When Braga lined up for kick-off I thought, “Three at the back against a front three away from home in Europe, we should be OK here.” And so we should have been. Braga were average-to-poor during the opening 20 minutes, as Celtic settled into a pattern of attack, primarily down the left flank (we’ll come to that later).
There is always a temptation to scapegoat after a poor result and it would be unnecessarily harsh to single out Kasper Schmeichel for not stopping a shot from 33 yards which went directly above his frame. Kasper’s decline is clear to see, but the team in front of him last night were not any better.
Once the goal went in, Braga players seemed to grow a few inches, while Celtic’s shrunk in stature. The visitors went man-for-man when out of possession and Celtic were – yet again – unable to pass through the press. The possession horseshoe of doom was in full swing and midfielders, facing their own goal, only passed sideways or back to Cameron Carter-Vickers or Liam Scales. Or, of course, Kasper.
The entire support could not wait until halftime in the hope that Brendan Rodgers would sort things out. The change was a surprise. Celtic went three at the back to match up to Braga (note, match up to Braga, who are seventh in the Portuguese league). This created a bit more opportunity in the middle of the park, although the personnel change, which saw Marcelo Saracchi play an advanced role on the left had a lot to do with the improvement.
Changing to an untested formation was a risk. Twice Celtic rode their luck as Braga exploited the space where a right back would normally be, but the chances were not taken. Kelechi Ịheanachọ again stepped up, won a loose ball and smacked his shot below the keeper into the net. To the incredulity of the majority inside Celtic Park, the referee disallowed the goal and VAR did not see enough of an error to overrule the official.
Some sides grow with a sense of injustice, but that did not happen. One man’s thing to fight against is another’s excuse.
Braga’s second goal was a classic of the pressing genre. They pressed a poorly structured team all night and got their reward by forcing Celtic so far back a clearance took a ricochet and flew into the net. Fair play to them. A team who are midtable in Portugal, who could not afford our players or their wages, and a manager who is under severe pressure, tactically out-thought Celtic. Our left flank, with Seb, Kieran and Marcelo, were bossed by a Swedish defender Gus Lagerbielke.
We are like the kid who turns up at the board to play draughts when everyone else is playing chess. Motherwell come to Celtic Park on Sunday undefeated in all competitions this season. Whisper it, they have a good manager. Jens Berthel Askou is like the chess-playing kid and is not keen on excuses.
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Chairbhoy on 3rd October 2025 2:50 pm
KevJungle @ 2:40 pm,
The one thing we rarely discuss is the huge Elephant in the room.
Celtic are a Company, a PLC.
Their Board are a PLC and their Executive act for the PLC – with their principal shareholder the puppetmaster.
They are untouchable, and the granting of the Monday meeting had more to do with the principal shareholder wanting an undisturbed game of golf in Scotland than anything else.
……..
Well if they are a company then the club died in 1994.
Why change the name from….
“THE CELTIC FOOTBALL & ATHLETIC COY LTD” what is being hidden from us?
The fans need to get us away from this PLC stuff.
But that will take getting over themselves and sacrificing tickets until the share price goes into negative, meaning project PLC has failed.
The fans don’t have a fear factor about them so the board don’t take them seriously.
How can we win the European Cup etc, in the always smeared and laughed at, Kelly and White era, they became hopless when Desmond White died, whilst giving 50% of all gate receipts to the opposition teams, AND allowing up to 30% of the actual crowd to get a lift over the turnstile for FREE, so that there would actually be an opposition.
To going down the Toryfying route of Scottish football along with Souness and David Murray, like Fergus McCann did, and we have been a Tory club ever since, all seating because we were lied to by Tories that terraces were unsafe, after Thatcher’s Hillsborough 1989 psyop/stunt/trick which killed 97 Liverpool fans, and used the media to terrify fans about unsafe terraces when they had stood on them for 100 years without incident, whilst Tory McCann was sleekitly forcing Wim Jansen to resign, rather than let the tyrant McCann sack him, for refusing to accept pishy project players into his team whilst the club was trying to stop a Hun Juggernaut reaching 10 in a row.
