“I was utterly shocked at how bad Celtic were,” Celtic legend | OneFootball

The former Celtic goalkeeper calls out old club live on air, and selects four Celtic players for particular criticism…

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup, Rangers versus Celtic; Sam Johnstone of Celtic checks his gloves after Dan Neil of Rangers shoots and scores in the 75th minute to make it 3-0 to Rangers. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Bonner furious at the shambolic Celtic performance

Ex-Celtic and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Pat Bonner,  now a  BBC Radio Scotland pundit, called out his old club live on air after the  painful Ibrox defeat to the Rangers.  Clearly the shambolic Celtic performance left him furiously banging his fists up the Ibrox press deck.

We all felt like that yesterday, and Republic of Ireland legend Bonner who made over 500 appearances for Celtic  in a near 20 year playing career at the club, was no different to any other Celtic supporter, as he aired his frustration during the post match analysis on BBC Sportsound yesterday afternoon.

13th September 2026; Ibrox, Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Benjamin Nygren of Celtic and Sebastian Tounekti of Celtic. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Bonner thumping his fists down in Ibrox press box

Host Richard Gordon joked that Bonner ‘cut a frustrated figure throughout, he was constantly pointing and gesticulating, and thumping his fists down, anger, and you’re not like that.’

Bonner responded with a Hoops rant on the woeful afternoon they suffered, with a Celtic quartet named in his evisceration of the display.

 “I’m not like that normally. That tells you how bad Celtic were. Rangers were very, very good , and I was shocked at how well they played, but I was utterly shocked at how bad Celtic were.

Bonner reckons that one of the main factors for his old club wilting in the Ibrox caldron was down to a lack of ‘BOTTLE.’

5th September 2026; The Marbill Coaches Stadium, Paisley, Scottish Premiership, St Mirren versus Celtic; Liam Scales of Celtic and former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Celtic lacked ‘bottle’ says Pat Bonner

“It’s bottle,” the 80 times capped Republic of Ireland keeper. stated. “When you come up against a good Rangers team in this venue, when you don’t have your fans, you’ve got to go out there and show that you are taking responsibility. You want to move. You want to run. You want to get on the ball.”

Pat Bonner went on to single out a quartet of Celtic players for particular criticism.

“I’m looking at the players up front. I’m sorry, these are the players that Celtic have bought. Kasper Hogh, Camilo Duran, Sebastian Tounekti, Mika Baur. Hasseim Hassan a little bit. You can’t give him because he only came on in the second half. But those guys, they were awful.”

He added: “I’m looking at Duran and he played almost like an inside right position. When you had three centre-backs, obviously man for man, it was so easy for them. If you stay in there, I’ll go and man-mark you.

13th September 2026; Ibrox. Scottish League Cup, Rangers versus Celtic; /r21 challenges Camilo Duran of Celtic, Photo Vagelis Georgariou

A cowardly performance from Celtic

“But see if you pull me outside, away out to the touchline when I don’t want to go there and create big space… that didn’t happen. I was shocked over what I was watching out in the pitch.

“I think taking James Penrice in there was a masterstroke also for Rangers because the Celtic players really didn’t know what to do in that middle of the pitch.

“They didn’t know how to get on the ball. They pinned them over one side. They didn’t allow them to switch the game. They had to come all around, as we talked in commentary, and it was back to the goalkeeper, back over, back out this side, back over, back over.”

Kasper Hogh of Celtic arrives at the stadium before the Premier Sports Cup Quarter Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox on September 13, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Pat Bonner continued his rant, and it’s hard to disagree with his analysis of what was a truly woeful showing from a Celtic side that managed just one shot on target in the entire match.

Tounekti never got to the by-line once

“Especially in that first half,” he noted. “They couldn’t progress up the pitch. They really couldn’t. There were spaces down the side of those centre-backs. Celtic didn’t want to exploit it at all and they had no runs coming from the players.

“The pass was on, then it was not, no, no, go back again. Tounekti never got to the by-line once in that first half when he was on the pitch.

“So, with all the great things you talk about Rangers, Celtic were absolutely awful, and if they don’t get it right next week, it will be the same. They have got to change it.

“It’ll be in front of their fans, but take the fans out of it, you’ve got to have a bottle. You’ve got to come here and switch all that out. I’ve been here before playing in a game where we didn’t have fans. You have to have bottle.

“How do you stop the Rangers fans from celebrating? Dominate the game. Get out there and that turns them against their own players. Celtic didn’t even do that.”

Martin O’Neill, Manager of Celtic, arrives at the stadium before the Premier Sports Cup Quarter Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Stadium on September 13, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Celtic fans won’t be disagreeing with Bonner’s angry assessment

Every single word coming out of Pat Bonner’s mouth in his BBC Sportsound rant is spot on.  All that is missing is the criticism that is merited for Martin O’Neill, Shaun Maloney and the rest of the coaching staff. They too had a stinker at Ibrox yesterday afternoon.

As it turned out the only plus point is that no Celtic supporters had to part with hard earned cash to watch that shambles of a performance from the team. Hopefully they are all in at Lennoxtown today doing their post mortem and facing some home truths collectively and that’s from the top down.

We need to see the real Celtic on Thursday night in the Europa League against Ferencvaros and again on Sunday against the Rangers at Celtic Park, when this time it will only be Celtic fans at the game.

13th September 2026; Ibrox. Scottish League Cup Football, Rangers versus Celtic; Rangers players applaud their fans as the scoreboard reads Rangers 3 Celtic 0. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

A tinge of regret for Rangers fans today

Bet there will be plenty of Rangers fans today, the ones who regularly follow their team around the country and in Europe when they are involved, who will be wishing that there had been an allocation for Celtic yesterday so that they could get a ticket for this weekend’s Glasgow Derby at Celtic Park in the Scottish Premiership.

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