The Celtic Trust held its latest meeting with the club recently, and I want to go over their statement and minutes from that meeting one section at a time.
Please, if either Trust member present wants to clarify any of this they can get hold of me on Twitter or Facebook and I’ll be happy to discuss the issues with you.
But for now, I want to dissect this one paragraph at a time, because reading it I think this board reckons every single one of us is a prize idiot.
First up, though, thank you to David Low and to Jeanette Findlay for putting this together for all of us, and for their continuing efforts at this time.
These two are representing the fans well and making sure that our voices are heard, and not just as the shareholder’s organisation.
This, then, is what we learned from the latest meeting.
Peter Lawwell Feels His Own Suffering …
The Trust reps presented the two resolutions which had been passed by the Celtic Trust members on 26 January 2021. It was noted by us that, since that meeting, the retirement of Peter Lawwell had been announced and there had been a Statement from the Chairman which did not provide any outcomes of the review which the Club had said they were carrying out.
In response to the first resolution which called for a root & branch review the Club said the following:
There are opportunities for the club to have a look at how we operate post-Peter Lawwell; consideration has been given to this for the last few years; they have taken into account what has happened over the last few months and noted, in particular that when things are not going well there is heightened scrutiny in terms of recruitment.
The first red flag, and the first red herring.
This is Lawwell, feeling sorry for himself.
Yes, when things aren’t going well there is always heightened scrutiny in terms of recruitment, because we have a man who meddles constantly in that area without the slightest qualifications to do so. He has, at times, even gone so far as to over-ride the wishes of the manager in this area. This is why fans pay particular attention to it. We have an accountant deciding, at times, which players the club signs; that’s ridiculous and has been going on for far too long.
The “Mysterious” Yet Widely Publicised European Changes.
They indicated that they have some ideas and recommendations on how the club goes forward but as a club they are optimistic about the fundamentals of our club and, in their view, Celtic are a modern, progressive football club regarded as such by football in Scotland and Europe.
The fundamentals of the club are perfectly fine, but they might not be if these people continue to insult the vast majority of the fans. And yes, we’re a modern, progressive football club and we are highly regarded for that outside of Scotland at least … but we are not taken seriously as a major player because we rarely, if ever, act like one.
The trouble with them having “ideas and recommendations” is that they have proved themselves as having no strategic vision whatsoever, and so I’m concerned that these ideas are going to come up well short of the mark.
When asked for a timeline for the outcome of these deliberations they indicated that they were working towards expected changes to European competition focussing on making sure Celtic is relevant and has access and participates in whatever comes along. These changes are expected to happen in 2024 – they said they are limited in the information they can share but it does involve radical change and that this will become obvious in the next week or two – UEFA will be doing presentations around Europe.
Total bullshit I’m afraid, and a sop that not even the dumbest fan is going to accept.
Whatever decisions are being made inside Celtic Park have exactly nothing to do with the changes to the structure of European football.
On top of that, this “we are limited in what we can say” stuff is frankly a lie, because nothing about those changes is a secret.
They have been widely reported in the media, and south of the border they have been taken apart piece by piece. The EPL yesterday registered its opposition to them. The idea of a 36 team “one league” set-up to replace the Group Stages of the Champions League is ludicrous, will only give four extra teams a berth in the tournament.
And we’ll have to win the league to play in it.
That appears not to be this board’s first priority.
On top of that, four extra European games will put pressure on the associations to cancel extraneous tournaments within their borders, so say bye-bye to the League Cup.
It’s a joke, and Celtic has been on the far fringes of the discussion, not at its centre, not even close.
No Big Changes Are Likely In The Boardroom … Or The Dugout.
They said that they cannot give us a timeline in relation to the internal review of operations which is currently being carried out but, when asked about the scope of the matters under consideration they indicated that it was football operations and how the club operates in terms of the executives. Trust reps pressed the Celtic reps on the question of whether the manager was likely to be in place next season. We were told that they would not answer that. We were told it will be a Board decision regarding any changes in personnel.
The decision has been made.
It’s not even clear from what the board has said that the manager’s job is even up for discussion.
They mention “football operations” but that’s got more to do with hiring a director of football than anything else, I don’t even think the manager’s job is up for review. We’ve been stung along like absolute mugs. They have no intention of moving Lennon on, we’re stuck with this guy and if he’s survived this his next job is a seat on our board.
They are not currently looking at the role of the NEDS (as requested by our members) but they agreed to take our serious concerns on board re the NEDs back to the Board and respond to us at our next meeting.
In other words, “thanks for your thoughts but we like these gutless wonders doing just what they are doing now. Rubber stamping every decision, questioning nothing.”
The Celtic Board Wants To Keep It In The Family …
The Trust reps then raised the content of the second resolution which related to the shares held personally by Peter Lawwell. The reps indicated that we believe that executive salaries at Celtic PLC are excessive for the business they are in and that this call was for Peter Lawwell to give some of that back to the fans in the form of his shares which were part of his remuneration package. We were informed that there have been no shares allocated to PL as part of his salary package and that the only shares he owns are ones that he purchased personally and that he intends to retain them within his family.
Shameful.
