On the face of it, it was an odd statement from Celtic yesterday, “Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney will continue to manage first-team matters on an interim basis”, as though there had been any suggestion Martin and Shaun would not complete their interim duties. The subtext is more important: do not expect an imminent announcement on a new manager.
Despite all the speculation that Wilfried Nancy would soon be crossing the Atlantic to take up the position, there is nothing close to an informed comment on the subject. Column inches appear to be feeding off each other. Nancy would have dismissed the circus around him had his representatives not been in dialogue over the position, but no one is getting information out of Celtic, Nancy or his club. Martin and Shaun’s successful domestic start have taken any urgency to appoint a permanent manager out of the equation. Celtic have more than one candidate to consider, it’s just that nothing has leaked from the club. This should be regarded as a good thing.
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It isn’t Monday anymore!
So……it could still be Knutsen…
Because it’s Tuesday Aipple.
Hope you’re doing good. Tex
I thought the subtext said: We thought we’d have got the guy we were after by this week, but it hasn’t happened. We’re taking a second look at the drawing board.
We’re considering candidates…
Just like it took us months to get Idah in because we were considering other options, then signed we signed him…
Paul, the Celtic board, have little credibility left and no amount of your turd polish will suffice.
Let’s get some elite level exec experience in to close out deals.
“nothing has leaked from the club. This should be regarded as a good thing.”
————-
Absolutely, because then they would have to figure out who was doing the leaking and we know how hard that can be.
Some news outlets are saying Nancy is in talks with Celtic and at the same time reporting the shock news that Columbus Crew have heard nothing from Celtic.
Call me old fashioned, but surely Celtic will only make contact with CC if and when a deal is struck with their coach.
Paul’s right. The media haven’t a clue what they’re writing about.
“it’s just that nothing has leaked from the club. This should be regarded as a good thing”.
Not by the morons.
A good thing or a shambles…..
According to thems not in the Brendan camp, he had been trying to engineer his exit for long enough, so any competent board would have known this and made plans accordingly.
Shambles for me, this board are efin useless, some will say that we are run superbly, look at all the money we have sitting in the bank, a well ran business would not have all that sitting in the bank, they would invest it to make it work for them and make more money with the ambition to dine at the top table year on year, yip, shambles.
Oh and for the record, I am many things but a moron is not one of them.
Lambert has a Club Ambassador gig at Dortmund
The main concern here is January Paul. Everyone knows we need recruits, and we need quality ones. We have to win the league at all costs.
It’s worrying that a new manager comes in and has little involvement in acquiring new players. Even just a few weeks to consider his options would have been better than the likely situation where these acquisitions are essentially being forced on him.
I’m surprised and a little disappointed that we haven’t used the international break to secure our new signing.
“Tom McLaughlin on 18th November 2025 12:24 pm
Paul’s right. The media haven’t a clue what they’re writing about.”
I agree…..and many who read that same media haven`t got a clue what they are talking about.
At a time when fan groups are crying out for clarity and transparency, they’re encouraged to recognise or read subtext (or tealeaves) to divine what’s going on at the club.
Given the Rodgers’ grumblings I’m hoping the managerial contingency (wur Plan B) has swung into place ?
We’d better ensure in a season where we’ve faltered onfield and are not operating from the league top, we don’t parallel the stumblings off-field.
At least that’s wot some of use are asking.
SUBTERANNEAN SUBTEXT BLUES CSC
SUB
The question that Celtic FC and supporters need to ask, is this, is it likely that any manager, any new manager coming in now, could do any better than Martin & Shaun between now and the end of 2025?
Given that is, our interim (gerinterem) leaders, have got us into the League Cup Final, and got Hearts in our sights in the SPL. And we have time on our side SPL wise. The toughest challenges facing us between now and Christmas are the home and away EL ties, (and I know some on here have already written our hopes off there, but that’s not me) where ideally we need to pick up 3-4 points, to keep a Euro interest going into 2026. Given also we cannot sign any new players until January, and none of CCV/AJ/Jota/Osmand are likely to be back anytime soon, (not sure about Kelachi or Donovan), and that Martin is more likely to try and get something out of Inamura & Yamada, (as with JSP) the answer has got to be a resounding no.
But I realise that conclusion does not sit well with the panic merchants on here, the same ones who want the Board to act and the Board out at the same time.
Cognitive Dissonance is what Paul used to call it. He might need to dust that down.
