A glimpse of what Celtic missed with Jens Berthel Askou, as his half-time Toulouse rant goes viral

On Saturday, Jens Berthel Askou lost the head completely at half time, and I’m loving it.

Toulouse were 2-0 down away at Monaco, and the man had clearly had enough.

Because he hasn’t exactly set Ligue 1 alight since he took over.

Six points from their first six games, and a club sitting just two points above the relegation zone, tells you that much.

And now the video of what he said to his players has gone viral.

He had a go at his players at half time, and it worked

"𝐍𝐞 𝐥𝐚̂𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐳 𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧, 𝐜𝐞 𝐧’𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢 !" 🗣️🔥 Des mots forts à la pause. Du caractère pour revenir. 🧠 #ASMTFC https://t.co/2ANrZYg60s

— Toulouse FC (@ToulouseFC) October 13, 2026

Here is how the Daily Record reported the clip, which Toulouse themselves have put out on social media:

“We’ve been the pumas. We’ve hunted them and had it right there, and then we let it slip, everytime.”

“The difference between the f**** puma and us is that it doesn’t feel sorry for itself, f**** we do.”

“F**** man up! Do you want to win? F**** fight! Keep going! I need more! It’s not over!”

That’s 56 seconds of it, and I’m not going to pretend I didn’t enjoy every one of them.

Because it isn’t the usual stuff we get served up from a manager in front of a camera.

There’s no talk of “taking the positives” or “learning the lessons”.

It’s a man telling a dressing room full of professionals that they’re feeling sorry for themselves against Monaco.

And whatever you make of the language, the response was exactly what he wanted.

Toulouse went out for the second half, got a penalty from Casper Tengstedt, and a smart finish from Sion Oppong did the rest.

From 2-0 down away to the Ligue 1 leaders to a point.

That’s not a team who’ve heard a few kind words and a cup of tea.

Make no mistake, that was a reaction.

It might just be the turning point of his first season at Les Violets

Now, let’s keep this in perspective.

One draw doesn’t fix a team that’s only two points clear of the relegation zone.

And one half-time rant doesn’t make a manager.

But sometimes a squad needs to be shaken out of its own comfort zone, and sometimes that’s the moment a season turns.

Maybe this is that moment for Berthel Askou.

Maybe it isn’t.

Either way, it’s a far better look than another 0-0 shrug on a wet Tuesday night.

We got a glimpse of what the Celtic Park dressing room could have looked like

This is where I couldn’t help but think about our own lot.

Because when you watch that clip, you’re watching what we might have had at Celtic Park.

And it makes you wonder whether that’s exactly the kind of aggression we could do with driving our squad on right now.

I’m not saying our players are sitting in there feeling sorry for themselves.

I’m saying that when you see a manager demand more from a group of players like that, it makes you ask who is doing the demanding at our place.

Because it certainly doesn’t feel like it’s coming from the top.

From the stories doing the rounds, we were never going to get him anyway

Here’s the thing, though.

If the stories doing the rounds are anything to go by, Celtic were never going to get Berthel Askou in the first place.

Or Elliot Watt, for that matter.

Apparently, they don’t much like Dermot Desmond’s way of trying to do deals.

And does that come as any sort of shock to you?

It certainly doesn’t to me.

We all know how it works by now.

The absent meddling golfer wants a say in everything, and good football people don’t tend to like that.

Is it any wonder good people look at us and decide they’d rather not?

Still, I’ll give the man his due, because Stephen Welsh was full of praise for him after a season on loan at Fir Park, saying he “completely changed the way I play and the way I see football”.

Welsh said Motherwell were “going to Ibrox and dominating”, and that “the same against Celtic” was “all down to Jens”.

That’s a former Celtic player, remember, talking about the way a Motherwell side set up against us.

Fourth place in the Premiership and a European spot, on what Welsh called “the budget of a bottom-six side”, doesn’t look like a fluke to me.

Did we dodge a bullet here, or did we miss a gem?

Of course, the flip side is obvious.

He’s had six games in France and has six points to show for it.

Lots of managers look the part for a season at a smaller club, then fall flat on their faces when they’re handed a bigger job.

Then again, I’m not sure that’s what we’d have been offering him in the first place.

So did we dodge a bullet, or did we miss a gem?

I guess we’ll find out as the Ligue 1 season develops…

But I know which dressing room I’d rather have been listening at.

Pumas, anyone?

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