Different managers, different players – Same rotten results

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·29 August 2025

Different managers, different players – Same rotten results

Celtic announced the signing of Michel-Ange Balikwisha from Royal Antwerp yesterday evening. Normally that should be a moment of excitement, but the timing said it all…

The deal was announced just as many of the Celtic support were avoiding the Champions League draw — because despite being used to being so badly underprepared for Champions League qualifiers going back to Maribor, this one still stung.

Losing to Kairat Almaty is possibly the worst team Celtic have ever exited the Champions League to at the qualifying stage. Fair play to Kairat, congratulations to them, and even in our despair I recognised the joy their players and supporters had in reaching the tournament. We all know it’s the only show in town.

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Nicolas Kuhn scores during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between FC Bayern München and Celtic FC at Allianz Arena on February 18, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

Last year’s changes to the competition saw Celtic thrive in the new format. We exited against Bayern Munich at the Allianz after running the German giants close in their own back yard. But we’d played 10 European games, against nine different opponents, and with every win, draw, and even defeat, we grew a little in stature.

With the league won, many of us dreamed we’d make it again. Some of us — myself included — suspended our doubts about the Celtic board and assumed they’d seen what we had, that the new Champions League was as close to a European league as we were likely to get, that Celtic had shown we could make a fist of it, and that another taste would help us grow further.

Celtic players pose for a photo on pitch prior to the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between FC Bayern München and Celtic FC at Allianz Arena on February 18, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

For a team stuck in Scottish football, it’s like an oasis in a desert.

But we should have known better.

Kyogo had been sold before the end of the group phase. That was maddening, especially when we didn’t replace him. Naively, many of us thought maybe the Rennes offer and Kyogo’s sulk forced Celtic’s hand, and maybe — again naively — that we just couldn’t get a replacement over the line. But it felt like a dereliction of duty by the board.

In Munich, a Kyogo might have been the difference between defeat and progression. One more goal would have taken us to extra-time. Then what? Anything was possible. Instead, out we went.

Kyogo Furuhashi of Celtic wins a header during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee United at Celtic Park on January 08, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

So be it. We thought – we’ll be back.

But then things unravelled. Post-Champions League, Celtic went stale. We staggered somewhat to the title. We lost a dreadful Scottish Cup final with a lacklustre performance. The summer was spent thinking “what if?”, but hoping the Celtic board were preparing.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me more times than I care to count… well, you get the idea.

Celtic even started the transfer window well. We cleared out some hangers-on and non-contributors. We signed projects with good profiles, cheap but interesting. Tierney came back. Defence and midfield looked all but set. All we needed was the front end of the pitch to be Champions League ready.

Arne Engels and Nicolas Kuhn look on as Jota receives treatment. Dundee United 0 Celtic 5 at Tannadice Park on April 26, 2025 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Jota had been injured in April and won’t play again until sometime in 2026 — so we were definitely preparing for that, right?

Kyogo hadn’t been replaced — but we had depth, just the main man missing, so we were preparing for that, right?

Nicolas Kühn wanted away — we sold him early, so we were preparing for that, right?

Nicolas Kuhn celebrates. Celtic Champions 2025. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star).

Instead, a team relatively sound in midfield and defence, but shorn in attack, unsurprisingly exited the Champions League on the back of two goalless draws. Who could possibly have guessed that emptying a team of goals, assists, and creativity would lead to going out without laying a glove on anyone?

Yes, players played their part. Yes, the manager could have done better. But this is all on the board. History repeats itself almost every time we hit qualifiers. Different managers, different players – so many of them. Same results.

And then we do sign a winger. A good one. Balikwisha would have made a big difference in Almaty. The signing is welcome — but here’s the thing: Balikwisha was batting his eyelashes at Celtic since the summer started. His agent made it known he wanted the move.

