This has been a dismal and damning season at our club and everyone knows that this is the case.
The league challenge has collapsed. We’ve existed a cup competition. Europe was an unmitigated disaster.
The next few months are fraught with uncertainty.
But amidst all the chaos and recriminations and demands and egotism and arrogance and contemptuous treatment we’re being subjected to as fans there are, believe it or not, some glimmers of light here, and for once I think we should focus on the positives.
Do not underestimate just how important they are; we might not have won ten in a row, but ours is still a house built on solid foundations, and although we wouldn’t have wished for it to happen now, and here, with everything at stake, there are things afoot which will transform our fortunes in years to come and make this seem like a bad dream.
This is the good side of where we are, the positives from this evolving farce.
Fans Are Awake To The Problems Inside Our Walls
For the first time in a long time, supporters are awake to the idea that not everything at Celtic Park is perfect just because we’re winning trophies consistently.
This has been a difficult subject to broach for quite a while, because how could there be problems when we were witnessing such unparalleled superiority over the rest?
Well, it’s a classic example of how cracks can be papered over, how success can blind people to the reality of underlying problems. But that’s over with now; Celtic fans are paying attention to the inner workings of the club in a way they haven’t in years.
How did we get here?
When did we stop scrutinising?
The answer is that some of us never did; we’ve spent an age moaning about transfer windows and Lawwell’s tactics during them, about our failures to double down on our success and reform the governing bodies.
To be honest, a wider awakening amongst the fans was always going to come; incredibly, the board guaranteed it when they appointed Lennon in a shower at Hampden, an act of such crassness and unprofessionalism that it blew up the reputations of these men as sober and serious types and caused widespread disquiet amongst the fan-base.
Even if they’d gotten away with that gamble, most people realised that’s what it was … and that was the first chip of concrete to fall out of the stone wall.
Peter Lawwell Has Signalled His Departure
It is impossible to over-estimate how momentous an impact the departure of the CEO will have.
There are a lot of people who simply don’t get it, who think what will follow will be business as usual, but whether Lawwell is the devil some think he is or the genius others reckon there is simply no way that his departure will be anything other than transformative.
This isn’t about the strategy as handed down from the board; we know the board at Celtic Park are a bunch of yes-men who don’t interfere. We know that the key decisions are made by two men, Lawwell and Desmond, and that the Irish billionaire delegates much of his responsibility to the CEO.
We are talking about the end of a petty little tyranny, a change in the way we interact with the world, a change in the way we conduct our negotiations, a change in the very essence of the Celtic operation here, and I think those changes will be all to the good.
Lawwell’s departure is overdue.
He is the reason for the complacent, arrogant, elitist attitudes which have taken hold at Celtic Park. His departure is a sign that even those who allowed him all that freedom realise that the gig is up, that it’s time for new thinking.
And that new thinking is just what the doctor ordered.
The Football Operation Is About To Be Transformed
With the departure of Lawwell we’re bidding farewell to the role of “untitled director of football” and with that we can actually hire someone for that position who not only knows what they are doing but who will work alongside the manager, and not counter to him.
Along with the impending appointment of a director of football, I think most of us know that we’ll have a new manager to look forward to, and he will have a sweeping remit to rebuild this team in his own image. He will start from a good base as well, something a lot of people seem to want to ignore.
This rebuilding job will not be as big as some think.
I am almost always excited when a new manager moves into the dugout at Celtic Park.
Time hasn’t always vindicated that excitement (and in some cases, with Lennon being a case in point, I didn’t feel much of anything except disappointment) but you always know that you are getting change and every football fan I know feels a little bit of a thrill contemplating change.
A new style of play. New ideas. New tactical innovations.
It’s all good for the soul. This particular change will, if the club has any sense, signify a modern and forward thinking cultural shift … and that does fill me with a great deal of enthusiasm for what lies ahead.
Provided, that is, the board makes the decision soon … and gets it spot on.
Fan Engagement Will Be A Key Priority From Now On
Dominic McKay will almost certainly prioritise a new policy of engagement with the fans.
Indeed, the club has already started talking to the supporter’s groups with greater frequency in the past few months that they have in ages.
Necessity does force people to do things they otherwise would not do, and the board might appear to be bunkering, but in some ways they are also panicking.
McKay will have watched all this with a keen eye.
He will know that this crisis has grown in part because of the arrogance of the man who holds his current post.
He knows this has been a PR nightmare and that reaching out to the supporters will be critical.
I think we’ll see better engagement between the fans and the club than we have in years; Lawwell never wanted to focus on that element of things, because he was happy to be surrounded by yes-men and sycophants, and our fans aren’t that.
McKay will understand that a little scrutiny is good, that it’s positive, and more … fans feel more involved, more connected to the club, if they believe the club cares about them and listens to them and respects them.
Even when we don’t agree with Celtic, we will usually support the club if explains to us what it is that it wants to do and why.
This board – this CEO – never learned that. McKay is from a more modern corporate culture, and he will know it already.
The Shareholders Are Finally Making Their Play
Perhaps the most important thing that has come out of this campaign is that the shareholders are finally making their voices heard.
The Trust is under new management, with a new plan, and are finally making their move in an effort to establish itself as a force to be reckoned with and a real presence at the AGM and in the club’s wider affairs.
The Trust will not allow itself to be used as a cash-cow in the manner of Club 1872; it’s actual influence they seek, not worthless pieces of paper.
David Low is a smart guy who has been successful enough in business to be considered a future candidate for chairman if the Trust ever assumes the kind of power that a big shareholding would grant them.
That’s a long way from where we are; the task in front of them is going to take years.
But if McKay and the board want to recapitalise the club it makes sense that they would have a share issue. It makes sense that fans be allowed to take a greater share of the voting power.
It makes sense that this is a goal the Trust would not only support but push for.
This might be the most promising development of all; it means that the fans are finally making their push to own a greater percentage of the club … and a greater say in how it’s run.