The Celtic Fans Collective is here. Unity, values and ambition.

Something important happened today. Something that could, in time, prove to be transformative. For the first time in years, Celtic supporters who have often been scattered across different organisations and across different forums, podcasts, fanzines, and websites have now formally united under one banner.

It is called the Celtic Fans Collective. The name alone sets the right tone. It captures the spirit of what this is meant to be: unity.

For too long, our support has been divided by disagreements, rivalries, and even outright feuds. Groups and individuals have sometimes clashed more with each other than with the common adversary we all face in the boardroom.

But today marks a turning of the page. The Collective is an incredible moment where all that is set aside and fans come together to work in the common goal of renewing our club. It is not about one dominant faction, one all-powerful leader, or one organisation stamping its authority or demanding to be heard.

It is deliberately built to be the opposite of that: a cross-section of the support, each with a voice, nobody above the rest. No “Big I Am.” No single ownership of the campaign. Just fans who care, people bound together by their concern for the future of Celtic.

That structure matters. So do the values the Collective is built on. Democracy. Integrity. Ambition. Independence. Four words that mean everything to supporters, but which we’ve seen systematically undermined by those running the club.

Democracy. The board’s idea of democracy is laughable. Celtic is effectively run by one man, accountable to nobody but himself. We are told this is a modern, progressive club, yet we cling to governance arrangements that belong in another age. Shareholders vote, but the outcome is preordained by those in charge voting for each other.

Integrity. A board with integrity would never brief against its own manager, especially not to the very tabloids many of us consider toxic. Yet that is exactly what has happened under the current leadership.

Ambition. Ask the board what “ambition” looks like, and if they’re honest they’ll tell you it’s staying one step ahead of Ibrox. They talk the talk about building a Champions League-calibre side but that’s all it is. That is small-time thinking.

Independence. This is the value that perhaps stings most, because we know how little the current leadership believes in Celtic’s unique identity. They may not use the term, but we know people one our board still think of us in terms of the poisonous “Old Firm” branding, locking us into a life-draining partnership with a club whose values and history stand in direct contradiction to our own.

The Collective’s goals are not abstract or utopian.

They are practical and achievable. These aren’t symbolic gestures, but steps that can be taken quickly, and that over time will make a real difference to how Celtic is run.

What’s most encouraging is the tone. The focus is where it needs to be: on accountability. On Nicholson. On Lawwell. On McKay. And, yes, through them, Desmond. Because that’s the chain of power. That’s where decisions are made, that’s where responsibility sits.

But it’s not a witch-hunt. It’s not a movement defined by what it’s against, but by what it’s for. That’s what gives it strength.

For years, various efforts have been made to bring different groups together under one banner, but something always got in the way, and it’s the perception that one organisation or another was trying to set the agenda for everyone else. This is not about who leads. It is not about who gets credit. It is about the simple truth that if we want to change this club, we are stronger together than we are apart.

And that’s what makes today’s launch so significant.

Because it’s not just the words of a mission statement or the setting up of a new organisation. It’s about intent. A declaration that the Celtic support is ready to come together like never before – this is historic – and to move together with a clear purpose. For the first time in modern history. We are not reacting in isolation. The board does not fear action; it fears collective action and that’s what we’ve got now.

As we go forward one important thing will become ever clearer; the Collective doesn’t belong to one group, or one faction. It belongs to all of us.

It is, quite simply, Celtic supporters speaking together, coming together and working together for our future, and we should all celebrate that fact.