Toryism is evil, and Celtic fans vote for Tory/Snp/Greens/Proxy/Austerity/Trick, and the club has been Toryfied since 1994.
What is the answer?
To say we can win the league, is a understatement, especially with a few first team players, who just aren’t good enough, as for new players coming in January, this board won’t give Rodgers transfer money, if anything it will be a couple of loans,
I’m a Brendan fan but it’s definitely on the wane. I know the recruitment has been a shitshow but the style of play just now is unfathomable. The slow, repetitive horseshoe passing only serves to allow teams to organise and push right on top of us, creating many heart stopping moments as well as lead players to make mistakes. I cannot understand how he watches that and thinks it is the best way to set us up.
Kev,
What if Martin Hugh Michael O’Neill MBE, OBE is a Tory ? 😀
Kelvinbhoy on 3rd October 2025 3:48 pm
My feelings exactly.
HH.
Hot Smoked…
Don’t know if you have FB but this reel from TNT is pretty good.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GXxkNmC9F/
Hail Hail
Celtic40me @ 2:57 pm,
The result yesterday was unlucky but happens.
It happen less under BR, apart from the Bayern game, you need to go back over two years since we last lost a European game at home.
My feelings are people are more concerned about the style of football we are playing rather than the results.
As the season progresses the new bhoys will bed in, KT will improve we get AJ back, Jota back so we will only move forward.
Hail Hail
KevJungle @ 3:30 pm,
The Celtic Board like to give the impression they’re great business people who run a great business.
1. Supporters queue up to give them free money
2. They don’t invest the proper amount of money in the football team or the infrastructure then say look at the money we make
3. They play at player trading, gambling, knowing that any “win” is looked on as smart trading, losses are gobbled up as operational expenses.
As long as they can fool most of the people most of the time – the scheme works for them.
Hail Hail
Chairbhoy on 3rd October 2025 3:51 pm
Thanks for that. That is the best I have seen. Unfortunately, it make the Ref`s decision even more awful.
31003 on 3rd October 2025 3:25 pm
Kev
Calm your jets…I suggested you concentrating your ire elsewhere for the sake of your health and you’ve just went off on one
“Last time that I spoke to you you said that you wished I was dead.”
You said that before….and I’ll answer it the same way I did before..Your either getting me mixed up with someone else…or you’re a bare faced liar…I’ll go with the latter…
………
It wasn’t just you who said it, a guy “Calton” something or other who used to post on here said it on the same article, and the posts were on the blog for years until the Mod was appointed to ban Covid Vaxxeen types of posts in a shamefule era of CQN were many, too many good Tims who knew their stuff were given the “this is the wrong password” treatment.
So no lies.
What it did do was open my eyes as to just how big, or how many cliques there are, or were on here.
So thanks for confirming my paranoia.
I always new you were one of my Heroes.
But I should have known how dark things can get on here.
Over 11 years ago I got a mushroom sized lump of Cancer removed from me after the NHS had left a letter about me having Cancer on a desk in a Dundee Laboratory for 6 months before someone realised that the letter was even there, or so they said, so they panicked and had me in getting tests in a couple of days that normaly take many months to organise, or decades in Snp run Hospitals.
So I got a call out of the blue from NHS to go into Hospital immediately as they thought that by the amount of time that had passed that the Cancer might have spread to other parts of my body, which thankfully it hadn’t.
So I had to wait almost 2 weeks for the test reults to come through and thankfully negative,
BUT,….when I was going through the wait, I stupidly thought I’d say my goodbyes to CQN, and the prayers and good wishes from on here were overwhelming and completly knocked me over.
Then when I came on and 2 weeks later after getting the results, told them that a mushroom sized lump of Cancer was removed from me in January, and I jost got told it was Cancerous in June, and after a lot of bleeding and stuff I was then in remission which I was unaware of for 6 months, which again was greeted with great CQN wishes etc.
