Rodgers won 11 trophies from 13, an elite level stat right there

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·04 de janeiro de 2026

Rodgers won 11 trophies from 13, an elite level stat right there

Nancyball or Wilfball is worse than the nineties, Lenny’s Covidball, Barnes, and Mowbray. Change my mind if you can…

03.01.2026 Celtic v Rangers, SPFL Premiership. Wilfried Nancy and Kwame Ampadu. Photo : Kenny Ramsay

I’ve seen plenty of poor Celtic sides in my 45 years on the planet, from the dark days of the early 90s, to the disastrous John Barnes era that came to a halt at the start of this century. The diabolical Tony Mowbray season, and the more recent Neil Lennon’s jinxed Covid campaign, all were painful and totally forgettable eras, but not a patch on the present side under the leadership of the inept and out of his depth Wilfried Nancy.

Vídeos OneFootball

John Barnes Celtic FC manager, 7 November 1999 Photo Mary Evans

At least in the early 1990s we had the excuse of lagging behind a Rangers (1872, RIP) side who were spending well beyond their means, and we had a structure to how we played, boasting some terrific talents such as Paul McStay and John Collins.

The same could be said of the Barnes era. We at least were winning games, bolstered by players such as Henrik Larsson and Lubo Moravcik. Likewise the sides of Brady and Macari, they had some sort of structure, and highlights to recall, even if moral wasn’t exactly at an all time high, we still had a beacon of hope to cling on to. And we knew in the early 1990s that Celtic were skint, unlike this current lot who are running our club into the ground while sitting on a cash pile of around £80m.

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray poses with new Celtic signing China captain Zheng Zhi at Celtic Park on September 25, 2009. Photo BRIAN STEWART/AFP via Getty Images

Mowbray’s time was a little more substandard, but again we could compete and had a structure and rhythm to our play, it was a dire time as his foreseeable demise would tell, but still behind the current side in terms of bleakness and lack of confidence. Mowbray’s time was up after a disjointed, dreadful performance away to St Mirren that resulted in a 4-0 defeat. Celtic in the second half yesterday reminded me of that game.

Photo: Andrew Milligan

Lenny’s infamous Covidball was the stuff of terrible nightmares. A team led by a man who was out of ideas, and streets behind the tribute act from Ibrox who revelled in the strange era of pressure free empty stadia as supporters were locked out due to a global pandemic. Celtic supporters incidentally paid our season tickets in full knowing we would not see a game. Had we not than that cash mountain the club currently has resting in their PLC account would be significantly lower. In hindsight we as a support should have pushed for a share-issue at that time to fund the club through Covid.

03.01.2026 Celtic v theRangers, Scottish Premiership. Brian Wilson, Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay. Photo Kenny Ramsay IMAGO / News Licensing

In that again we had the reasonable excuse of an uncertain times plaguing the world as a whole, something our current crop of players clearly don’t have. They do have plenty of injuries in a squad that has key weaknesses thanks to the incompetence offer board led by CEO Michael Nicholson who has brought in a rookie manager and given him Johnny Kenny and Shin Yamada as his strike force. Nicholson has had two consecutive mares in transfer window dealings in terns of signing players but he’ll happily gift wrap up anyone who is subject to a juicy bid and ship them out the door. World class in everything he does, that one.

03.01.2026 Celtic v Rangers, SPFL Premiership. Wilfried Nancy and Kwame Ampadu. Photo : Kenny Ramsay

Nancy has lost six of his eight matches in charge, including a cup final. His current win percentage of 25.00 is the lowest of all the previous poor fore mentioned regimes. Brady boasted a win percentage of 56.90 and lost a total of 24 games in charge, about an average of eight a campaign which Nancy is on course to level after just six weeks in charge.

Lou Macari

Macari in his short time holds a win percentage of 35.3 and lost eight games in a six month period, again something Nancy is on course to surpass after a much shorter period.

Barnes with a win percentage of 65.51 and lost just eight games in the same period as Macari. Mowbray had a 51.11 and 13 losses in a seven month period, again not as drastic as Nancy.

Lennon in the Covid campaign lost just ten games, only four in the league, a total Nancy has matched already. So the stats clearly speak for themselves.

UEFA Cup 1 FC Cologne Celtic Glasgow 15 09 1992 2 0 team manager Liam Brady Celtic in Background Jörg Berger Cologne HM. Photo Imago

As bad as the teams were under the leadership of Brady, Macari, Barnes, Mowbray and Lennon, we were never engulfed in such direness and negativity on the park, the sort that plagues us currently. The Celtic support will not accept this manager we’ve had enough of this board led by Nicholson and McKay. They should all do the honourable thing and resign. But they won’t.

A few short months ago we were debating on here, what an elite manager is and if Brendan Rodgers merits that classification. Wilfried Nancy has showed us what a rookie manager looks like, well below elite level. Sometimes is wise to be careful what you wish for.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers beside the trophy after the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and St Mirren at Celtic Park on May 17, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Rodgers won 11 trophies from 13 in charge of Celtic. That’s an elite level stat right there.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy

Celtic in the Thirties – Both Volumes Half in the Celtic Star Books January Sale…

Celtic in the Thirties by Celtic Historian Matt Corr is published in two volumes by Celtic Star Books. ORDER NOW!

Both volumes of Celtic in the Thirties are now available on Amazon Kindle, with the links to order below. Signed copies of both volumes are available on hardback from Celtic Star Books and if you would like author Matt Corr to add a special dedication to your copies please let us know. Order hardback copies HERE or for Amazon Kindle click on the links below…

Click to order Volume One

Click to order Volume Two