The absence of Celtic stars in the POTY running is a symptom of our decline.

Yesterday we found out that there are no Celtic players listed in the Player of the Year awards. This is worse than just “a bad look.” It is not normal. It is not a blip. This absolutely tells you something has gone very badly wrong this season.

There are moments in football when every problem you’re having can be summed up in one nice wee report.

This is one of them. I look at the Player of the Year nominations for 2026, and I almost don’t recognise what I’m seeing. Not because the names are unfamiliar, because there are good players there. But because of who is missing.

Celtic are missing, of course. Not a single Celtic player. That should never feel normal.

I’ve watched this club long enough to know the rhythm of these things. I know how a season builds. I know how players rise. By springtime, you usually start hearing the same conversations. Which Celtic player will win it? Who else from our team will be nominated? How many of ours will be there?

That is the standard. That is the expectation. It is the weight of wearing the Hoops. Now? Nothing. For the first time since the awards began … what a damning thing to write.

The shortlist this year is built from Hearts and Motherwell players, and fair play to them. Football does not owe Celtic anything. If they have had better individual seasons, they deserve recognition.

But let’s not pretend this is only football being fair. This is also Celtic falling short.

The truth is simple and brutal. These awards are voted for by the players themselves. Not pundits. Not media people twisting narratives depending on the day. The players. The ones who face you, mark you, chase you and feel your quality up close.

None of them looked at Celtic this season and thought, aye, he is the best of us.

That stings. It should sting. Because I remember last year.

I remember when Celtic were not just part of the conversation. Celtic were the conversation. Daizen Maeda lifting the award but others around him were on everyone’s lips. Goals flying in. Performances that made you sit forward in your seat and smile because you knew you were watching something special.

That was not long ago, not some distant golden age. That was yesterday. Now we are here, asking how we fell so far, so quickly.

Is it inconsistency? Aye. Is it a lack of identity at times? Aye. Is it that Celtic have good players, but not enough great ones performing week after week? That is the explanation that hits the mark. It is the uncomfortable truth.

Celtic players do not need perfect seasons to be nominated. They just need to matter. They need to dominate games, decide moments and become unavoidable. This year, too often, we have been quiet. That is what hurts most.

Now, I hear the argument about Nygren, and I understand it. Second top league scorer, he’s passed the 20 goals mark overall. He has made big contributions when Celtic needed something and flashes of quality that remind you what he is capable of. On paper, those numbers scream “Player of the Year contender.”

But football is not played on paper. If those goals do not match up with a side on top form, if they come in moments that fade instead of echo, then players notice that. The ones voting weigh impact, not just output.

So, does Nygren deserve a conversation? Yes, I think he does. But a place on the shortlist? That depends on something deeper than numbers. Maybe, just maybe, he has not dominated enough to force his way in.

That is the real theme here. No Celtic player forced his way in.

In the past, you took it for granted that Celtic players would be part of these conversations. They kicked the door down. Scott Brown. James Forrest. Callum McGregor. Kyogo. Daizen Maeda. They did not just perform. They imposed themselves on the league. Those players made it impossible to ignore them.

It is important to remind ourselves how recent Celtic’s dominance actually was. This is not ancient history. Maeda lifted the award in 2025. Lawrence Shankland won it in 2024, yes, but Kyogo won it in 2023 and Callum McGregor won it in 2022. Go back further and you find names like James Forrest and Scott Brown owning that stage.

And it’s not even that we won it every year, as that list shows. But every year we had one or two players who made the decision tough. We were in the running.

That is the level Celtic set for years. Turning up. Taking over. Being recognised for it. That is why sitting here now, looking at a list without one Celtic player on it, does not just feel unusual. It feels completely out of place.

This team has not done enough to demand that recognition. I say that not with anger, but with the quiet frustration you feel when you know something should be better. Celtic are not just another club chasing recognition.

We are supposed to be the benchmark.

Maybe that is why this hits harder than it should. Because it is not just about an award. It is about identity and standards. It is about looking at a season and asking whether Celtic truly left their mark. We may still win the title. That’s not the same thing.

Next season, I don’t want to be asking why Celtic players are missing unless it is because other Celtic players were that bit better and made the list instead. I don’t want to be trying to explain why no one in our team stood above the league.

I want Celtic players back where they belong. In the conversation. On the shortlist. Setting the standard. Making everyone else look up at them. I want to argue about which one of ours should win it. That is the Celtic I know.

That is the Celtic we should demand again.

Choose The CelticBlog as a ‘Preferred Source’ on Google News for quick access to the news you value.