DUNDEE, SCOTLAND - DECEMBER 17: (L-R) Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson, chief financial officer Chris McKay and board member Brian Wilson during a William Hill Premiership match between Dundee United and Celtic at the CalForth Construction Arena at Tannadice Park, on December 17, 2025, in Dundee, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Celtic is a club in crisis. At some point it stopped being self-critical and stopped listening. Instead, it began to close ranks. It began to protect itself. It began to believe its own story. When that happened, the structure of the organisation started to resemble something else entirely. Something more insular, more defensive, something that demands loyalty instead of earning it.
Call it what you like, but there are patterns here that are impossible to ignore.
Celtic’s boardroom is more and more starting to give off cultish vibes.
If you step back and look at how cult structures actually operate, not the Hollywood versions but the real ones, the subtle ones, you start to recognise certain behaviours.
They always begin with the same core idea; the leadership knows best. Not that it might be right, not that it is trying to be right, but that it is right by default. Without question. That becomes the foundation everything else rests on. You see it in the language, in the tone, in the refusal to engage with criticism on its own terms. Because in that kind of system, criticism is not something to be examined, it represents a threat.
We’ve heard it ourselves, over and over again, dressed up in different words but always carrying the same message. We know what we’re doing. Trust us. Ignore the noise. And that is where the first line gets drawn, because once leadership defines itself as unquestionably correct, the next step is inevitable. Anyone who disagrees becomes the problem.
It does not happen in some dramatic, overt way.
It feels quieter than that, more subtle, more insidious. Fans who question decisions become entitled. Supporters who raise concerns are overreacting. Voices that ask for accountability get dismissed as negative, as disruptive, as somehow outside the real support.
Over time, that creates something dangerous. It does not just silence criticism, it delegitimises it. It creates an environment where people start to wonder whether they should even speak at all, where they second-guess themselves, where they hesitate. Because the message is clear enough, even if nobody says it outright; if you are not with us, you are against us.
Translate that over to football and football fans, tribal in nature and fiercely protective of their club, and you can see how toxic that divide and conquer strategy becomes.
From there, control of the narrative becomes everything. No closed system survives without it. Not through censorship, but through shaping the environment in which information exists. They amplify certain voices; they ignore others. They repeat certain ideas until those ideas harden into accepted truths. Sustainable model. Long-term planning. Stability. You hear them often enough and they stop being debated. They simply are.
Meanwhile, the reality in front of your eyes drifts further and further away from the story they tell you.
Performances decline. Standards slip. Decisions make less and less sense. But the narrative remains intact. Everything is under control. Everything is part of the plan. And if you feel that disconnect, if you look at what you are watching and think this does not add up, then the implication is that the problem lies with you, not with the system.
This is a standard cult brainwashing tactic.
Football is uniquely vulnerable to this kind of structure, because clubs like Celtic are not just businesses. They are emotional institutions built on identity, community and belonging. That is the hook. Once that hook is in place, it becomes incredibly difficult to separate loyalty from judgement.
People do not just support Celtic, they live it. They carry it. They pass it on. So, when leadership leans on that, when it leans on the idea that this is your club, it creates a powerful tension. What happens when your club stops feeling like your club? What happens when loyalty is expected, but respect is not returned?
Every system like this eventually creates an inner circle.
The ones who get it, the ones who people trust, the ones who sit inside the bubble. Outside that bubble sits everyone else.
You can feel that divide now. The boardroom and the supporters stand further apart than ever.
Some voices get approval, others cause inconvenience. Some people are heard, others are managed. Once that line is drawn, once that separation becomes real, the sense of shared purpose disappears. It becomes us and them, and that poisons any institution built on collective identity.
And this is where we are now, because when pressure mounts, when results falter, when questions grow louder, leadership has a choice. It can open up, or it can bunker down. At Celtic, they have chosen the bunker.
