The last points Celtic dropped in the season was the 2-0 defeat on 22 March at Tannadice, when the starting line- up included Kelechi Iheanacho and Reo Hatate. Despite being pivotal in the recovery from being two goals down at Ibrox a few weeks earlier, Reo never started another match and played only 51 minutes football across the remainder of the season. Kelechi played in every subsequent game – scoring goals to give Celtic the lead in six of them, but that outing against Dundee United was his last start.
The next two outings (Dundee and St Mirren) saw Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in instead of Reo, with Tomas Cvancara replacing Kelechi. The St Mirren game saw a substitute appearance from Arne Engels after a long-term injury. Arne started every game from that moment, in a midfield with alongside Callum McGregor and Benjamin Nygren.
The mobility in the middle of the park from these three was what was missing in earlier weeks. They each do the hard yards, chase back to ensure breakaways are suffocated before they become dangerous, and make darting runs forward to open up space.
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No white smoke regarding the managerial position as at 1st June
“The Owner” IMO is not in the best of positions to negotiate
Celtic given the managerial merry go round from last season won’t be exactly in pole position for those agents whoose clients have been building a CV for an EPL club
Given the disaster that Wifreid was I would be amazed if “The Owner” will go down a wild card appointment or even left field
It leaves MO’N holding a very strong hand, a season just ended an amazing “Double”, he is adored/ loved by the fanbase, a re-appointment would see “The Owner” out of the firing line for a while
Hopefully MO’N being in a position of strength is at present is securing some important changes in respect to the football operation
We were fortunate with Ange but more importantly IMO we gave him free reign to use his considerable knowledge and expertise to run the football operation, he steeped into a vacuum and had the personality and the skill to fill it at Celtic
some very successful Managers who got the freedom
Pep Guardiola publicly thanked the club’s hierarchy—including Sheikh Mansour, Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Ferran Soriano, and Txiki Begiristain—for their constant backing during his decade in charge. Expressing deep gratitude, he credited their unwavering “trust and belief” as the foundation for the club’s historic era
PSG boss Luis Enrique ‘demanded total control’ over the squad
Luis Enrique reportedly sought assurances he would be given full control over the players in his squad at Paris Saint-Germain before agreeing to becoming the club’s new manager.
MO’N I hope IF he is given the nod, gets full control
Congratulations
Ladies All Ireland Gaeltacht Champions
Clg An Tearmainn 1-10
Clg Claregalway 0-09
Well Done.
Hail Hail
Some betting sites have closed their books on Celtic’s next manager.
MON, Full control, you really think so, I do not. I have more chance of landing safely on the sun.
We simply MUST deny DD his control, else we’ll get one of his Irish pals, and we know who that is, don’t we
kinglubo
Celtic support needs to up their game
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78qpe866pxo
Kinglubo
‘ I have more chance of landing safely on the sun’
You’ll be fine if you do it at night
Celtic Mac on 31st May 2026 7:36 pm
” I pity the fools”
===
I go away beyond that to gratitude I do not think like them.
All there is in awesome wonder to enjoy and they focus on hate.
They are in a hell of their own making and only they can find a way out via the path of pain that points where not to go.
Beyond here there be dragons says the pirate map.
Since Lenny left in 2014, we’ve had:
Ronny Deila – 2 years
BR – 2.5 years
Lenny II – 1.5 years (plus 0.5 years interim)
Ange – 2 years
BR II – 2 and a bit years
Wilf – 4 weeks.
The manager’s role at Celtic has become essentially short term. I dare say all of Ronny, Lenny II and Wilf would have liked to have stayed longer but they weren’t good enough.
Realistically, a new appointment will last 2 years if he’s a success, and less than 2 years if he’s not.
In that light, endowing the manager with control over all football operation is a bit reckless. He’s no sooner changed what he inherited than he’s off. There’s no continuity.
The football operation needs to become a stable organisation that supports the longer term strategic objectives of the club, rather than a department controlled by the manager.
That’s by no means a unique observation, nor is it contentious. It was also the way the club was structured until recently. We just lacked the strategic direction (😂)
The uncomfortable truth is that the football department currently – such as it is – is a dysfunctional, under-resourced and underperforming shambles. We neither recruit talent nor develop our own.
In that light, a year of MON running the first team while the shambles is sorted out is as long term as we’re going to get.
Provided there’s someone with the vision to see what’s needing to be done, and the wherewithal to do it.
