STUTTGART, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 26: (L-R) Celtic manager Martin O'Neill, coach Mark Fotheringham and assistant Shaun Maloney at full time during a UEFA Europa League 2025/26 Play-Off Second Leg match between VfB Stuttgart and Celtic at the MHPArena, on February 26, 2026, in Stuttgart, Germany. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Celtic has been at the centre of yet another round of media hammering today, and once again we have absolutely got what we deserve.
A club that refuses to communicate, and which cannot get its business done in a timely manner, is going to get criticism. A club that refuses to talk to people creates the space for rumours, leaks and disinformation to spread and get out of hand.
What kind of club allows that?
The one good piece of news, as Paulina pointed out, is that we have a manager for next season.
Those who guessed it would be Martin O’Neill never really had any reason to believe they were wrong.
In almost every way it is an underwhelming appointment, even a lazy one, by a board so arrogant and so far up its own backside that it defies belief.
Had we lost the title, and we came within a VAR call of it, (the one for Daizen Maeda’s goal against Hearts, for the record), these people would have had nowhere to hide.
The brazen cheek of them all speaking about Martin as though they had already done their best by him is truly disgusting to witness. They offered him nothing in January.
The scale of that let-down was astonishing and shocking in equal measure.
To see the incompetent Michael Nicholson with his name on the statement is one of the worst moments of the summer so far. This joker is going nowhere, and he will continue to leech a nearly £1 million annual sum out of this club.
It is disgraceful.
These people presided over a disaster last year.
No company that came as close to complete meltdown as this one did would have retained a single one of them.
The fact that Martin O’Neill was the best they could do with six months to find a solution to who sat in the manager’s office is an absolute travesty.
This morning’s news suggested that things are actually much worse than we thought.
O’Neill’s announcement took far too long to make, and one gets the distinct impression that it was rushed out this afternoon to blunt the media stories about the backroom team.
The thing about those stories is that they are incredibly damaging whether they are true or not. Because none of the backroom team was announced alongside the manager, that will appear telling.
This was a sufficiently serious story for the club to want it buried under an avalanche of positivity. They cannot afford this perception to take hold, and yet I fear it will because I have a bad feeling the stories are true.
There is no chance of genuine positivity with these people in charge. The impression will always be present that even when there is good news, we are simply waiting for the other foot to drop.
These people could mess up a hard-boiled egg.
The continued presence, in jobs way too big for them, of Nicholson and McKay is a gross insult to this support. There is no prospect of fan organisations backing off from the protests while these pygmies remain in charge of this enormous institution.
The story today is an acute embarrassment to Celtic.
The idea that we are run by such pathetic, penny-pinching men, imposing a take-it-or-leave-it offer on people who went the extra mile last season and who are, in their own way, responsible for this board not facing an implacably hostile fanbase still trying to recover from a calamitous finish to the season, is depressing and infuriating.
It must feel worse to be on the inside of it.
O’Neill must be stunned and reeling from it.
I am guessing he is fighting it, and he almost has to be. In any case, he has learned something about the people over his head which I am sure he would rather not know.
They cannot be trusted in any way, shape or form.
That they would find new and interesting ways to mess him about as much as they are able must be astounding to him. A straightforward renegotiation has resulted in an appalling insult delivered to his most trusted lieutenants, and that means to him as well.
It would be breathtaking if they really have treated two men such as Mark Fotheringham and Shaun Maloney this way, effectively punishing them for their success even as those who benefited most from it, having messed up in their own jobs, will doubtless treat themselves to generous bonuses for the success those men helped create.
Think about that for a minute and realise how obscene this really is.
And if they are behaving with this much disrespect and arrogance towards the manager’s key background staff, what makes anyone think they will not treat clubs, agents and players with the same cavalier contempt?
What does that mean for our summer?
What does that mean for the rebuild we all know has to be done?
There is nothing about it that does not stink to high heaven.
We are a large club run by the smallest men possible, men with no concept of loyalty or even the most basic professionalism. Their chickenshit conduct in this matter is a stain on their reputations and, as long as they are in post, a stain on ours as a club.
O’Neill is just back and he already must be deeply concerned by what he is witnessing around him. Anyone who thinks these people can be trusted to support him is living in a fantasy world.
If these reports are accurate, and the scary thing about them is how believable they are, they are screwing him already.
