Season Review 2025/26 – The Celtic Wiki

Matches: 2025 – 2026 | League Table | Statistics

Managers:

Brendan Rodgers (until 27 Oct 2025)
Martin O’Neill (Interim Spell, 27 Oct 2025 – 3 Dec 2025)
Wilifried Nancy (3 Dec 2025 – 5 Jan 2026)
Martin O’Neill (Interim Spell, from 5 Jan 2026 onwards)

Season Points

Celtic win the League & Scottish Cup double!
Celtic win the league with only 3 mins of normal time (plus 8 mins injury time) left in the league title season.
Hearts had led the league table for the vast majority of this season, 250 days, Celtic only 33 days on top.
Won the league despite incredible run of bad luck/shambles/mismanagement etc through the season (see list at end of this page).
First time anyone has won all the post-split matches. Maeda scored in each of the post-split matches.
Celtic have now won a record 56th league title!
Brendan Rodgers resigned/sacked/left by mutual consent in October 2025, after a tumultuous start to the season and a lot of friction with the board, and increasingly with the support.
Wilfried Nancy made manager in December 2025 but lasts only 33 days! A record not expected will ever be broken at Celtic.
Martin O’Neill has two interim managerial spells in charge, once after Rodgers left then a longer half season run after Nancy sacked.
First team decimated with so many injuries losing them from the squad for long-period or nearly entire season, notably CCV, Jota, Schmeichel, Johnston, Osmand, Iheanacho plus Engels, Sirrachi & Donovan for a period and so on.
Turmoil off-field, with Sack the Board protests rife through the season. Calls from some for full clearout.
Fans start a boycott of the commercial merchandise to help push for change.
Peter Lawwell stood down as non-executive chairman in December 2025.
Brian Wilson made interim Chairman.
Director of football, Paul Tisdale, left the club on January 5, 2026, following the dismissal of manager Wilfried Nancy and his coaching staff
Green Brigade banned from attending matches since 7th November 2025; initial six-game ban imposed on around 200 people in early November following “violent and threatening behaviour”.
Celtic Fans Collective set up to push for change (started Sep 2025); advocating for better governance, transparency, and ambition.
League Cup: Celtic lose in the League Cup final.
Scottish Cup: Celtic win their 43rd Scottish Cup. Dunfermline manager is ex-Celtic manager & player Neil Lennon with whom MoN has an almost symbiotic relationship.
European Cup: Celtic humiliated in Champions League qualifiers to Kairat Almaty (losing on penalties).
UEFA Cup: Celtic drop down into the Europa League group stages, and quality out of it but then beaten v Stuttgart in the first KO stages.
Next season: Celtic will be seeded in the Champions League play-off round in August. Win that tie, and they’d be in the competition proper. If Celtic had come second in the league title race would have had three rounds of qualifiers.
Transfer windows mostly seen as a disaster this season, very few successes.
Martin O’Neill inducted into the League Managers Association Hall of Fame 1000 Club after taking charge of UEFA Cup game against Stuttgart.

Trivia

Scotland qualify for the World Cup in North America, first time since 1998.
New Hearts shareholder Tony Bloom says it will no longer be a two-horse race in Scottish football and that he would be “very disappointed” if the Tynecastle side doesn’t win the Premiership in the next ten years.
Paddy Power already paid out on league title win for Celtic after just the second league match of the season with Sevco going 4pts already behind Celtic! They soon looked quite ridiculous.
Sevco under new American ownership, Hearts also under new ownership.
Scotland make the World Cup finals for first time since 1998! Tierney scored the decisive goal in 4-2 win v Denmark (which included Celtic goalkeeper Schmiechel).
Only 1 defeat in 6 away European games this season, which is a very surprising fact for such a poor Celtic squad this season, but no disguising the humiliations at home.
Celtic win first ever match in Germany in UEFA Competitions (1-0 away to Stuttgart).

Celtic Women’s Team

Trying to rebuild after a poor season last season, not much progress this season sadly.
Elena Sadiku resigned in Dec 2025, New manager Grant Scott appointed.
Scottish Cup: Women’s team win the cup with 1-0 victory v TheRangers women’s team despite Celtic women’s team down to ten for last 40mins.
League: Celtic finish a disappointing fifth in the league, with Hearts women’s side winning the women’s league title on the last day of the season following a 6-0 victory by Glasgow City v TheRangers women’s side, with a hat-trick scored by James Forrest’s sister, Lisa Forrest!

Transfers:

Transfer windows mostly seen as a disaster this season, very few successes.

In: Sebastian Tounekti, forward (Hammarby, undisclosed); Benjamin Nygren, midfielder (Nordsjaelland, undisclosed); Michel-Ange Balikwisha, forward (Royal Antwerp, undisclosed); Hayato Inamura, defender (Albirex Niigata, undisclosed); Shin Yamada, forward (Kawasaki Frontale, undisclosed); Kieran Tierney, defender (Arsenal); Ross Doohan, goalkeeper (Aberdeen); Callum Osmand, forward (Fulham, undisclosed); Isaac English, defender (Greenock Morton, undisclosed).

Loan in: Marcelo Saracchi, defender (Boca Juniors); Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, defender (Manchester City); Julian Araujo – On loan – 6mth; Stephen Welsh recalled from Motherwell loan.; Thomas Cvancara signs on loan with option to buy.

Out: Nicolas Kuhn, forward (Como, undisclosed); Adam Idah, forward (Swansea City, undisclosed); Greg Taylor, defender (PAOK); Marco Tilio, forward (Rapid Vienna, undisclosed); Gustaf Lagerbielke, defender (Braga, undisclosed); Kwon Hyeok-kyu, midfielder (Nantes, undisclosed); Scott Bain, goalkeeper (Falkirk); Daniel Cummings, forward (West Ham United, undisclosed); Mitchel Frame, defender (Aberdeen); Lenny Agbaire, defender (Rotherham United, undisclosed); Liam Bonetig, defender (Melbourne City); Alasdair Davidson, defender (Dunfermline Athletic); Joe Morrison, goalkeeper (East Kilbride); Lewis Dobbie, forward (East Kilbride); Aidan Cannon, midfielder (Stirling Albion). Loan ended (last season): Jeffrey Schlupp, defender (Crystal Palace).

Loan out: Luis Palma, forward (Lech Poznan); Stephen Welsh, defender (Motherwell); Adam Montgomery, defender (Livingston); Maik Nawrocki, defender (Hannover 96); Ben McPherson, defender (Partick Thistle); Josh Clarke, goalkeeper (Partick Thistle); Mitchell Robertson, defender (Inverness Caledonian Thistle); Hayato Inamura – Loan to FC Tokyo until the end of the 2025/26 season; Jahmai Simpson-Pusey loan cancelled early; Shin Yamada loan 6mths – Preußen Münster.

Won the league despite:

Decimated side from injuries to so many
Failed transfer windows
Four managerial spells
Worst manager in club’s history (Wilfried Nancy)
Aged manager who plenty argued was out of date for the current environment
Forecast to end up 4th at one point by commentators (including the respected Graham Spiers), with all commentators dismissing Celtic’s chances
Across-the-board media backing Hearts for the title!
Third behind top two on points and goal difference at the split
Lost League Cup final
Played most games this season, further exhausting the squad
No real strike force
First-choice goalkeeper played with an injury
Only early in the season were Celtic ever top of the league until the very, very end!
Section of fans banned for long duration (Green Brigade), denting the atmosphere at the ground
Off-field protests and turmoil across the club
Scheduled to play the toughest three opponents in seven days at the end
Had to win all post-split games to have a chance to win the title (never done before)