KINGLUBO on 1st June 2026 3:04 pm
MON, Full control, you really think so, I do not. I have more chance of landing safely on the sun.
We simply MUST deny DD his control, else we’ll get one of his Irish pals, and we know who that is, don’t we.
kinglubo
====
Actually you dont. We think we know but none of us does.
If you cannot beat them join them is a more realitic approach I you want progress.
Being listened to with positive reasonable proposals that address issues is what works better speaking from experience if ill informed judgement does not prevent it being listened to.
I travel home tomorrow and happy to demonstrate what has worked to address issues when I meet up with Bada.
Auldheid
Unfortunately there’s not much evidence that the board listen to anyone – every manager since NL first stint have all commented on lack of early signings in the transfer window.
Blogger GM
I always thought Nygren would be best playing off a striker with more solid midfielders supporting . His scoring exploits are better than Matt O’riley although his overall play isn’t as good.
But…how would Nygren have performed in the team Matt O’riley played in.
Test
The Battered Bunnet on 1st June 2026 3:24 pm
That is the most realistic comment on the matter to surface above the various unreal narratives I read on many Celtic blogs.
It would help if Celtic were to articulate the message and set out their purpose as a Board and plans to acheive that purpose.
I put that to AGM as a single shareholder using a facility to do so announced at 2022 AGM and included since, and have had an assurance from the Dept responsible for Celtic’ s existing Purpose statement that it will be revisite.
I trust that but would like to get an assurance from the top to be confident it will happen.
I am not so sure that the clamour for MON to be given “total control” has much grounding in reality.
By his own admission, he is a banner waver and no longer a coach – but he also underplays his ability to motivate and communicate.
For sure, those attributes will be useful in the next 12 months – so by all means employ him and name his job function as he sees fit.
But if it is MON, it makes more sense to me that Shaun Maloney actually runs the football operation and gets whatever coaching staff and scouting staff he needs.
Some supporters seem to think that next season will be a scoosh if we just spend a bit of money. I would anticipate that next season will be every bit as difficult given that we need around 10 players and the ‘old brigade’ are another year older and slower.
Gene on 1st June 2026 3:37 pm
Auldheid
Unfortunately there’s not much evidence that the board listen to anyone – every manager since NL first stint have all commented on lack of early signings in the transfer window.
====
Do the managers listen to The Board and why they have reason not to take the risks managers want to make their job easier?
Listening is two way with different agendas behind the cases.
The trick is to understand the others case and get on with it or bail out.
In that light, endowing the manager with control over all football operation is a bit reckless. He’s no sooner changed what he inherited than he’s off. There’s no continuity.
What was reckless was Wilfred Nancy, insane timing combined with poor due diligence into his personality as a coach no long career of success
What was reckless was Tisdale, how on earth was the keys of the football kingdom at Celtic handed to this guy ? Lawwell, Nicholson and McKay, the Clubs “A” Team, a brave new world starting 2025
With Tisdale and Lawwell having left the building and our CEO Nicholson who can’t be found with radar, its not just left a vacuum its left a Grand Canyon sized hole
IMO Until we change ownership the chance of our present “Owner” relinquishing control and finding within the club a mercurial genius to set up new structures plus appointments to give us a modern progressive football club is zero, so I will happily give MO’N full control
Its going to be a long summer at Celtic
Auldheid – you mean they need to agree with the board or bail out. The board has all the cards.
AULDHEID
Yes, 2 people can be right, por cierto.
….
Gossip from X
https://x.com/sachatavolieri/status/2061466180276387940?s=20
🇧🇪 Arne Engels on the move!
🔄 The Belgian Red Devil recently joined DWMA football agency and wants to take the next step in his career after Celtic FC.
👀 Several Premier League & Serie A clubs, including AC Milan, are monitoring the situation.
⏳ More to follow.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cd7pqgxvy0po
“Alright guv. It’s a fair cop. I’m bang to rights”
Or perhaps not.
Instead they trot out some corporate BS about concluding their own internal investigation followed by squeals about proportionality and veiled threats of legal consequences.
-20 points at start of next season feels about right to me.
People forget. This league title was the one they meant to sabotage.
#StopTheTen isn’t a slogan. It’s a board strategy.
Now they have five years to throw another spanner in the works. Good luck with that. Martin O’Neill just put the kibosh on their latest meddling, and that makes it harder for them now. Not impossible. Just harder. But they’ll try. They always do.
And people will be watching. Every move. Every whisper. One wrong turn and their hand is exposed. Do they care? Assume they don’t. They never have.
