Michael Nicholson has taken incompetence to new levels during the 33 days of the January transfer window.
Celtic’s inept CEO signed up five players on loan but missed out on a £25m sale that would have set the pulses raising in the Celtic boardroom.
At the start of January Dermot Desmond sacked Wilfried Nancy and Paul Tisdale. Surely Nicholson has to go the same way. Not allowed to slip off to new challenges in the summer.
Among so many things Celtic need a CEO yesterday. Nicholson can’t be allowed to remain in place another day. He skipped the Falkirk match to do what? Sign a striker on loan, a winger with a heart issue and a Brentford project with three cup tie appearances on his CV.
What more evidence does Desmond need. Nicholson can no longer be trusted to sell players. The speciality of his mentor and hero, Peter Lawwell.
NICHOLSON ALLOWS DECLINE TO GET OUT OF CONTROL
Since last January there has been an orchestrated campaign to trash and run down Arne Engels, Auston Trusty and Adam Idah.
Nothing personal, just a not so subtle way of rubbishing Brendan Rodgers.
The usual messengers were involved, joined by the MENSA candidates of Kris Boyd and Neil Lennon.
Lo and behold yesterday an EPL club was willing to pay £25m for the ‘overpriced Belgian flop’.
So much for the trashing of Rodgers and Engels.
Funnily enough there wasn’t a single offer made for Luis Palma, Odin Thiago Holm or Maik Nawrocki. Kwon Hyeok-kyu, Marco Tilio and Gus Lagerbielke have already been written off.
In the summer of 2023 Celtic tried to sabotage the return of Rodgers with a job-lot of Mark Lawwell duds.
In January 2024 Rodgers saved the day by signing Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah.
He delivered Champions League success by signing Engels, Idah and Trusty. None of them got a minute of pre-season training with Celtic.
In January 2024 Celtic set out to trash the ‘expensive’ Rodgers signings. The messengers happily ran with the claim.
Selling Kyogo with no intention of replacing him turned the screw on Rodgers.
That intensified through the summer. Nicolas Kuhn was sold, again with no intention of being replaced. Last night Celtic announced the signing of Joel Mvuka. A loan deal for aright winger with a dodgy ticker!
This man got sacked for ambition pic.twitter.com/q0tXgjTzjQ
— Kian O’Reilly (@KianOReilly10) February 3, 2026
CELTIC- THE BEST RUN CLUB IN EUROPE!
So much for the best run club in Europe. Admired by all according to the messengers.
Not only is Nicholson incapable of signing players but he is failing to sell them on. Essential to the fabled business model.
During the summer Nicholson failed to complete lucrative deals to sell Daizen Maeda and Yang Hyun-jun.
Now Engels can be added to that list.
During the January transfer window Celtic signed five loan players. Kasper Schmeichel, Kelechi Iheanacho and Marcelo Sarrachi are out of contract in May. And now you can add Engels, Maeda and Yang to the exodus.
Good luck trying to appoint a competent manager to deal with that while Nicholson heads up transfer negotiations!
There has been zero planning for UEFA qualifiers next season, the route to the biggest prize fund available to the club. Another hole is blown in the strategy/business model.
COMING OUT THE TRANSFER WINDOW STRONGER
Celtic have a better squad today than they had on December 31. Even Nicholson would struggle to further weaken the squad.
Julian Araujo is an improvement, a starter. As is Tomas Cvancara.
Junior Adamu should be better than the low benchmark that is Shin Yamada.
A year ago Celtic were preparing for matches against Bayern Munich.
The new format of the Champions League is ideal for an ambitious club outside of the five big leagues.
Not every club can do a Sporting Lisbon and finish in the top eight of the 36 team format.
Celtic can certainly match and should be able to surpass Qarabag, Bodo Glimt and Club Brugge. Even Copenhagen and Paffos were able to pick up eight points, self respect and co-efficient self respect.
Nicholson has taken Celtic in a tailspin.
O’Neill may be able to salvage the SPFL title, as it stands Celtic havea50-50 chance of winning the league.
Beyond that no-one has a clue.
A team build around loan signings, an interim manager, an interim Chairman.
Against Dundee on Saturday Nicholson will return to see and hear the chant of STAND UP IF YOU HATE THE BOARD.
Hopefully on a distant golf course the message is getting through. Trusting Nicholson with another transfer window or managerial appointment would beself harm off the radar.
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