You can see it in the way they handle criticism, in the way they treat supporters, in their refusal to acknowledge even the most obvious failings. They insulate themselves from outside opinion, divorce themselves from reality, insist on loyalty while offering less and less in return. That is what they do in cult settings.
Worse than that, they are beginning to weaponise doubt itself, framing questions as disloyalty, framing criticism as something to dismiss rather than address. That is not leadership. That is self-preservation. And systems built on self-preservation deteriorate slowly, quietly, while insisting everything is fine, until the gap between reality and the story becomes too wide to ignore.
That is the real danger for Celtic right now. Not just that we’re on the brink of losing a title, not just a bad season, but the club turning into something unrecognisable. A club that discourages questioning, ignores accountability, and has a leadership that no longer listens but insists it is right, while those in charge push the people who built the institution to the margins in the eyes of their fellow fans. That is the most sinister development of them all.
Celtic is not a cult. But right now, those running this club handle criticism in the same way, control narratives in the same way, and treat supporters in the same way. Those patterns feel uncomfortably familiar. Unless something changes, unless that bunker door opens and lets reality back in, this only goes one way.
No organisation, no matter how strong its foundations, can survive indefinitely once it stops listening to the people it exists for, and right now, Celtic is not listening. It is preaching. And that, more than anything else, should worry every single one of us.
Because that’s what cults do. They shut their doors and stifle dissent. They force conformity on those inside the walls and lock reality out. And slowly, but surely, they putrefy and die. That’s what we’re facing unless we snap out of it.
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I don’t know how to do it, but every Celtic fan club must make a concerted effort to try and gain as many shares as possible in order to oust Dermot Desmond. He is the main problem in the Board and he needs to be forcibly removed if he’s not going to leave willingly. As I said, I don’t know how to do this, but something has to be done soon, otherwise the club we love will remain in the hands of an autocratic dictator, whose only interest is in adding to his billions! He is certainly not interested in the Celtic fans, treating them as an irritation because they have the temerity to question his actions and motives! The sooner he is gone from Celtic, the sooner we can begin to rebuild our great club!
Off topic James but thought I’d let you know this.
I attended a race night last night in the supporters lounge at Celtic park organised by the Celtic charity foundation.
Celtic in all their wisdom charged the Foundation £1500 to hire the supporters lounge.
Just another example of how the board treat their own fans
Atrocious mate.
Cultish behaviour? Naw! I don’t get that at all, brainwashing and controlling….us? No fkn way.
Now if you had said Cuntish behaviour, that’s would have been much more to the point. 🙁
?
Lol 🙂
Correct. Totally cuntish
They are gambling with our club and seem to be willing to harm it big time rather than eat a wee bit of humble pie. They keep digging, and as time goes by then the hole they’re in is getting deeper and deeper and becoming dangerous. The cave in is about to happen with the ST renewals, if the GB are not back before the end of the season then I will be seriously thinking of not renewing my ST which I’ve had since Hampden 1994.
Just heard the guy Martin from the GB on a podcast, the behaviour of Hargreaves, Wilson, Nicolson with probably Desmond in the background sounds absolutely out of order.
Those who mention terms and conditions : and you know who you are on here: are talking rubbish.The GB have accepted umpteen conditions including the terms and conditions of the Season Tickets, but everytime they do, Hargreaves and his pals change the goalposts.
For the 5 individuals charged with Breach of the Peace, to have dawn raids at their homes and to attend a Police Station for 2 hours everytime Celtic play is way over the top.
These Baxxards who run our club are a cancer within it.
Not only have they messed up the team but are now dividing our support.
Micmac. Get the minutes of the GB – Celtic meeting out for everybody to see. Some guy called Martin on a podcast is not going to cut it.
Why dont the GB do this? What the fuck are they hiding?
What are they hiding from? The fans they’re asking to back them deserve full transparency.
What are they scared of?
Ps. You seriously thinking about something is wishy washy at best and going to have zero effect on anything.
