The directors at Celtic Park should appoint the new manager this week, hopefully along with a director of football.
We’re moving forward, at long last.
Once those guys are in place, the pressure will be on the whole club to take the next step … into the transfer market.
But where’s the money coming from?
There will be plenty from the season tickets sales if the fans believe in the direction we’re heading in, but I doubt it will be enough.
There will be money from the sales of key players, and I think we’ll get a good amount out of that … still, I wonder if we’re going to be able to do the job properly even then.
The board needs to consider some kind of recapitalisation of the club.
As I don’t think any of these people are going to put their hands in their own pockets and do what the directors at Ibrox are doing the best thing they can do is consider a share issue direct to the fans.
The thing is, our supporters want the opportunity to purchase more shares.
We want a greater say in the way that the club is run. It makes practical sense to do this, and it is necessary if we’re going to find the money to rebuild the team in the next 12 months.
There has been talk of the fans buying shares from the likes of Lawwell and Desmond; even if these guys were willing to sell, the money would go to them and not to Celtic itself; a new share issue which gave the fans greater control and put the money into the club is what the moment requires and I think the fans would be fully supportive of that.
There is so much to do and the resources are finite. Celtic fans are realistic about the club’s situation and we have zero interest in seeing it risked in the manner of the club across the city.
We recognise that doing things their way is reckless and stupid.
We know that to do this right takes money and we know that the money has to come from somewhere and that means that it has to come from us.
If it’s going into the team and the fans are getting a greater level of influence and voting power I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t support a share issue, and I know it’s something the Trust would want to be involved in.
How much money could it raise? Conservatively, we could shoot from anywhere between £10 million and £15 million …
Some fans can spend more than others, so various levels could be introduced and this would be a good idea to let as many participate as would like to.
Of course, there’s one immediate and obvious problem here; the club needs the money now, which is where our current crop of shareholders comes in.
They’d have to front-load it and I think a series of interest free loans would do that until we can get the issue itself up and running. This doesn’t present any difficulty to the billionaire member of our board.
A lot of fans wonder what it is that Desmond does for us.
A lot of us wonder if he still cares.
We aren’t asking for his money to fund success … we’re capable of funding that on our own, as we have done all through these long years. But the club needs an infusion of capital by the quickest possible method, so that we can rebuild this team.
The least our absentee landlord can do is help us out with that.