But then a darker mood took hold on the blog, and some sleekit posts were refering to me as though I had been lying about the whole thing which was really unbelievable.
Get Cancer cut out of you in January, but don’t get told it was Cancer until 6 months later, and NHS saying it might have spread everywhere so tests were needed.
I thought that was it, so said what I thought was goodbye, because I wouldn’t normally have opened up like that about private stuff apart from one time when I told BMCWP on here about me taking medication for mental health issues at that time, then after almost every post of mine, he’d constantly post links to mental health sites, very Celticness kind of guy eh.
Then lots of snidey posts about being a liar from people, a guy who ran a clique, who got red carded because he thought that the blog belonged to him cause he organised the days oot, was utterly dark and Hun level of sinister, and he was backed by an equally bent minded clique, which before this I thought I was just imagining, maybe it broke them up giving me sympathy when I thought my tea was oot, and stupidly said what was up and that it was likely to be the the end of, KEVJUNGLE, who was almost just another one of the many thousands of ‘honest mistakes’ made by the NHS.
Thankfully the NHS corrected thier mistake and I can now post to my great pal, 31003. HH
That was then, this is now.
I stand in what I see is the truth about Celtic, board, manager, players, fans, are all up for discussion.
chairbhoy@3.51pm
Thanks for that link. If Alan Hutton thinks it is a goal …..it is a goal.
Like everybody else when the ball went into the net I believed we would go on and win the game
Scandalous decision. Not the only reason we lost, but a major factor just the same
Hot Smoked @ 4:09 pm,
Yes, when you think the ref gave it and the VAR is only supposed to change that if there is a clear error, it is a pretty dire decision.
Hail Hail
Greenpinata on 3rd October 2025 3:49 pm
Kev,
What if Martin Hugh Michael O’Neill MBE, OBE is a Tory ? 😀
…….
He probably was. lol
Another way to look at this Tory thing is…..
George Galloway a fierce critic of Zionism and the state of Israel which he is the only Politician in UK who will actually say that.
And the Zios who run Lobby’s to control the media and MP’s, so George Galloway is 100% banned from the media, because the Workers Party of Britain is the only party in Britain who will NEVER allow a Lobby to sneak into its party through the backdoor, so their message is 100% banned by all Lobby controlled media, which is a sleekit form of election rigging, WPB and ALBA Party in Scotland were not allowed to see the count of the votes in an election that they had both stood in .
But….arch/staunch/Tory, Sir Jacob Rees- Mogg, is the only chat show owner, on GB News which is the same as the rest of the media.
Yet, JRM invites George Galloway onto his chat show, BECAUSE, George Galloway is committed to the St Thomas Aquinas Catholic path of life, so JRM is hugely impressed by such a devoted exponent of truth speaking, especially about the Palestine/Israel issue, because GG says things that other media stations don’t want to be heard, because JRM knows that only GG will speak 100% truth on this issue, and always has done, which is unique in UK, especially for a leader of a political party, who was rig voted out of his seat at the last General Election, being replaced by a BBC man.
JRM said to GG, “WE NEED THIS CHAT TO BE HEARD BY THE BRITISH PUBLIC, ESPECIALLY BY 2 DEVOTEES TO THE ST THOMAS AQUINAS CATHOLIC PATH TO THE GOOD THINGS ABOUT OUR LIVES, ESPECIALLY AS THE LIKES OF THE BBC, COULD NOT SPELL ST THOMAS AQUINAS, NEVER MIND ASCRIBE TO SUCH A PATH OF LIFE.”
looksike we’ve stumbled into a yransition year – the squad, the manager, the need to look at the model….
looks like…. transition
Celtic Mac @ 4:24 pm,
Yes, you would think that the officials in Europe are better than that.
