Where do Celtic go from here? That is the question everybody must have been asking themself after the Glasgow Derby defeat at the hands of the Rangers at Parkhead this weekend. For many, there was no coming back for Wilfried Nancy after that, and the expectation was that he would be sacked on the same night.
That expectation was not met. It looks like the Celtic board are intent on continuing with Nancy as the club's manager, even though he has lost six of his opening eight games and shown nothing to suggest that he is up to the task of managing a club of this magnitude.
On the contrary, he seems a man defeated. Just look at this reaction at full-time. He could barely make eye contact with Rangers boss Danny Rohl before walking up the tunnel like somebody who had given up already. Many fans had viewed that as the sign of someone who knew his time was up. But it looks like the board had other ideas. The misery continues.
The club will have to pull off a miracle this January, if they are to turn this campaign around with Nancy in charge. They have already made their first signing, bringing in Julian Araujo on loan from Bournemouth. And now, they have announced their first departure of the window as well.
Celtic officially announce second January transfer move
It is one that was only a matter of time. Celtic have announced that Hayato Inamura has joined FC Tokyo on loan until the end of the season.
Inamura's signing is one that had raised eyebrows from the very beginning. He was not someone who seemed capable of coming in and making a first-team impact from the get-go.
Initially, the plan had been to send him out on loan in the summer itself. But a couple of decent performances in pre-season convinced the club to keep him at Parkhead.
Confusingly, despite keeping him, the chances did not come. Truth be told, we have done nothing but waste the last half-season of Inamura's career. It would have been a lot better to send him on loan to a Scottish club in the summer. Now, his confidence seems to have taken a hit and he has gone back to Japan. When that happens, as we have seen a few times recently, it almost always ends with them making a permanent switch later.