff last 2 games…..
First thing Nancy should do is get AMpadu to do the pressers for him . He is supposedly a Celtic man raised in Dublin Which suggests he knows what Celtic means and has meant to generations of supporters . Wilfreid’s communication style sounds more Parchmans farm than Parkhead.
share trading preagm, has anyone found out who bought the Lindsell Train 1.5% ?
“Hayato Inamura, who joined this summer on a four-year deal, is reported to be close to returning to his home country. ”
Another punt bites the dust.
An Dún on 16th December 2025 5:36 pm
I assume Nicholson – probably Lawwell – who knows
This guy is Russell Martin with a French accent
I am angry with myself for not joining up the dots
What made me think a Board that cannot reconcile a relationship with BR or buy a Centre Forward would be capable of recruiting a proper Manager
I cant listen to him I just cant see this working
67ECW