It was a crucial decision…
Hail Hail
Saw the ref warming up before the game doing a pretty good plank , followed up with the variation of stretching up left and right arms …. Was thinking of John Beaton trying that …. Anyway , he just did the normal uefa ref thing of poor decisions against teams from lower leagues …. A big 5 league team would have got that goal
HH
Kev
My last word on this….
I know no one on this site…for all I know you could be the biggest ever wind up merchant in the world….you could also be the nicest guy in the world….as could anyone on this blog….i have no reason whatsoever to “wish anyone dead”…..
CHAIRBHOY on 3RD OCTOBER 2025 4:00 PM
Doesnt answer my question though. He’s got a job for life in your Celtic. Bigger than the club
Chairbhoy on 3rd October 2025 4:08 pm
KevJungle @ 3:30 pm,
The Celtic Board like to give the impression they’re great business people who run a great business.
1. Supporters queue up to give them free money
2. They don’t invest the proper amount of money in the football team or the infrastructure then say look at the money we make
3. They play at player trading, gambling, knowing that any “win” is looked on as smart trading, losses are gobbled up as operational expenses.
As long as they can fool most of the people most of the time – the scheme works for them.
………
I’m not looking for confrontation, here is what I see.
The board give the manager more than enough money for the level of opposition we face.
Supporters don’t give them free money, getting in to see the games is what the money is for.
The club/company thing is confusing things.
How many players does one manager actually need?
What did Lagerbiekle learn from Rodgers apart from the cold shoulder?
How much money did that cost the club?
Every team knows how we play, we are easily sussed, low blocked, double marked, by teams with a fraction of our resources.
The Manager has been sussed by Philip Clement, Barry Ferguson, Russell Martin, Jimmy Thelin, Kiarat Almaty, Braga, etc.
How much money does the Manager need to handle these Managers and teams?
How about we have a Manager who when questioned by the media about the silent atmosphere, drops a truth bomb on them?
Tell them that the silent atmosphere is because of all seating which was brought about by the “terraces are unsafe” lies, say the supporters of Liverpool who lost 97 of their comrades to provide the narrative for the all seating trap of the Thatcher Tory Government, who did not like the mental health benefits of congregating with your pals on the terraces, and the long missing collegate gelling relationship that was struck up between fans and players from the Celtic Jungle, the Liverpool Kop, the Man Utd Stretford End, etc, etc.
Tell them that 97 of our Liverpool comrades were murdered by the state, because that state did not have a clue as to how to handle England national teams fan hooligan problem, so the dragnet approach was taken and now millions of innocent football fans have to sit down and cheer their team on?
Some of them working inconvenient hours and double jobs to pay the always increasing ticket price to get into this Toryfied football.
My solution.
Two banks of four players.
A flat back four playing nothing but long balls, long diagonal balls, etc.
No wingers – constant long balls to be played no matter the oposition.
All players must shoot on site of goals is the policy.
Two big tall battling strikers standing on each corner of the “D” on the opposition box, feed off what drops to breaking midfielders.
Turn it into a mission statement club policy thingy, that no matter who the Manager is THIS is how we’ll play.
Mourinho won 5 European trophies by not being a tippy tappy robot.
HH
This time last year we were picking the bones out of the Dortmund defeat. Brendan said he wouldn’t compromise then did with instant results, our season was turned round we had a great European campaign.
We’re at another crossroads, but this time not just for our European prospects. We could fall back on good performances agains lesser teams then but not now – anyone with a half decent plan knows how to stop us. The challenge is greater for Brendan – changing tactics to make yourself harder to beat is easier than a change to score more goals when you’ve been firing blanks
The Frankenstein monster of a formation for the second half last night was an act of desperation but at least it showed some understanding of the radical changes he needs to make
What does it look like, how he can get players signed for one system to excel in another, how quickly he can implement it are all difficult challenges but if he doesn’t face the problem head on he’ll be leaving Celtic with a whimper not a bang. He can’t buy anyone to play in a new way now, he’ll have you make to with what he has
We need to see something different on Sunday and from then on, the next four weeks with a must win Europa league game, hearts and the Huns in the cup semi could be another defining period fit our season and what’s left of Brendan’s time here. Instant results, however they are achieved, more goals, victories to give belief back to the players and to quiten the growing doubts.
