Today, there’s a story trending on Celtic social media about Celtic considering a “membership scheme.”
There are various models under which something like this could work.
Many of them give the fans a genuine say in how the club is run.
Others are a naked cash-grab, offering a handful of cheap benefits for the “privilege” of getting a wee plastic card in the post.
Hey, I know that some of our fans would join this in a second, in whatever form it takes, just as many tens of thousands of Ibrox fans have joined MyGers, which I’ve studied in detail and resembles an extortion scheme more than anything else.
If Celtic wants to recapitalise this club in the short term, they need to put forward a share issue and let the fans take a greater ownership share. No “membership scheme” which doesn’t operate on the level of those which allows the supporters a say in how the club is run is worth backing, because all the others do is create a two-tier support and gives people the impression that they are part of the bigger picture whilst the club continues to ignore them.
If the club launched this right now it would flop, spectacularly, and it would deserve to because to ask fans for more money at this moment in time without offering them something concrete and real in return – and a handful of discounts and a couple of autographs doesn’t remotely come close to being a tangible “benefit” to giving this board more money to mismanage – would be a further insult to a fan base which is reeling under the weight of them.
The best thing about this club right now is the support.
The absolute best thing.
And the club only views us as a resource to exploit.
It does not trust us. It does not respect us. If it respected us we would not be on the brink of this appalling appointment, which demonstrates no ambition whatsoever and shreds the very idea that there is a long term plan.
If Celtic fans want to be part of a mass membership movement which seeks to change the culture of our club into something that reflects the views of the fans and respects those views, and which offers a genuine say in how we are run, the Celtic Trust is where they should go.
Anything else is a waste of time and money and legitimises the way we’re being run.