It has been a while now since the Celtic CEO’s position was taken up by Michael Nicholson. It has been a while since Peter Lawwell stepped up to take his place as chairman. In that time, neither of these men has sat in front of the media.
Neither has sat in front of the fans.
Neither of them has offered an interview like the one James Bisgrove just did.
Bisgrove was arrogant and preening. He talked utter rot about how their club has historically been the “dominant force.” When in God’s name was this?
I remember one spell growing up when we were struggling under the old board and then adapting to Fergus.
Since the minute he completed the stadium we’ve been on top.
We stopped their ten and there was a period where the two clubs traded titles and then, after Rangers collapsed, the NewCo emerged and have been pulverised but for a single season when there were no fans allowed in the stadiums.
He made grand sweeping promises he may not be able to keep. He talked up the idea of bringing Graeme Souness – of all people – to the club in an ambassadorial role. His women’s team will love that misogynistic old bigot hanging around.
He was vague on most of the issues. But he talked up infrastructure spending, transfer spending and changes to the board without taking a single hard question about how any of this is going to be achieved on limited funds. Ibrox fans lapped it up.
But it was an exercise in pandering without offering any real answers, and I would far rather our own board stayed silent and got on with the job than indulge in what was little more than a crap public relations exercise. It was flibberjabber.
There was a time when I would have fumed at the stony silence at Celtic Park, but I get it now. Maybe I’m wising up the longer I do this. Maybe I realise now that it’s better for people to get on with the job than boast about how they intend to.
I know this; Celtic used to indulge in this stuff.
Celtic used to have a CEO who was always commenting on something, always involving himself in something.
Usually stuff outside the club.
I was often amazed at the amount of committees and subcommittees Lawwell found himself on; it’s like that article earlier on Mulgrew. He had plenty of outside interests. It’s little wonder that stuff at Celtic was getting missed in recent years.
Nobody at Celtic does that anymore.
Not even Lawwell himself, back in the chairman’s office without uttering a word in public about it.
I think it’s fair to say that the year before Ange arrived, and for a wee while afterwards, up to the moment Dom McKay resigned or was sacked or whatever that was, we were still getting a lot wrong in this regard.
But that experience seems to have come with heavy lessons learned across the boards.
Nicholson has been in the job since McKay went and you would not even know that we had a CEO except in that the level of professionalism at every level has dramatically increased and the whole operation is working like a Swiss Watch.
He has proved to be the right guy at the right time, something I would have considered astonishing when he was appointed.
But his quiet, disciplined manner and his being smart enough not to court publicity, preferring Ange to be the public face of the club, has proved quite brilliant. He would never have given an interview so full of … nothing at all.
We should all be well thankful for that.
Agreed: we don’t need to see or hear from Nicholson or Lawwell,
just as long as Ange gets the funds he needs to make progress in Europe.
If not, then we are back to the bad old days of Lawwell’s unambitious,
penny pinching ways.
[Although he wasn’t penny pinching when it came to his own pay and bonuses,
which were – ludicrously – on a par with the top CEO’s of the EPL!]
If you’ll remember back in January , Ange stated Celtic FC were already looking at Summer recruitment targets , 6-7 months ahead of time . The old Celtic board were notorious for leaving their recruitment policy 6-7 days before any windows slammed shut . I think you’ll find the work being done behind closed doors for transfer players is simmering along nicely ….
They are not called the gullabillies for nowt.
Bisgrove rolled out the usual propaganda and basically blamed celtic for not having fans in at ibrox and celtic Park respectfully. We all know it was the south African criminal who banned celtic supporters. But the boy looks like he’ll be good for a laugh. They are getting batshit crazy by the day over at greyskull!!!! Do they really need beale giving a press conference every day?? Or are they still charging the press 20 grand to get into there bullshit???
James , like Lincoln said
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt – It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid.’
HH
Agreed. I think Nicholson has been quietly very effective for the club, it’s pretty much been smooth sailing to my recollection. I’m pretty stunned at Lawwell staying quiet though, I wonder what has brought that about? I didn’t think his ego had the capacity for such change….
Of course he would be strutting about like a peacock and brandishing his fan with piercing calls to the faithful, they need them to renew their season tickets and with that rubber win against the bhoys, who could ask for a better platform to pull the deludadol in and empty there pockets. Celtic don’t need to stoop to this level of pandering, were on solid ground. However, I will come back to the same comment I have made several times, while our board can act in a dignified and silent manner and not pander, preen, moan, accuse or air there dirty laundry in public, it’s that complete silence that is deafing to us as supporters and I believe that’s an issue that needs to be addressed between our board and the supporters of this great football club. For all were dealing with it in the background, I asked the question yesterday. Apart from the Cadete incident anyone, anyone at all know the outcome of any of these behind the scenes negotiations. If you do please let me know
I think Michael Nicholson’s offer to repay the legal costs incurred by shareholders who raised Resolution 12 in 2013 is a good indicator.
That the original funders then agreed to donate the £11 266 to The Foundation is an even better indicator of the Celtic Way where doing the right thing by the club as a whole matters.
A record of how it all came about that shows a smart under the radar approach by Celtic to tighten UEFA regulations can be read at Part Six at http://www.res12.uk and for a laugh check the interpretation from a blue Twitter twat at end.
I don’t like silence from the board, it dies not suggest strong and stoic to me.
Particularly regarding the allocation for tickets in the Glasgow derbies. It’s about time our board came out pointing the finger at the hun board and explaining the full and true story.
Well said, Sea Of Green. A quite brilliant post.
Hail Hail.
Best post on here for quite some time. Turns my stomach witnessing the cowardice of past & present Celtic boards re- the cheating oldco & the newco attempts to pass themselves off as the oldco (of course also fervently ignoring the oldco cheating years). When the history of this shameful period in Scottish football is fully revealed the stench of corruption will envelope SFA SPL SMSM and beyond. Sadly,our own club are complicit . They could easily call all this out. The evidence is voluminous. The original rangers remain in liquidation (11yrs & counting). They were undeniably cheating for over a decade.With no title stripping. No punishment of any kind. Newco claiming to be oldco is a massive fraud that our club could kill stone dead with ease. They choose not to. Why? Always follow the money£££.Meanwhile we’re watching the most exciting Celtic team in a long time. A perfect time to expose the corruption at the heart the Scottish game. Sadly the corruption extends far beyond football in Scotland. “Civic Scotland” is sectarian & bigoted to it’s core. Just makes the pleasure of the dominance of Celtic in Scottish football that wee bit more enjoyable. Just wish present Celtic board had the balls to expose the corruption that pervades . i will not hold my breath. HH