There are times when I read the “opinions” of Kieran Maguire and think to myself “does he really believe what he’s saying here?” There are times I read him and wonder if he actually even knows what he’s talking about. Most of the time the answer is “no.”
Today he’s pontificating on how a “malaise” amongst the fans could see us lose money. Good God. Has this guy not seen the season ticket sales figures? The “Celtic malaise” will end the minute we start doing some decent transfer business.
Only the launch of the appalling third kit – which I think we all agree is a mess – has dented what are usually strong summer sales.
That fans might soon be back in football grounds in large numbers gives those numbers another lift, because everyone wants to have his new top on for that. How can a guy who brands himself as a “football finance expert” not know that?
He says too that if results don’t go well that this will impact on our club’s sales later in the season; why doesn’t he know that most people spend their money on merchandising early in the season? Why doesn’t he know that if you’re wandering into the Celtic store in the middle of a campaign it’s not an “impulse purchase” at all but something you choose to do?
All this is, to me, is another in a long line of doom prophecies from a guy who has been wrong at nearly every turn. When a bunch of fan organisations asked for a merchandising boycott a few weeks back, most of the Celtic fans wouldn’t even entertain the suggestion.
For months now, Maguire has been talking up the finances at Ibrox – which are a mess – and predicting dire days ahead at Celtic. Yet in that time, we’ve once again sold more season tickets than any other club in the country.
With fans about to return to the grounds, we’re in as good a shape as we could realistically be coming out of the pandemic.
That, incidentally, is better shape than any other club in this country, including the one he thinks is doing just fine in spite of post ever increasing levels of losses.