Royal Antwerp FC v OH Leuven – Jupiler Pro League DEURNE, BELGIUM – AUGUST 10 : Balikwisha Michel-Ange forward of Royal Antwerp FC celebrates scoring a goal with teammates during the Jupiler Pro League match between Royal Antwerp FC and OH Leuven on August 10, 2025 in Deurne, Belgium, 10/08/2025 Deurne Belgium Photo: Gvg/ IMAGO

The agreement between clubs never happened, or if it did, we didn’t pull the trigger. Another come-and-get-me ignored, when we clearly needed Jota cover at least for the qualifiers. So why do we wait until we’re knocked out to do the deal? Why do we announce the signing — for the same price he was available at in June — right after a Champions League draw? It felt like trolling the Celtic support. And if there was any doubt, the pictures that emerged of Peter Lawwell’s attendance at the draw confirmed it. Tone-deaf, nose in trough.

Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay applaud during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Livingston at Celtic Park on August 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Here’s what really annoys me. I’ve long believed — and this is a personal opinion based on filling the vacuum of no communication from the club — that Dermot Desmond has no interest in Celtic as a Champions League club.

Perhaps he doesn’t think the outlay is worth the return. Perhaps he doesn’t believe European progression brings him anything except a more demanding support, expecting more money to be spent. So why spend more at all? Perhaps he thinks we’ll never win it, so what’s the point.

I firmly believe he invested in Celtic shares on the mistaken assumption we’d end up in the EPL. Then it was the Atlantic League. Then the European Super League. In every case, the idea was the same, his flip on the club would be stratospheric. His choice, his money, his assumptions.

Peter Lawwell, Chairman of Celtic, Dermot Desmond, Non-Executive Director of Celtic, and Michael Nicholson, CEO of Celtic, are seen in attendance prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and theRangers at Celtic Park on March 16, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

But surely Desmond and Celtic’s board and executive see that the new Champions League format is the European Super League.

It’s UEFA’s response to the threat of it. Eight games in the league phase now, but over the next five years that will start to expand. Eight will become twelve. Twelve will become sixteen. It’s a Super League through the back door, and anyone with an ounce of common sense and business acumen can see it.

This is the moment the fans have waited for. It’s also the moment Desmond supposedly waited for. And we bottled it. We made a game of it, kept it interesting even. “Do it on the cheap, see if we get there, and if we do, still keep it cheap.” But it’s gone up in our face like a cheap firework. And his.

Celtic supporters, Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

The sooner Celtic realise football business has moved on, the better. The “manager is God” model is outdated. We haven’t kept up. The football department doesn’t need an overhaul — it needs a ring-fenced annual budget, with executive and non-executive shareholders kept out of the football spend decisions beyond setting that budget. Let football professionals strategise and prepare properly.

We, the fans, demand Champions League, if that sounds entitled then guilty as charged. We’ve won it. It’s in our DNA. The custodians don’t get to decide whether they consider it a KPI. It is one. Non-negotiable.

Celtic fans in the stands Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

Balikwisha’s signing is welcome. More will come, and that’s fine. Welcome to Celtic, kid — none of this is on you. But the timing of the deal makes it feel like the board is trolling us. They’ve sucked the enjoyment out of this summer, out of signings, out of belief that we were setting a strategy for regular Champions League football. In reality, the opposite seems true.

After Munich, I feared for the players. I knew they’d felt let down by Kyogo’s sale. Post-Munich, with only the Scottish game left, the thought must have been deflating. And when they saw more big contributors sold, another injured, and no replacements? When they looked around and saw second, third, and fourth-choice players leading the attack? No wonder the team looks lethargic.

Defenders and midfielders want to look upfield and see goals and creativity. That’s what lets them relax into their own game. That’s what wins tight matches. We’ve let them down. Is it any surprise the manager, who warned all of this was coming, is disillusioned too?

So yes, welcome Michel-Ange Balikwisha. In time, we’ll love your contributions. But to the custodians of Celtic – stop treating this support, our dressing room, and our manager with contempt.

You cannot plan for qualifiers — you’ve proven that for over a decade. The art-of-the-deal transfer approach is dead. The football department needs a ring-fenced budget, with the board stepping back and letting football people do the footballing work.

Right now, you are out of your depth. Step aside and let Celtic move forward.

Niall J

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Foreword by Danny McGrain. Published on Celtic Star Books on 5 September 2025. Click on image to pre-order.

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