My friends in Celtic, you and I have discussed this subject for over two decades, seldom in that time has the club been in such disarray. No one football game determines the health of a club, but yesterday’s 2-0 defeat at Fir Park perfectly illustrates what a soft touch Celtic are.
Credit to Motherwell, this is as good a side as I have seen from them, but they are not a Champions League-level team. However, they out-thought Celtic and controlled the game throughout. The list of Scottish clubs who have already done this, this season, is significant: St Mirren, Hearts, Dundee and Dundee United have all beaten Celtic and bossed them, at least once each. Kilmarnock were denied a point by an added-time penalty, 10-man Aberdeen by two goals after the 87th minute, while a truly awful Livingston twice took the lead against us.
Wilfried Nancy inherited much of this mess. Three misfiring transfer windows proceeded Brendan Rodgers departure and Wilfried’s arrival. Despite significant spending the squad was left imbalanced, the new manager had to cope with that, but he is far from blameless.
When plans meet grass
Few of us looked forward to last night’s game expecting yet another new formation. I am sure this made sense on a flipchart at Lennoxtown on Monday but it was destroyed from the start by a Motherwell squad which benefited from a total spent this summer of £250k.
The lack of structure which caused the alarm in the first half was not due to a lack of a decent striker, it was a consequence of what was written on that flipchart. The second half saw a return to the formation which won the previous two games, and allowed Celtic a degree of control of the ball, but roles were changed. McCowan came on at wingback, not the inside role he has been enjoying so much success in. Maeda, whose crossing was a real asset in recent weeks, was hooked, while Shin Yamada was given the lost striker role. Better than expecting Reo Hatate to plug the gap, I suppose.
We are at the cusp of the ‘favourites for the league title’ shifting from Celtic to God knows who. Either one of two poor-to-average teams who because of Celtic’s inept performances are likely to win the league.
Football fans love a scapegoat; take your pick. None of the players involved last night were to blame, nor was the referee. The result was a failure of team planning and the team planning failure was a consequence of the second successive poor managerial appointment by the board.
When appointing a manager, I support Celtic looking outside the box. We will not out-perform unless we follow different leads to our wealthier competitors. On paper (or a flipchart, if you prefer), finding someone with a bit of form in the MLS ticks this box, so I was happy with the appointment. The diligence and transition planning, however, was woefully short.
20 years ago, Gordon Strachan started his Celtic managerial career with a terrible defeat and an alarming draw (at Motherwell). Despite winning three successive league titles and taking Celtic into the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first and second times, he never quite recovered in the eyes of some supporters. 20 years on, the world has not become more tolerant. Wilfried could recover and win the league, but it will not be enough for some.
Layered on top of this is transfer planning. The head of recruitment brought the manager in and the manager has plans to spend many millions in January. This is what the club hopes will deliver salvation from what ails us. Players suited to the formation in three or four positions might work. The return of Jota and Kelechi Iheanacho, then Callum Osmand and Alistair Johnston, will help. Our prospects of a league title this season are circling the drain, but they have not yet flushed.
The other side of the equation is equally important. It is easy to destroy but difficult to build ‘What next?’ Sack the manager is easy, subsequently recruiting someone who can deliver the kind of success Celtic has come to expect not so much. Sack the board, that’s easy done too. Replaced by what? I’ll save you a lesson in corporate governance structures, but if you think any fool can run a successful Celtic, you are the fool.
My expectation is that Celtic will not win the league this season, despite that being entirely possible right now. Head of Football Operations Paul Tisdale has been thrown in at the deep end in at a level he had little experience of. We are not Exeter City. Nor are we Columbus Crew. Our football structure is simply not operating at the level we were even two years ago.
To our board, I suggest they reflect on how we got here. Why was Brendan brought back, who was inevitably going to play the same games he did during his first spell and resulted in the summer debacle? Why did we move from importing Manchester City’s recruitment imprint to that of Exeter City? Celtic is a big ticket job, recruitment analysts across Europe would jump at the chance to work here.
I expect the club will throw the dice in the January transfer window in the hope of landing some sixes. The fallacy of sunk costs is powerful. You and I do not have all the information, so we should also consider where we are on the Dunning-Krugger chart. People on the outside who believe obviously clear decisions are not being made are usually at the first peak.
Personally, I would have a chat with Shaun Maloney this afternoon. I might be one of the fools, but he is not. We have talent at the club. There is a squad with potential to achieve more than they currently are. There is enough money in the bank to fix whatever is wrong – all a consequence of years of good work.
It has been a real honour sharing 2025 with you. The blog can sail through the good times with little of substance to contribute. It is needed most when clouds gather and perspective is low. Some may regard today’s as being light on perspective, but there is no point having a blog if we do not step forward and say when we believe things are going wrong.
Very best wishes for the new year. I hope you have a healthy and happy one, and I hope we see Celtic back bossing the land once more. Take care, all.
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Shambles.
Complete
Look at The State of the Club 2025…….fixed that for you Paul……
Woke up to see this clown is still here,maybe a 4 or 5 goal defeat was required
For the love of god just get rid of him.
