Celtic banter 3

12 Jan 2026 18:47:33
I read one of the Celtic bloggers say "DD is treating Martin the same way he treated Brendan"
Martin in particular seems to (or thought he had) good relationship with Desmond, but as usual the majority shareholder is taking the p! ss out of our manager, this guy just does not care about Celtic Football Club, once again promises made to a Celtic manager are not being kept.

12 Jan 2026 20:05:38
Highest Minority Shareholder.
It's Shocking how much total control of circumstances a Minority shareholder currently has at Celtic.

12 Jan 2026 17:53:11
12 days into this transfer window and the Celtic board are still wondering what month it is . A blind man could see that we are at least 4or5 players short in quality that we badly require. I can't believe that Martin would have comeback without the promise of players coming in and i don't mean loans or last-minute deals on the last day . We simply have to spend a few quid in this window as we are being left behind by the horrible mob from Edinburgh and Glasgow as they are spending money and doing there business now .

I for one would like to see us having at least three new players in before we play hearts and i think martin would be the same . its over to nicholson and co now to get the players we require. If he fails then he should resign from his position within the board . The clock is ticking and its ticking fast .

12 Jan 2026 18:56:43
Nicholson shouldn't resign, he should've been sacked along with the rest a week ago for his part in the hiring of Nancy.

12 Jan 2026 16:44:55
Celtics next fixtures - Falkirk, Auchinleck Talbot, Bologna and Hearts away - then home to Utrecht. There should have been a proven striker signed in January 1st for game against The Ronjers - banner at Celtic Park on Saturday was spot on - not least with respect to appointment of Tisdale and Nancy - 'Own Your Mistakes Michael - Resign'.

Rumours to date have been underwhelming (surprise surprise) not least the £2m prospective signing (that had gladly fallen through) - which had all the hallmarks of a political two fingers to the support from the Desmond's who are evidently doubling down on their unwillingness to be bullied by those of us who they consider have only one objective which is to be anti-establishment.

Failure to sign as a minimum at least one goal scorer before our trip to Tynecastle on 25th of January could and for me should be the catalyst for a boycott.

While it would be unforgivable and the epitome of negligence, incompetence and arrogance not to support Martin O'Neil given the potential implications for the league and qualification for next years champions league it's certainly not unimaginable. Martin O'Neil would just be added to the list who have begged for reinforcements after Neil Lenon, Ange Postecoglou, Brendan Rodgers and captain Calum McGregor. Would it shock me not if they failed to recruit effectively and support the manager? Not a jot. The best indicator of future behaviour is historic performance. I'm not holding my breath but I live in hope if not in expectation. Over to you Michael.

12 Jan 2026 17:19:54
The lad whose deal has fallen through is from the agent Celtic have used numerous times, which shows we aren't actively recruiting, we are relying on agents punting us players, every player linked from abroad is either not established, or have fallen down the pecking order of the current club (agent punting player) !

"Celtic have been scouting player for a number of months" = sitting in witherspoons midday Monday looking at a 3 minute video montage provided by the players agent, come back the following Monday and having another look, at the same barsteward video, haggle a fiver a week.

12 Jan 2026 18:04:30
It's criminal that those in control of OUR club take more pleasure in siege mentality defiance than actual sensible cost effective planning. Quick to bank any CL cash or prize money but far too hesitant and incompetent in recruitment and public relations with supporters. We have made money in the past by buying great potential quality then selling for a considerable profit.

However, this has also dried up alarmingly and the repeated downgrading of replacement players means we have little or no 'assets' at our disposal either.
The warning signs have been there since last seasons CL exit but still they plid on oblivious or nonchalant about our plight.

12 Jan 2026 18:28:43
Hey, watch it you! Nothing wrong with Spoons on a Monday. 😂🍀.

12 Jan 2026 18:40:40
I completely agree with you, JFP, and I'm fully behind the idea of maintaining pressure on the board while we have the momentum.

That said, I think many people still don't fully grasp the severity of the situation and the long-term implications of the board's management this season.

