The Celtic Board Never Learn… And I’m Sick Of It With This Club

“We made some mistakes along the way, we’re not happy with where we are.”

Michael Nicholson, 21st November 2025.

“We are still making all the same mistakes along the way, we are a complete embarrassment every window”

Bhoycie, 24th July 2026.

This is turning into a farce.

Enough.

I’m sick of hearing and reading the same failings of our CEO and co, and I’d imagine most Celtic supporters are too.

Because this isn’t one frustrating transfer window. It’s a pattern. One we’ve watched repeat itself year after year, while the club somehow acts surprised when supporters lose patience.

We’re now staring at another season with the league campaign almost upon us.

One permanent signing has arrived.

Yet 14 players have walked out the door in one form or another this summer, leaving Martin O’Neill with a squad that’s thinner than the one that finished last season, by a distance.

That simply isn’t good enough..

Take the recent Mika Baur development for example.

Reports suggest Celtic and Paderborn are separated by around €300,000 after weeks of negotiations.

Three hundred thousand euros.

For most football clubs, that’s hardly pocket change.

It’s less than the prize money for a single Champions League result, yes even a draw at Europe’s top table is worth more than this latest ridiculous stumbling block.

It’s a fraction of the profit the club has already banked this Summer from player trading.

It’s tiny compared to the cash reserves we’ve been told about for years.

Yet here we are… once again… haggling.

Not because the player doesn’t want to come or personal terms aren’t agreed.

Not because another club has blown us out of the water with a real offer.

Because we’re arguing over the last few hundred thousand Paderborn want.

It is the most Celtic transfer story imaginable.

Then there’s Kasper Høgh.

Another deal that’s dragged.

A striker we’ve supposedly wanted since January of this year.

Another saga where supporters refresh Twitter every ten minutes wondering whether today will finally be the day.

Maybe it gets done.

Maybe it doesn’t.

But why does every significant signing have to become an endurance test for the selling club and for us fans?

Why can’t Celtic ever just identify the player, meet the valuation and move on?

What frustrates me most isn’t even the money.

It’s the obsession with winning every negotiation.

Sometimes it feels as though Celtic would rather save £250,000 than have a new signing available for the first day of pre-season.

As if beating another club down on price is somehow a greater victory than giving your manager six extra weeks to work with his new player.

That is the crux of it all. Celtic do not seem to understand the many facets to what good negotiation looks like.

It is all about the £ signs at the end. Never about the football.

Balance sheets before team sheets.

Brendan Rodgers warned about this numerous times.

He admitted after last summer’s window that Celtic had to look at “how we do things as a football club.” He also admitted “It’s taken a lot longer than I would have liked.”

Now Martin O’Neill is dealing with exactly the same problems.

Different manager.

Same delays.

Same excuses.

Same frustration.

Patience has run out.

This club isn’t skint.

It isn’t a relegation battler scraping together loose change.

It’s the dominant force in Scottish football, backed by Champions League money, regular player trading profits and one of the healthiest financial positions in Britain.

So stop behaving like a club terrified of paying market value.

Stop turning every transfer into a game of brinkmanship.

Stop leaving managers short when pre-season is supposed to be about building momentum.

Because right now, it feels like Celtic are spending more time trying to win negotiations than they are trying to build a team capable of winning in Europe.

And that should worry every single supporter.

I will be back on The Bhoycie Bus on both Saturday and Sunday to discuss this and other developments further, you can subscribe here!

https://www.youtube.com/@thebhoyciebus

Keep Your Eyes on The Board.