The board

It’s quite a feat - at a time of unmatched dominance and with millions in the bank - that they’ve managed to leave the fans feeling so completely drained of optimism.

 

Big shout out to the simps who attend the AGM and ask the board softball questions when they should be asking everything and anything about how recruitment and transfers work at this club

 

Questions at AGM have to be either pre screened or plants 100% agree nothing challenging is ever askedm

 

*..

 

Paul Barber Brighton CEO, regularly hosts in person or online fan forums, where they set out visions, explain decisions etc.. taking question etc.. building trust and making fans feel involved in their club..

This should be a normal process for a club.. whilst our board treat us with disdain.

 

Big time

 

The stadium is a right state as well. The banners came down in January’s storm and they can’t even be arsed to take the remaining ones down, never mind install new ones.

Toilets are a mess all the time, crumbling concrete in the stairwells, roof leaking when it rains, paint peeling off the walls, bird * all over the seats for half the games. It’s in dire need of renovation.

There’s a real sense of neglect both with regards to transfers and everything else.

 

Celtic /Aberdeen and Thistle ONLY.....* over Pyros now....Nothing about the * that goes on over at the Shitpit.

And again....Silence from the board will the the way forward.

They never call these * out at all...Not with them attacking our players/staff and fans.....along with the songbook every week

 

If we've learned anything by now it's that they won't be replacing anything from January

 

New article from Celtic Underground on Substack


It's the start of August, the league flag has been unfurled and we are at the beginning of a new season. Our biggest rivals have seen a new manager arrive without universal acclaim and we have been given a decent (but no more than that) draw for the Champions League qualifier. Yet, let's be honest. The mood around Celtic is akin to a cyclist doped up on EPO awaiting his drugs test results. We're fearing the worst and we all know why. The transfer window is panning out exactly as some of us thought it might. This summer is a prime example of how we go about signing players. Its been the case for a while as Celtic refuse to bow to changing winds of football recruitment. Inflation of transfer fees may be a reality but for those running Celtic they are not allowing it to alter their mindset




Last year we started the season with Maeda, Kyogo and Kuhn. A year on and north of £80M in the bank, we are starting with Maeda, Idah and Yang. I’m struggling for the adjectives to describe how our forward line is disappearing in quality despite the potential resources available to it. Beggars belief, * etc.. don’t seem to do it justice.

I write this with less than a month to go before the window closes and we are in the absolutely perverse position of struggling to compete with the likes of clubs in Czechia or mid table Dutch outfits for players. Don’t believe me ? Sparta Prague have put a bigger bid in than we did in January for Sondre Ørjasæter. We had in interested in winger Isak Jensen at Viborg but we weren’t willing to offer what AZ Alkmaar did and he’s off to the Netherlands. As for clubs such as PSV, Benfica, Club Brugge ? Forget them, they’ve long since ridden off way into the distance into how they buy and sell players. PSV has sold two players for £40M and have spent £29M replacing them. That is how professionally run clubs work. We have taken in at least £24M this summer. Probably if we get other players in, we can sell more and take that to £26M (Kenny, Yang being two prime examples). We should be spending £19M of that. Currently we have spent £4M with less than £2M on any one player.

We fancied Moro at Valladolid but had not agreed terms with the player and he went to Ajax. Now I know what some will say and that is he was always going to pick Ajax. Fair enough but he we didn’t give him the choice. Offer him what he wants and he has an option. Then you can say, you did your best. Trouble is we don’t do our best.

We half-* it.







But none of this should be a surprise or can be classed as unexpected. Look at January of this year. Whilst the board were doing a lap of honour having successfully sold a 30 year old prolific scorer to a big 5 League for £10M, they dithered over the bit where a replacement was needed. As usual they fannied about (pardon the language) with lowball bids, negotiations that advance with the speed of treacle. You all know the story. As other clubs refused to bend to the Celtic board’s whim, we decided to keep our cash in our wallet. So with all that money literally doing nothing, we were only able to bring on two subs when he had a chance of putting Bayern Munich out the CL. Look at the team that finished the Cup Final and tell me that there isn’t something fundamentally wrong with squad management given that bank balance?

