There needs to be a reckoning at Celtic after last night’s shambles. Kairat Almaty has been trumped, and heads should roll for that…
Eric Knott 
LINZ, AUSTRIA - AUGUST 25: Celtic's Callum McGregor looks dejected at full time during a UEFA Champions League Play-Off Round Second Leg match between LASK and Celtic at Oberosterreich Arena, on August 25, 2026, in Linz, Austria. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Well, the chickens came home to roost last night for Celtic, they really did.
Everything we feared in the run up to our Champions League qualifier manifested itself, and then some.
Our 3-0 victory last week against the same opposition?
An illusion, a mirage, call it what you want, but all it did was paper over the cracks of the devastating reality at our club.
Most of us were pleasantly surprised at what happened last week at Celtic Park, and for a while there it looked as if the board’s usual Champions League gamble might pay off.
At 3-0 up we surely couldn’t balls this one up, could we?
This is Celtic we’re talking about here, and at this level, we are experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Nobody quite does it as well as we do.
At 4-0 on aggregate, the tie should have been dead and buried.
Game management from there on out.
But no – Celtic found a way – even with a 4-0 lead, to f*** it up.
And we f***ed it up it up in the most spectacular Celtic kamikaze style possible.
Even with half a f***ing minute of normal time remaining, we just couldn’t see it out.
I’m not going to post mortem the game.
What’s the point?
One sentence will cover it; we were so utterly shite, we handed it to LASK on a silver platter.
Three of our goals came from basic, basic errors.
I honestly don’t think you’d see errors like the ones we saw last night at a game between the Celtic B team and the Civil Service strollers.
I’m beginning to think that because we’re such a ‘big club’ that we feel that it’s within our gift to hand Champions League qualification to sides who have never participated in the group stages before.
Last season it was Kairat Almaty.
Champions League debutants, thanks to our wonderful benevolence.
This season it’s LASK, a side who’s biggest outlay on a player this summer was £1.5 million.
I know we’re renowned for our charitable causes at Celtic, but last night was next level charity.
You know, I honestly thought the calamity in Almaty couldn’t be trumped, I really didn’t.
But holy shit, we went and outdid that one in style in Austria.
Celtic took laxatives at LASK last night, and shat the bed.
But the result in Linz is actually worse than the result against Kairat Almaty.
While LASK might be a better side than Kairat, we had no advantage against the Kazakh side this time last year.
We went out there with the tie finely balanced at 0-0.
Last night, we were 4-0 up on aggregate against LASK, and we still managed to screw it up.
That makes it so much worse than the result against Kairat.
So now, the blame game starts, and we all know whose door it will be squarely laid at.
Oh, the players are due their fair share of the blame and criticism for such a shambolic result, don’t doubt that.
I’m not going to bother with that.
Instead, I’ll put this correctly into perspective for you.
Our wonderful, genius, and world class board believes it makes sense to wait until we (never) qualify for the Champions League before spending money on the players we need, to eh….qualify for the Champions League.
In addition to this, they see it as smart to asset strip our midfield before our qualifier, and then send us into a game of last night’s magnitude with just five midfielders available to us.
You see, we MUST wait for the Champions League money, which in Celtic’s case, will arrive on the 12th of never.
Ingenious, isn’t it?
Because we were forced into playing our Champions League qualifier with just five midfielders available to us, it was inevitable that all five would have to play.
Especially in an energy sapping game like last night’s.
Where the pitch was torn to shreds, and it inexplicably went to extra time.
When all midfield options are exhausted, who are you left with?
Luke McCowan.
I think I counted one time after his introduction last night where he got a pass away before losing the ball.
One time.
He was solely responsible for LASK’s 5th goal.
In a game of last night’s importance we are relying on a player like Luke McCowan to see us over the line?
He is the kind of player we feel it is worth risking a bounty of £40 million on?
Oh, I don’t blame McCowan.
It isn’t his fault, he is a victim of circumstance.
Martin O’Neill was left with no choice but to play him.
But McCowan was jogging around out there, as if he didn’t have a care in the world, when he was our freshest player.
We’re bringing on a Dundee level midfielder to try and save a Champions League qualifier.
Not because we felt he could save it, but because our world class board left us with absolutely no other choice.
Sickening.
It cost us that £40 million in the end.
We are in the Europa League this season because we deserve to be there.
That is our level.
The board has ensured that.
The real bill for last night’s absolute debacle has yet to fall due.
We don’t know the extent of Kasper Høgh and Cameron Carter-Vickers injuries.
The board will most likely retreat into their usual shell after this, and the players we require will not be forthcoming.
But take it from me, Michael Nicholson cannot and should not survive this one.
There needs to be a reckoning at Celtic after this.
We were assured lessons were learned.
Nothing whatsoever has been learned.
