MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 31: Marco Tilio of the City celebrates after winning the A-League Men Grand Final match between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park on May 31, 2025, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)
Last night, this transfer window took another weird left-hand turn into the surreal when we found out the reason Marco Tillio played in the Como Cup third-place match: someone at the club has decided he’s not going to be allowed to leave until we’ve signed a wide player.
Under normal circumstances, I’d regard keeping a player until you have another in the building as a sensible strategy, and I’ve said so repeatedly.
I didn’t think we should have sold Kyogo until we had his replacement in the building.
I didn’t think we should have sold Nicholas Kühn until we had a replacement in place.
So, on the face of it, this seems like nothing but good sense.
But in fact, it just shows what an absolute shambles we’ve become.
It shows how grotesque and incoherent this window’s transfer policy has turned out to be—because we didn’t hang on to Kyogo, and we didn’t hang on to Kühn, two of the best players we had at the club, until we had replacements. We let them go for the money and have not replaced either of them, although we knew both were leaving well in advance.
Tilio, on the other hand, is simply not worth having in the building. He is nowhere near good enough to be a Celtic player. He’s not good enough to be the backup to the backup.
So, for us to suddenly find ourselves in a position where he can’t leave until his replacement is in place… well, that just makes it all the more grotesque and incomprehensible that we didn’t apply this policy when it came to actual first-team footballers.
We are now in the grim position of clinging to a guy who wouldn’t normally get near our bench, and we’re doing it because we’ve failed to make suitable offers for the players we allegedly want, at a time when we’re awash in money.
I can’t even pretend to understand this. What possible reason is there for hanging on to a player who will only feature in the direst circumstances imaginable?
Everyone knows he’s not up to the job of playing for Celtic. Everyone is well aware of this. So, this isn’t Plan D or E. This isn’t even a “break glass in case of emergency” option.
What is going on at this club?
How have we ended up in a situation where we’re keeping an absolute no-hoper, a player with zero prospect of ever being a first-team regular, on the proviso that we can’t let him go until he’s replaced—when we’ve allowed top-tier players to walk out the door without anyone in to take their place?
This is like some kind of sick joke.
If it weren’t so serious, you’d swear we were being trolled.
A policy we failed to enact to protect our best players is now being used to keep one of the worst signings we’ve made in years?
If this was happening across the city, we’d be laughing our backsides off.
It’s farcical. It’s no longer even funny.
It’s just making us into a laughing stock.
That we’re making a decision this perverse—this utterly ludicrous—is living proof that the left hand at Celtic doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. There has to be a major split somewhere inside the club. People are paying off old scores at our expense.
There are clearly two separate factions responsible for key decisions—and neither is willing to give ground to the other. This is beyond stupid.
It is, in fact, beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed at this club, including the John McGinn transfer window, where the manager expected players and got disco lights instead.
This time he got seats in the dugout—which, according to the guy who gave me a tour of Celtic Park at the weekend, Brendan doesn’t even sit in.
We’re going into this game on Sunday with four wingers: Maeda, Forrest, Yang, and this joker.
And I don’t care what the Happy Clampers say—that is a scenario none of them ever conceived of when they were banging the drum earlier in this window about “panic merchants,” “bed-wetters,” and people just needing to “be patient.”
We are one injury to Maeda away from staring disaster in the face in these Champions League qualifying games. We have to register our squad by the 15th.
We are running out of time. And it’s bad enough that fans are being slowly conditioned to accept Yang as a serious starting option, and a Man City reserve as another, but to now be hanging on to a player who, just a week ago, looked like he was finally out the door?
That reeks of desperation. That reeks of amateur hour. And God alone knows what else.
I have seen stupid transfer windows. I have seen bad transfer windows. I’ve seen this club make dreadful mistakes and appalling strategic choices.
But I don’t know what we’re watching right now—because the Champions League pot of gold we’re now risking has never been bigger than this, and because the future of the manager may well depend on it, I honestly believe there has never been a greater gamble.
Presumably the thinking is that they can say they have a full quota of wingers in negotiations with other clubs so they can’t be held to ransom by the other clubs saying that we absolutely need another winger. Unfortunately, the other club probably isn’t stupid and can see as well as we can that Tillio is a lame duck. In fact, a lame duck could possibly do better job for us, especially on the wing. Groan.
Is anyone actually surprised?
BR will leave at the end of the season if not before and in will come some pliable yes man.
Did anyone hear the loo ball on SSB last night – Lawell was a better signing for Celtic than Henrik? There are those that believe that and sadly most of them are in our boardroom
I genuinely thought we would have made at least 2 serious signings. As usual it seems the board is waiting on CL money, that we don’t spend before deciding. Rodgers will def be away at the end of the season.