Cheers TEXASTIM
Thanksgiving approaching so that must mean the Looval lover and I are heading to a cabin in red River Gorge.
L’Equipe has posted just 3hrs back that Wilf is close to crayoning un deal.
Even they cheese-eating French scribblers ur cribbing aff a rag like ra Daily Ranger !
ZutAlors CSC
MoN has given no indication he’s willing to stay on for the season.
At 73 years old, I strongly suspect Martin will want to spend Christmas with his family rather than managing us through a busy schedule.
So despite the toxicity, our board had no contingency lined up, no plan b or plan c.
Nope, just get on the blower to Martin…
“Martin and Shaun’s successful domestic start have taken any urgency to appoint a permanent manager out of the equation”
Unfortunately one of our wirse ever european perforrmances against a 26 year old club from a town the size of falkirk kinda makes the appointment a tad more urgent, or do we forget europe as long as we are ahead of the tribute act.
Who’d win a bash between:
Some Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys and the Humble Pie-Eating No Surrender Co-Efficient Monkeys ?
The season is already a success after the clearing out of Toxic Rodgers and a dugout full of tailors dummies.
If the new manager does not say, straight off the bat, that he is going to make Celtic a difficult team to beat, then Europe should just be banned from Parkhead as no manager is learning anything, so players are not learning “new stuff” just look at how Scott Brown has turned out. lol
Hard to beat = a flat back 4 playing nothing but long balls on the break.
A flat back 4 and Laudrup would have had a Khun face on back in the day.
MON learned that a flat back 4 removed all of the space for Lovenkrands to dive into, and snuffed out big Eck’s cheating divers, AFTER, playing int the Hun trap for a full calendar year.
BUT.
Even the great MON is a human being.
Human beings make mistakes.
BUT.
If you know that you made mistakes vs big Eck’s diving cheating Huns, an then rectified that mistake which is a good thing.
BUT.
You then play the dumb way AGAIN, in our first European Final for 33 years vs a Porto team who played the Portuguese version of big Eck’s cheating diving Huns, and you get mugged in a European final, FOR UNLEARNING WHAT YOU HAD JUST LEARNED, what kind of club is it really?
AND.
Then 22 years down the road and you go out and play like a bunch of DAFT ERCHIES, vs Midgyland??????
What a time to be alive.
No wonder MADNESS was my favorite music band. lol
HH
Flat/Back/4/Playing/Nothing/But/Long/Balls/On/The/Break/CSC
oot.
My son driving me and my grandson to Glasgow this afternoon for a meal then Hampden for Scotland v Denmark. 3 generations of McLaughlins hoping to cheer the nation on to the World Cup.
I was at the last Scotland World Cup adventure in France 98 and sincerely hope to see us at one more World Cup before I’m turned to ashes.
2-0 Scotland 🏴 🤞
Quad- i wouldn’t be surprised if Nancy gets announced around the AGM, as The Board need MON to be there as a human shield, as Tom said he could sit out Saturday v St Mirren, then step in
tom mclaughlin
The last time we qualified for the World Cup, and like yourself I was in France 1998, Scotland did so by winning late 1997, at Celtic Park, Latvia 2-0 I think, with a temporary terracing at the Celtic End. And of course there ws that great victory over the Czechs at Hampden back in 1973, and more recently we lost to Italy when Hutton “controlled” the ball in such a fashion that enabled the Italian forward to step in and create the winning goal, cue media uproar. Cannot recall offhand whether we qualified for the WC in Glasgow on other occasions, but playing at home should give us a good chance of winning tonight, 3-1 Scotland.
Just like the transfer market I tend to take a lot of this manager speak with a large grain of salt. Iv’e never heard of this American guy or is it Knutsen that excellent Bodo coach however it’s good to still have Martin and Shaun still in the building who are all too familiar with the massive pressure and demands of being at the helm of a club like Celtic.
It’s being a week of some great international football with Celtic players impressing for the ROI in the victories over Portugal and Hungary. Liam Scales a tower of strength with an assist and holding the much vaunted Portuguese attack scoreless. Those unforgettable closing ten minutes when Liam rose to nod that ball into the path of Troy of the Rovers Parroth in the dying seconds for a fantastic hatrick his incredible fifth goal in back to back matches for the 23 yearold. Johnny Kenny also struck the woodwork in those incredible closing minutes.
