gregor whyte

Now, Dermot, get the bank card out and give Martin whatever the fuck he wants this summer. The man delivered a League and Scottish Cup double and oversaw a strong European campaign with a squad that, if we're being honest, underperformed for large parts of the season. Back him properly. Give him a war chest, let him reshape this squad, and let him build a team capable of tearing this league apart while competing in Europe. Saint Martin has earned that much. Our lord and saviour returns. 🍀🙏

I sat yesterday and done some proper digging into our squad and the absolute damage this board have left us with in terms of recruitment and honestly, when you actually put it all down on paper it becomes even more alarming. So here it is. This summer, Celtic need mass boardroom change. Do I think it’ll happen? No. But what they must do those who caused this mess is get the next managerial appointment right. No more “jobs for the bhoys.” We need a proper, modern manager with his own staff, identity and structure. And crucially, this needs done before the World Cup, not mid-July when we’re scrambling with European qualifiers on the horizon. Preparation is everything and we’ve failed at that repeatedly. That’s job number one. Now let’s look at the squad. Players leaving (loans ending): 🇲🇽Julián Araujo 🇦🇹Junior Adamu 🇨🇿Tomáš Čvančara 🇺🇾Marcelo Saracchi 🇳🇴Joel Mvuka 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Benjamin Arthur That’s 6 players gone instantly. Players returning from loan: 🇭🇳Luis Palma 🇵🇱Maik Nawrocki 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Stephen Welsh 🇯🇵Shin Yamada 🇮🇪Johnny Kenny 🇯🇵Hayato Inamura Another 6 coming back in, and let’s be honest none of them are coming back stronger. If anything, most have regressed or stagnated. So we lose 6 and bring back 6 that arguably weaken us. Contracts expiring: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿James Forrest 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 🇩🇰Kasper Schmeichel 🇳🇬Kelechi Iheanacho Now we’re up to 10 senior players leaving. Likely departures: 🇯🇵Daizen Maeda 🇯🇵Reo Hatate 🇵🇹Paulo Bernardo (wanted out in January) That’s 13 heading out the door. Potential sales due to finances: Without Champions League money, the board will be looking to cash in. 🇧🇪Arne Engels (Nottingham Forest interest) 🇺🇸Auston Trusty (Lazio interest ~£10M previously) But here’s the problem after this season, their value likely drops. So we could be forced into accepting lower offers. That potentially takes us to 15 outgoing players. Now the real issue long-term & short-term contracts for underperformers: 🇧🇪Michel-Ange Balikwisha (2030) 🇹🇳Sebastian Tounekti (2030) 🇯🇵Shin Yamada (2029) 🇮🇪Johnny Kenny (2029) 🇯🇵Hayato Inamura (2029) 🇳🇴Odin Holm (2028) 🇵🇱Maik Nawrocki (2028) 🇭🇳Luis Palma (2028) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Stephen Welsh (2027) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Adam Montgomery (2027) That’s a huge chunk of the squad that were tied down on long-term deals, and let’s be brutally honest, most of them are or were nowhere near the level required. Tounekti? Maybe you could argue keeping him as backup if Jota returns fit but that’s about it. The rest? We’ll struggle to sell permanently. Most will be loaned out repeatedly until their contracts expire. So where does that leave us? If you factor in: players leaving, players we want to move on and players we can’t move on you’re potentially looking at 20–25 players in flux this summer. That is absolutely insane for a club the size of Celtic. This isn’t just a bad window. This is years of gross mismanagement coming home to roost. Recruitment has been scattergun. Contracts have been handed out recklessly. Squad planning has been non-existent. And now? We’re staring into a rebuild that could set us back years if it’s not handled properly. This summer isn’t just important. It’s defining for the next era of Celtic Football Club.