Well said James,and yet there’s still people who contribute to this site ,think we’re hitting on the board unnecessary,that we should be patient,plenty of time etc we are ABBAs,they know who they are it will be interesting to hear them defend this latest debacle from liewell and the board
Absolutely fkn shambolic,Rodgers signed a 3yr deal so back him for 3yrs,doesn’t matter if he’s away next year,he’s still here ffs,how contradictory this board is,is unbelievable,that big bit of grass in the middle of your office block(Stadium to.us)is a fkn FOOTBALL PITCH,we are not a bank get Rodgers players in,this also tells me Tisdale is the man signing these projects,we need replacements for the players we sold,not more James McCarthys and Mikey Johnsons
Even if Maeda doesn’t get injured, the amount we’re going to be relying on him is too much. I can see us playing guys out of position to cover gaps that just shouldn’t be there.
If we do qualify and sign 2 or 3 good players before the window shuts then people will say “see, nothing to worry about” but it’s currently a massive, unnecessary, idiotic risk we’re taking seemingly due to poor planning. To me, the bulk of work in the summer window should definitely be done before the first game of the season and ideally before preseason training.
Left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing even though it’s scratching lawwells balls .
What a fuckin mess
The empty husk that was Kuhn when he vacated the building was certainly not irreplaceable, so personally I am not grieving that loss in any way. I also disagree that we have not bought a replacement for him, because Benjamin Nygren, who previously played predominantly as a right winger can also fulfil that role, and he was actually signed before Kuhn officially left us.
I was wondering why Tilio was playing there instead of Nygren, I couldn’t quite work that out, but if this news is true then, it all makes sense in a way now, not sense but total nonsense if Brendan is being forced into doing that.
On another note.
‘someone at the club has decided he’s not going to be allowed to leave until we’ve signed a wide player.’
Can you elaborate on this James. Who is someone and where did your info actually come from as the basis for your article?
I see it’s reported in the Austrian paper “Kurier” Johnny. I also saw it in Football Insider although James tells us that’s unreliable. They claimed it was Brendan who said Tilio can’t leave until a winger is brought in, so James probably means the Kurier article, which states in the introduction “The Scottish Champions will not let the 23-year old forward leave until they secure a replacement”. The rest of the article is in German.
It’s a Sound Bite. It’s a Faux Dictum which has been colossally ignorantly applied as a sound bite to appease the small of brain amongst the Celtic Support. ?? Shows how absolutely criminally out of touch the Celtic Board are.
Keep the Faith! Projects and Loan signings this season but a good Board Favourite Yes Man will soon be here and Celtic PLC can rinse and repeat Supporters once again! Keep giving us your money! Hail Hail ! ????
“If it walks like a duck…”
I don’t know why but the Celtic board do knot want the team getting ahead of the game.
Desmond even called Sevco, “Rangers” and stated they were a great club with a long history”.
It is like according to them there is still an “Old Firm” and both clubs must be protected.
There is no doubt if we were to consistently hammer the Ibrox team and win trebles their fans would walk, possibly causing Sevco’s liquidation and that is something that seeming PL and cohorts are desperately trying to avoid.
If you accept that everything else falls into place and as others have mentioned ” if the shoe was on the other foot…”
This seems very like a Brendan move and so similar in its DNA to the Yang explanation for remaining at the club. Quite possibly his way of forcing the boards’ hand through highlighting their impotence in the transfer market and I would blame him for that.
So Daizen didn’t replace a deliberately underperforming Kyogo then and Jota didn’t replace Daizen on the wing ? Wonder how the he’ll Japan’s no 1 striker managed to win POTY.
As for Khun ? Embarrassing using him and his 5 month out of 18 months as an example of best player.
You ABBA clowns, you know who you are, ain’t listening and once again wrongly firing misconceptions or plain lies about the level headed more patient element in our support.
We too want this board, in fact every relevant section of the recruitment team, to get new better quality players in and sooner rather than later. We’re all on that page just different routes to the outcome.
The fact that you can’t control your premature issues is your concern. Just for clarity I was talking about your irrational anger management issues.
I have made the point that I believe the bigger problems are the team selection and tactics but leaving that aside for the moment the board cannot be defended as we have learned through experience of the other transfer windows
I believe they should know who they want before the window starts and go for them even if it costs a couple of million extra. Get them bedded in early etc.
We get skelped in Europe and no-one thinks of taken the names of the better players and attempt to sign them when the window starts.
It is always unknowns in the hope of unearthing a gem and a large profit.
How come we didn’t know about Cerny for example as they did. He’s tainted now but he would have been a great addition.
Good players are kind of obvious which brings me to Engels…