Two images summed things up as Celtic lost 2-1 at home to Hearts, their third defeat in 15 SPFL matches.
During the last 20 minutes Callum McGregor was found studying Wilfried Nancy’s tactics board with red and blue markers illustrating where players should be.
That was after the Sky Sports cameras caught Paul Tisdale enjoying some shut eye. Whether he was sleeping or meditating isn’t known.
After 14 months as Head of Football Operations at Celtic the former Exeter City boss hasn’t said a word. Following the example set by his CEO, Michael Nicholson.
Neither images were a good look. After winning five successive SPFL matches under Martin O’Neill it was back to reality. Under the squad that Tisdale constructed and the management team he selected.
? “The lesser spotted and seemingly asleep”
Paul Tisdale, Celtic’s Director of Football Operations, is in attendance today ?? pic.twitter.com/NbR42U5EHx
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) December 7, 2025
It is difficult to work out which image is worse.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
When a team is losing it is best to have face to face talks with your captain.
Neither Brendan Rodgers or Martin O’Neill would be pointing at a tactics board in a bid to get McGregor to change the way that the team is playing.
Celtic produced very little in the second half after going behind in the 42nd minute.
They started strongly, swarming forward but there was little structure about it as Nancy tried to impose his style of play on the team after two training sessions.
Celtic don’t have anyone available to play on the right wing. They don’t have three central defenders. Up front they are weak.
RECURRING RECRUITMENT ISSUES
The bloated squad is thin on quality. Shin Yamada, Hayato Inamura and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey couldn’t make it onto the bench of an injury hit squad. Three of the summer signings that pushed Brendan Rodgers towards resigning.
After 25 minutes the players ran out of energy.
The same core of 14 have been used to get through four matches since the end of the international break.
If Nancy isn’t prepared to adapt into the circumstances that he finds himself in there are likely to be more days like today.
Creating relationships on the park and developing human beings doesn’t get reflected in the SPFL Premiership table.
The metal mini board with the magnetic markers was worse than when the tribute act sent on a written tactics note to Tavpen during their EL game ! I hope Monsieur Nancy isn’t in over his head …that was NOT a good look . It was more like old fashioned cowboys and Indians movements made by General Peashooter at Fort Baxter ? Not for me I’m afraid….
That’s how you show 10/12 year olds their position not pros if you can’t communicate with short precise instructions shut up and learn to do so
Gotta be honest, sitting at home watching the game with the wife, when I seen that board wi the wee magnets….it might sound really stupid, but thats not for me, canny envisage any top manager needing something like that at the side of the pitch.
The mans here though so we gotta get behind him.
Personally, I would rather have seen MON stay till after the cup final.
Todays game, Roma & the final should’ve, IMHO, been the end of his tenure, he had stabilised the team and we needed that stability through till then.
But what do I know I suppose.
the new manager may have a black belt for ludo but it’s very amateur using it for instructions to calmac , i’m sure the rest of the league managers can’t wait to come up against him , .
His 3 at the back looked stretched and had extra running to do , KT ain’t up to that really is he .
last week i attempted to buy a ticket for the hibs game but they were sold out according to the hibs website , when the match was played i was surprised to see seats all over the ground , it appears hibs were not going to let Celtic fans into the ground and restricted the number of tickets to them , it is estimated that they lost in the region of 100, 000 to prevent Celtic being cheered on , that tells you the impact these fans have when backing the team .
the GB were not there today to cheer the team to a victory , their presence may not have helped the team to victory , but their absence certainly didn’t help
Lol,ah don’t blame the board ah praise them.They are playing a BLINDER at ripping of the fannys,opps fans.
As those 60,000 faithful keeping showing up,it ain’t broke so it don’t need fixed.
Leading up to the New Year game against sevco,they will take second place and we will drift away,probably down the table to around 5th place 6th if we are lucky.
Sevco will run Hearts close to the title,but we are out if it.