Shoulders to the wheel chaps.
We have a league to lose!
#OldFirmery
LIONROARS67 on 31ST DECEMBER 2025 12:36 PM
Roger Mitchell@RPMComo
@CelticFC
A Politburo of nepo-babies, incompetents and decaying vassal NEDs, all sucking at the teat of DD.
You should all apologise Japanese style with bowed head, and present your resignations tonight. This is not my club. This is not Glasgow Celtic.
You lobotomised it.
https://x.com/RPMComo/status/2006120345451761717?s=20
Roger Mitchell@RPMComo
Sport, music, macrofinance. Author. I’m your huckleberry.
Sports Businesscomoalbachiara.net
Strong words from a football corporate executive
GLENOWEN on 31ST DECEMBER 2025 12:41 PM
Quite a post from Roger Mitchell. Appreciate its one mans opinion
Difference being, CQN has a Robocop style ‘fourth directive’ that prevents any harm or criticism of the senior exes of OCP
Roger Mitchell has had a very uneasy relationship with the Celtic fanbase he is hardly the tangerine poster man
It was Brendan what did it…..yawn.
have both left the building yet
The game is over the rebels will return.
Paul basically saying more of the same
“if you think any fool can run a successful Celtic, you are the fool.”
but it would take fools of the highest magnitude to get us where we are today….
It was that bad boy Brendan’s fault……Jesus….
The board lost our Mojo long before Motherwell,
Seen a lot of tough and duff Motherwell sides since I saw Harry Hood score a Celtic Hatrick in a five 5-1 caning in the same stadium, but I’ve never seen a Motherwell side that was better than us.
The big bit in between from summer till last night, never loses relevance ( see Paul67 today ) no matter how you slice it, A weary from Ange, to Brendan, to Wilfried team, that was neglected, our winning manager – didn’t like it, – told the board, – told us – had a petted lip – got publicly humiliated and sacked after his second consecutive double. No worries all the toxicity ahem safely removed
Then what did they do? – they permanently appointed Wilfried Nancy from a retirement league and everybody including the experts said Who? – Guy inherits BR’s squad changes everything after two training bib sessions at Lennoxtown, including funnily enough where the players, play on the pitch, then proceeds to lose 5 from 7 games including a Cup Final.
A fair few of the players last night looked as if they’d chucked it? If you didn’t see the game you only have to cut to the post match interview, he’s selected the wrong side 7 times from 7 and even changed it at HT, he’s playing concept football and speaking gibberish.
Stick
Link him up with Paul Tisdale and give him a lump of money?
Twist
Cut the guy loose, pay him and apologise all round, wrong guy, wrong place, wrong time.
MOM
Nobody
p.s. if you twist how does it make you look?
“State of the club” indeed.
As miserable as I have been in 2 decades.
Check the “state of the club.”
To make matters worse I went downstairs last night and caught my Looval lover banging Brendan Rodgers in my bed. Lights were out but I could see his teeth glimmering.
Baby Desmond proclaimed during his rant at the “AGM” that we are unable to compete in Europe.
Not finishing in the top 4 will now be a distinct possibility under brother Wilfried.
What wonderful foresight from the son of Dermot.
Paul67 is also to blame for the toxic atmosphere around the Club this season.
In many jobs, there is a notice period of three months or whatever after you join, where you can be let go if your performance is unsatisfactory.
Pity it doesn’t apply with M Nancy.
Would he be on a rolling contract like a lot of previous managers so that if he was sacked, it would only cost a yar’s salary ?
“Three misfiring transfer windows proceeded Brendan Rodgers departure ”
——————–
Hmmmm, I’m sure I remember somebody telling us we had a group of Ferraris……
What an absolute mess. Started in summer 23 and never truly recovered.
Can’t see any way this mob will admit to getting something wrong, so more pain ahead.
Great for the old firm though…..
Celtic FC has not a hope of winning the League Nancy Tisdale and the Lawyer Nicolson must be sacked, zero trust in any of them and Nicolson hired two of them, hell knows who did Nicolson’s interview or if he even got one. If we go into the derby with Nancy in charge we will be destroyed and it will be put to song forever. What a legacy for them
“Very best wishes for the new year. I hope you have a healthy and happy one”
And to you too Paul.
And thank you for CQN.
Ps
Happy Wednesday.
BR got the blame.
Surprised it wasn’t the fans.
LionsRoar
“RoboCop directive” made me chuckle. Needed that. Cheers!
Terrifying that the plan seems to be to spunk our one remaining advantage (money) up against the wall at the direction of Tisdale and Nancy.
No mention of accountability for grotesque failure. Itself a product of a rotten corporate culture. Of course not.
No unifying message or vision. This mob have got no game. Nada.
Talking to wee Shaun would be a start. Take some action you baldy dweeb with the heart of an anaemic mouse. Bring back Fotheringham and re-establish CalMac’s influence as the bridge to the players.
Get rid of the French charlatan and his spiv sponsor from Exeter. It won’t stop the league being lost but Mughal at,least galvanise,us enough to prevent it being gift wrapped for the hun.