You just keep believing these lying barstewards that’s your right. you’re asking for full transparency from the GB, well a spokesman for the GB has just done an 90 mins interview on a Celtic fan podcast, the way the GB have been treated by the two faced individuals in our Boardroom is a disgrace.
Will Hargreaves , Nicolson, Wilson or McKay answer him with an interview on a Celtic fans Podcast of their choosing , I would bet the answer is no.They are cowards who are out to destroy the soul of Celtic, to take this action against our young supporters is a disgrace. You Mojorism and the rest of the Board loyalists can follow them down the road to ruin for our club. I’m out, unless the GB are back before the end of this season.
What Kevin has posted above says it all about these money grabbing Baxxards. Charity begins with the Celtic support and definitely not from the Board of the PLC, what a horrible shower.
The rag tag of wee would be neds, that are The Union Bears will be singing their usual ditty’s at Celtic Park before the end of the season, and our Celtic Ultras of the North Curve will be banned, because they have annoyed the faceless nonentities of our Board..
Micmac I have listened to the podcast but still havent seen the minutes which should be comprehensive.Having listened to the GB podcast and what Martin said, according to him they have to agree to the security measures in the North Curve. Its an inconvenience but surely they can agree to that to get back in. Also the police issue is obviously mainly about the pigwatch. I find this cowardly and should stop. You dont get into any event behaving like that. The SAG stuff is a red herring. Martin thinks Ibrox has got it right by ignoring the SAG advice after the semi shenanigans.I think Ibrox have got it wrong.
Also our club has got it wrong and there should be no away support for our last game against them.
If the GB want back the route looks easy to me. Celtic comes first not them.
I also agree with Martin that all season tickets will sell no matter what.
I agree with you about the pigwatch rubbish, but again I think that is a red herring, one of many red herrings adopted by the Board in their dealings with the GB. The attitude the Board have taken towards the GB is symptomatic of the disrespect they have shown to our support throughout this season.
In my eyes the board are out to sanitise our club of the traditions and values held by the bulk of our support, just in case it offends the corporate people who sponsor, purchase hospitality and advertise around the stadium.
I think they are wrong in doing so, in my opinion it is those traditions and values that make Celtic different, and actually attracts a lot of these sponsors.
I respect those who feel like yourself and think the club always comes first, it was a view I also took up until a few months ago, but to me this Board have taken things too far in their dispute with our most vocal and visual group of fans, and will see ST renewals as a vote of confidence.
Myself and 2 other members of my family sit together, we have agreed that we will hold off to see if there are any mending of fences and changes to the board, if there are no changes then we are willing to give up our season tickets after having them for over 30 years.
Micmac. I dont understand why the GB dont just say ok and get back in. The over security is annoying but something they can work on. I dont know much about SAG but I have no evidence that what they say is wrong. They are not picking on Celtic as far as I can see as they are giving out similar advice at Ibrox. There are real safety concerns at some games and the GB admit this but only want the enhanced measures at high profile games. They dislike Hargreaves because he is a cop. They want no cops at CP. The fact that they are ignoring the safety advice at Ibrox will not end well. Both clubs are under threat of fan bans in europe and Scotland will have to think about following suit.
Im not a believer in the ST system and have mixed feelings about this.
The collective should be organising like a well run union. Giving fans a vote about ST renewal. They have gone silent and have no trust as they have had poor backing with their other protests / boycotts.
The GB could lose their section unless they screw the nut.
Micmac – please give me details here. What conditions are the Green Brigade being asked to sign up to? I want them back in asap and don’t understand the issue here.
Portojoe , if you google The Cynic Weekly, you’ll get into the interview with the representative of the GB. it is interesting listening and lasts around 90 mins. you’ll get the gist of it within the 1st 30 mins.
The equivalent of The Union Bears are our The Union(ist) Bears !
Clachnacuddin and the Hoops @ 11.24pm…
For Fuck’s Sake…
The equivalent of The Union Bears are our Union(ist) Board !
Stalinesque autocracy comes to mind when thinking about the board.