Celtic Diary Friday January 2 2026: Happy New Year !

There aren’t many signs that in Timland it will be a happy new year, but it’s nice to be nice.

Now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s see if we can find anything to be nice about.

Celtic are delighted to announce that Julián Araujo has joined the club on loan from Bournemouth until the end of this season.

The 24-year-old defender, who has been capped 16 times for Mexico, joins Wilfried Nancy’s squad ahead of their first game of 2026 – a derby clash against Rangers at Celtic Park this Saturday (KO: 12.30pm).

Julián Araujo, who was born in California, began his professional career in the MLS with LA Galaxy before joining Barcelona in February 2023.

He spent the following season on loan at Spanish side, Las Palmas, before making the move to Bournemouth in August 2024. 

The player added:

“I am really happy to join Celtic. This is a top club and I can’t wait to get going and work hard with the other players to bring our fans success.

“I know the demands at a club like Celtic, and I am ready for these. I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead and I want to play my part in bringing good times and good, winning football to our supporters.

“I have met the boys already. We have some great players in the squad and we are all ready to tackle the second half of the season and do as much as we can for the fans.” 

Whoever wrote it for him added:

“Will this do ? ”

wilfried nancy, the first manager in Celtic’s history to be stripped of capital letters, said:

“We are delighted to bring Julián to Celtic. He is a really talented player with a good level of experience and we think the qualities he will bring will be really beneficial to the squad.” 

I’d never heard of him, and to be honest, I even had to google Bournemouth to make sure it had a football team, which they have, so then I looked to see what had attracted whoever scouts our players to this hidden gem…

This season so far he hasn’t actually played for Bournemouth, which rules out the radical idea that someone has actually watched him. He did play a dozen times for them last year, which suggests he’s not very good. And the fact that no one has seen him play suggests that we’ve taken his name off an agent or a data base.

Still, at least he’s cheap, and with head of football Paul Tisdale challenged with “developing Champions League players ” let’s hope nancy can succeed in doing that, even if his previous coach couldn;t even develop him into being a Bournemouth player.

Some are suggesting that despite not having played a game this season, he’ll be handed his debut tomorrow against “rangers ” , which would actually be in line with most of the managers stupid fucking decisions since he got the job.

nancy then let us all know what he was thinking ahead of the transfer window, and sort of outlined his plans for the month.

“For me personality is key. We have a lot of ability in terms of the way we play. 

He meant the way we used to play.

“But it is important when you sign players that they need to have that personality. 

“This is a big club. To play here is not always easy. So it is so important to have players who can play here at a club like this. 

Is he giving us a glimpse into his own personality ? He’s never been at a big club before, and perhaps he’s realised how tricky it can be.

“When I talk about personalities, it’s not only about being vocal either. It’s about having the right attitude when things are difficult. 

“This means when we attack, can we keep showing ourselves for each other, can we still press or can we defend like crazy in the moment? 

There’s little doubt we’ve seen some crazy defending since he got the job. I just wasn’t aware he had that as a philosophy.

“It’s more about the attitude for me. This is what I am looking for.” 

The players know how to win. They know what it means to play for Celtic, well, the core do, it’s only the ones tisdale has been responsible for that look like rabbits in headlights.

So, it’s about personality, and having the right attitude when things are difficult. 

Leading from the front…

What we have seen so far from nancy defies belief. Someone, somewhere, identified this huy as a potential Celtic manager, based on his managerial career in the United States.

When we got him, his side, Columbus Crew…it is a football team, not a boy band, I checked… were twelfth in the league.

He seems to be trying to match that with Celtic, having won only two of his first six games.

The players obviously don;t know what he wants from them, and his decision to change the system and formation to one that seems to exist entirely in his own mind is naive at best and downright fucking stupid at worst.

Indeed, to make the same mistakes and expect a different result is one definition of insanity.

So, how did we get to this ?

Less than twelve motnhs ago, Celtic earned a credible draw in munich against Bayern, a top side with a good pedigree.

After that game, players were allowed to leave. In the club’s defence, if they want to go, we can’t really stop them.

What we can, and should do, is replace them with equal or higher quality.

The manager at the time, Brendan Rodgers was arguing for this. He was ignored, and whist it could be said he could have made his point better, and maybe even got his way, it didn’t turn out that way, and he was sacked/resigned/mutually consented , depending on who you believe, after a meeting with a couple of board members that had the cleaners called in early the next day to wipe the blood off the carpets. Metaphorically speaking.

Then Dermot Desmond, taken out of his cryogenically frozen status, penned a note to fans which was intended to leave fans in no doubt as to who’s fault it was. That is, not his. Or any of his stooges on the board.

That done, he was put back in the freezer , leaving instructions that if anyone moaned at the AGM , his lad was to tell them to fuck off .

Oh, but he did ring Martin O’Neill and ask if he’d keep an eye on things until they’d got Robbie Keane in, which Keane turned down becuase he wants an EPL gig, and he’s quite happy in Turkey anyway.

So, Paul Tisdale, looking for someone who won’t argue with him about anything , rings his mate who he used to work with at Exeter, and suddenly nancy is the guy we’ve all been waiting for. Yeah, we had to wait a wee bit longer while someone sent him on a coaching course, but we got him in the end.

Tisdale, by the way , has never actually shown any reason whatsoever to even get to the interview stage for the job he now has. A quick glance at his resume shows he was manager in the lower leagues of England, including Team Bath, which I had to check was a football team, and not a bonding exercise.

Tisdale apparently secured Balikwisha and Tounetki for Brendan Rodgers, and that was 12 million notes spent, gaining us two goals and two assists, or thereabouts, with the players now away to the African Cup of Nations with their espective countries. It’s worth remembering that they are both right wingers, so the sognificant money spent in the last window went on two players for the same position, neither of whom are actually any good at it.

And with this transfer window open, does anyone really think that anybody sourced by Celtic is going to strengthen the side ?

Especially if wilf has a say in it ?

Tomorrow, Celtic play “rangers ” . With the team misfiring amd rumours of dressing rooms being lost, can we expect wilf to , er, have the personality required to pull everyone together and get a result ?

There was a board meeting yesterday. I’m sure they would have thought of something to talk about, and if they have spoken about initial doubts surrounding the new manager and his suitability for the job, the fact he hasn;t been sacked means that someone in there has put forward a convincing argument to keep him.

Could they possibly let us know what that argument was ?

Because, frankly, I’m fucked if i can think of one.

Anyway, it’s Friday, and it’s time for Knob of the Week…

He’d better get used to it. In fact, he might even get the award named after him.

Well, that’s me all miserable now. So let’s have a caption competition..