At this point, it's no longer possible to make significant investments in players this window without serious consequences. This is truly remarkable and deeply damning, when you consider how poorly the board has handled the financial side of things. Despite having tens of millions in the bank, we can no longer spend it freely.

Here's why.

When a player is signed for a transfer fee, that fee is amortised over the length of their contract. Essentially, the cost of the transfer is spread across the duration of the deal, meaning a percentage of the fee shows up as an expense each season. For example, if we spent £40 million on transfers and gave the players four-year contracts (in reality, it would be closer to 3.5 or 4.5 years) , that would add £10 million to our expenses for next season, before we even get into wages and other costs.

Now, with revenue for 2024/ 25 at around £145 million, and the expected revenue for 2025/ 26 dropping to between £100 million and £110 million, the financial landscape is changing rapidly as we can only spend 70% of our revenue. The reduction in revenue for the upcoming season means the amount we can spend on wages, transfer fees, and agent fees will be severely restricted in order to comply with UEFA's sustainability regulations.

This is the crux of the problem: the mismanagement this season has effectively limited our ability to spend freely. With a significant drop in revenue expected next season, we're going to have to make some difficult decisions in order to comply with UEFA's financial regulations.

We have a few ways to address this:

1. Spend freely this window and make substantial cuts in the summer to balance the books.

2. Keep spending low this window to minimise the cuts needed in the summer.

3. Sell players this window to raise revenue, which would help increase our budget for next season.

Personally, I think we'll likely see a mix of options 2 and 3, keeping spending restrained this window and potentially selling players to increase revenue.

12 Jan 2026 18:40:50
Agree with the above.

This board are solely responsible for creating the problems that the club currently faces.

Purely from a footballing perspective, the position that we currently finds ourselves in simply beggars belief and although was avoidable, many could see this coming.

As JFP has posted in the past, this is self inflicted.

12 Jan 2026 20:54:27
We can also spend what is already in the bank. That would more than cover transfers and any shortfall that might happen next year. Plus I think as ed mentioned before our accounts are done over three years for fair play rules so I think we will be ok.

12 Jan 2026 21:25:32
I thought the figures/ limits are based on a running 3-year period?

12 Jan 2026 21:38:41
Dr Phil that is not how it works.

Our budget for player transfers, wages and agent fees is based on our revenue for 25/ 26. That is why I am even more annoyed with the board, as not only have they made an arse of this season, it will have an impact on next season.

{Ed007's Note - That's not how it works.}

12 Jan 2026 22:10:22
So how does it work then?

From what I understand, UEFA looks at the most recent audited financial statements to figure out a club's spending limits for the upcoming licence season. In practice, that usually means the revenue reported for 2025/ 26 would be used to calculate the squad cost ratio for 2026/ 27.

12 Jan 2026 22:17:18
I think Dr Phil and [masoninblack] are getting confused. The 3-year period relates to cumulative losses and has nothing to do with the revenue used in the squad cost ratio calculation. The squad cost ratio is always based on the most recent single-year audited revenue.

To put it simply: the 1-year revenue determines how much a club can spend on wages, transfers, and agent fees, while the 3-year cumulative loss test is just there to make sure clubs aren't running unsustainable deficits over time.

12 Jan 2026 15:29:58
A very late appointment.
John Beaton will be our referee on Wednesday away to Falkirk.
Grant Irvine will be doing VAR.

Celtic have now played 6 league games under MON and we've only conceded One goal.
The last time we had Grant Irvine he recommended a penalty at Easter Road to gift Hibs a lifeline.

12 Jan 2026 16:53:04
Sevconians smell blood after their win at Celtic Park under our failed manager and I'm sure the Establishment will try to play their part at every opportunity.

12 Jan 2026 15:07:32
Hamstring injuries - Most of us will have clicked that once a player pings that hamstring he is always prone to do it again. Rehabilitation, comeback, ping! Out for another lengthy spell. Wash, rinse, repeat. What's the solution? Who knows.

