11 Jan 2026 21:45:43
Hi all
Just read Welsh has been recalled. I think that's ridiculous. Why have we not went for an upgrade on what we already have?! Welsh has had countless chances to prove himself and like Ralston should be moved on.
We should also have had a striker in 10 days ago.
What have the board been doing all this time? Genuinely wondering what the day to day is like in there to justify the salary. Or is it that there's too much to do and they don't have the structure or staff to work in multiple fronts?
Totally at a loss here with whole thing.
11 Jan 2026 22:21:09
Welsh has had a great season so far at Motherwell.
11 Jan 2026 22:26:53
This is embarrassing, recalling Welsh who was moved out on loan as he wasn't good enough and we are apparently looking at a striker in Ligue 1 who has scored 1 goal this season.
Speak about underwhelming, MN is delving deeper into the gutter than ever.
If this is the level he expects MON to win the league with demonstrates he has no clue what he is doing.
11 Jan 2026 22:29:06
Give the guy a chance,
11 Jan 2026 22:46:29
The board are an absolute joke i heard jim duffy saying dd needs to understand they are only custodians Celtic will always be the fans club.
11 Jan 2026 23:08:19
His shoulder is weaker than Kyogos. ?
This board will not spend money.
I suspect this is revenge for the " not another penny campaign ".
11 Jan 2026 23:17:09
The wee cabal are doing their best to ruin our season.
Welsh is not up to playing CH for Celtic.
Bad feeling about how this transfer window is going to end.
We need a a tall commanding CH with a bit of pace. Welsh has none of these.
11 Jan 2026 23:39:09
This is where the whole ' sack the board' arguement has no substance and gets blown out of proportion! We need a RCB, we have two out on loan and one is performing well, so we recall him obviously and you get fans being negative for the sake of it and trying to make out that the board take the " cheap option"!
We have fans being negative because the board aren't targeting players who we have no chance in getting. We have fans wanting a whole new team with each player costing no less than £10m and fans writing off players because of the league they came from or the fee paid, and then wonder why the board don't listen to them. A huge cause of the toxic enviroment around the club stems from ignorant fans clouding their opinion with reality!
11 Jan 2026 23:52:51
100% Dr Phil.
12 Jan 2026 00:52:16
Shambles.
12 Jan 2026 01:13:25
Bhoy88
Ignorant fans - you're right - there's a lot of them about!
Ye fancy being the leader?
12 Jan 2026 05:15:53
Hope this is a sick joke
Boy is terrible seems that because some players come from the youth team they get a million chances like M Johnston or Ralston
He'll be injured within a month as well.
12 Jan 2026 07:22:24
@north18q - what we are seeing now is not vindictiveness from the board.
What we are seeing is the consequences of the board's mismanagement. Let me explain.
Last season the clubs revenue was 145 million, so we had the ability to spend if we had wished.
However, because of the board's mismanagement and the backlash it has caused, our revenue next season is going to be considerably lower.
This gives the board a few options.
1. Spend now but it means there will be even larger cuts in the summer to comply with UEFA regulations.
2. Spend very little so the cuts won't be as severe in the summer.
3. Sell before we buy this window and we may avoid large cuts in the summer.
12 Jan 2026 07:26:57
Bhoy, you are joking. Every time someone puts a post on feeling like we are being let down, you jump in with the entitled remark.
No one on here has mentioned spending 10 million on a player contrary to your remark, we just want Celtic to be their best, taking back a defender very few people thought was good enough, including several Managers, isn't an example if ambition, it is filling in the cracks, poorly.
Looking at a striker with 1 goal this season is again taking cheap option, hoping MON can get a tune out of him and we can make money on him, like Dembele, who wasn't playing when we signed him. Yes that worked out but this guy is no Dembele.
Finally Ta Bi is injured and we were buying him when injured, what would you call the boards transfer strategy when you hear this level if incompetence, and yes they are the cheap option and even you surely cannot argue with that.
12 Jan 2026 07:45:33
Bhoy88 is by far the happiest clapper on this site. i'm not sure how he hasn't been appointed to our board yet.
12 Jan 2026 09:27:50
Someone on this chat previously had a financial breakdown of what Celtic could afford in terms of transfer funds for this season, taking into account player sales, profit and keeping in line with FFP rules.
Im sure Celtic have enough funds to do business but what can someone explain the implications.
If we sign a player for say £5m on £20k a week, does that mean from the FFP budget takes wages also into account, agent fees etc?