Another big game tonight when Scotland face Denmark looking forward to another thriller.
CELTIC MAC
I too was at the win over Czechoslovakia in 1973. What a night.
You’re right. That is the only time we qualified with a win in Glasgow.
We beat Australia 2-0 at Hampden in 1985 in a play-off, then drew the 2nd leg 0-0 in Sydney to secure our place in Mexico 86.
Stimulating enough on a slow news day Paul.
When the article title mentioned “subtext” I instinctively thought ….
“what subtext?
Surely P67 isn’t interpreting what wasn’t said?
Classic CD”
You didn’t of course.
Rather, in a world where most news is just a load of old fanny … no news is good.
I’m fine with radio silence.
Too many legal entities talk when they’ve got nothing to say.
Beyond boring.
Tom McLaughlin / Celtic Mac …
Nice one.
From memory, a young Paul McStay ran the show in the return leg.
tom mclaughlin
That was a great Czech team. Five Celtic players started that night, including George Connelly, who barring injury would have played in the 1974 World Cup Finals. Pretty sure we did qualify for the WC with that victory at Celtic Park in 1997, lets hope we make it a hatrick for Glasgow later on today. Defend well…..we win.
back to basics
Amazing to think we had to go all the way to Australia to qualify….
Ideal result we win and then get based either in Vancouver or in Boston next summer….
I think there is work to do before Nancy can be confirmed
And I think most of the work is in Celtic’s court as Nancy (if he is any good) will be looking for some assurances
Every man and is dog knows BR was not supported (for whatever reason) any man worth his salt will look to clearly establish the rules and job description before signing
The narrative that Celtic keep their work away from the press (and supporters) is a suitable theory for our Board (and Board supporters – Paul67)
“Celtic have more than one candidate to consider, it’s just that nothing has leaked from the club. This should be regarded as a good thing”
I have no confidence in this theory – I would assume there is no other story – well because – there is no other story
If it is to be Nancy I hope he has done his homework and nails down our Board to their responsibility – and even that may not be enough
67ECW
Interesting prospect of Aaron Hickey playing against Mikkel Damsgaard, if both are fit.
Get dancing you old duffers. 😁
Early in the evenin’, just about supper time
Over by the courthouse, they’re starting to unwind
Four kids on the corner trying to bring you up
Willy picks a tune out and he blows it on the harp
Down on the corner, out in the street
Willy and the Poor Boys are playin’
Bring a nickel, tap your feet
J.C. Fogerty 1969.👌
TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 18TH NOVEMBER 2025 1:57 PM
CELTIC MAC
I too was at the win over Czechoslovakia in 1973. What a night.
….
I’m sure that game was live on STV with the bold Arthur shouting down the Mike “watch your back Billy” as everyone’s nerves were shredded!
HH
Celtic goalkeeper Ally Hunter let in a howler when the Czechs took an early lead in 1973, his last game for Scotland. In the end it made for a more exciting game although it wasn’t good for those of a nervous disposition.
Celtic Mac on 18th November 2025 1:40 pm
tom mclaughlin
interesting chat re scotland.
a wee tv interview with danish fans in glasgow and they are worried about their defence and keep, whoever he is.
anyways I hope the scots win, because direct qualification with this one off chance is better than the playoff options.
meanwhile only this week did i decide to look at what the world cup 2026 is going to look like, my goodness is it an enormous tournament.
copy and paste –
Starting with this edition, the FIFA World Cup expanded to 48 teams, an increase of 16 from the previous 7 tournaments.[12] The teams will be split into 12 groups of 4 teams, with the top 2 of each group and the 8 best third-placed teams progressing to a new round of 32, as approved by the FIFA Council on March 14, 2023.[13] This is set to be the first expansion and format change since 1998.
The total number of games played will increase from 64 to 104, and the number of games played by teams reaching the final four will increase from seven to eight. The tournament will last 39 days, an increase from 32 days of the 2014 and 2018 tournaments.[14][15] Each team will still play three group matches.[16][17] The final matchday at club level for players named in the final squads is May 24, 2026; clubs have to release their players by May 25, with exceptions granted to players participating in continental club competition finals up until May 30. The 56 days of the combined rest, release, and tournament periods remains identical to the 2010, 2014 and 2018 tournaments.[13]
EKBHOY
Yes it was live on STV. I remember watching a recording of the match when I got home.
Arthur’s commentary certainly enhanced the viewing experience.