The transfer window hadn’t even closed and the first Celtic media messenger was out spinning on behalf of the board. Step forward Michael Gannon of the Daily Record.
With more established names dropping off the circuit Gannon has emerged as a regular source of Celtic news.
In November he surpassed himself with the news that Celtic were in advanced talks to appoint Wilfried Nancy.
That scoop was followed by some incredibly positive profiling of the Frenchman.
RECORD LEADS THE NANCY EXPRESS
Apparently the 48-year-old was the next emerging thing in the world of management. For proof of that he had been voted Coach of the Year in the MLS.
An award as coveted as Sports Pundit of the Year at BBC Scotland. Jointly presented by Tom English and Kenny Macintyre.
Gannon couldn’t stop banging the drum for Nancy.
When Celtic lost 3-0 at home to Roma in the Europa League fans were calling for Paul Tisdale’s mate to be sacked.
Gannon laughed at them. How could you sack someone after two matches in charge. The real question was what sort of fools appointed the hopeless Frenchman?
? ?????? ?????’? ??????? ???? ?
?Keith Jackson | Michael Gannon??
‘Fans calling for his head should be embarrassed!’ ?
Celtic fans have their say on manager Wilfried Nancy following the 3-0 defeat to Roma ??
? FULL SHOW ?https://t.co/fmHkC9kTJq pic.twitter.com/qlPhQdTumd
— Daily Record Sport (@Record_Sport) December 12, 2025
In similar mode is the Fares Ghedjemis affair.
Last Thursday the Frosinone winger emerged as a transfer target at Celtic.
How do you rate Celtic's January transfer window?
OUTSTANDING- exactly what we needed
DECENT- it is notoriously difficult
HORRIFIC- typically Nicholson
GHEDJEMIS WALKS AWAY?
After the win over Utrecht Gannon directly asked Martin O’Neill about Ghedjemis coming to Celtic. ‘You’re not a million miles away with that’ was the reply.
Gannon was all in.
The story developed over the next two days then stalled spectacularly late on Saturday.
Anyone joining the dots would realise that Michael Nicholson had been denied permission to complete a deal costing more than £3m.
But not Gannon.
Yesterday Record readers were given the inside story on why the highly rated Serie B winger wasn’t joining Celtic.
Gannon claimed:
Celtic are poised to announce the arrival of wide man Joel Mvuka on a £3m deal from Lorient.
But the move has left many Hoops fans wondering what happened to the move for highly-rated French winger Fares Ghedjemis.
Celts were in pole position to land the Frosinone forward, who has been lighting up Serie B in this season.
Reports in Italy suggested the Parkhead side were unwilling to meet the bumper asking price.
But Record Sport can reveal it was Ghedjemis who walked away from the deal – despite Celts having an offer of around £6m ACCEPTED.
The 23-year-old was keen on a move to Glasgow but it is understood had a change in heart and revealed he wanted to remain with Frosinone for the promotion push in the second half of the season.
Celtic were also tracking Hungarian ace Demir Redzic and were willing to slash out Dunajska Streda’s £4m asking price but the wide man was sold on a move to RB Salzburg.
The Hoops then made their swoop for Mvuka – who was part of the Bodo/Glimt shocktroops who knocked out Arne Postecoglou’s side in the Europa Conference in 2022.
Yeah, Right.
Ghedjemis knocked back a four-fold salary increase and the trimmings of a £6m transfer!
Or the deal was never a go-er but served up to distract Celtic fans from the multiple failings of the CEO that appointed Wilfried Nancy.
Instead Celtic swooped to sign a winger with a dodgy ticker on a short term loan.
Roll up, roll up.
DD’s propaganda machine still at full force. We all see through you now, tick tock.
— Jordan ? (@jordanwatson) February 2, 2026

Joe, sometimes they do good . . . and they have certainly listened to you and all of us who love Celtic. I think if you can trust a man then Martin was brought in (thrice). And, he brings a goodness to Celtic. So, we’ve added 3 new guys in addition to the big man who looks a wee bit like Chris Sutton . . . with that header :))))))))))))))
Editor: We have signed a Marco Tilio replacement with a dodgy ticker. To save face.
Martin is getting paid a huge amount of money, much more than he’d get from spending time with dullards like Graham Spiers and Jim White.