What a shower if useless, horrible, despised shite in our Boardroom.
I can say with confidence that our troubles do not emanate from re-hiring a manager that won 11 from 13 trophies – 12 but for a pen shoot out, his only defeat at Hampden in over 4 years of managing us. A man that overseen record player sales, record profits and record revenues.
Today’s piece is almost as embarrassing as last night. I do agree with one thing – Nancy should be out this afternoon.
Vale Bhoy … if i may … reposted from previous thread
———-
VB @ 11:39am cheers.
Fair question.
I think we need a patient, realistic strategy to change the structure and culture of the executive.
Central to that is active, intelligent fan ownership of a large chunk of Celtic, that intelligently and formally holds the executive to account
That one simplistic statement?
5 years work, IMHO.
What does that 5 years work look like?
“Resolution 16
This resolution calls for the Celtic board to create and publish a detailed strategic plan for the next three to five years, covering football, financial, and strategic aspects”
First, confirm who the brains trust are.
Think of the Celtic Board as the Cabinet.
Define a Shadow Cabinet
Get the rebels to sign up to the shadow cabinet then tell them to put their tangerines away.
Then put the shadow cabinet to work
(BTW – they’ll need paid)
Second, that shadow cabinet don’t ask the board for their Resolution 16 style strategic plan.
There was an opportunity to get the board to either say “Nah” or come up with a strategic plan (either good or bad).
That opportunity has gone.
A small group of noisy guys blew it !
Anger over brains.
So, instead, the Shadow Cabinet come up with their own strategy (a proper, professional, polished document) and socialise it broadly.
Put the board on the back foot just like every effective opposition does to every government every two weeks for five years.
The opposition have a much easier gig – they don’t even need to own the outcome.
They just need to provide an alternative that passes the sniff test.
Important : That strategy to include a new share issue plus plans for refreshing share ownership every 10 years. (See below)
Then, work the existing small shareholding …
… and work it
… and work it
… and work it
Hard yards, day in, day out for YEARS.
Done out of sight, with little thanks for bringing crumbs.
Gather enough crumbs though?
You get a loaf
2% becomes 3, 5, 8, 13 then 21%
Next, buy shares.
Don’t buy a lot.
Buy a little, a lot … over 5 years.
After 5 (potentially VERY PAINFUL) years?
You’ll have your strategy, your people and your formal mandate.
Who did bring in Tisdale? Genuine question.
A bad smell??
The only extra personnel for Saturday, will be security staff around the Directors Box
For those who like the numbers, Nancy has an average if 1.2 points per game in the league.
Realistically to win the league this season it will take around 83/85 points.
To take the title Celtic need to go from 1.2 to c2.5 points per game.
That isn’t happening.
We can argue about imbalance and quality, but we started last night with 10 international players, plus Portugal’s U21 captain, which should be enough to beat Motherwell.
I was at the game, and the players looked confused and completely devoid of confidence.
Add in a manager, who talks in riddles, has no bond with the fans nor the players , and repeatedly makes the same mistakes. It all adds up to a big, big problem.
The positive is, we can still recover, but not under this guy.
There are a lot of things at Celtic that need fixed, but No1 is the manager.
As Paul 67 says, put in a call to Maloney.
VALE BHOY on 31ST DECEMBER 2025 1:02 PM
BR got the blame.
Surprised it wasn’t the fans.
—————-
The day is young
Robert
Dermot met him and was duped he must be fuming.
*”My usual source is a relative who is involved with club but this was a text from friend of a friend who is well known businessman in Scotland*
*Been told that it is now definitely being chatted about at director level, and that he maybe canned next 24 hours”*
*”I’m in no way an in the know but do know someone that gets some inside info from time to time. Apparently theres a meeting today and Nancy’s unlikely to survive.”*
State of the club report December 2026.
Shudder to think.
You can still get 4-1 on sevco outright winners in May, suggest if your a betting person, stick a few hundred on them because it won’t be hearts.
The mob will cause an immense amount of damage in and around George square in May, the result of which after the inquiry, will be no more gatherings in the city centre, because of ‘the behaviour of football fans’.
Have a good 2026 everyone!
From the last post/thread:-
FANADPATRIOT on 31ST DECEMBER 2025 10:56 AM
I seen aspects in our play in a number of games that gave me hope.
Last nights game was the worse I have seen Celtic play for quite some times.
—————
I agree – last night was the last straw for me.
I was prepared to cut him a fair degree of slack for all the obvious reasons and also, principally, because in all the games we lost (Roma aside) there were spells in each game where you could see what he was trying to do and we looked like we could , had we had a decent striker who could convert even a half decent % of chances , outscore our weaknesses. It also looked like the players were , at least initially until we hit the first real setback in the game , fired up and competing.
There was none of that last night or , to put it another , more damning way , we look like we are, incredibly, actually getting worse.
Paul 67 et al,
What I worry about now is that ” We have crossed the Rubicon”
This is in regard to manager, board, players and fans.
How many defeats or poor performances will a new manager or players get before the GTF chants start.
HH.