My friends in Celtic, last season we enjoyed our fourth consecutive league title, a League Cup win, and a disappointing end to the treble pursuit with a penalty defeat in the Scottish Cup Final. That loss was only the sixth domestic trophy Celtic have failed to win in nine years, and three of those came amid the testing absence protocols Celtic observed impeccably in season 2020-21.
The season just finished also saw our successful participation in the first Champions League, league format, which we progressed from, before ultimately losing to an equaliser in Munich. A repeat in Europe this term will be enormously difficult.
Since then, Nicolas Kuhn, our scorer that night in Munich, has left for Como, Greg Taylor went to PAOK, while a number of fringe players also emptied their Lennoxtown lockers.
Kieran Tierney (28) returns to fill the left back slot vacated by Greg, and we have seen a welcome return to a strategy of investing in young players. I am even happier that we have revived our Japan policy, with the arrival of striker Shin Yamada (25 but not long out of uni.) and left-side defender Hayato Inamura (23).
The arrival of striker Callum Osmand (19), from Fulham echoes the road travelled by Moussa Dembele in 2016. The final notable arrival (so far) is Swedish winger Banjamin Nygren (23). Let’s not burden him with the obvious comparison. Past performance of talent sources does not guarantee anything, but we are entitled to be encouraged.
We are a month away from the transfer window closing and the I read that Chris Sutton thinks we are weaker now than at the end of last season. Chris watched more of Kieran last season than I did, and perhaps he watched a lot of Japanese, Danish (Benji) and Fulham reserve football too. If I can go out on a limb, though, this feels like an extraordinary claim without extraordinary evidence. Doom sells more than “Nothing much to report yet”.
I spent much of last term flagging concerns that Brendan Rodgers had gone off-piste. £26m on Idah, Engels and Trusty (not counting the rest) was an alarming venture into territory I hoped he left behind during his latter days at Leicester. Therefore, I am delighted to see the manager back with what looks like a strategic fit.
Moreover, this looks like someone planning for the future, which was a concern I raised after last season’s business.
The window of course is not over and if we are to see off this season’s version of a domestic challenge with our customary manner (customary treble seems unnecessary), while reaching and performing in the Champions League, work needs to be done.
Past performances might again be useful. Our most transformational transfer window in two decades was surely the summer of 2021. Ange Postecoglou arrived and brought in Kyogo, Starfelt, Carter-Vickers, Abada, Juranovic, Jota, Giakoumakis and Joe Hart.
At the end of July 2021, however, only Kyogo, Abada and Giakoumakis had been signed. Of course, we could have signed another central defender rather than wait for Cameron, and there was no reason to wait for Jota, Josip, Carl or Joe. Alternatives were available well before their signing dates.
Fortunately, Celtic decisionmakers knew their targets and set about getting them. A short-term hit wins today’s headlines, but honestly, do we really need short-term hits? Is it perhaps better to get your plan right and follow it to the end, even if it means signing the likes of CCV and Jota on deadline day again?
I cannot believe you and I have this conversation every year. People I know and like, clever people, forget so quickly how these things work. How “Same old Celtic” actually means what we did previously, not what imaginary thing did not happen before.
We win more than anyone in world football – take this for granted and I don’t want to talk to you. We achieve this while running a sustainable business model which is the envy of clubs everywhere. We will continue to spend and strengthen the squad until the window closes (despite having competitive football before then, sellers often choose to wait until near the end).
Michael Nicholson is almost four years in the CEO job. That period has seen our bank balance climb to levels many of us are uncomfortable with (that includes me!). Michael carries the burden of spending that money on our behalf, which does not mean spending everything at once.
Do you want to look at past performance again? Peter Lawwell spent every penny that came into the club over any multi-year period you care to mention. [Gasp! What did the Romans ever do for us?] My expectation is that Michael will do the same. Anyone who thinks this is easy, or that there is complacency, or that they would boss the football industry, sits on a peak on the Dunning Kruger graph.