And please stop with this nonsense that we got our fingers burnt last year with spending big. We spent money on 3 players totalling £25M. Had we gone about our business sooner and with more professionalism, we could have got those players for at least £8M less. But here’s the rub. For all that I hoped for more from Trusty, Idah and Engels, give me any one of them, over Yang, Tillio, Holm, Lagerbielke, Nawrocki, Kwok & Palma. I just don’t understand the logic that says last year wasn’t what we hoped so we will revert to an even less successful template from the year before ?

We have a way of handling incoming transfers that is not fit for purpose. Our scouts watch Jakob Breum rate him and suggest he is in £5M to £7M category. Its actually at the lower end of that scale. What do we do ? Bid £1.5M. Funnily enough we get told to go away and chase ourselves. There is no rationality to it. Either trust the scouts judgement or get rid of them. But these nonsensical offers lose us credibility with both the selling clubs and agents. Why would you want to do deals with us, when we’re complete and utter chancers?

The inevitable Rodgers exasperation, blew its lid last week. The warning signs in Como had been there for all to see and last Friday saw a politer version of “terminado”. And just as “terminado” failed to change the dial and that window saw us end up with Mulumbu and Izaguirre, I’m not holding my breath that Brendan’s latest rant will make a blind bit of difference. Our Caribbean based largest shareholder who behaves as if he owns 100% of the club isn’t for changing. He has his way of going about things regardless of the lay of the land and how we might need to adapt. And this has the potential to be a defining issue going forward. I cannot see Rodgers still being here in a year’s time. And what then ? Shaun Maloney ? The fact that this suggestion should not be dismissed out of hand is proof enough as to the lack of trust in those running the club. Because which manager worth his salt is going to put up with a board that handle negotiations for the likes of Jakob Breum in the manner that Nicholson has?

It was Neil Kinnock who said that Margaret Thatcher’s success was primarily down to great enemies in General Galtieri and Arthur Scargill. Well in Craig Whyte, Vladimir Romanov, Charles Green and David Murray (when the hubris finally caught up with him), Celtic had brilliant opponents whose own failings were on such a scale that they masked some of the fault lines within Parkhead. That could (emphasis on could as its early days at both Ibrox and Tynecastle) be about to change. If Rangers are no longer run as a basket case, Celtic supporters should be under no illusion that it won’t take them long to catch up with us.

Anybody with any insight into Celtic knows that the problem lies on a golf course somewhere in the New World. Desmond owns 34% of the club but has the final say on every decision. He is the problem. Now listening to the Graham Spiers podcast at the start of the summer on DD, Andrew H of this parish, gave DD a thumbs up with some criticism. And I accept that compared to say a Jim Ratcliffe and others that I mentioned in the last paragraph, we could do a lot worse.

But what if his idiosyncrasies change from being a hurdle we can get over on the way to success to a complete barrier ? What if his stubborn way of managing Celtic no longer brings us even domestic trophies ? Our current transfer model is unsustainable and will threaten our hegemony here at home. Hoarding cash whilst failing to invest appropriate amounts in appropriate quality will see ourselves vulnerable in Scotland whilst making CL qualification difficult to the point of unlikely most seasons.

And when things go wrong, history tells us that DD doesn’t handle it well. The season was over by the time Neil Lennon finally got the bullet in the Covid year. The writing had been on wall since the autumn and an embarrassing European debacle against Sparta Prague would have ended any lingering doubts that a change was needed in the dugout. Instead Desmond gave two fingers to supporters by deliberately “not sacking” Neil Lennon for a further three months as he didn’t want to be seen to bow to fan pressure. He was prepared to sacrifice what was left of the season for his own vanity. The situation at the club with a man who acts as if the club is his own personal toy and who has disdain for supporters, minority shareholders and the media will at some point likely lead to a serious clash. And if we see a repeat of season 2020/21 it will definitely NOT be pretty as this time there will be no hiding place from disgruntled fans.

One of the issues that lends itself to the situation we now find ourselves in, is the make-up of the board. Instead of directors willing to stand up to Desmond and at least ask the question about how the club operates, we have a collection of largely old men and one woman who are no better than nodding dogs. The likes of Allison, Wilson, Lawwell and Brown – a number of whom have contributed nothing in decades – will just sit there and say nowt. The ingredients are there for a major schism between fans and directors. A dip in fortunes on the pitch and an end to winning the league could be the start.

