GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MAY 17: Celtic Chairman Peter Lawwell, Majority Shareholder Dermot Desmond, and Chief Executive Officer Michael Nicholson (L-R) during a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and St Mirren at Celtic Park, on May 17, 2025, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Alan Harvey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
As recently as September Celtic announced the importance of getting transfer activity completed as early as possible.
Why? Well to quote that September statement ‘so that players can integrate quickly and contribute from the outset of the season’.
Presumably the same intentions apply to the January transfer window.
On January 2 Celtic announced the loan signing of Julian Araujo from Bournemouth. He made his debut the following day and started the next two SPFL Premiership matches.
PANIC OVER PROGRESS- THE CELTIC WAY
Since the transfer window opened Celtic have changed manager. Fifteen days after returning for a second time Martin O’Neill has still not been given a new player to work with
The fixture list was announced at the start of July.
On the weekend of January 25/26 Celtic were always going to play Hearts at Tynecastle. Generally one of the toughest domestic fixtures between Matchday 7 and 8 in UEFA competitions.
Celtic had been stung by an open letter on September 3 backed by over 100 different supporter groups.
A few days later they arranged tea and biscuits with a few recognised supporter groups. The usual box ticking exercise, lots of patronising with the promise of some favourable ticket allocations.
Strangely, as criticism grew online, the club decided on a statement at 8.42 on September 6.
That statement really fired up the support. Protest created the Celtic Fans Collective. Have they made an impact? Well Peter Lawwell has scarpered off with his hopeless clone Michael Nicholson confirming why he had never been near the role of CEO, especially at a high profile football club.
On September 6 in the spirit of transparency Celtic informed supporters and clubs worldwide how out of touch and inefficient they are:
Importantly, our ability to progress transfers is not conditional on Champions League qualification. We recognise the importance of timing. Our clear goal is to secure new signings as early in each transfer window as possible, so that players can integrate quickly and contribute from the outset of the season.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to conclude transfers, either within the timescales that we target, or at all. There are many factors and challenges at play in the global transfer market, many of which are outwith the Club’s control, including selling clubs seeking fees beyond our valuation or waiting until the end of the transfer window to seek the maximum price, and players choosing to join another club or requesting contractual terms we cannot responsibly meet within our financial model.
It is not always possible to achieve all of the objectives set within a transfer window, and that is regrettable. We share our supporters’ disappointment, and we will always continue to review and seek to improve our strategy and execution.
Successful transfers can only be negotiated privately. It would be impossible to secure players if every stage were conducted in public. From time to time, other parties may also seek to create pressure by leaking information to the media. The Club’s position is clear: transfer business will remain confidential until agreements are concluded and announced by the club.
It follows, therefore, that much of what is written in the media or online about our transfer dealings is inaccurate. We also understand that this leads to frustration among supporters. While we cannot comment during ongoing negotiations, we are exploring ways to seek to address the gap between speculation and reality once each transfer window closes, in order to improve clarity for our supporters.
Almost all Celtic fans know how hopeless and out of touch every aspect of their club is.
O’Neill was in earlier this season, negotiated his return on January 5 after talks with Dermot Desmond.
Surely having at the very least a ready-to-play striker for Tynecastle was part of the plan.
The September 6 club statement highlighted a club that is chaotic at every level. The first 20 days of 2026 have only reinforced that view with Nicholson miles out of his comfort zone.
No signings this week is surely the last straw.
The reality is that I would not take any player from a list created by Tisdale. O’Neill has the unenviable task of preparing for match days while trying to view footage and scouting reports for signings.
Also remember O’Neill has been out of football for years. It isn’t as if he has his fingers on the pulse.
Our club however never fails to disappoint.
How we have gone from Ange’s side to this is a study in gross negligence.
Martin O’Neill still chairs the League Managers Association! Wherever the fault in this debacle lies (we all have our opinions on that), I doubt the issue is our interim manager being out of touch – he can easily phone every manager in England to try to source players, on loan or on permanent terms.
“Beyond our valuation” – Joe what a load of bollox from our board with 100 million big ones in the bank, just got to admit Nicholson & Co. are useless at their jobs so the sooner they piss off and let serious professionals run our club. Thanks again Joe for your reporting on their f#@ks up
“Beyond our valuation” – Joe what a load of bollox from our board with 100 million big ones in the bank, just got to admit Nicholson & Co. are useless at their jobs so the sooner they piss off and let serious professionals run our club. Thanks again Joe for your reporting on their f#@ks up
“Beyond our valuation”.
Nuff said.
Here’s another mental thought.
Was glad to see the back of that leech PL.
But was he the glue holding this clusterfuck together?
Was his grip on all things Celtic so tight he has left behind minions who simply don’t know what the feck they are doing?
Bingo…
The problem is that although LAWWELL has apparently gone who’s to say that he’s not ‘phoning it in’ like he did during his Sabbatical year. He’s invested too much in running Celtic. He’ll never let it go.
Spotter’s badge, Big Ron.
Just a shame it’s taken anyone 21 days to notice. All roads lead to the heated driveway.
Expect the next Sinatra-like comeback by the summer when O’Neill has claimed silverware and been promptly dispatched for doing so.
What a mess!! It seems to me that the board thought they would skoosh the league with a reserve team and without a striker.
They obviously thought the league was won and the European money would swell their coffers.
I think the league has gone and it’s time to build for next season and let Martin O Neill have an input as the man has expertise on how to manage
Forgot about that statement from them pure Lies as ever and this can’t go on . Keep up the good work real Celtic fans and the Collective
The Board is just limping along from one embarrassment to another now.
Does anybody take DD, MN and the rest seriously anymore?
“Successful transfers are negotiated privately”. “Agents leak”. Very revealing. I believe that is true.
If Celtic kept their best players longer, they would be stronger now, through money flowing in from UEFA League victories. Matt O’Riley was sold after two full seasons. half a season and two games. 2023/2024 he was Premiership player OTY. They gave him a pay rise but did not keep him. Crazy. Don’t bow to
Agents demands to sell outstanding players. Liel Abada had the Israeli National coach behaving like he was Liel’s Agent. Liel, the previous season was young POTY. He was suffering mentally because of
Palestinian flags flying in the Stadium. He should have been counselled and kept for another couple of seasons at least. According to Giakoumakis, all he wanted was a wage rise. Celtic could not get near his reasonable request.
Josip was outstanding for Croatia in the Qatar World Cup. Why on Earth did Celtic sell him?. Because part of
their Trading Model is wrong. You keep your best players for much longer because the team becomes
extraordinary in teamwork, by collective higher levels of football intelligence. At the same time you gradually
increase the proportion of superlative players in the squad.
Henrik Larsson stayed at Celtic for seven seasons. Pundits said he should have left much earlier.
Hank said he was happy playing for Celtic. In a recent podcast interview, Henrik said to my surprise, that Glasgow was one of the best cities he has lived in.
Liel was suffering mentally because his country was committing genocide, and the fascists carrying it out didn’t want him anywhere that counted Palestinians as humans and not animals or vermin.
There, fixed that for you.
World class club…
World class statement…
Aye – At Fu**in Pathological Lying !
Early ! Like the last minutes of the last hour of the last day of the last transfer window of the season …that rendition of early ? A notoriously early reputation in all transfer windows ! As my old workmate used to say …’ if things don’t change …they will definitely stay the same , son ! ‘ Guaranteed !
Celtic is clearly run by totally incompetent idiots.