These are special years, the inheritance of work done by some of the aforementioned, by Martin, Fergus and the 10,000 who backed him. By Jock and the Lions, who picked the club out of obscurity and taught us to aim high. By those who carried Celtic during the dark decades before that, and by those who cleared the ground, when it was decided, “A football club will be formed…..”.
Enjoy the new season and always enjoy supporting Celtic.
Thank you to everyone who attended the CQN Golf Day at Aberdour in June. Blantyrekev and Taggsybhoy recently dropped by at Spirit Aid to drop off the funds raised. The golfers raised £1019.67 which will go to help the most needy in Scotland. Pictured also is Spirit Aid staff Mary Kavanagh and James Ridley (out of picture the indefatigable Patrick Rolink). Bernard Ponsonby (centre) was our fabulous guest speaker. Spirit Aid are dedicated to improving the lives of young people. They are worth of our support and your attention. Celtic fans are always so inspiring.
470 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 13
- »
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 1ST AUGUST 2025 4:15 PM
I didn’t read anything into your tone. As always, tone is a minefield when it comes to the written word so I tend not analyse it.
Thanks for the reply though.
….we all need help
Will be on shortly….
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 1ST AUGUST 2025 4:30
Strong leaders should really be able to manage that type of employee.
If I can answer since Paul67 won’t :)
What makes you think he isn’t being managed? This sort of stuff comes with the job at Celtic, I wouldn’t imagine Dermot Desmond losing too much sleep about some low level machiavelianism
Belgian winger Balikwisha who we’ve been after for 8 months, looks like going to a French team
Kev Jungle
Very good and poetic
KINGLuBO
Brendan is still at Celtic because EPL clubs are starting to wise up to these, “Celtic Way, Ange Ball” idealist types of self serving, ego tripping, stylistic chancers, who if truth be told, will put a club in danger ala, Rodgers at Leicester, Ange taking Spurs to the bottom of EPL and winning a European trophy, demonstrating the FACT that no club can gamble with these unpredictable types.
Why does Rodgers wait until the PLC has pocketed the fans season book money before he starts all of his unhappy pish?
Celtic fans what has happened to you? Accepting any old shi*e now.
All happy to allow the huns back into it is our Pedro, get him out now & make sure he’s never welcomed back.
Huns are bringing in players early & believe me when I say this, that boy they’ve just signed from Tottenham will tear this league apart.
Brendan is a top class manager & those Tory board members need hounded out but it looks like the die hard Celtic fans have lost a backbone.
All you happy clappers don’t you dare come on here when we lose the league & moan because your constant backing of these charlatans have caused this.
Tories out.
KINGLUBO on 1st August 2025 5:02 pm
Kev Jungle
Very good and poetic
KINGLuBO
%
Shhhh, or I’ll tell them it was you who typed it for me:)
in.
Go win it BR and the squad !
A madri raised for all the CQN’ers who passed last season
I think I recommended it in January (or maybe it was this time last year), but Charles Mackay’s ‘Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds’ is well worth a read.
Here’s a wee AI overview: “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one”. This quote from Charles Mackay’s Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds highlights the tendency for humans to adopt beliefs and behaviors en masse, often with irrationality. The book explores various historical instances where collective delusion gripped societies, emphasizing the power of social influence and the difficulty of individual thought within a crowd.
Good evening kevj – you ok?
Sutton1888 on 1st August 2025 5:09 pm
Not getting at you as I hear the phrase “Tory Board” and “No Tories at Celtic” from many folks these days – what is the identikit of a Tory?
Genuine question because I don’t actually know now, similar to this working class and upper class. My view is the lines are pretty blurred nowadays.
Celtic40me – cheers.
Not my inference but understand how it might be consumed.
I dont know either way if he (Brendan) is or he is not being managed strongly.
I agree with your comes with the territory line.
Brendan strikes me as a guy who likes control.
I get that and accept that … up to a point.
