Celtic Diary Sunday October 26, 2025: Which Hearts Will Be Broken?

It’s all a but surreal today.

Celtic could go eight points behind in the league to a resurgent Hearts under the tutelage of Derek McInnes.

And there’s a new Diary.

I don’t know which is harder to believe.

Of course, Celtic could go to Tynecastle, play football the way it should be played and storm to within two points of our main challengers.

Ah wait, thats the one thats harder to believe.

Celtic of late have not been the Celtic of old, or even recent. There’s a malaise that has spread throughout the club and it’s infected the players, the support, the manager, the staff and the board.

Each is culpable, in it’s own way, and no one has stepped up to mix their metaphors and grab the bull by it’s horns and put it back on the rails.

That’s why today’s game is , to put it mildly , the most important of the season so far.

The game against Kairat Almaty, or whatever they were called, was important financially, as it directly affected how much money the board could hide under the mattress for this season, and although there is considerable prestige in the Champions League, we can take comfort in the fact it was only two embarrassing results at that level.

Had we qualified, and I know it’s only speculation, but I’m not convinced we’d had put up a jolly good fist of it.

The Europa League probably is our level, with what appears to be a rebuild under way, and even if the board had sanctioned whatever moves the manager had wanted to make in the summer, it would have been unlikely to have made much difference. Players take time to gel, and even a system as simple as out horseshoe formation takes time to get used to.

Usually because newcomers can’t believe anyone would be so stupid as to think it would work.

When you strip away all the whinging and the whining and the sack the board the plain truth is that the manager has employed a system designed not to lose matches , and the players want to win them, because they’re the ones out there who get shouted at and groaned at by thousands of people a couple of times a week.

We’ve all worked in toxic environments, in fact, some of us have created them, but sooner or later the the whole thing shudders to a halt, inquests are held, and those responsible for the problem are told that the business needs to move in a different direction.

From whoever is causing the problem.

Starting at the top, much fuss is made about the board not giving the manager the money he needs to strengthen the squad.

The board would argue they tried that last summer and look what we ended up with.

Then they are accused of hoarding money. Well, you have to put some aside for bills.

It might surprise some of us, but there are more expenses involved in running a business, for sadly that’s what our club, a PLC, actually is.

And although I’m not defending the board, there can be no argument against there ability to run a profitable business, and to maximise revenue and profit from their customer base.

Whilst you and I might want to spend any extra money we have that’s coming in , they do have a responsibility to spend it wisely.

After all, technically, it’s not their money.

This is where the problem in recruitment lies.

We have had a working model which identifies players who can be developed and sold at a massive profit. That’s pretty much why there’s a lot of money in the bank.

We changed that when Rogers spent on Trusty, Idah and Engles.

Idah was brought in to replace Kyogo Fuhruhashi, who wanted away. For whatever reasons. Idah, at £9m, was most productive against a tiring defence when introduced after an hour or so.

As a main striker, he wasn;t up to the job, his confidence suffered, and fortunately Celtic found someone who would take him off our hands and the club could recoup most of the fee.

Trusty, I believe, is still at the club, but we don;t want to remind the manager in case he picks him for the team.

Arne Engels, the club record signing, is most certainly a player. He just hasn’t settled in yet. But not being picked for most if this season so far isn’t going to do his confidence any good, although his attitude is exactly what we need right now from everyone else.

Maybe he has settled a but better, and maybe he’ll be the main man today… Frankly, I can;t see where else the inspiration will come from.

Maybe Nygren, who also likes to get involved, but everyone else looks like they’d rather be anywhere else.

It seems the board, despite watching football most weeks, don’t quite grasp how the recruitment and development side works.

They can see the massive profits that have been made, and as with most businesses, can’t see any reason to change it.

That policy took us to a peak against Bayern Munich last season, and they cannot see any reason why it wouldn;t have worked again this season, especially as they went with the manager and  tried something else in between, and let’s be honest, Engels apart,  it failed miserably.

Even players such as Oh, who brought in a few quid more than he cost, and others actually prove, to the board at least, that the recruitment model is working, and it’s only failure is when we raise the level of investment.

However, when a manager needs a player for a certain position, and he gets a project instead of a like for like at worst, the actual product, the team, is of a lesser quality.

And the cycle starts again.

Year on year, prices of tickets, merchandise , travel and even tv subscriptions get higher.

But the product loses quality.

Where the board have failed is that they have failed to recognise that. Whilst as supporters we have an emotional investment, they need to realise that we have other emotional investments, and sooner or later, given the present malaise, those priorities will begin to change.

The manager should be the one who chooses the players. and he should have a team of scouts who actually watch the players, so that he knows not only how many passes they make, or what their expected goal return is, or whatever other bullshit is concocted by yet another arm of an industry that seems to have sold it soul for gold, but he knows what sort of mood the player goes into when things aren’t going his way.

A manager should know everything about a player that can affect his performance. Obviously he can’t be everywhere, but scouts can.

Is he a team player ? On and off the pitch, how does he interact with his own teammates ?

The amount of money invested in fees and wages suggest that this kind of forensic examination should be the norm, but what we have at Celtic is a system where the manager decides he needs a forward and someone with a lap top looks at a few stats and videos and suggests a couple of names.

Then they might go and watch them. Then they’ll have a look on one of those computer games and see what heis value is, and make an offer accordingly based entirely on someone elses opinion.

One or two players Celtic made offers for were rejected by the targets clubs. That happens, Our board were accused of making ridiculously low offers, which left them open to accusations of not knowing what the fuck they were on about, but also , and this is incredible, when you think about it, being told to pay whatever they were asked to pay by people who had never bought a player. Or, indeed , been to see the one they were shouting about.

Leave the money side to the board. They’ve proved they can handle that bit.

Give the manager some actual scouts, let them recommend a player, whether we need him or not. Scouting is a full time job, not just a department that kicks in when a postion becomes vacant. there should be someone in place already to take that place when it becomes vacant, and that is done by going to see players who are turning heads.

Not by turning heads towards a laptop to see if there’s a cheap left back available.

And so to the players. They can only do what their manager and captain tell them, but there were signs that one or two of them are starting to rebel. Hopefully, that will be even more visible today.

Playing horseshoe cannot be much fun, and it does seem to have lengthened the injury list of late, although one always wonders just how injured these players are when they are asked to play a system that they obviously aren’t enjoying.

The system isn’t working, it’s been found out, and the players aren’t adapting and changing.

And the fans who have to watch that mind numbingly dull and predictable guff ?

No wonder we’re moaning. No wonder we’re screaming out for a scapegoat.

There isn’t a scapegoat.

Everyone is at fault, and today is when the support should take the initiative.

No one else will, so it’s down to us.

Again.

Not by forming collectives, or waving banners, or throwing fucking tennis balls on the pitch.

None of that shit is going to make any difference, at least until we work out what we actually want, why we actually want it, and what we can offer as a viable alternative.

How about we start by being the mythical twelfth man…? It’ll be needed today, don’t be surprised if the entire team of match officials turn up in suits and brogues…when you see who they are, you’ll know what I mean.

The players need to know that there is one place where they can escape the toxicity of the air around the club these days.

Where they can just get on with what they’re paid to do, and to enjoy it.

Of all places, that place today is Tynecastle.

If you are at the game today, be patient, be supportive, and let them know. And let them know in a way that makes them shake themselves up a bit and play with a little bit of adventure, a little bit of guile and above all every now and again pass the ball forward.

Get things right at the game, and everything else will fall into place.

And at least it’ll be fun for a fucking change.