Shin Yamada is the unfortunate poster boy for the one of the worst transfer windows in Celtic’s modern history
Eric Knott 
DUNDEE, SCOTLAND - MARCH 22: Celtic Interim Chairman Brian Wilson, Chief Executive Officer Michael Nicholson and Chief Financial Officer Chris McKay during a William Hill Premiership match between Dundee United and Celtic at the CalForth Construction Arena at Tannadice, on March 22, 2026, in Dundee, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
As if confirmation was needed to prove that Shin Yamada was never at the level required to be a Celtic player, it came anyway after a disastrous loan spell at Bundesliga 2 side, Dynamo Dresden.
Yamada is the poster boy for possibly the worst transfer window in modern history for Celtic.
All driven by our former cowboy Head of Football operations, the one and the only Football Doctor, Paul Tisdale.
Or should I refer to him as a Football Rotcod because that seems more suitable under the circumstances?
Before I get into Yamada in detail, I’d just like to remind you of Tisdale’s litany of failures:
Michel-Ange Balikwisha – Failure: £5 million
Jahmai Simpson-Pusey – Failure: loan.
Hyato Inamura – Failure: £300k
Kelechi Iheanacho – Failure: Free
Shin Yamada – Failure: £1.5 million
5 Celtic players out of that dream transfer window in the summer, all failures.
I’m putting Kelechi Iheanacho in the failure category because I saw enough of him on Sunday to confirm that’s where he belongs.
Almost £7 million completely wasted, not including wage costs.
In any other industry, heads would roll if that amount of money was squandered on nothing.
But not at Celtic.
Yes, Tisdale was made the fall guy eventually for his cock ups, but it wasn’t him who signed off on the funding for these failures.
That particular privilege belongs to our charismatic CEO.
Silent Mike has some amazing abilities.
Not only does he have the ability to be invisible, he also has the ability to turn every one around him invisible.
Thus rendering himself completely non-existent.
And the clincher in all of this?
For this amazing feat, he gets paid £17,000 a week by Celtic!
What a man!
He also has an uncanny ability to make millions of pounds disappear on shite players.
In addition to that, he made another couple of million quid disappear on the worst manager in the history of Celtic football club.
But then get this.
He went from burning through millions of quid on shite players, to acquiring shite players for nothing.
Now, that’s commendable.
If you’re going to squander millions on shite players, then at least learn your lesson and instead, spend nothing on shite players.
To be fair to Silent Mike, he did just that.
And he gets paid 17 grand a week to do it!
No wonder he loves his job, that would be my dream job!
Fuck up as much as you want, and get paid almost a million quid a year for being…you guessed it!
A fuck up!
Correction, an invisible, non-existent fuck up.
To celebrate this awesome level of mediocrity, the poster boy of Silent Mike’s 2025/26 fuck ups, Shin ‘I can’t buy a goal’ Yamada, is winging his way back to Celtic.
To try and buy a goal.
Since he couldn’t buy one at Dynamo Dresden, and they were left wondering what they’d wasted their money on.
Alright, I went off on a completely different tangent to the way I intended this article to go.
But I think you get the gist.
I tend to ramble a lot these days.
That’s what happens when your head gets so messed up by the football club you love.
Dear Shin, I hope you get a goal at Celtic.
Because God knows, having gone through 13 or 11 strikers this season, it would be a miracle if one could get a goal.
Maybe Shin will buck the trend?
It isn’t as if he has stiff competition, is it?
On his tally of zero for this season, he’s only 4 goals shy of our top scoring striker.
Who isn’t at Celtic at the moment.
Not a hard target to reach…
But virtually impossible if you’re Shin Yamada.
Ok, I’ll shut up now…
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Bhoycie 
I’d like to know how much Tisdale pocketed from his time at Celtic
Did BR have no say at all in some of these signings? If not, what did he do all day?
Surely Rodgers, if he been even a quarter of a real man, should have stood up to the signing of these players, unless. of course. he gave the go-ahead to sign them. If he didn`t have any say in signing players he should have had the guts to demand that he did. It is not that he should have beeen afraid of his job since he eventually proved once again that he wasn`t a bit backward at taking flight when the going got tough or when r4ngers got a new manager
that posed a danger to his ego, not to mention having a better head of hair.
Anyone who considers rodgers was forced out of Celtic should question the situation with John kennedy. Does anyone really think that Kennedy would have walked away from Parkhhead, from a job he loved, to sign on in the “burroo” while rodgers headed for the
sun?
They both left becuase the delibertely delayed offer was on the table for the job in the
Middle East. If that wasn`t the case Kennedy would have been afraid to face the wife
after going home early from the work.
I don`t think they even worked their notice. A couple of fly boys.
At this moment, Rodgers isn’t there and the squad is decimated. Rodgers did say in public that Idah wouldn’t be sold. Then nicholson sold him an hour or so later. So the board do decide who to sell and buy ultimately. The manager’s job is to put in a list of hoped for targets. The board then negotiate for some or all of those players. But the way we operate, at least according to the CEO of Birmingham, when he was trying to buy Yang, nicholson didn’t answer his phone, repeatedly. The ceo had enough, pulled the plug and walked away. Rodgers did refuse to let Maeda leave, although nicholson was about to sell him too.
Tisdale sourced the Japanese players in summer. He also sourced Balikwisha. All duds. We are either happy with fans being locked out, the team decimated of talent for all positions and happy with £70M in the bank, meaning a high tax bill but no players, happy that the B team is a shambles, happy that desmond jr can call us all ungrateful serfs who should know better. Or we’re not happy with the way our club is run. Some might argue we could do with a new ceo, a new cfo, a DoF and a new manager. That is for the exec team to sort out or be forced to sort out. And as fans, we can influence that or avoid criticising them and have this all continue
With the greatest of respect no overview of the ultimate professional CEO that is Mute Mike Nicolson would be complete without looking at the Income received and the Profits generated which is the KPI on which he is judged by his boss, his mate at CFO, his fellow Board members and also his fellow Lackeys and Yes Men NEDs. What during that time, and over his time as CEO has Mike actually brought in to the PLC Coffers while steadfastly refusing to spend any money or agree any Investment or Capital Expenditure? That’s what he’s paid for not spending on player pool or increasing the asset base! ( Celtic have a strict Policy. Spending on Transfers for replacements are on a strict basis of 20% maximum including salary of Outgoing Transfer In Income)