And I can understand if that bristles with the executive …
… who will always be the pantomime villain at Celtic.
IMHO, Brendan’s occasional name dropping of Dermot Desmond is disrespectful.
Manager should be answerable to the CEO.
Can give the impression of circumvention,
(My hotline to the “real” boss stuff ) which itself can undermine the CEO’s authority.
Always the chance the “real” boss bit happens to be true of course …
… and Nicholson is there to perform a functional technocratic role.
Brendan is hardly asking for the Earth. Just show a little bit of ambition which is all we ask for. Ridiculous that there is such disharmony with the fans now. I’ve had a season ticket since 1988. Might not have one next year.
Ray Winstone’s … @ 4:15 pm
Can we have a State of the Board Report?
Wonder what it would say?
—-
Lol.
I know what I’d like one small part of it to say.
Mark Lawwell no longer works for Celtic.
Peter Lawwell is no longer the Celtic CEO.
The board would like to thank both for their efforts and wishes each of them the very best of luck dealing with the extremely difficult situation that may come their way.
Specifically …
… if they ever have to pay rent for the space they occupy in the heads of people ….
… Musk, Bezos, Ellison and Zuckerberg combined won’t have enough dough to bail them out.
Lawwell is no longer the official CEO, but anyone who thinks he’s just sitting in the background not interfering…… Would you like to buy some magic beans?
One of the reasons we all wanted to get into the Champions League was to get at the cash benefits it brings, but do you know what I am not sure it’s worth it.
It seems to me what is playing out is the old adage of ‘Money being a false god’, whatever your view is about spending or not spending, having the funds we have is creating more problems that it’s solving.
I think what is playing out could be, ‘the more you have the more you want’, linked to a fear of working hard to get it, means you become totally risk adverse as you fear wasting it.
Linked to this is a complete lack of communication from the club to the fans, nothing new here, but I feel it’s worse now than ever ! I have no idea of what the vision or plan is, certainly not anything more than soundbites
RAY WINSTONE’S BIG DISEMBODIED HEID on 1ST AUGUST 2025 5:48 PM
Lawwell is no longer the official CEO, but anyone who thinks he’s just sitting in the background not interfering…… Would you like to buy some magic beans?
……
Please share your insights into any evidence of interference or do we just need to infer it ?
HH
Just infer it. You have to really since the board appears to have taken a collective vow of silence, except for the occasional snyde remarks that emanate from this blog ,having a go at the manager and the support.
What did the Romans do for us Paul?
Maybe the haggling clip from the same film is more apt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n3LL338aGA&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD
#Brightsideoflifecsc
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 1ST AUGUST 2025 5:34 PM
Apologies if thats not what you meant
I can understand how it might seem – none of us know the full picture so we go on what we do know, and we’re all of us capable of projecting all sorts of our own prejudices on the situation. But I cant see Dermot Desmond agreeing to an internal candidate to be appointed CEO that he didn’t see as being a strong character who could handle a headstrong manager. Building boards is how he’s made his billions.
Its not like this isnt something every board of every big football club has to deal with, and CEOs have come and gone quite quickly at Celtic before when their faces havent fitted. Professional relationships are never perfect at that level, outcomes are what matters, and everyone at Celtic will understand and accept that.
I’m not taking a contrary view for arguments sake, but I dont think the executive, or the whole board bristle in the way we sometimes imagine they do. I think that’s one fantasy, mine is that they are able to work alongside each other in a more professional way than people think and how people like me would be able to. Perhaps a dream job at Celtic and a big salary would change me though.
Thats not to say that I think Brendan’s M.O. is good for the club, I dont and I never have.
RAY WINSTONE’S BIG DISEMBODIED HEID on 1ST AUGUST 2025 6:04 PM
Just infer it.
……
Sounds awfully like a leap of faith or in your case a leap of lack of faith. I’ll pass on this occasion.