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If these stories are true – and given the track record of this board of mediocrities – I’ve no reason the believe that they are not, then this plumbs new depths of mismanagement even for them. Just when you think things surely can’t get any worse, then they do. For this board to announce that they fully back O’Neill, they then go and do this and treat his key backroom staff in such a disrepectful manner. This makes me abolutely livid. I was pretty irate last season by the way this club was being mismanaged, but my ire is off the scale this evening.
You’ve just echoed my thoughts, and what I said to a few friends, exactly. This is beyond a scandal and shows utter contempt for not only the staff, but the fans and, to an extent, the squad as well.
IF these rumours are true James, MON should walk away – immediately. Just when I thought they had no surprises left, we get this. I still believe there should be massive boycotts if the summer goes the way I think it is going to go.
If these stories are true?
You normally scoff at negative rumours about Celtic James, so why should this one be any different?
I will reserve commenting on it until it is verified…..or not.
If they suit his narrative he takes it as gospel
IF this story is true, which I am sceptical about, then MON must go directly to DD and DEMAND that his backroom staff are hired on ENHANCED contracts otherwise he will walk. As far as I’m aware he is a man of principle, so he must stand by his staff or quit there is no alternative.
As for these invisible “negotiators,” all they have done is to make Celtic a laughing stock with their ludicrous action and have ensured that no right thinking person will go anywhere near Celtic.
As I said, I’m a bit sceptical about this story but, if true, it makes me ashamed of the Board of Directors running Celtic, they really need to go and go now!
Even with this tight shower of reprobates in charge, I can hardly believe they could be so stupid and mess about the guys who helped MON to win a miraculous double.
If true then it looks as if these fools are hell bent on continuing their mismanagement of our club.
Surely MON wouldn’t have taken the job without getting guarantees regarding his backroom staff and transfer budget.
Time will tell, and it won’t take long, if they mess us around pre season, then the friendly against AC Milan would be a good game for a boycott.
If the story is true; could this be some sick vindictive move by the board as a way of stating who is in charge after the outcry against Keane. Strange that it came out the same day as MON announcement and the World cup starting. It’s hard to believe anything from the Sun but this board can’t be trusted one inch. I was hoping that at least two of the board fucked off, not two coaches.
When i first seen this story being promoted, before reading anything about it, just seeing the headlines, i wondered if they were trying to drive Maloney & Fozzy out. To replace them with Keane as MON’s No2. Surely that board wouldn’t even dare?
Earlier today it was three Unionist propaganda platforms i seen spreading this story, The Herald, The Record and The BBC.
A few hours later and i don’t see anyone spreading it. Their focus is on Celtic’s “suspended sentence” over the last day pitch invasion against The Diets.
And all i can say, whether true or not, is NOT ANOTHER PENNY.
Surely MON wouldn’t have accepted the role if he wasn’t allowed his backroom staff
You would think so, wouldn’t you? Mind you, i wouldn’t put anything past this board. Their game plan here could very simply be a case of deliberately delaying Maloney & Fozzy’s appointment. Because if they’re “working on that” they are not working and spending on signings.
This couldn’t possibly be true could it? But then I start thinking about two names… Scott Brown and Johnny Hayes.
The Mexican fans chanting, after their goal, had me reminiscing about the old days
Aye Aye Aye Aye….Simpson is better than Yashin, Big Yogie is better than Eusebio and Johnstone is better than anyone.
Those were the days my friend. 🙂
Surely MON wouldn’t have accepted the role without Maloney and Fozzy coming with him? But I wonder if the hold up is Maloney interviewing for the role higher up? Scott Brown and Hayes will be on that touchline next season in some capacity, I have little doubt. The statement today regarding Martin having “The full support” is another laugh. With the amount of players we need it’ll be a shell load of bargain buys, loans and freebies. The sooner we accept the fact that things arent going to change, the less surprised we will be when the window shuts. It’s depressing beyond measure but it’s the way it is, has been for years and will be until these parasites leave the boardroom and Desmond trades his shares for golf merch.
I lost count of the number of “ifs” in the article and the comments. Take everything in the mainstream media with a large pinch of salt. It would make sense for the backroom team to negotiate hard for a raise and it would be incumbent on the board to push back where they feel this is excessive. I’m pretty confident that this will all be resolved with little drama.
(and a little curious that not so many months ago James and others on here were spitting feathers at the idea of Shaun Maloney being part of the management team…I will admit that there is a world of difference between being the manager and being a coach.
Richard @ 7.31pm…
Hope this NOT ANOTHER PENNY is towards The (Scummy) Record and towards The (Scummy) Herald as well as The Celtic Board…
The BBC is free anyway !