2026 had arrived and as the clock struck 12 to ring in the bells, Peter Lawwell officially left his post at Chairman of Celtic Football Club. The announcement was made on the evening of the December 17. Later that evening there was a toxic atmosphere at Tannadice when Dundee United beat Celtic 2-1.

The Celtic board were targeted by a section of the Celtic support and Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy cut a lonely figure as he left the field of play to boos and calls for his head after 4 defeats on the bounce.

Lawwell was not at the game in Dundee and has not been seen at a game since the League Cup final defeat to St. Mirren at Hampden.

He has been replaced by Brian Wilson as Celtic Chairman. The long time Celtic non-executive director now takes the seat vacated by Lawwell as Dermot Desmond shuffles the chairs around in the boardroom as he looks for a permanent replacement.

One name being mentioned on the rumour mill is Martin O’Neill. He could fill a number of jobs just now at the club from head of football recruitment to returning as Celtic manager.

Peter Lawwell joined Celtic as CEO in 2003 and stepped down after the Covid season when Celtic’s dream of 10IAR disappeared on a dodgy Celtic TV stream. A nightmare of a season. Neil Lennon was sacked in a trophyless season.

Since Lawwell arrived in 2003 at Celtic the club have downsized but were still the dominate force in the Scottish Football. The death of Rangers helped and their absence from the league saw the top tier of the Lisbon Lion stand closed. In Europe Celtic had a good season last year this season not so good. Since Gordon Strachan’s time we have not been able to compete on a regular basis in the Champions League.

Lawwell returned to the Celtic board room in January 2023 as Chairman. During his time at the club Celtic won 38 domestic trophies, Celtic moved to the Lennoxtown and redeveloped Barrowfield. The club has plenty of money banked from transfers.

He also leaves the club at a time when relationship between the Celtic board and the Celtic support is very bad. Some fans have been banned from attending games.

Celtic Fan media have been banned from attending pre and post match press conferences. Celtic could not even send an email out to explain why we have been banned. Celtic have had 3 managers in 2026 which paints its own picture.

The current player recruitment model is broken and our youth system is not much better. Celtic’s media department don’t even bother posting match reports on the B team.

A lifelong Celtic supporter Peter Lawwell has made plenty of money as a Celtic employee and we wish him a happy and healthy retirement and I am sure in time he will be back watching Celtic as a guest of the Celtic board.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

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If Celtic are to salvage anything from this season then Dermot Desmond and his CEO Michael Nicholson will have to come out and admit they have got the management appointment of Wilfried Nancy wrong and relieve him of his duties. But we know they won’t do that.

Last night’s performance was a disgrace. Inverness Caley under John Barnes and St. Mirren away under Tony Mowbray come to mind when I use the word disgrace.

They must also admit that Brendan Rodgers was correct to call them out on their recruitment policy and the quality of the players being brought into the club are just not good enough. We signed two Japanese players who have barely kicked a ball for 3 managers. That in itself tells you how bad the recruitment has been.

When the former Exeter manager Paul Tisdale was appointed as Head of Football Operations on the 16 Oct 2024 we were told

“In this new strategic role reporting to the Board, Paul will oversee the development and management of effective operations to support high-level football performance, including the identification and development of talent, in line with the club’s objective to develop Champions League players through our Academy and recruitment processes”

Which was the start of the downsizing of the club, by January 2025 we had sold Kyogo and never replaced him. During the Summer Idah and Kuhn were sold leaving the team short of attacking options and goals.

Celtic Chief Executive, Michael Nicholson said when Tisdale arrived:

“We are delighted to appoint Paul as Head of Football Operations, and we are sure he will bring a new dimension to our work. 

‘Talent identification and talent development, from our Academy through to our first team, is of fundamental importance to the club’s strategy, and Paul has tremendous expertise in these areas.’

“We are certain that he will bring great experience, energy and innovation to what we do, working alongside Brendan, our football manager, Chris McCart Head of Academy and our excellent wider football staff, to bring further development and success to the club.”  

So how is it working out. Brendan Rodgers walked, the team is a shambles and Martin O’Neill is on stand by and can’t commit to personal appearance bookings till mid January. Make of that what you will. I wouldn’t trust the current board to run a bath never mind a football club.

Martin O’Neill was able to get the best out of the current team. They loved his man management style. He was manager of the month for November. Under his watch we beat the rangers, were unbeaten in the league and we even got a rare European away win.

The players now look a shadow of themselves under Nancy. The fact that he only spent 15 minutes with Martin O’Neill at a handover meeting after O’Neill stayed an extra night in Glasgow to welcome him tells its own story about the Frenchman.

He thinks he knows best but we now know that he ripped up a winning script for his style of football that has seen Celtic concede 15 goals, lose a Cup Final, lose to Roma at Celtic Park in Europe and get a football lesson from Motherwell. His record going into the rangers game is played 7 won 2 lost 5. They and I use they as a collective Dermot Desmond , the Celtic board, Paul Tisdale and Wilfried Nancy have managed to do this in less than a month. You can see just how much damage they have done in less than a month to OUR club and I won’t even mention the damage Ross Desmond’s attack on the Celtic support at the AGM has done to an already strained relationship between the Celtic support and those paid handsomely to run Celtic.

When the new manager arrived Celtic Chief Executive Michael Nicholson told us

“We have been aware of Wilfried and his quality of work for some time – he was our number one candidate when we began the process of appointing a new Manager and we are delighted that he has agreed to join the club.