That’s the rot. That’s why the wrong people have been sitting in the wrong chairs for too long. The club’s best interests aren’t their motivatoor. Never were. It’s the dividend at the end of the season. The pound signs. The pat on the back from people who wouldn’t know a Celtic jersey from a costume.
And they’re not hard to spot on here. They never were.
Nothing of this magnitude happens in isolation. Go back a few years. Pull back the curtain. Have a good long look. You’ll see the same fingerprints.
The next clusterfcuk is already underway. Already breathing. Already scheming. Blaming Brendan Rodgers is running out of road. The author of this farce needs a new bogeyman. A fresh squirrel to chase while the real work gets done in the dark.
Don’t blink. You’ll miss the knife going in
TBB – enjoyed your posts today across two threads about Martin being used to deliver stability over the next 12 months.
Seems sensible to me.
From posts on here only, there appears to be a majority view for Martin staying at Celtic
… although differing views about where he should sit in the organisational food chain.
Fair enough.
Simple, simplistic suggestion.
He’s intelligent, capable, loyal, and dogged
Give him the role that fits his talents, whatever they are … and fit some guys around him in the near term.
I think I’d like to see the coaching team freshened up with a clever, new recruit … if Martin is to be slightly more removed from the day to day.
Feels a bit like a lads’ gang just now.
Also worth mentioning, IMHO …
Martin picked up the mantle twice this season.
First when the team was under performing and Brendan left, and second, when it was in disarray.
Against that backdrop he delivered 2.57 points per game.
A truly remarkable feat.
Over a season that equates to 97 points.
Give Martin six decent new players and a proper coaching group to oversee …
… and I’m confident he’d deliver 97 points next season.
PS – 97 points was been enough to win every single SPL or SPFL title … bar one.
Stephen Welsh freed
Best of luck Stephen,thank you. HH 🍀
Robbie Keane tics all the boxes here it is………….
Irish ✅
Good luck Welshy ☘️☘️🇨🇮🇨🇮
If it’s Robbie Keane, they really, really haven’t got a clue !!!
Any man who tramples over dead bodies to get to the shekels will certainly not be averse to throwing a game here and there.
voguepunter on 1st June 2026 5:32 pm
Best of luck Stephen,thank you. HH 🍀
I will echo that Vp.He wore the hoops.
HH
`Back to Basics – Glass Half Full on 1st June 2026 2:00 pm
The data is a year old but the entire paying readership could fit into Gayfield Park, Forfar comfortably.`
Forfar play at Station Park. Gayfield is Home to Arbroath.
The Battered Bunnet on 1st June 2026 3:24 pm
Perhaps that’s why they are only there for 2 years
I think it’s fair to say BR left because he was not supported (for whatever reason)
Moving to a higher level Guardiola, A
AN TEARMANN on 1ST JUNE 2026 2:43 PM
Congratulations
Ladies All Ireland Gaeltacht Champions
Clg An Tearmainn 1-10
Clg Claregalway 0-09
Well Done.
————————————————
Well done indeed An Tearmann!
Fanad Gaels men won the Junior and Gaoth Dobhair have just won the Senior Men’s, good day for Donegal all round.
Hail Hail
The Battered Bunnet on 1st June 2026 3:24 pm
Perhaps that’s why they are only there for 2 years
I think it’s fair to say BR left because he was not supported (for whatever reason)
He obviously felt that the “Football Doctor” was not listening to him or working with him
Moving to a higher level Guardiola, Arteta and Emery all have control of football operations
I think that means no player comes in unless they agree
And any player they want (within budget) they get
I accept we are talking a higher level of Manager (so called elite Managers)
Look at what Martin was served in January 2026 ??
The bridge between The Manager and the so called Football experts recruiting the future is a difficult function to reconcile.
Finally I would guess any conversation Martin is having with Dermot will include a cast iron agreement on how this part of the Football department works and who is responsible for what
Martin is no fool
67ECW
TBB. Please ignore the first post @ 5.58 I obviously hit the send button accidentally
Oops
67ECW
67ECW
Cheers.
Celtic linked with RB Salzburg misfit Bobby Clark, whereas Sevco have been linked with former Liverpool starlet, guess who…………….Bobby Clark
https://x.com/SkySportsNews/status/2061500434456408228?s=20
Sky Sports News@SkySportsNews
BREAKING: Celtic principal shareholder Dermot Desmond is due to meet with Martin O’Neill and Robbie Keane this week over the managerial vacancy.