“There’s no hiding it’s difficult,” Anthony Ralston on Celtic four successive defeats

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The Celtic Star

·21 dicembre 2025

“There’s no hiding it’s difficult,” Anthony Ralston on Celtic four successive defeats

Anthony Ralston spoke to the media ahead of today’s Scottish Premiership match against Aberdeen at Celtic Park. Today’s game comes on the back of four successive defeats under new manager Wilfried Nancy which resulted in a vocal fan revolt at Tannadice on Wednesday night with the travelling support telling Nancy where they wanted him to ‘get to’ and following that up by chanting Martin O’Neill’s name.

Anthony Ralston. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

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There has been no media conference with Wilfried Nancy but several players have spoken to the mainstream media with our ban as part of the Celtic fam media continuing, indeed it also affects our coverage of women’s football with Alison McConnell writing in the Herald yesterday criticising Celtic for this short-sighted approach. We’ll not stop covering the men’s team but maybe when all this is over the women’s team coverage will remain binned.

For Ralston, having been at Celtic during a long period of success, the current situation is certainly unusual and also extremely challenging.

“It’s tough to take. When you’re used to so much success and you’re used to winning everything there is to win, to then go through a patch like this, there’s no hiding it’s difficult,” Anthony Ralston said, as reported by Daily Record.

“That’s just complete honesty. We’re not robots. We’re human beings. I certainly care about it deeply. We all care about it.

“We’ve got a squad of players in there that have been hurt by the recent turn of events in terms of results. However, we also have really experienced serial winners within this squad and within the building that understand what it takes to be successful,” Ralston said.

Tony Ralston. Celtic v theRangers. Premier Sports Cup, semi final at Hampden. 2 November 2025. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

The Celtic and Scotland right back added: “When you go through a patch like this, it’s about being able to take the hit but also then change it into getting back to the success that we need. First of all you stick together as a unit. Being on the training pitch as much as we can, which is limited, but to really have an understanding.

“Then, in the game, leaving everything out there on the pitch.”

Today the Celtic players will have to implement the manager’s system and crucially will have to take their chances – something that Johnny Kenny’s misses proved so costly on Wednesday night. Ralston reckons that today the Celtic team has to be better in both defence and attack if they are to collect the much needed three points.

Anthony Ralston arrives at Easter Road. Sunday 30 November 2025. Hibs v Celtic, Scottish Premiership. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“On Sunday, we’ve got another opportunity for every single one of us to leave it out there, both offensively and defensively, to win a game of football. That’s what we need to start with. There are steps we need to go through to get there.

“We’ve got the boys in there to be able to do that for sure.”

Ralston insists that the manager’s message is going through and it is up to the players to implement the system and get the results on the pitch. It’s also worth mentioning the extensive injury list and the disgraceful failings in both transfer windows in 2025 contributed to the current mess, so it’s not all on Nancy.

The sudden change in system from one that has worked so well for Celtic in recent years has however contributed to this shambles and in hindsight the Frenchman may have been better implementing his ideas gradually.

Anthony Ralston. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

“Usually you’ve got a pre-season and longer to work on these things and to really understand when there’s a change of system, to understand your position, to understand where you want certain players to be within the system, both offensively and defensively,” Ralston said.

“The gaffer’s only had days to work with us on that. For both us and for the coaching staff, it’s obviously been difficult because you’ve not got that time. We’ve got a game every three days.

“The way I look at that is that you’ve got no choice as a footballer, never mind a Celtic player, to adapt to these situations. The boys are really trying their hardest and backing that.

“It’s about showing that you can adapt when you’re a footballer and even more so when you’re a Celtic player. You need to adapt and continue to have success, because that’s what the club is built on and that’s what you’re demanded to do.

Tony Ralston. Celtic v theRangers. Premier Sports Cup, semi final at Hampden. 2 November 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“I feel comfortable. There’s a few things that I need to analyse in my own personal game. Slight positional, both defensively and offensively, but I feel very comfortable. It suits me in terms of being in a lot of duels with the boys and using my physicality.”

On the Celtic support’s reaction at Tannadice to the four successive defeats, Ralston understands as a Celtic fan himself what the club means to the support and that they are hurting just as much as the players.

“The fans are very passionate, they care a lot about the club. I’m a fan myself and you’re desperate for everything to go well. I was playing the game so I’ve heard there was chants. But it’s for everybody just to try and be together as a unit and that includes the fans.

“We all need to be as one and I know there’s a lot of emotions. When things aren’t going right, you’re so desperate for it to go right that it can come out in different ways. It would just be that we all need to stick together as a unit and as a club.

“That’s the fans included and the success, I’m sure, will come. It’s about the squad as a unit and how we’re going to get ourselves out of this situation that we’re in. I fully believe that we can.”