Luke McCowan has voiced his concerns about Celtic’s current struggles, suggesting the club has reached an unprecedented low. Under the leadership of Wilfried Nancy, the team has faced defeat in six out of eight matches, a record that has left fans and players alike in turmoil.

The situation worsened after Celtic’s latest loss against Rangers, where a second-half collapse only amplified the growing crisis at Parkhead. The defeat ignited a wave of dissatisfaction among the supporters, many of whom are now calling for immediate changes both on the sidelines and within the club’s management.

Since taking over from interim manager Martin O’Neill, Wilfried Nancy’s tenure has been fraught with challenges. The team now finds itself six points adrift of league leaders Hearts and is on equal footing with Rangers, a team they previously led by nine points.

“Let’s be honest, has it ever been this dire?” McCowan remarked. His words echo the sentiments of many who are witnessing such a decline for the first time.

Police line up around the Celtic players as they exit the stadium after Saturday’s defeat

Luke McCowan looks disconsolate as he leaves Celtic Park after the derby defeat

“Fans are reacting to an unfamiliar scenario, and as players, we’re experiencing it for the first time too,” he continued. “It’s a tough reality to face. From a player’s perspective, it’s a feeling that lingers—it’s with you every moment when victories are elusive.”

‘It’s not nice. I’ll tell you that as a player’s perspective. It doesn’t leave you. It haunts you every minute of every day when you’re not winning.

‘Getting home, not speaking to anybody, sitting on the couch, not moving, just looking at a blank screen instead of having the darts or having the football highlights on. It’s nothing.

‘That is what it comes with playing with Celtic. You need to take that pressure on. You need to get there. You need to show personality. And at times, within games, we’ve not done that good enough.

‘But that’s just the kind of rubbish message. We need to stick together and keep going.’

Rangers striker Yousef Chermiti puts his side ahead in Saturday’s Old Firm derby

Celtic lost just twice in 2024 but tasted defeat 17 times last year with Saturday’s reverse getting 2026 off to the worst possible start.

Asked if the loss to Rangers was the most painful the side had experienced under Nancy, McCowan replied: ‘I think every defeat is horrendous.

‘Rangers can’t just come here and win 3-1. It’s never been the case before and it shouldn’t be the case now.. We just weren’t good enough in the second half to show what level we can be at.

‘The first half shows that the players are running about for this club. They’re doing everything they can, creating chances and should be more (goals) up, showing that the club is alive basically. In the second half, it just didn’t seem to click like that.’

Nancy vowed to keep going after the latest set-back despite the vast majority of supporters now looking for him to be dismissed before Celtic’s hopes of winning the title are over.

Asked immediately after the game if there was still support for the Frenchman in the dressing room, McCowan said: ‘There has to be, he’s the manager.. I don’t know what else to say on it, but he is the manager, so what do we do? We just need to be together.’

Pressed on whether the players truly believed in what the manager was saying to them, the midfielder added: “We have to. We’ve got no other option.

‘We need to somehow get it all together and we need to get better results.. Simple as that.’

Luke McCowan battles for possession during Saturday’s Old Firm clash at Celtic Park

The nature of Saturday’s defeat was reminiscent to the earlier loss at Tannadice where Celtic also dominated for a half before falling apart.

McCowan was blunt when asked why the same thing had happened again.

‘Rangers changed their shape and we didn’t react well enough to it,’ he stated.

‘The first half we absolutely dominated, I felt.

‘They still had chances, but I felt like we were at it. That second half just wasn’t good enough really.

‘We just aren’t reacting to it as well as we should be. It’s just not good enough.

‘I’m probably going to say that at least 20 times in these interviews, but it needs to be better.

‘Rangers can’t be coming here and winning 3-1. It’s just not good enough. It shouldn’t be and it can’t be in the future.’

McCowan conceded that the players were struggling to adapt to the new 3-4-3 system Nancy has been attempting to bring in mid-season.

‘It is hard,’ he said. ‘You’re mid-season, and you’re asking a manager to come in and implement his style, which is fine, that happens. Us as players just need to get the message going across quicker.

‘We need to get winning. That’s the main thing. We need to just get back to winning.’

With no momentum, Celtic now look increasingly likely to relinquish the title they’ve won in each of the past four years.

‘Well, it’s going to be tighter than last year, that’s for sure,’ McCowan opined.

‘But mentality, we just need to believe that we can go and win the league as well.

‘It’s only January, but if we keep that mindset of it’s only January, you’re going to play enough games that it’s going to slip away if you don’t get the results back.

‘We just need to get everybody together and get winning again.’

Celtic have brought in Mexican international defender Julian Araujo on loan from Bournemouth and are expected to add more faces in the window.

Asked if that was now necessary, McCowan said: ‘It’s tough for me to say. If they come in with as much energy as they want. If they come in with top quality and goals and assists, then we’re going to go and win the league, of course.

Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy looks anguished as his side suffer another defeat

‘But we know as a group of players in there that we’re good enough to go and win the league.

‘Sometimes when you win, if you’re not having great performances, or your squad’s not up to your standard that you want, when you win, it gets brushed under, and you’re able to disguise it, if you want to say, but we’re not doing that now.

‘So, we need to get back to winning, we need to find ways to win football matches.

‘As I’ve seen for years now by watching Celtic, especially if you come in mid-season, you’re never getting time. It’s about results and winning, and that’s just the kind of be-all and end-all of it.

‘Even if you start the season, you’re not winning, you’re always going to feel that pressure. Us as players feel the pressure as well, regardless of who the manager would ever be.

‘We just know that we need to stick together and keep grinding away.’