GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - FEBRUARY 22: A view of Celtic Park football stadium, home to Celtic FC on February 22, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
The news that Sunderland had signed one of our winger targets broke the other day, and only now are we getting a clearer picture of what actually happened. Once again, the details are coming from the player’s agent.
That matters. This is someone who has just secured his client a move to a new club, an improved salary, and better conditions. He has no axe to grind. No grievance. No reason to exaggerate or mislead. And yet it is obvious how angry he is with Celtic.
That, increasingly, is the common theme across European football whenever people have to deal with us. Frustration. Irritation. A general sense that we leave things unfinished, that we drag negotiations out, that we fail to prepare properly, and that internal blockages prevent us from acting quickly and decisively. That is deeply worrying.
During the summer, the chairman of Go Ahead Eagles openly mocked Celtic for the way we conduct our business. Now we have an agent doing the same. When chairmen and agents are both publicly expressing frustration with your club, that is not noise. That is reputational damage.
It is harmful to Celtic’s standing. Harmful to the perception of us as a serious, coherent, functional organisation. At this point, it is difficult to know how anyone can still pretend otherwise.
The conclusion is unavoidable. The structure needs ripped up. The people in charge do not know what they are doing, and they do not know how to fix it. Martin O’Neill will work with what he has and do the best he can, but he is being severely hamstrung by a level of unprofessionalism in our dealings with other clubs that mirrors what we have already seen here at home in the club’s dealings with its own supporters.
I do not know whether this is arrogance or something else entirely. What I do know is that European football is talking about Celtic right now, and not in a good way. Even those who have long clung to the idea that Celtic remains a professionally run club, an idea I have argued against for years, must surely see the scale of the problem now.
I have had fierce disagreements with people who insisted we always acted professionally in the market. I never believed that; I do not think we handled the Ivan Toney or John McGinn situations well, and I do not think these issues began there either.
But it should now be undeniable that the problems run deep.
Anthony Joseph has pointed out that losing Rodgers and much of the backroom team stripped away a great deal of the professionalism we once had in this area. That only makes the club’s treatment of Rodgers and his staff look even more self-harming and absurd. The board had months to address that mistake. Instead, it chose to double down.
The board’s decision to hand Paul Tisdale such responsibility now looks even more alarming, although there is little value in relitigating that failure. His tenure collapsed, and at least the club has now moved on from it.
The underlying problems remain. They have not improved. This transfer window exposes the talk about recognising mistakes and learning lessons as nonsense. The club has learned nothing. Nothing has changed. If anything, its approach now looks even less professional and less coherent than before.
This situation is untenable.
Nobody can seriously believe the club will complete the massive rebuilding job it needs in the summer if it does not even begin that work now. The club has not started it. It has stalled, prevaricated, and talked around it.
Every agent, every chairman, and every failed deal makes that reality clearer to the rest of the football world.
Failure to get players in to the Club is not solely the fault on the Board. With some fan groups and fan media making noises about the unsuitabikity of certain players based on their country of origin or the Club selling them it is not surprising that some players will choose to go elsewhere if they have a choice. The truth hurts but, as fans, we should welcome al players in to our club . This is what made us great in the past. Too many seem to forget that today
As highlighted in the bastion of truth: the daily record
Is that you Peter?
Please give us peace. This whole crap about trouble making over country or club is tiresome. If you are comfortable with our money, and it is the fans money, being spent on anything with a club who have strong ties to a manufacturer of arms whether used to kill civilians or soldiers, it doesn’t matter killing is killing, then I suggest you don’t get the club you claim to support.
Shut up
Petebhoy surely you are taking the piss.
This board is fully to blame for the shambles we are experiencing.
Hard to believe that we couldn’t offer more than 2.5 million and couldn’t persuade him the chances of advancing his career to one of the bigger leagues were greater at Celtic rather than Rumania. Beggars belief.
That guy going to Ferncvaros seems like a loss. The Slovenian league is about the SPL equivalent and he was knocking in goals there in great style. Did we make a genuine effort to sign him?
I said the Board is not SOLEY to blame. Of course they take a huge part of the blame. No question about that. But fan media and some of the views expressed there are stopping players coming to us.
Pete, are u trolling or totally deluded. The fans are a reason why we are failing so badly in the transfer market for the last few years ?????? Seriously, go lie down in a dark corner and wake up when your medicine wears aff
These board feks are 100% to blame for where we are and, James, I fully agree the situation is utterly untenable. Look across the city and then even at the diets and it’s smooth trading, all quiet, done and dusted. Only thing I have seen, and I am absolutely no board defender here, is that Ta Bi very likely needs surgery and a 3 month recovery, by which time I see us in third place and f*** knows how we recover from that or build in summer if this shower are still in the house. We need no risk, match-ready players right now. I’d even be happy with loan/buys because of the lack of long-term manager security but it has to be match-fit-goals-virtually-guaranteed players. I do think we can do without players who are probably going under the knife before the season even ends. Just deeply sad, not even angry anymore.
ONLY the board are to blame here. Sure, they ain’t 100% to blame for what the players do once they walk onto the pitch, but they are totally to blame for who walks out. I got the Abada situation and the timing, but the lad was actually Israeli, it probably had to happen for his sake (and he did great for us), but I am not at all convinced fan media or general fan opinion had anything to do with the Ta Bi situation.
What Abada situation? In his official farewell statement in March 2024 to Celtic FC, the staff, supporters and wider Glaswegian community it was just praise and gratitude for an experience and welcome he said he will cherish ending with…
“..last but not least thank you to all the Celtic fans. Recent times were very difficult for myself and my family but I want to say thank you to all the Celtic fans that stood by me, supported and respected me as a Celtic player and I hope that I have given you few moments to remember me by.
“It is now time to begin a new chapter on my journey in a new place and with new targets. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for everything. ”
Why would that be anything other than an endorsement of the Celtic support? Not to mention he would literally jump into the crowd to celebrate with us after scoring a couple of goals late on both matches I remember knowing but not caring he’d pick up a yellow for both. He loved the supporters and playing for Celtic and when you show love and respect for us you get treated with nothing less in return.
No, I agree, Fhloyd. I didn’t mean he had an issue with fans or vice versa. I simply meant the timing with what was happening in that part of the world and the obvious general stance of our wider fan base. It obviously affected Abada’s decision. Nothing deeper and In comparison, I don’t think the Ta Bi transfer failure had anything to with anything our fan media might say about Zionism.
Nicholson is going to have cajones the size of bowling balls if he hasn’t signed anyone this window.
I am not sure what they don’t get about spending a “little” money to recoup £40 million if you win the league.
Paying £2 million over the odds for a suitable player is even worth it to ensure you get him.
Otherwise you are left with paying £11 million over the odds for players like Engels at the last minute.
There is something I have just realised and that is the amount of money PL and Lennon cost the club failing to win TIAR in that fans would have been buying all the memorabilia.
Amateur hour.
A sevco fan taunted me in the pub on Saturday calling out FAIL FAIL when I walked in the door…
I simply canny argue…
Micheal ye have taken me (dignity) Away – Thanks Lucan ya bastard !