That's never going to fade

Ralston confident Hoops squad can rally and end slump under boss Nancy

- BY FRASER WILSON

TOGETHERNESS. Six times Anthony Ralston used the word in the same number of minutes at Fir Park on Tuesday as he hunted for a shred of positivity to what is fast becoming a crisis at Celtic.

Togetherness as a team and a group of players.

Unfortunately, no matter what Ralston says about the state of relations in the dressing room, Celtic Football Club is anything but united as it enters 2026.

Discord has ripped right through the club in the most unthinkable manner over the past year.

From a fanbase at war with their board to a chairman who will now stand down after citing “intolerable” abuse from sections of that support and a majority shareholder who took a flamethrower to the old manager.

Now Wilfried Nancy finds himself in the firing line just 29 days and seven games after becoming the permanent replacement to Brendan Rodgers.

Losing five of those seven matches has seen the Frenchman stagger right into the chaos that has enveloped the champions - and with a rejuvenated Rangers smelling blood as they get set to first foot Parkhead on Saturday.

The manner of those defeats, most glaringly Tuesday night's schooling from a Motherwell side built on a fraction of their budget, has been even more damaging to Nancy. As has his radical system and reluctance to deviate from it despite results.

Fair play to Ralston. His form has dipped but he has faced up to the media more than any other player in recent weeks in an attempt to explain the dramatic fall from grace.