Desmond duped as his Tisdale gamble trashes his Celtic legacy

Today’s double sacking of Wilfried Nancy and Paul Tisdale marks the end of one of the most disastrous periods in Celtic’s history.

Paul Tisdale has finally been shown the door.

The self proclaimed Football Doctor has wreaked havoc in his short spell at the club.

Tisdale first arrived at Celtic in the summer of 2024 as a consultant to help out with recruitment but immediately set about empire building.

It didn’t take him long to be promoted to become Head of Football Operations as a result of the entirely dysfunctional way Celtic is run.

DESMOND DUPED

At any comparable football club, and most much smaller, appointing someone to such a powerful role would involve a rigorous recruitment process to scrutinise and analyse candidates in great detail. Doctor Football strolled into the key off field job at Celtic.

Not so at Celtic under Dermot Desmond.

With a compliant board in place and puppets installed in the executive roles, the Irish non-executive director has managed to secure the authority to hire and fire whomever he likes. The former Exeter City boss forced Brendan Rodgers into resigning.

And that means any second rate snake oil salesman needs only charm one man to get the biggest pay day in his grifting career.

We may never know exactly how Tisdale managed to stitch up the Irish Billionaire like a kipper but the fact that he wanted to sell off high value players and replace them with cut price replacements, or no replacement at all, is sure to have helped his pitch.

TISDALE RISES TO POWER

And with Dermot hearing what he wanted to hear from the self proclaimed football doctor, Brendan Rodgers’ requests for proper investment began to sound increasingly outlandish.

Members of the Celtic board don’t need much encouragement not to spend money.

Tisdale’s first transfer window last January saw top scorer Kyogo sold off for a good price – and no replacement brought in.

Rodgers was offered Shin Yamada by Tisdale at that stage but didn’t feel he was of the required standard.

Adam Idah would see the team over the line in the league last season but the Scottish Cup was a bridge too far for a side crying out for reinforcements.

Then came the summer transfer window of 2025.

The club were sitting on almost £80 million in the bank and supporters expectations were high on the back of an excellent showing in the Champions League.

Improvements in several positions could see the team kick on and Brendan Rodgers, winner of every Celtic title he had contended, was making noises about extending his contract as it ran into its last year.

The stage was set.

WRONG CALL DERMO

And Dermot Desmond put all his faith in Paul Tisdale.

Nicholas Kuhn and Idah were shown the door for top dollar and a fraction was spent on replacements.

The Tisdale revolution was complete. Backed and endorsed by non executive director Desmond.

Tisdale’s Celtic failed to qualify for the Champions League but Rodgers managed to put a brave face on and get the domestic season off to a decent start.

Anyone who dared question the new look Celtic shaped by Tisdale faced the ire of Desmond who was all in on the former Exeter manager.

Fans that dared to question the wisdom of the Irish Billionaire were attacked relentlessly and in the case of the Green Brigade, banned from the stadium.

Rodgers and John Kennedy had to go when the manager refused to accept being blamed for Tisdale’s shambles by an anonymous coward in The Sun.

CELTIC’S WORST EVER MANAGER

And then came Nancy, Tisdale’s choice of manager to implement his vision with the players he had chosen.

He lasted 33 days and will be remembered as the worst manager in the club’s history.

Today the Tisdale experiment came to an end with Celtic poised to go third in the league this week.

Michael Nicholson must follow them out the door given his endorsement of Nancy, delivered at a time when he felt duty bound to pretend to be a CEO.

Which leaves Celtic in utter crisis, being run by a man without the authority to do so, and who is responsible for the mess we find ourselves in.

And all because you can be handed complete control of the entire football department if you happen to have a good sales pitch and bump into Dermot Desmond at a social function.

Celtic now require a complete overhaul starting with the seriously compromised Desmond.