The boyhood fan has been bereft of explanations to those who matter most to him after four defeats on the spin
16:00, 18 Dec 2025Updated 19:24, 18 Dec 2025
Emotional Luke McCowan admits the strain of Celtic's rotten form has left him distanced from those closest to him and has no answers for his nearest and dearest.
The 28-year-old cut a dejected figure after the final whistle after the 2-1 defeat to Dundee United at Tannadice. He could barely comprehend after the Premiership champions collapsed to a fourth consecutive defeat under Wilfried Nancy's watch.
McCowan – starting in the left wing-back berth – admits his Celtic-daft family have been left on read with Scottish football's dominant force being reduced to a pale imitation of their former selves.
Nancy was met with brutal fan chants as fans told the 48-year-old where to go as they pined for former interim Martin O'Neill.
But McCowan's ire comes from within and the dawning that his boyhood club are falling flat on their faces and he's been bereft of explanations to those who matter most to him.
McCowan said: "It's so hard, I'll be honest. Every single mate I've got and every member of my family, I probably don't even speak to them now.
"Because I don't actually know what to say when football is your life and Celtic is your life. It's so hard to escape, but it's just about reacting well.
"It's so hard to even like to put any words into it but you just keep going man. It's so hard and as I said, not many players in that dressing room have gone through this.
"Even myself being at previous clubs, I've probably not gone through stuff like this. We just need to get behind each other and back each other till we can't anymore."
Celtic's recent recruitment has been panned but McCowan knows the dressing room is packed with players who support the club or have won multiple trophies, with many falling into both categories.
And he wanted to make clear that despite the quadruple setback to Hearts, Roma, St Mirren and United that those putting on the jersey remain deeply invested despite results going south.
He added: "Well most of the players that we've got in there know what it's like to be part of a winning Celtic.
"And right now I can tell you first hand that it's so, so sore. I actually get upset thinking about it because so many guys in there are fans as well.
"It's so hard to believe that this club deserves to be on a pedestal above everybody else and it should be. And right now we're not playing at that level.
"As a collective we know it needs to get better and we need to stick together. We need to act like men about it and we need to brush games like this off and go for the next one."
The former Dundee standout admits the hardest part of the ongoing nightmare is the fact the run shows no signs of abating.
Nancy reckons good times are around the corner but McCowan admits the task now is arresting their alarming slump which has them six points behind Hearts having played a game less.
He said: "Well you don't think it's going to keep extending. That's probably the hardest part.
"But you go into every new game we have a fresh mindset of, 'this is the game that's going to change'. That was the message before the game. It was coming here to win the game and that's no different than any other game that we face.
"As a collective, all the boys in that changing room know how hard it is to go and win away from home. But we've been and done it before and we need to get back to that level."
And now the pressure mounts ahead of Aberdeen's trip to Celtic Park. Jimmy Thelin and Co will return from Prague and will aim to keep up their stellar domestic form by landing a signature win in Glasgow's east end.
Nancy heard it from the travelling fans but another loss and it's likely the Frenchman will be in the cross hairs of an entire stadium.
But McCowan is itching to make sure that doesn't come to pass.
He added: "It's important. We need to get better and most importantly we need to win at home.
"It's really really important that we get back to winning ways and it's not often Celtic teams go four games defeated.
"We do not want to make it five."