12 Jan 2026 18:00:38
Re hiring the woman who looked after the players feet under Angie which resulted in far less hamstring injuries after the first spat of injuries when he came in ange realized we needed someone to help prevent the injuries because of the high pressing style we played Rodgers sacked her as soon as he was rehired and we have seen nothing but hammys pulled left right and centre since.

12 Jan 2026 18:42:45
Frank, I hadn't realised that.

Why on earth would BR have sacked the lady when it would seem she was making a difference for the greater good of the players?

13 Jan 2026 11:23:53
Because Rodgers always thinks he knows better than everyone mate I didn't want him back in the first place.

12 Jan 2026 14:39:07
Still no striker! An absolute disgrace by Nicholson and Co.17k a week he gets for downsizing the squad and attacking the fans £70 million in the bank yet they will be after loans. Its true what JFP said the other day that it's the board doing Not a Penny More! A decent striker would have had 3 or 4 against Dundee United yet we move on to our next game in 2 days with the same old rubbish apart from Welsh being recalled.

Oneils best mate Dermot letting him down already with our farcical signing endeavours.

12 Jan 2026 15:12:12
We are a shambles when it comes to getting deals done same mince every window.

12 Jan 2026 16:01:11
Rumoured to be interested in Bamba. Another striker with zero confidence, just what we need, not!

I cannot believe there are not a number of good strikers available who would jump at the chance Celtic could offer them. We're obviously shopping in the "bargain" basement again! , get the lift up to the upper floors and sign a bit of quality.

12 Jan 2026 16:15:09
It shocks me that them across the city get players in quickly, ok not convinced by what they bought, but they get deals done.

Why does it take us until the last day to get deals done and even then they are p**h loans or really questionable buys.

Best loan we have is Scarrachi who's injured. Best buy on his day is Tounekti but he needs to bring his game, every game otherwise he's an empty jersey.

Why haven't players not been identified months ago and the process started in 1st day of the window.

Any real business would be having a review/ investigation after each window and asking why Dr Doittle was not identifying the level of players we needed. What caused all the delays.

It would probably identify a board who refused to sanction purchases because they cost too much.

Yes this window we identified Ta Bi but he's injured and not coming now. He wasn't first team ready imo in any case

We are a shambles of an organisation.

Can you imagine where we would be if our board and major shareholder knew what they were doing from a footballing perspective and not a storing money perspective.

We desperately need a DOF to take control of all football decisions from that useless entity that calls himself a CEO.

12 Jan 2026 16:33:23
Mate,

Just read he may be off to Sunderland.

Might be rubbish from media though.

12 Jan 2026 13:46:45
With fully fit squad and team i'd go with

Sinasalo
Johnston scales Trusty kt
Yang callum engles jota
Nygren
Maeda

With the above I think starting 11 ain't that bad, but obviously we can get players.

12 Jan 2026 14:47:41
Sinisalo

AJ
CCV
Scales
KT

Engels
Calmac

Yang
Hatate
Tounetki

Kelechi.

12 Jan 2026 14:52:06
Looks more like a 4-2-3-1 formation with Calmac and Engels the sitting midfielders - plus Nygren playing a number 10 role.

12 Jan 2026 14:47:41
Sinisalo

AJ
CCV
Scales
KT

Engels
Calmac

Yang
Hatate
Tounetki

Kelechi.

12 Jan 2026 14:52:06
Looks more like a 4-2-3-1 formation with Calmac and Engels the sitting midfielders - plus Nygren playing a number 10 role.

12 Jan 2026 16:51:53
Apologies I'd swap Tounetki with Jota.

12 Jan 2026 13:26:14
Belgium youth development, it was fully reformed, clubs have b teams in second tier playing decenct competitive games, Scottish football isn't reforming anytime soon, could Celtic buy a Belgian b team, could we place our top talent in Belgian second tier alongside some top talent from Belgium and beyond, teams over there seeing the fruits of past labour annually coming up the ranks into senior football, I rally think ploughing money into development and thinking outside the box how we get players and develop them needs to replace the buy at 3-5milliom risk policy we seem to have, just a thought.