HH
i was out all afternoon. and just now caught up with the brendan presser.
given the tone of the bloggers i was fearful that he had threatened to chuck it all in.
but on listening it was rational. straight forward. hardly emotional.
in summary i am here for a year AT LEAST. and I love being at Celtic. now can i get more players please.
shocker.
I think they re able to separate the personal and professional in a way that most of us can’t imagine is possible.
Really encouraging to hear Brendan speaking about “maintaining” things. After finishing 17 points ahead of Across The City FC the concern would have been that the next move would be to go backwards a bit?
Maybe there is some ambition there after all…..
Just learned that BBC Scotland weren’t invited to Brendan Roger’s news conference. Brilliant news.
Rapid placing a time limit on the tillio deal to be completed or they’ll move onto to other targets is extraordinary behaviour.
Someone at Celtic needs to explain to Rapid that what they have to do now is sit on their hands and do absolutely nothing until the last few days of the window before they either get their man or blame others for not getting him.
Brendan Rodgers saying to the media saying he has spoken to Dermot Desmond and Michael Nicholson regarding his 3 year stint coming to a end at the end of the season, surely he Brendan Rodgers knows if the Celtic Board want him to sign a new contract, personally I think he will leave .
PARKHEADCUMSALFORD on 1ST AUGUST 2025 6:48 PM
Just learned that BBC Scotland weren’t invited to Brendan Roger’s news conference. Brilliant news.
…..
I believe this was due to Tom English authoring a hatchet job on Brendan last year which was a disgraceful , opinion piece more suited to downmarket blog world.
HH
Lol downmarket blog world ….
What a wanky comment that is. For many reasons. First amongst them being that downmarket blog world is where you’re choosing to spend your time tonight.
Lot of thought went into that post, obviously.
TIMBHOY163 on 1ST AUGUST 2025 6:55 PM
Brendan Rodgers saying to the media saying he has spoken to Dermot Desmond and Michael Nicholson regarding his 3 year stint coming to a end at the end of the season, surely he Brendan Rodgers knows if the Celtic Board want him to sign a new contract, personally I think he will leave .
……
Brendan is hedging his bets and letting the world and his granny know he’s available. He’s in his early 50s , so one maybe two massive paychecks before he’s yesterday’s man. All internal discussion should be behind closed doors and droning on about it to the media just feeds ammo to our enemies…..
HH
JAMES FORREST on 1ST AUGUST 2025 7:07 PM
Lol downmarket blog world ….
What a wanky comment that is. For many reasons. First amongst them being that downmarket blog world is where you’re choosing to spend your time tonight.
Lot of thought went into that post, obviously.
….
Not really , don’t overthink about football too much , it’ll get you paranoid. Anyway , got to dash now Mrs EKBhoy is finally ready so off oot for a walk (ahem)
Bad language in your posts are really embarrassing
HH
BSR @ 4:26 pm,
Excellent post and some great points…
Just one thing, you stated the Club needs a total transformation, now it depends what exactly you mean by that, however Celtic F C to my way of thinking are doing quite a lot right.
They are however being starved of funds and obviously that impacts that great work.
My feeling is it is definitely the Celtic PLC that needs a transformation and a radical one at that, as a vehicle it is not even close to being fit for purpose.
Hail Hail
EKBhoy @ 7:11 pm,
You might have forgotten about Brendan Rodgers getting fitted up when he left the last time.
He kept quiet, did the right thing and was stitched up like a kipper.
The folk that dealt in the dark arts on that occasion are still at Celtic Park – unfortunately.
Hail Hail
Wait until Maeda gets sold…
saint stivs
August 1, 2025 7:32 pm
if there is a faction that do not want to support brendans ambition who are they. please name names and tell us why they want rid of him
i have explained why DD as the principal shareholder is the king maker. Are we now to belive he doesnt want brendan after year 3 ?
and as to john or shaun absolutely they will not be Celtic manager.
no chance
For don’t overthink about football read don’t think about football, nor indeed anything else it would appear.
Off oot, just about sums it up.