Hearts are proof currently that the fee isn't the main criteria when recruiting based on our purchases of the past 5 years, top 15 based on cost:-
1 Jota €16.20m
2 Engels €13.00m
3 Idah €9.90m
4 Trusty. €7.10m
5 Carter-Vickers €7.00m
6 Tounekti €6.40m
7 Balikwisha €5.20m
8 Kühn €5.10m
9 Nawrocki €5.00m
10 Starfelt €5.00m
11 Barkas €5.00m
12 Palma €4.75m
13 Bernabei €4.35m
14 Abada €4.00m
15 Johnston €3.50m
Our signings i would say on the level of investment have been 50/ 50, however we've also traded well with some of which we purchased, but some just didn't cut it.
Johnston on that list for me is an absolute bargain of a player, and proves its not the fee but getting the recruitment correct.
Celtic need a Director of Football in place, qualified, with a track record of succesful transfer recruitment that fits our model.
Portuguese clubs dominate the player trade model, SC Braga is in the top 10 along with the clubs you would expect, couldn't we be trying at least to progress as a club, and try and recruit a succesful DOF to help achieve what we need?
The fact we got a guy in with no remarkable CV to be in charge of our recruitment department not only is amateurish, but shows that the board, or certain members of the board, probably want a yes man, not a qualified, proven man!
If they were to think clearly about what is best for the club they would be offering one of these DOF from those clubs an opportunity which from their track record would be significantly profitable for the club for years to come.
Dinamo Zagreb brought in a Spanish football expert Albert Capellas to continue their impressive player trade model, they sit high on the European list for transfer revenue, are Dinamo a bigger club than celtic?
12th of January, no striker, apparently Maloney, unqualified, touting players, they wonder why they get the huge backlash they do!
12 Jan 2026 09:45:26
2021 maeda, am sure Chris Sutton only scored one goal for chelsea before we signed him.
12 Jan 2026 09:52:58
Dembele was first choice striker at Fulham when we signed him.
12 Jan 2026 10:32:53
Chris Sutton was a proven goal scorer for a 3-4 season before tho I'm sure he was joint scorer in the league before his move to Chelsea.
12 Jan 2026 10:46:28
We'll just pretend Sutton never played for Blackburn before Chelsea eh.
12 Jan 2026 12:25:01
Turner1984,
good post, I don't know the answer but I'm confident Buzzbomb or Ed would know how it all works.
There's no doubt the complete lack of a footballing structure at Celtic has cost us a small fortune with the annual big player sales (known as our 'player trading model') covering this up.
Hearts this season, and many other clubs across Europe, smaller in size (support and revenue) than Celtic are better run and have a footballing model in place that has enabled them to successfully compete on the park whilst employing an effective player transfer model to generate a much needed revenue stream.
This goes back to the board, again and again.
They make the appointments (Tisdale and Nancy being two recent examples) and, as yet, have not put a structure in place i. e. DOF, review of scouting etc that would ensure the footballing side of the club runs smoothly, efficiently, profitably, whilst delivering success, both in terms of domestic trophies but also, importantly, progress in European terms.
It's ironic though, for a board who love money and the big number in the clubs bank account, by not putting the correct framework in place, has cost them tens of millions of pounds in CL qualification revenue alone, nevermind the player sales they could have had.
It's ineptitude and gross misconduct at a commercial level, too many back slappers who's only focus is the number in the bank account and not the future.
In the past 10 years or so, we should have been so far ahead of the rest of our league, it would have been practically impossible for any other club to catch us.
But, as I sit and type this post on 12th January, just about 12:30, we're on our 4th managerial appointment of this season, we currently sit third in the league, we lost the first cup final of the season and we don't have a striker who can score goals.
A disgraceful state of affairs.
12 Jan 2026 13:24:59
Although Bamba has only scored one goal this season he's still outscored Iheanacho in the last two and a bit seasons. He's just fell out of favour at Lorient and has played around the same game time as Kenny this season. Likely not a starter, he has probably been thrown on later in games where the team isn't showing the same kind if endeavor as the start.
It's a loan to buy so we can see what he does without an outlay of cash. We are after two strikers this window too.
12 Jan 2026 14:33:22
The board needs a longterm plan, that is transparent to the fans.
DOF is massive, from grassroots, scouting networks, player recruitment, player sales.
Our aim should be winning the league minimum season upon season, based on revenue and finances alone, European money is massive and we only have a sniff of that if we can get back to the top ASAP.
With DOF not in place right now we need to be recruiting players from within the league in my opinion, proven players, that will certainly be affordable, probably much more affordable than foreign markets, who would potentially need time to adapt to the league.
And just bare in mind this is short term while the long term structure is put in place.
Maybe couple of decent loans in for good players with options to buy would bolster the squad, and see where it takes us.
As fans we can't really expect gem signings when Maloney, no disrespect intended, finds himself identifying players for this club now, would make me believe the players would be known by all of us who we are looking at, not talent etc from foreign leagues.