12 Jan 2026 14:35:20
FFS, they won't buy a player, never mind another club!

12 Jan 2026 12:12:20
HAPPY CLAPPER-what's wrong with a fan who turns up week in week out to support 11 players regardless of results but just because that's there team, this name is branded about for such people as a negative but football can only have one championship winning team, most teams throughout all football leagues are not winners and are not champions, are there fans happy clappers,

12 Jan 2026 13:26:12
Every fan knows we are not seeing the best version possible of our club. Considering the resources we have, over a 38 game league campaign winning the SPL title should be a formality and the very least we should expect. This is not being an entitled fan this is just being honest in the present financial position we are in.

We have more resources than the other 11 clubs put together and it is mis- management of the highest order that we find ourselves trailing in a one horse race.

12 Jan 2026 13:52:29
Stevie for me those who want the best, those who want to demonstrate and protest for the best is fine, but seems for those same people anyone who doesn't is a happy clapper and there point of view not accepted, and told so by the happy clapper put down.

12 Jan 2026 14:29:37
But shouldn't everyone want the best? Surely every Celtic fan wants the best.

12 Jan 2026 15:02:24
We know we can't spend huge amounts and pay top wages for players. All we ask for and need is a fully competent and astute Scouting and Recruitment team to build and improve the team. Academy Development could have been an asset but clearly has not worked and that too is a black mark on our clubs organization. However, if one or both of these flaws could be addressed, we could move towards making Celtic the best it can be.


The club may have a great business model with millions in the bank, a razzmatazz laser show and a picturesque surrounding landscape, but at the end of the day, we are Glasgow Celtic Football Club and that should be our main priority - FOOTBALL,

12 Jan 2026 15:02:24
We know we can't spend huge amounts and pay top wages for players. All we ask for and need is a fully competent and astute Scouting and Recruitment team to build and improve the team. Academy Development could have been an asset but clearly has not worked and that too is a black mark on our clubs organization. However, if one or both of these flaws could be addressed, we could move towards making Celtic the best it can be.


The club may have a great business model with millions in the bank, a razzmatazz laser show and a picturesque surrounding landscape, but at the end of the day, we are Glasgow Celtic Football Club and that should be our main priority - FOOTBALL,

12 Jan 2026 15:11:44
Happy Clapper annoys me as much as the I'm a season ticket holder - big wow you're no more a Celtic fan than non season ticket holders.

Opinions are opinions.

Some like the board, some don't
Some like all the players, some don't
Some wanted MON back, some didn't

Regardless of how or what happens we all want the same end result. A winning Celtic team playing entertaining football scoring plenty of goals.

12 Jan 2026 16:46:22
I don't like the happy clapper tag, season ticket holders or not we are all Celtic supporters.

Liking the board or hating them we are all supporters. We all put our money into the club we love and are all entitled to our opinions.

Some will be happy that the board are fiscally prudent, which in the right environment is a good thing but that has to be balanced with good sound investment in players because that is what Celtic are, a football club, not some gentlemens club.

We have a reasonable entitlement (yes that word) as supporters, to expect those who are mere custodians of our club to do what is best for the club and invest that money wisely.

As I said we are a football club, nothing more, so the money made should be reinvested back into the team, the stadium and other associated sundries linked to Celtic to make us the best we can be on the field and off and make us successful.

Modern football is all about investing in your product to make it successful and to win trophies and make money. Those who don't invest in their product fall behind and make no money.

To continually be successful at home and qualify for the CL we would probably need to spend around 20 mill a year, on players, which could be covered by CL money and or players sales.

It is what other clubs in Europe do, some are smaller than us but far more successful.

It is not rocket science.

They also invest in footballing structures that provide proper gateways into the first team for young players.

We have the finances to do this but for whatever reason our board choose to play it safe but it isn't safe it is putting us back years and years.

A fear of copying the Rangurs demise is a poor excuse for poor investment. We have money to spend, they didn't have.

We could get to a point where instead of regular set spending, bringing in the quality needed to take us forward, make us successful, we will keep falling back to a point where we don't qualify for CL for a couple of years and the bank balance no longer looks so pleasing.