What the new tactics might look like is beyond me. The best there is, Pep, has the best players in the world in his squad, has spent huge amounts on players to fit the new the playing style and theyre still unconvincing. Brendan doesnt have the luxury of time or money, although hes playing against much less sophisticated coaches and poorer teams
Maybe he needs to park his ego, but for sure he needs to quieten the distractions that hes created around the club. He needs some patience from the fans, he won’t get it if he carries on making everyone mad at everyone.
31003
Hail Hail and God Bless Amigo.
YNWA
oot!
” celtic40me on 3rd October 2025 5:32 pm
The best there is, Pep, has the best players in the world in his squad, has spent huge amounts on players to fit the new the playing style and they`re still unconvincing. ”
So true…..and perhaps if more CQNers considered that fact , we would have fewer of them showing how easy it is for Brendan to change our team in ways that would make victories much more likely.
If football was ever a simple game, it no longer is.
HOT SMOKED on 3RD OCTOBER 2025 5:54 PM
This isn’t a pop at Brendan for once, but I think coaching at the higher levels is a young man’s game these days. More open to new ideas am s’more energy to coach them
I listened to an interview with the Brighton coach the other day. He’s in his early thirties but he’s a really impressive guy with an excellent football brain.
Celtic40me @ 5:27 pm,
A job for life!?
Who do you think he is Peter Lawwell!?
He has a three year contract and he is 7/9 th of the way through it.
His squad cost 52 mn – they are worth 135 mn
We have reduced the number of players in the squad and brought in 120 mn + in sales
He was tasked to take Celtic up a level and he did that by our best European campaign in years.
We have had record revenues, record profits, our record player transfer.
The campaign against our manager is a personal vendetta by some in our hierarchy.
Now it has back fired because the supporters have had more than enough of the Board’s shenanigans.
But they still managed to inflict damage on the first team by unsettling players and selling off our goalscorers in the 2025 transfer windows.
Did you read the piece that Roger Hannah wrote about Brendan? A shameful indictment of our Club’s hierarchy – cowards.
Brendan Rodgers wanted better contracts for our better players – it was the Executive that signed off on that.
It means for instance that Daizen got a better contract and maybe unconnected but played a lot better – it means if he leaves in January, rather than signing a pre-contract, we can get a good transfer fee.
Also as mentioned earlier the wages of the players would have been boosted by UCL participation and bonuses – but the sleekit Board want to put the wage bill on Brendan, not our football and therefore our financial successes
Brendan will be here until May, trying to get the best from his stymied squad.
Unless we get a proper Board in place with a remit for sporting excellence he will be gone in May, hardly a lifetime.
Hail Hail
Big Jock once said, never ask a player to do something he is not comfortable with. Case in point, a lot of folk are having a go a t Daizen. FFS, he is not a right sided player and he gets no or little support, yet he is questioned continuously . He works his arse off , tracking back etc. It is the system which is broken, not him.
I would change to a 4-2-4 next where the two outside men can drop back when needed to the midfield.
Brendan knows best, eh
And when is Pusey going to get game time, if not, send him back to Citeh.
give CalMac and KT a rest and get Sinisalo in goals, Kasper has had to many pies, 2 stone overweight and in the comfort zone, imo
kinglubo
Too many pies, sorry
first 11 predictions Sunday anyone?
CHAIRBHOY on 3RD OCTOBER 2025 6:36 PM
Wasnt he going to sign a new contract? Or did he decide he wasn’t going to offer himself one?
He’s not a special case, he’ll get the sack like anyone else if results don’t improve.
