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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Aipple
Some Guys Have All the Luck
BSR
Yes they do, not I though. Putting together a couch for the good lady.
Send beer.
🎵he took Dermot Desmond cue and made a living outa playing his stool (pigeon)🎵
lol
I think some might be waking up and smelling the coffee, thos club of ours is an absolute shambles, and it doesn’t look like it’s getting sorted anytime soon, it can’t go on unnoticed
BOGNORBHOY on 31ST DECEMBER 2025 9:35 PM
🎵he took Dermot Desmond cue and made a living outa playing his stool (pigeon)🎵
—————
We’ll set them up and you hit them away 👍
👍
https://youtu.be/NzkLRcoL5F8
If you are attending the game on Saturday and want to get a strong message across to the board , take some mars bars .
If you want to get a really strong message across to the board , keep your mars bars in the freezer overnight . Even if you don’t hit the target , they’ll break their teeth when they bite into them .
Joking of course …..I do not advocate violence .
Auldheid
AH Well I am not part of the Collective that thinks making the issue personal and confrontational is the right way to bring DD to the table.
Quite the reverse , it is only pissing him off.
AT- The issue is personal to a lot of us.The club hasctaken my money and not used it.
What do you call that?
Confrontational- where is that pash coming from?
The club has a duty under the Companies Act to behave and interact,sincec1998 our minority led controller has to be drawn over coals to get disabled access resolutions passed,
AH-What of supporters who disagree with the Collective approach?
AT- You,you mean AH,there is a wide range of Celtic knowledge coming together,that has never worked together,its easy to pick apart from outside.
AH-That in itself is divisive.
AT- An opinion that differs from your approach to power at top at CP
AH-It does not have to be, just the realisation on both sides that both are part of the problem.
AT- Sounds dreamy AH,I dont think there is any part of the collective looking in from outside that do not see or forward where the problem is?
Our board did not see a problem,they seen dissent,an attack on them,they replied to Celtic fans in terms that would put Zionist Hasbara to shame(not that zionists can be shamed) our own Celtic men and woman.
AH-I’m only interested in what works and nothing will work as long as The Board and Support see themselves on the opposite sides.
AT-Can you point to a time when Celtic and the club where on one side? It is part of the energy that drives Celtic,now the husk of customer relations haunts as the feel of Celtic is corporatized,diluting feel for the club.
AHIt has become cultural and encourages confrontation on both sides.
AT- where has it become ‘cultural’ on the plc side AH?
It has become the cultural norm that we know best and ignore dissent and criticism imo at board level
Again show there is cultural change on plc side
The cultural change on fans is reacting to a club that is intentionally static
AH-We reap what we sow and by “we” I mean The Board AND the support.
AT- we have a good idea of the various views in those wanting change,do we have that on a board that was similar to the one MoN walked from in 2006
AH-I have long feared the division will be Celtic’s undoing since 2009, it has just taken its time to happen.
AT your long fears would have been soothed by communication,I would say this goes back to choice of model plc alas
We have problems to solve in 2025.
They are solvable,let’s get on with solving them.
Being static solves nowt
AH-Maybe catch up at Ship Bank.
AT- so ye are a troublemaker :-))
HNY
HH
*SENTINEL CELTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2025-26*
*RESULTS FROM GAME #31 MOTHERWELL 2 CELTIC 0*
Good evening, friends.
Our worst performance of the season so far started with a ‘guess who’s playing where’ debate when the teamlines came out. And we were still asking that question at the final whistle. We didn’t even get a corner until the 87th minute. And in terms of goals scored we were lucky to get nil (copyright Tommy Docherty, I believe). The faint glimmer of optimism following our wins against Aberdeen and Livingston has disappeared. And I’ll leave it at that.
We have now played 31 games, and have won 16, drawn 6 and lost 9. We have scored 52 goals and conceded 34. We remain 2nd in the league, 3 points (and 6 goals) behind Hearts. Triggers Broom are in 3rd place, 3 points (and 4 goals) behind Celtic.
As for the voting numbers, they continue to remain very low, in fact the lowest of the season so far. However, I’m continuing this wee venture for the moment anyway. I thank the 46 who emailed in this time around. Quite a handful had only 1 or 2 nominations.
The total votes cast for each player are as follows, with my own nominations asterisked.