Playing it safe is a false premise that will catch up with us. Eventually.

12 Jan 2026 11:41:44
Re-appointing MON and hoping for the best, could be yet another gamble our Board will be making in a season of bad decisions and poor judgement. Trying to recruit ex-players and re-calling those deemed surplus would appear to me to be lazy and possibly risky - not to mention penny-pinching. Celtic are in the middle of a very unsettling and uncertain season; made so, mostly by our own making and yet so far 2 weeks into the window lessons don't seem to be being learnt.

The 4-0 win against United showed much improvement but we cannot be daft enough to think everything is fine and dandy. The squad has needed upgrades and improvement in only 2-3 key positions since last summer and some sensible, prudent recruitment (even in both directions) is imperative to give our manager what he needs to salvage a very turbulent and rocky season.

12 Jan 2026 12:21:53
This season has, to date, been a disaster.

Unless seious changes at board level are made and a proper footballing structure is implemented, starting with a D. O. F. this could be just the start of a dog fight for the league title each and every season for the foreseeable future.

To be clear, this is not in any way about the league being 'more competative', yes Hearts are in better shape than they've been in years and at the 8th attempt (or whatever it is) Sevco finally has a manager who seems to know how to get results.

This is more about Celtic F. C. going backwards at an alarming rate.

As I type this post, just after midday on 12th January;-

* we are on our 4th managerial team of the season
* we've lost the first cup final of the season
* our squad is as poor as it's been in years with no recognised first choice striker
* we've sold our 1st and 2nd choice syrijers last season amd never replaced them
* the disconnect between this board and supporters has never been greater

But it's okay we've got a ton of money in the bank.

MON is a club legend and I sincerely hope, unlike what this board did to BR twice, is they do everything to back MON to get the players required in this month to at least retain the league title.

12 Jan 2026 14:16:08
Agree with all that Pedro but would add that we can't freely spend that money now as we need to account for a reduced revenue next season and meet future UEFA financial regulations. And the reduced revenue is a result of boardroom mismanagement.

{Ed007's Note - Club finances are assessed over a 3 year/season period, it isn't a season by season process.}

12 Jan 2026 14:59:53
I didn't know that Ed 👍
Sevco should really go for it in this transfer window, with them just about guaranteed CL Groups next season due to their Coefficient points.

12 Jan 2026 14:59:53
I didn't know that Ed 👍
Sevco should really go for it in this transfer window, with them just about guaranteed CL Groups next season due to their Coefficient points.

12 Jan 2026 16:37:00
Pedro is on the money 👍.

12 Jan 2026 11:09:29
See our deal for the winger is off he failed his medical, who the feck is behind this sh#tshow they should be sacked or maybe they have, prob for the best we've got plenty 2m duds on the books not contributing.

12 Jan 2026 11:16:30
That's why clubs carry out medicals. To make sure the player being bought is fit. The club is to blame for many issues but this is just standard procedure.

12 Jan 2026 12:55:10
Ta Bi failed medical? Smells like a 'get out of jail free' for the Board. We search high and low for talent (apparently) and the best we can do is source a winger from a nation and team guaranteed to infuriate a significant number of Celtic fans. Honestly, wouldn't you just love to have a word with these guys!

12 Jan 2026 13:12:21
He was meant to be carrying an injury, maybe it's more serious than first thought or maybe with the background behind his parent club was enough for Celtic to pull the plug and use that injury as an excuse. Shame as he looked better than this Nacho fella.

12 Jan 2026 13:31:08
I'm delighted we are not buying BI purely because he plays for an apartheid state.

{Ed007's Note - The Ivory Coast?}

12 Jan 2026 15:14:17
Bonkers comment that.

I'll take any good player from any country regardless of what is happening in that country.

Keep politics out of football.

12 Jan 2026 15:22:08
The Ivory Coast (I'm greetin) - brilliant.

12 Jan 2026 16:54:33
Ivory Coast🤣🤣.