Operation Tisdale- blaming the Football Doctor for Celtic imploding is wide of the mark

There appears to be an operation going on from Celtic to pin the blame for this season on Paul Tisdale.

The blame lies with the person that appointed the former Exeter City boss and the process that made his a candidate.

Everyone knows that Michael Nicholson is nothing more than a token CEO but while he has that job title and salary the buck stops with Nicholson.

A robust, well structured club is never reliant on one person.

Celtic aren’t a robust, well run club.

The successes of the last decade have been driven by the ability and personalities of Brendan Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou.

TISDALE ON CELTIC RECRUITMENT

They have driven high standards that have covered up for horrific recruitment and a youth Academy that is virtually dormant.

Celtic have played seven strikers this season. Not one has come through the ranks.

Adam Idah, Johnny Kenny, Shin Yamada, Daizen Maeda, Junior Adamu, Tomas Cvancara, and Kelechi Iheanacho have been tried through the middle. Kenny is the top scoring striker, currently on loan at Bolton Wanderers.

Tisdale was appointed Head of Football Operations on 16 October 2024. He left on January 5, he was in his job for 14 months covering three transfer windows.

? @charlie_mulgrew “For me, it’s exposed so much under the surface at Celtic in terms of recruitment.”

Charlie and @KThomsonAcademy discuss the Celtic board in the wake of their defeat at Tannadice.

Watch the full chat here: https://t.co/epydRjXdo7 pic.twitter.com/dXt6XJC82N

— thebreakdownofficial (@thebkdpod) March 25, 2026

Mulgrew said:

32 seconds:

I think that the last two years, there’s definitely been, Paul Tisdale has been a big mistake.

John Kennedy leaving the club is a huge mistake. Recruitment mistake has been shown for what it is.

Now I think, for me, it’s shown that John Kennedy obviously had a big part to play in some of the signings, in terms of giving the green light to some, the red light to others. You know, he’s not good enough, he is. He obviously had a big say in that.

Over the course of Ange Postecoglou, over the course of Brendan Rodgers, first time and second time.

Reasons, Ange Postecoglou takes no coach anywhere but wanted to take John Kennedy to Tottenham. That was blocked.

Obviously when Tisdale comes in, has a nightmare, brings Nancy in, gets rid of John Kennedy- I think that is the two.

Tisdale coming in and John Kennedy leaving, for me has exposed so much under the surface at Celtic in terms of recruitment.

When you go through the signings, you still had a January to resurrect, to get a striker in.

Mulgrew’s son Josh is in the Celtic u-18 squad, he will know more than most about what is going on inside the club.

His media work mainly covers Premier Sports and Go Radio.

Tisdale is a factor, a symptom of the problems.

Replacing him changes very little.

Replacing the CEO that employed Mark Lawwell, Tisdale and Nancy would be a good start.

And setting up a Recruitment Department that doesn’t rely on Peter Lawwell’s contact book with an emphasis on agents whose surname starts with a D or an R would be a huge leap forward.