The season is in danger of turning into a shambles and board can’t say they weren’t warned by the man who saw it coming
12:00, 24 Feb 2026Updated 15:48, 24 Feb 2026
Brendan Rodgers is now in charge of Saudi team Al Qadsiah
Blunt. Careless. Wasteful. Call it what you will.
But Celtic’s lack of killer instinct has sabotaged their season. Just like Brendan Rodgers warned it would.
The Hoops have been spoiled with goalscoring hitmen down the years. Gary Hooper, Leigh Griffiths, Moussa Dembele, Odsonne Edouard, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Kyogo… the list is endless.
There was always a prolific marksman Celtic could rely on to fire them to glory. Now? Their ‘top-scoring’ striker can’t even get into the matchday squad.
Kelechi Iheanacho – a panic free transfer after the summer window had closed – has just three goals to his name this term. Not just in the Premiership. Across ALL competitions.
He hasn’t scored since October 5. And he is still Celtic’s top-scoring recognised centre-forward at the club. That statistic alone tells you everything about the state of this squad.
Injury setbacks have limited the Nigerian to 13 appearances, but even since returning in January the 29-year-old looks well off the pace. He made a fleeting cameo in the 4-1 mauling by Stuttgart and then was nowhere to be seen as Celtic crashed to defeat against Hibs.
Iheanacho’s signing was the sticking plaster for a gaping wound of the club’s own making and has become the latest example in a recruitment strategy that has unravelled spectacularly.
And the solution to a misfiring frontline to spark life into Celtic’s faltering campaign? Two January loan gambles.
To his credit, Tomas Cvancara has chipped in with assists against Hearts and Kilmarnock. But one goal in seven outings hardly screams title-winning catalyst – not in the way Adam Idah once did.
Kelechi Iheanacho(Image: SNS Group)
His recent record tells its own story. Two goals last season. Four the year before. Celtic gambled on early promise shown at Sparta Prague in 2021 but the harsh reality is, Cvancara isn’t the answer.
The same goes for Junior Adamu.
The Austria international arrived on deadline from SC Freiburg and offered a flicker of hope with that last-gasp leveller against Dundee. But since being hooked at half-time on his first start at Rugby Park, Adamu has been an unused sub.
Mind you, at least the former RB Salzburg is even making it on the bench. Joel Mvuka has been completely bombed out since his own 45-minute debut earlier this month. To think Celts almost blew £4million on the Norwegian winger before re-negotiating a loan deal in the dying hours…
Paul Tisdale, rightly, paid the price for two disastrous transfer windows and a baffling managerial appointment in Wilfried Nancy. But the rot runs far deeper than any one scapegoat.
Celtic’s Junior Adamu in action
This is a club adrift – dysfunctional from top to bottom. Reckless decision-making. Players past their sell-by date or simply not up to standard. Seven league defeats before March. An interim manager. An interim chairman. No head of football operations. A fanbase torn apart by civil war.
And while the carnage rages in Glasgow, the man who raised concerns about direction and recruitment is now 4,000 miles away in Saudi Arabia.
That should be the clearest lesson for an under-fire board. The blame for this shambolic season lies squarely at their feet.
Instead of launching a flamethrower at the most successful living manager in the club’s history, deflecting supporters’ anger and dragging their heels over the tiresome Green Brigade saga, the Celtic hierarchy should do two things.
Listen and take full responsibility.
Because had they actually bought into an elite manager like Rodgers’ vision, all of this could’ve been avoided.
If, however, Dermot Desmond is still adamant that the club’s model and structure works, then it really begs the question – where do Celtic go from here?
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