Schmeichel: 0
Ralston: 2
Trusty*: 33
Scales: 4
Yang*: 18
McGregor: 6
Bernardo: 0
Tierney: 8
Nygren: 3
Hatate: 0
Maeda: 2
Engels: 9
McCowan: 5
Yamada: 7
Donovan: 9
Forrest: 12
Unused substitutes: Kenny, Murray, Simpson-Pusey, Sinisalo
And so, the POINTS earned by each player for the game against Motherwell are as follows –
25 points: Trusty
22 points: Yang
19 points: Forrest
15 points each: Donovan and Engels
12 points: Tierney
11 points: Yamada
10 points: McGregor
9 points: McCowan
8 points: Scales
7 points: Nygren
6 points each: Maeda and Ralston
3 points each: Bernardo, Hatate and Schmeichel
1 point each: Kenny, Murray, Simpson-Pusey, Sinisalo
And the cumulative points achieved after 31 games played are now –
442: Scales
432: McGregor
377: Tierney
326: Engels
318: Hatate
302: Maeda
298: Trusty
284: Nygren
249: Tounekti
240: Schmeichel
238: Yang
228: Forrest
222: McCowan
218: Donovan
188: Iheanacho
166: Ralston
158: Carter-Vickers and Saracchi
146: Kenny
123: Bernardo
86: Murray
70: Balikwisha and Yamada
60: Johnston
52: Sinisalo
40: Osmand
23: Inamura
19: Idah
14: Simpson-Pusey
6: Doohan
1: Hale and Isiguso
0: All the other players who’ve not yet made a matchday squad!
I’d like to wish everybody who supports this wee venture a very happy New Year when it comes. And I’m sure that everyone is aware of our next fixture.
Hail Hail!
9hrs into the New year here downunder, so HNY to all my fellow CQNers.
So now, Paul… we’ve went from Munich to Martin to Motherwell but, essentially, our limp predicament under Wilf lies at the feet of Brendan – who was ardently woo’d and seduced by the club’s biggest swinging dick ??
Honestly Paulo, I really appreciate you maintaining this CQN forum for us and I send my best wishes to you and yours for 2026, but might just suggest a wee New Year’s resolution for you…just stop blaming Brendan for where we currently are! Btw, I’m still wondering why he hasn’t countered DD’s stinging rebuke !
Anyhoos, NO Celtic fans want us to receive a hun horsing and I can only pray Wilf can somehow pull a decent result (a draw?) out of the bag.
HH to one and all.
And to think that a flat back 4 playing NOTHING BUT long balls up to our 2TWO STRIKERS would win us a European trophy!
Aye it would!
What if they bring in somebody worse than NANCY?
Who gets the blame for that?
What if the PLC have arrived at the point were they are wanting sacked but they know that Celtic fans since 1994 will fall for anything, and stand for ZERO!
Shouting for Palestine whilst voting for people who will [sleekitly/Snp/Lab/Con/Lib/Gre/Eu] ensure the erasure of Palestine, has maybe triggered the PLC into thinking that:
______
[[“THE KRANKIE WITCH HAS DONE A NUMBER ON THESE SEASON TICKET IDIOTS.
SEVENTEEN YEARS AND THEY STILL DON’T HAVE A SCOOBY!
THESE PRETENTIOUS PRKS COULD NOT LIVE WITH THE |JUNGLE| REBELS.
FOR THE SAKE OF HUMANITY LETS SICKEN OOT THE DOOR THESE VIRTUE SIGNALLING TIME WASTERS ARE NOT WORTH THE PAPER THEY ARE WRITTEN ON!
TO HELL WITH THEM AND THEIR POOR WEE VICTIMS PISS!
SO LETS EFFIN DESTROY THEM BY BRINGING IN WALLOPER AFTER WALLOPER AS MANAGERS TO ENSURE A HUN/JAMBO CONVEYOR BELT OF TROPHIES TO CELEBRATE, AND RAM IT RIGHT UP THESE FAKE REBEL WHINING BABIES, AND MAYBE THESE BORING, NO LIFE, CLIQUES, WILL FK OFF TO THE CINEMA, OR GO AND SUPPORT HIBS, SO THAT WE CAN FLOG THIS MIDDEN AND GO AND LIVE ON DD’S ISLAND, AS WE ALREADY HAVE LONG AGO POCKETED, LIFE CHANGING MONIES FROM THESE IDIOTS????”]]
____
Who would rule it out?
What a time to be alive.
WILF is a Revolution [Ah but what kind of Revolution?] tic toc!
Happy New Year.
HH
oot.
Kev J
just one thing – the fans of 1994 ? Do they still go to the games ? other team’s games ? or Dead ?
The likes of Paul,Burnley,BTB,Sionaigh,very clever at sowing the seeds of discontent among the easily led.Brendan,13 Trophies from 15,a penalty lottery depriving him of 14 ,vilified.A collusion of Board and Board lackeys,spreading tales of boring football,from a team that scored,139 goals in a season.An egotistic manager winning Trebles,!!!!!!,not on my watch.
All the subtle,and not so,jibes at the manager starting to take root in fans brains.3rd Reich tactics,slowly,slowly, blame a victim.It all came to fruition in the Summer.With the managers whole strike force,sold,Jota,,out,the fans unsettled by sedition,strike.Disregard his requests for players.Ship in projects,loans,sicken the manager,you made promises to,until he walks in disgust.