I wish Martin would just go ,and I wouldn’t blame him one bit ,what bullshit was he fed again when he comes come back after Nancy,did he ask about January transfers,was he told a lot of pie in the sky from the board,which brings the question was he gullible enough to believe it ,which I don’t think because he’s a clever man,so the alternative is he went along with it to keep in with big DD and probably getting a big pension fund boost just to tow the line.If he has been duped again he should tell DD and nicholson to fuck off and he should walk,why should he care about Celtic when the board don’t give a fuck.
So we got someone who failed his medical but f**k it lets change it to a loan deal and its al square?
Tell me that did not happen.
Editor: Head back to Thick News and they’ll tell you what an outstanding deal this is.
What competent manager would even consider taking the manager’s job at Celtic KNOWING that the Transfer budget MUST deliver a PROFIT each window, not an actual spending budget !!
Further accepting the interference of a major non-attending shareholder but NOT the owner, a board packed with nodding heads who offer zero assistance.
A non-existent Scouting Department, Analytics Dept aka Football Manager, a mid table Youth Academy at best.
Yes I can see them queueing up to take the job….what a complete & utter shambles, on YOUR watch Despot !!
Season tickets alone will have generated £30m – £40m this season. You can then add in £30m players sales from the summer window. That’s at least £60m on top of the reported £77m sitting in the bank.
What have been served up in return? Tierney and Iheanacho on a free, Osmand for buttons, Nygren at £1.7m, two left wingers for a combined cost of circa £10m who have failed to impress so far, two Japanese players at £3m that have been farmed out already and six players on loan.
On top of that, the total incompetence in concluding transfers over the last three windows has resulted in broken promises to Yang and Maeda leaving the ltter looking a shadow of last season’s player while Engels too has reason to feel resentful and unsettled. Cracking job Nicholson. Quality out. Dross in. Key players demotivated. You could not make it up.
To say we’ve been short changed is an understatement. Looks like it’s a point of pride for our board to give more to HM Revenue than it spends on players. They are taking us for mugs. Get them to fuck.
With not spending any money in this transfer window he has recouped some of the money he spent on an outstanding candidate the 33 day wonder surprised he did not sell Arne to recoup more of his downfall, this lot that runs us well the only decent thing about them is the tie they wear and they are disgracing that.
No idea how any board at any football can be of the opinion that the future is built around players that aren’t gonna be there in a year.
Just how does any manager plan ahead when he knows half his squad is walking in a matter of months?
And where is the financial advantage to be gained by a loan player looking like Messi, then having to go back to the parent club and negotiate an inflated fee which we aren’t gonna pay, meanwhile we have given said player a platform for half of Europe to pay what his club wants and off he trots?
From what I can see, the suits are incapable of any long term thinking whatsoever.
If we do get jammy enough to land someone who actually looks the business, he ain’t gonna be with us past two seasons, they are out the door and the money banked.
That’s why the last 15yrs or so have been stop start.
Get a few good uns in, perform well, get some great results, offers come in for those that make the difference, off they go, back to square one, hope it happens again.
The problem is, you can’t stay lucky like that all the time, eventually you end up with far more dross than gold when you speculate all the time.
The worst thing that happens is, they occasionally get lucky and then they think they are geniuses.
If the suits aren’t playing moneyball then they are certainly playing something very similar, and it’s probably the Primark version of it.
Martin is only there (ON LOAN)till end of season? 5 guys brought in be it on loan are in the same situation. New manager might not want them so will be a new chapter for all. It done now let’s see how it progresses.
Thick Mick and Co getting access all areas in exchange for board propaganda and doing hatchet jobs on Celtic fan groups
Meanwhile the rag which employs big Speedy Gannonzales for his Pulitzer Prize winning fantasies – the daily Record – has ran a story that new signing Ryan Naderi is already a £ 65 million sovs quality player !
The other rag famed for it’s honest and virtuous and righteous reporting in Glasgow – the Scottish Sun concurs with Naderi’s value but has his fee at £5 million ..then a few sentences later it is £ 4.75million pounds .All for someone who won’t play for the tribute act until next Summer !
You wouldn’t buff up your manky Mork and Mindy’s after washing them with those disgusting rags of tabloids , both of whom are circling the drain of extermination .
They are pathological liars Valentines…
Not worth paying to keep them employed !