We are sitting back laughing at sevco,with our eye taken off the ball as Hearts kick on,we are to obsessed with sevco while Hearts disappear into the horizon,with chasing them down,while we spiral out of control the other direction.
Get your cash on St Mirren next week because we ain’t winning that final.
And spare me the shite of calling me a sevco fan,that’s only big Donald and Republican party gaslighting shite,the truth hurts.
.
You need to go take a lie doon and stop the nonsense – the new manager is in the door 5 mins and you and the others who think we should win 100% of the time supporters ain’t going to give him (WF) a chance working with another man’s players – I am at a loss at the lack of faith and patience of my fellow supporters and no I’m not a board advocate as they’ve firmly let us down – give the man a chance and those SDJ cracks are well out of order – he’s got more about him than DR at therangers – have a word with yourself – HTG
Sadly thats the business plan for Scottish football…..Rangers need to have a successful season every 4-5 years and Celtic obligingly blow it when needed to keep Scottish football a going business cos if the huns walk away as Lawell famously said when they went into administration “Weve just lost millions’.
Sammy Davis jnr in the dugout.
Did any c unt ever caw you a sevco fan ya in bred t it
Ignore the Fanny. He’s got at least 2 other aliases, The Joker and Scud Missile. He thinks his patter is funny.
He’s forever indulging in referring to 1960’s soaps and Comedy shows. His humour, or lack off, reflects the Social attitudes of that era.I think Alf Garnet and Bernard Mannering are his icons as is his addiction to The Crossroads Motel an early evening 60/70’s Soap.
In some respect the guys a bit sad in others he’s jist a feckin nuisance.
Nancy looks more like a master chess player. I personally would have kept Martin O Neill until end of season as the momentum was running smoothly.
If these performances keep up we can say ta ta to the league title and possibly the league cup.
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
It’s called self destruction
At half-time you just looked at the bench,
and it was a bit depressing!
Granted we have injuries – like all clubs –
but that bench just summed up the dire lack of quality in the squad.
If only we had the money to buy some decent players… 🙁
That board was pure fucking embarrassing…
Maybe it was red, white and blue to please Dermot who allegedly said ‘Rangers’ (Sic) – (And deceased) are a great club !
Fk the board, throw tht fkn embarrassing fridge magnet board in the fkn bin, it’s football pros here not fkn 12yr old Sunday league football ? fkn embarrassing for Scottish football
“Football without fans is Nothing “ we will never get any results at home without GREEN BRIGADE BACKING ???
We’ve had most of the best results in the clubs history long before the GB were even thought of.
We will have many many more in the future with or without them.
Maybe the GB should give that some thought ?
Nonsense
Ive lived in the US for a while and followed the game out there The MLS is completely different from the Scottish league there is no intensity no passion….no expectations and most
importantly soccer being a minor sport in the US there are no major consequence
for winning nothing …in fact MLS is more a participation sport than winning.
The amateurish performance of Nancy with the childish tactics board on the sidelines yesterday really sums up the difference.
Unfortunately the Celtic fans have bought the hype and bullshit from the board about Nancy …when really all they were doing was going for the Tidsdales’s poundland option
Totally agree Ive lived in the US and followed the game out there The MLS is completely different from the Scottish league there is no intensity no passion….no expectations and most
importantly soccer being a minor sport in the US there are no major consequence
for winning nothing …in fact MLS is more a participation sport than winning.
The amateurish performance of Nancy with the childish tactics board on the sidelines yesterday really sums up the difference.
Unfortunately the Celtic fans have bought the hype and bullshit from the board about Nancy …when really all they were doing was going for the poundland option
Another major mistake by the board Nancy should never have been thrown into such an important game as Hearts when there was no need …..O’Neil was already in place and doing well….the smart thing was to have had Nancy in the background picking up info and getting familiar with the team in a teal matchday environment an ideal handover given it was a manager change in the middle of a seriously competitive season ….A perfect opportunity for a great handover lost ….Nancy could have taken over for the less important Roma game in ideal circumstances