“I know he is hugely excited about this opportunity to be part of Celtic’s future. We will give Wilfried every support to face the challenges ahead, with our aim as always being to deliver the success for the club which our supporters deserve, this season and beyond.

While outgoing Celtic chairman Peter Lawell told us

“We are really pleased to welcome Wilfried to Celtic. He is a Manager with a record which demonstrates the kind of football which we know Celtic supporters love to see. We will give Wilfried all our support as we look to once again bring success to our fans.

The Celtic support deserve better than those who are running our club into the ground. A win over the rangers on Saturday will only paper over the cracks but after last night if you’re a rangers fan you will be feeling a lot more confident than we are.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes and Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast

 

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Celtic are back in action tonight in Motherwell and with Hearts not playing have a chance to go level on points with the league leaders Hearts. Wilfried Nancy style of play has seen Celtic lose 4 games and win two since his arrival at the club. His 3 at the back system has failed to keep a clean sheet conceding 13 goals in total in his first 6 games.

Tonight would be a great time to start with a clean sheet but the odds are against it. Winning by 5 goals is the only way Celtic will sit top of the table on goal difference heading into 2026. Under Nancy Celtic have created countless chances and are guilty of terrible finishing with the woodwork and some good goalkeeping also playing a part in the poor return for chances created.

A clean sheet and win would give us all a big confidence boost ahead of the rangers visit to Celtic Park on Saturday for the Glasgow Derby.

Motherwell have been in great form and sit in fourth place in SPFL table. They lost at Ibrox at the weekend 1-0 but should have had a penalty. It was their first defeat in 11 games. They also reached the semi-final of the League Cup going out to St. Mirren.

Under Danish coach Jens Berthol Askou they have played a decent brand of football and their position in the table is proof of that. A win for Motherwell would take them to within 5 points of Celtic. The rangers currently sit between Celtic and Motherwell in the table and they take on St. Mirren tonight at Ibrox.

LAST MEETING

Earlier in the season Celtic beat Motherwell 3-2 at Celtic Park. Iheanacho opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Stamatelopoulos scored close to half time to equalise for the Steelmen. He scored again to put the visitors ahead in the second half before Nygren equalised. Thankfully Maeda scored a 93^rd minute winning goal to save the day and all 3 points.

TEAM NEWS

Celtic central defender Stephen Welsh has impressed since joining Motherwell on loan but as terms of his loan deal between the club he will not be allowed to play. Celtic are still without injured Iheanacho, Johnston, Osmand, Sarracchi, Jota and Carter-Vickers. While Tounekti and Balikwisha are away on international duty at the African Cup of Nations

MATCH OFFICIALS

Ref: Kevin Clancy, Assistants Callum Spence/ Douglas Ross, VAR: Andrew Dallas/ Gary Hillard

ARMCHAIR VIEWING

Tonight’s game is live on Premier Sports coverage starts at 7:30pm. Kick off is 8pm. The game will be streamed on Celtic TV outside the UK and Ireland.

LATEST BOOKIES ODDS

Motherwell 10/3 – Draw 31/10 – Celtic 5/6

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast

There have been plenty of ups and downs following Celtic in 2025 and on Wednesday night we travel to Lanarkshire for the final game of the year to take on Motherwell who sit fourth in the SPFL table.

If the last two Celtic games are anything to go by then we can expect goals and hopefully Celtic can sign off 2025 by scoring more than Motherwell and with a win.

A Celtic win would put us level on points at the top of the table with Hearts going into the New Year Glasgow derby game against the rangers at Celtic Park.

Kevin Clancy is the referee, assisted by Calum Spence and Douglas Ross. Andrew Dallas is on VAR assisted by Gary Hilland.

Kick off is 8pm. The game will be shown on Premier Sports and streamed on Celtic TV outside Ireland and the UK.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

The Jekyll and Hyde style of play Wilfried Nancy has introduced at Celtic has left us vulnerable at the back and very exciting to watch going forward. Livingston exposed it on Saturday in the first 10 minutes taking the lead twice.

Better teams than Livi will expose our defence and punish us. Celtic are creating so many chances going forward and Saturday was the same. When it does finally click some team is getting pumped.

The January transfer window is so important for the new manager to get in both attacking and defensive players in to fit his system. After the past year I have little confidence in our football recruitment department or those pulling the purse strings to back the manager properly. I hope I am wrong and those running the club can finally get the finger out!

One player who has fitted into the managers new system is Benjamin Nygren he scored twice on Saturday and one of those goals was an absolute cracker. Kieran Tierney is another player stepping up to the challenge of playing in a new system.

Celtic now have a hard away game ahead of us on Tuesday evening  when we visit Motherwell. Livingston, have now gone 17 matches without a win and will struggle to stay up. At the top of the table Hibs done us a favour beating Hearts 3-2. The gap at the top is now down to 3 points and Celtic have a game in hand.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

Celtic fans will say a final farewell to former Celtic player Dixie Deans at Celtic Park on Monday morning at 10am when his funeral cortege will drive down the Celtic Way.

Dixie will be missed around Celtic Park on match days where he worked the lounges on match days with his great friend and former Celtic players George McCluskey and the late Tommy Callaghan. Dixie was a hero to Celtic fans of the 1970’s.

The only change to the starting 11 from the Aberdeen  game is between the sticks, with Sinisalo replacing Schmeichel. Third choice goalkeeper Doohan replaces Sinisalo on the Celtic bench.