Early defeats in his tenure,before leaving,blamed on him.Tynecastle,their crowning glory.All CQN Board lackeys out in full voice.
MON managed to squeeze 6 games out of the Boards team carcass,but we could see the team was staggering,barely upright.Blame Brendan,they trumpeted.
Only now,can we see the damage,Board,and lackeys have inflicted.
To what ends?
Anyway,the Lackeys,the happy clappers,who kept telling us for years,we were all wrong about the Board,we were all malcontents,spoiled by success,ingrates We had no idea what we were talking and moaning about.We were wrong on every count.They were doing a terrific job.
No matter what they spew out now,shamefully still trying to hold their ground,in the face of a Tsunami of failure from their idols,we ,the rest of us,know different.THEY WERE WRONG,disastrously so.
A Very Happy New Year,to all true Tims.You know who you are.
spikeysauldman on 31st December 2025 10:19 pm
Kev J
just one thing – the fans of 1994 ? Do they still go to the games ? other team’s games ? or Dead ?
……
Spikeys – The fans of 1994 were Junglized.
Fans post 1994 have been dumbed down, not sitting next to all of the Junglists we stood next to because McCann made the point of scattering the Junglists all over the stadium, and described it as “Regionalizing” as folk would sit next to folk who lived more or less in the same post code, and not necessarly who we stood near every 2nd week.
Along the same lines as what JFK was going to do with the CIA/FBI, smash them into thousands of pieces and let them blow away in the wind.
My post 1994 season ticket was for the Main stand, then moved to the Jock Stein stand.
Thatcher’s plan was to seat Football stadiums and turn them into dumbed down sheep pens because she could not handle the English National teams fans hooliganism, so she used the dragnet approach and everybody got scudded.
The game has been stolen from fans and they have been shafted by the Capitalist infiltration of the beautiful game.
McCann could not wait to do to Celtic what Murray and Souness had done to the Huns, although McCann didn’t have a dodgy bank operating out of the back door like the Huns did.
The game can only be saved if we 100% reverse the “Taylor Report” pack of lies about unsafe terraces.
Well if the Thatcher goons push Liverpool fans into an already overcrowded section of the ground what did they think would happen?
They knew what would happen and they were probably sick that only 97 innocent Liverpool Comrades died. 97 RIP.
Have a good one Spikeys.
Sad are the homes…..
HH
oot.
should J Craig and Fergus have done this too ?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gvdz4y6dgo
Turkeybhoy
Would say the Lackeys fall into the following categories:
personal friendships, related; joint business commercial interests; expensive ‘soft seat ‘ ST holders; privileged groups for cup final tickets or away games, where their bus gets allocated x amount of tickets irrespective.
If none of the above, then just mindless nutjobs 🙄
Kev J
Have a Happy New Year
(btw my bro was buried with his Jungles Last Stand cert. https://ntvcelticfanzine.com/2023/05/14/the-jungles-last-stand-2/)
Thee Kev Racist
The reforming vomits forth.
You personify a shite bag.
You type plenty,crippled inside you default to racism.
You are a racist shitebag.
Is that virtue signalling ya confused rat?
As per usual, trying that well honed and dead technique from kneebender and cowtow-er failure,the unelectable George Gobbleaway,the technique of lighting the pitchfork and run away
Here we have racist scum telling Celtic fans what to do,you stick to your hidden scummery in Blant’R- do one banger
Thee Kev Racist.
Dont forget your junglized tits and supporters like you of thief Kelly and thief white(mind how they let you in for nuhhin) took Celtic within 12 minutes of being a memory.
Some of us where there.
You should write fantasy novels the rate you make pish up is formidable….but its still pish
A HAPPY NEW YEAR to my fellow tims.
An T
Have a good one…
All the best when it comes.
May 2026 bring you all your needs and some of your wants.
A special cyber hug \○/ if you find yourself alone.
KTF
Quiet everyone…Jools Hootensany coming on…
Hootenanny….ffs..
Ronnie Wood is singing like my granda…..and I’m 67….
Lulu grerrrr :(
SpikeysAuldman
You too my friend and those close to you
Have a great new year all
HH
An Tearmann on 31st December 2025 11:06 pm
……
You don’t sound very triggered what a shame.
spikeysauldman on 31st December 2025 10:55 pm
Kev J
Have a Happy New Year
(btw my bro was buried with his Jungles Last Stand cert. https://ntvcelticfanzine.com/2023/05/14/the-jungles-last-stand-2/)
……..
Sad stuff.
All the best man.
HH
oot.
Happy New Year to friends and adversaries alike….
To all you filthy animals,
Have a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year
H.H.
Happy New Year, Tims.
Don’t let the door hit your arse, Peter.
Take Nicholson, Nancy & Tisdale with you.
Happy New year to you all .💚🍀💚
Happy new year fhellas
all the best for 2026 , keep the faith, and keep your heads held high, and never give up.
HH