This is how our club is to be run now and in the future, with power and responsibility passed on from father to son, as if this was some fading monarchy rather than a serious institution.
Those shares should be offered to the fans.
Celtic is not a plaything for a handful of people, but Desmond is getting ready to hand his over to his sons as well.
We’re back in the era of the White’s and Kelly’s here; the Trust’s role in changing that is their most important function.
The Board Used “Added Value” To Con Supporters.
In this item, the Trust reps asked the Celtic reps to provide some clarity on what the position will be re season tickets for this year and next year? We were told that:
Last year is clear – people can still get their refunds.
This year it is not clear and that they are currently working out how to approach this.
They said that, in their view, there is no right for refunds for this year.
They said that they could not give any clarity on what added value will look like because, at this point, they just don’t know.
Can you even believe you just read that?
“Added value” was promised before a single season ticket was purchased.
We’re now in February, almost a year later, and they still have no idea what that means.
The board took fans money under false pretences.
That’s the very definition of false advertising; indeed, some would call it fraudulent advertising.
The Trust Has A £20 Million Brilliant Idea …
The Trust reps said that in their estimation there is a potential £15-20 million value gap (cost of average ST less the value per head of the live stream times 50,000)
And there is zero chance of a single penny of that being handed back to the supporters.
The Trust reps made it clear that, in our view, there is a moral and legal obligation to offer Celtic supporters a refund. However, we recognised the impact this would have on the team going forward and proposed an innovative and clever solution in the form of offering ST holders an option of shares in lieu of cash. This is in line with the resolutions passed at our January meeting and is possible given the resolutions on pre-emption rights passed in the December 2020 PLC AGM.
A brilliant idea. Innovative and ingenious. But let’s be clear; those shares need to be real, with voting power. They can’t just be worthless certificates to hang on the wall.
The Celtic reps agreed to take this proposal back to the Board for consideration and come back to us. CT reps stressed that there is a time constraint on this given the fast-approaching renewal date (although it is likely the renewal campaign will be later this year dues to Covid19 related uncertainty).
Every person who is looking to buy a season ticket should be wary of doing so until some things are made clear. And nobody should be bought off with cheap slogans like “added value” this time around without the club offering details on what the Hell that means, because they conned supporters last year and there’s no other way to say it than that.
“Celtic Is Treated Just Like Everyone Else!”
CT reps, under this item, asked for comments regarding the apparent differential treatment of Celtic and other clubs in relation to Covid breaches. There was a discussion of this but no conclusion was reached and no action point agreed or communicated to us.
The board has no evidence that this is true and they aren’t interested in pursuing it.
CT reps, under this item, asked for comments regarding the club view on various controversial refereeing decisions within the Premier League. Again, a discussion was held and no firm action point was agreed or communicated to us.
The next time the manager complains about a bad decision or decisions this should be texted to him and he should be told “take it up with your bosses.”
Our lack of engagement on this issue is frankly disgraceful and we deserve all we get as a club.
When we get shafted it’s because we have no balls and don’t challenge the status quo, it’s as simple as that.
A Small Victory … And The Wider War.
We noted the launch on the Celtic website of the comprehensive set of FAQs for shareholders who have become disconnected from their shares. This was a Trust initiative, negotiated with the Club and we are very pleased that it is now there to help shareholders.
Well done guys, that’s a little victory in the wider war. Keep at them.
The Celtic reps initiated a discussion on matters relating to the Resolution 12 subject matter and stated that there has been and is ongoing discussion on regulatory issues and alleged shortcomings but that the rules and regulations of the relevant regulatory bodies of which Celtic is member demands a high level of member confidentiality and does not permit Celtic to relay this information in an uncontrolled manner.
The same old tired guff that is trotted out over and over and over again.
What our club should have done years ago is put together a blueprint of changes we wanted to see and proposed them to the two governing bodies in a public statement, outlining what they are.
Rally some support behind them.
Get a discussion going over them.
Put them where fans of other clubs can them press their boards to support or reject them.
Flush out those who want change and identify those who don’t.
Backroom discussions have been going on relating to these matters for nearly ten years … not one single change of consequence has been made to the regulatory framework in that time. Not one.
An Exercise In Smoke And Mirrors.
As I said at the start of this piece, we should all be grateful to The Trust for attending these meetings and sharing the results of them, but as you can see from the minutes they’ve been told nothing of any consequence.
Even on Europe, where the details of these proposed reforms are already in the public domain, they are trying to create some sense of mystique to bamboozle people into waiting for some big announcement which won’t come.
This board is fundamentally dishonest in the way it deals with the fans.
They don’t take any of this stuff seriously.
They lied to us about the review. They lied about “added value.” They are lying about the European proposals having a big impact on Celtic. In my opinion, they are lying about the manager as well because everything he’s doing and every word coming out of his mouth implies that he’s safe in the job and knows that.
If they are still “considering” his position then they stopped seriously doing it ages ago, which is ridiculous considering the scope of his failures.
They are simply not engaging honestly with us, even here, even now, with the clock ticking down towards renewals.
For all the Trust’s efforts, as grateful as we all are for them, the club is not seriously engaging with them here. This was an exercise in deflection and spin, nothing more.