It’s a scenario I dread and don’t want and hope never happens but which I suspect is inevitable if we continue to conduct transfer business in the manner in which we currently do. Think about this. Both Yang and Tillio can’t be sold unless replacements are brought in. Two players - who have contributed the square route of nothing for two seasons - and who both don’t want to be here, There is interest from other clubs and Rodgers by all accounts doesn’t rate either player - especially Tillio. Yet here we are unable to let them go because we cannot or will not spend £10M to £12m (combined) on bringing in replacements – despite the cash reserves. Name me another major club that is flush with cash that behaves in this way?

I hope this dreadfully pessimistic piece is totally misplaced. Maybe the board will surprise me and loosen the purse strings in the last three and a half weeks of the window. But I have my doubts and if they don’t then the future is likely to see more and more supporters losing faith in them.

Desmond’s intransigence to change to the reality of the football world will become as futile as tilting at windmills was for Don Quixote. Remember when the “old Board” told the world how our supporters preferred to stand as a reason for not increasing the seating at CP. Such an attitude was shown to be out of touch and out of step from the world towards which football was heading. But is that attitude any worse than the current directors bending over backwards to spend less than we did on Alan Stubbs 30 years ago ? If we continue in the current vein, then that is the level of irrationality that we are approaching.

In 1983, the board allowed Billy McNeill to leave for Man City. That was another Desmond - this one being Desmond White - saying to the world we have our own way of doing things, we don’t offer managers contracts and if the likes of Aberdeen, Dundee United and Hibs wish to pay their managers more than we do, they can go ahead. It is so depressing to see that “dog in the manger” stance return to Celtic Park. To remain competitive we are going to have to spend more on individual players. That is the direction of travel of football the world over. Kidding ourselves on that we can buck this trend and progress is just a recipe for failure.

 

So, players, backroom staff and our fans physically assaulted and * all is said or done about it but woe betide our fans for some pyros. If only we had a board with a set of balls to not only defend our club but also ask why the * nothing has been done re the huns scummy behaviour

 

This board, PL specifically, once told us we basically bank on UCL 3 out of 5 seasons (this was about 12-15 years ago).
He has since gone on to tell us everything that comes in is reinvested in the club

He then has went on to tell us there is no pile of cash.


Since all of that, we've been in the UCL 3 of the last 5 season, have brought in £20m or so this summer having spent only £3m and hoarding cash upwards of £70m at last count and likely closer to £200m

Even if this * and his cronies held a decent fan fare, you'd never trust a word the * said


Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

 

Even the biggest board apologists must be concerned..

But, as said before their idea of modernisation would be to put MON or WGS in as a Director of Football..

Nothing will change with Lawwell as Chairman and DD in control..

There's already a difference in the way our biggest rivals are doing business its just a matter of time before they surpass us, unless we change very quickly. Hard to accept but for me that's the glaring reality. Maybe not this season (though im getting less confident the way this window continues to play out) but it's definitely on the horizon.

 

One element I find it surprising is that with the amount of money floating about football, no investor has taken a punt on Celtic. We're a listed company so it's quite easy for some investor to go to the market and take up a position. Our shareholders are very hands off, our largest shareholder is 76 years old and spends most of his time on the golf course, he rarely visits Glasgows, he delegates proxies to attend board meetings for him. Most of our problems right now with the strategy and direction of our board is the passive investors we've had. They're sitting on their investments, the shareholding has seen little change in 20 years as a result the same board sit in place and as our investors are passive they more or less just let the board at it who are complete dinosaurs.

There's lot of money now coming into Scottish football. Aberdeen, Hibs, Rangers and now Hearts have all had new shareholders coming in and investing money in those clubs. We have the biggest stadium in Scotland, a massive season ticket waiting list, we have a route to CL riches every year, we are a club with huge commercial reach in terms of merchandise and sponsorship so there's loads there to attract investors.

I have to say I am worried about the long term consequences of the new Rangers owners, they do know what they are at in terms of sports clubs and I am concerned that in 4/5 years time the modernisation of how Rangers operates could leave us in their wake.

As we are a publicly listed company it's quite easy for new investors to come in and buy a stake up. I know we have the Celtic Trust which looks for fan ownership or a sizable stake or fan ownership at least but how feasible and realisitic is that really. Would a fan grouping targeting new investors to modernise the club not be more realisitic. Even a 10-15% investor stake could have a significant influence in making changes.