If he can’t turn this round and we get more of the same as Kairat and last night against Hearts, the Huns and the two upcoming g Europa games and he won’t get the choice to stay until May
Or do you think he’s bulletproof?
CHAIRBHOY
Other than he won’t get the sack anyway, how does he get Celtic out of the hole we’re in?
Celtic40me @ 7:03 pm,
Brendan Rodgers has delivered on everything he was required to.
The Board are a sleekit lot…
They talked about player wage inflation two years ago.
Apart from the 40 mn + earned from UCL participation we also got an extra 8 mn for three wins and three draws.
The players would benefit from that with bonuses and why not?
This is what the hierarchy were saying to Roger Hannah….
“Celts have forked out huge sums on transfer fees and presided over a significant increase in the wage bill since Rodgers’ return.”
What about the 120 mn they have taken in in transfer fees.
With record UCL income you would expect player salaries to increase.
Yet the sleekit hierarchy would put this as a negative on the Manager.
All the while benefiting from record revenues and record profits.
Then not reinvesting in the team.
The support are more than aware of where the issues lie with Celtic PLC and they are fooling no one.
Brendan will make the best of a bad job this season and that team will be transformed by New Year.
The Board have another problem on there hands if they ever empty Brendan Rodgers.
And that is replacing Brendan Rodgers with someone better – big ask eh!
Hail Hail
a distraction from mother Glasgow.
Calton Gallowgate the car-park site in front of the arches wallpaper shop, what is is called Capones or something.
general interest.
—————–
‘Remarkable’ historic items found at Glasgow building site
Archaeologists uncovered the remains of early suburbs four and a half meters under a building site in Spoutmouth, Gallowgate.
Well-preserved wooden posts with woven fencing and medieval pottery were discovered by the GUARD Archaeology team, who were called in to assist after workers came across the objects.
“This is a remarkable survival of organic archaeology in an area of the city that has witnessed substantial development over the many years since Glasgow was first established. A small sliver of medieval Glasgow that has somehow survived centuries of building and rebuilding.”
“It is no news that Glasgow will celebrate its 850th anniversary of receiving burgh status this year, but, remarkably, in the same year, we have discovered some evidence of those beginnings at Spoutmouth.”
The site lies on the south of the former line of the Molendinar Burn, which was once one of the most well-known water courses in Glasgow that drains into the River Clyde. It now flows underground, having been culverted in the 1800s.
It has associations with St Mungo, who founded his church on its banks in the late 6th century AD.
A Dominican priory for Black Friars Monks was just across the burn, where a previous dig discovered leather manuscript covers dated around 850 AD, with the Latin inscription –
magnus jimmy iocus liber
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/scottish-news/25513704.remarkable-historic-items-found-glasgow-building-site/
CHAIRBHOY on 3RD OCTOBER 2025 7:31 PM
Celtic40me @ 7:03 pm,
Brendan Rodgers has delivered on everything he was required to.
Not right now he isn’t. Ultimately its results on the pitch that count, especially if that new contract hasnt materialized. They aren’t nearly good enough at the moment.
He needs to turn things round quick or it’s Terminado. What would be your plan?
Celtic40me @ 7:58 pm,
You haven’t thought this through have you?
Who empties Brendan Rodgers?
Our CEO?
Micheal Nicholson who is undersiege from the support sacks our Manager.
Then what?
We sack his assistant and backroom staff too?
If not will the new guy work with JK et al?
Eddie Howe wouldn’t.
After you sort out that little mess, you have the issue of the new guy to be better from the get go…
EUL play-offs, domestic double for a start – big ask for a new guy who is not going to have a honeymoon period.
It’s not happening is it?
Fantasise all you wish…
Brendan Rodgers is here for five in a row.
Hail Hail
Ange BTM Ronny Lennie
Murray before Pussey .
Brendan’s ego overpowering his common sense .
Murray has made two horrific errors on the European stage .
He’s not ready for it .
He may never be ready .
But he has been exposed by Brendan’s need to show that he is in charge .
TT