This cannot continue any longer, nor can we tolerate it any longer.
That is now 8 out of 10 Champions League qualifier failures.
Do the honourable thing Michael, resign.
Kairat Almaty has been trumped.
Heads should roll for that.
Key Takeaways
- Celtic’s 4-0 lead against LASK crumbled in a spectacular manner, revealing severe flaws in game management.
- Basic errors led to a humiliating defeat, making this failure worse than last season’s exit against Kairat Almaty.
- Criticism should focus on the board’s mismanagement, including reluctance to invest before qualifying for the Champions League.
- With a depleted midfield, Celtic relied on players ill-equipped for crucial matches, demonstrating poor squad preparation.
- This marked the eighth failure in Champions League qualifiers, calling for accountability from leadership, especially Michael Nicholson.
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After watching McCowan lose the ball twice in a matter of seconds then pick up a booking…..like you Eric, I’m not blaming him but that is a microcosm of our performance. We desperately needed quality in the middle. Instead, we had CalMac and Reo for the remainder with Luke as a liability. Same with defence. As soon as Donovan and KT either got tired or injured, who did we have to choose from to replace them? Definitely not Araujo or Saracchi! Who would have probably helped us get through IMO. Sinisalo was decent, despite the goals. CCV made errors. Trusty was knackered doing it all himself. I thought we should have went 4-4-2 with Osmond on for Duran and McCowan staying on the bench. I was thinking…..what is the delay in signing either Gineitas, Sigur, Mahmic etc? If the delay is their end, fair. If the delay is our end….another reason orville the duck has to go, at the very least
At what stage is this about coaching and style. Motherwell played us off the park last season, Dundee Utd hit woodwork 5 times and LASK created 60 chances against us, a defeat wasn’t far away, can only ride your luck so much.. We cant cope with aggressive play. The new breed of manager wants high press, high energy football, we haven’t caught on to that yet.
We were too quick to ridicule McInnes’s mob for exiting the Europa. We should keep our powder dry next time. To lose to a side like that 4:1 at 90 minutes shows exactly what our level is. This result will affect the team for quite a while. There really doesn’t look like we have any real quality in that team when it matters. Not one penny of the season ticket money was spent to strengthen the squad for this tie, but I suspect they will all be renewed with haste again next year . I would imagine some Lazio fans have held their STs for decades too. They really are putting pressure on their board
Heads,should roll Eric but they won’t.They will be totally cool with this.And I’ll tell you something else.We can forget about any more signings.It will be 3 or 4 loans on deadline day.They will absolutely not spend any more now the 40 mill is gone.
Warning signs were there in first leg and in Dundee Utd game when they rattled the woodwork 5 times.With the 40 million gone your right Eric ,the board will bunker down,no more money will be spent,probably just 3 or 4 loans on deadline day.So anyone waiting to welcome the Bosnian or Lithuanian guys can put the welcome mat away for now.Ongoing shitshow in Europe as per.
Nicholson and co will survive it
They survived Kairat
They survived Nancy
They survived Hearts being minutes away from winning the title
They’re the f*cking cockroaches in a nuclear war
We have been to this movie over and over . It starts with the business model of the board and their world class way of running a football club .manager and his players were awful last night but you can’t wait till late in summer replace 2 of your best players maeda and engles and replace them with not much of a settling in period . Nothing will change cause the board see the fans as cash cows and stupid . Must be stupid for keep giving them our money . Until we force change it’s the status quo
Is anyone surprised? Not me. There will be no reckoning. Nothing will change – it never does. Nothing to see here. They will be desperate to sell Nygren now as well to ‘plug the gap’. No sympathy for the Celtic fans – they keep giving Fritzl their money, so keep expecting him to do the same stuff.
Engels would have made no difference .
Heads won’t roll, they’ll be congratulating themselves come the end of the window, with another big profit banked. Season ticket money on players?, lol, banked.
Then comes the board trolling,’ we’re world class in everything we do’. Then comes perhaps the worst part of the whole sh.t show that is Celtic, fans queueing up to buy season tickets once more, confirming to the board that they are indeed world class, as surely so many people wouldn’t give up so much cash to anything less?.
Surely to fcuck Nicholson will resign.
What about the fitness or lack thereof of every player.
MON and SM must shoulder some of the blame as the fitness levels and last night’s lack of tactics is on them.
McCowan gave up possession 19 times and was only on the pitch as a sub.He looked absolutely knackered 5 minutes after coming on.
Something is seriously wrong all across Celtic right know.
Lack of planning tick
Lack of recruitment tick
Lack of fitness tick
Lack of kids coming through tick
Lack of leadership tick
It’s a shit show and except for a few inches Dundee United would have beaton us.
Nicholson needs to resign or the support needs to force him out.