GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 24: UEFA president Michel Platini and Celtic chairman John Reid during the Clydesdale Bank Premier League match between Celtic and Rangers at Celtic Park on October 24, 2010 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
There is a lot of talk about harmony around Celtic right now.
We hear about unity. We hear about everyone pulling in the same direction.
Celtic fans hear a lot about distraction, division and the need for supporters to get behind the club.
That language dominates the conversation.
It is worth remembering that not so long ago Celtic had a chairman who did not believe harmony mattered more than anything else.
His name was John Reid.
Reid remains a controversial figure for many supporters because of his political past. Some never accepted him because of his role in the Iraq War. Others separated the politics from the football and judged him only on what he did at Celtic.
Whatever your view of him, one thing is beyond dispute.
When Reid believed Celtic were being treated unfairly, he did not ask for calm.
He went on the front foot.
And he did it publicly.
His 2007 AGM speech set the tone.
“We will not be bullied, intimidated or marginalised.”
At a Celtic supporters night, at which I was in attendance, he said “We will not sit at the back of the bus.”
This was not corporate language. It was a statement of intent. It told the authorities, the media and the wider game that Celtic would not quietly accept whatever came their way. More importantly, though, he backed those words with action.
When the “Dougie Dougie” refereeing scandal broke in 2010, Reid openly challenged the credibility of the refereeing system and demanded answers. No senior Celtic figure had spoken so directly before. None has spoken that way since.
He did not hide behind process or talk about moving on.
He understood something fundamental.
Confidence in the system matters more than protecting the system.
That same year, Reid went further. He argued that referees should declare their football allegiances so that potential conflicts of interest could be managed transparently.
At the time, the suggestion was treated as controversial.
Today, versions of that principle exist across much of European football. Transparency around background and potential conflicts has become standard governance practice in modern sport.
Scottish football remains an outlier.
Reid did not accuse officials of bias. His argument was simpler and more powerful.
Transparency protects everyone. It protects referees. It protects clubs. And it protects the credibility of the competition.
That approach defined his time at Celtic.
When the Famine Song controversy erupted, he refused to treat it as rivalry or banter. He escalated the issue beyond football and forced it into the political arena. The matter reached the Scottish Parliament, Westminster, the European Parliament and the Dáil.
He understood that when football fails to regulate itself, pressure sometimes has to come from outside the game.
Reid never saw Celtic as just another business operating quietly within Scottish football. He saw the club as an institution that had to defend its supporters, its identity and its interests.
That matters when you look at the culture around the club today.
The dominant message now focuses on stability. On harmony. On everyone singing from the same hymn sheet.
Stability matters. Every organisation needs it.
But stability is not the same as passivity.
Unity is not the same as silence.
There is a difference between leadership that manages situations and leadership that challenges them.
No one can say how events over the past decade would have unfolded if John Reid had remained at Celtic. No one can know whether the club would have taken a more aggressive stance during the biggest crisis Scottish football has ever faced.
But based on his record, one conclusion feels reasonable.
Celtic would not have stayed quiet.
Reid stepped down in 2011, just months before the landscape of Scottish football changed dramatically. At the time, his departure felt routine.
With hindsight, the timing looks significant.
Because when John Reid left, Celtic did not just lose a chairman.
The club lost a leader who understood pressure. It lost a figure who knew how power works beyond the walls of football. Most importantly, it lost a chairman who did not believe harmony always came first. Sometimes protecting the club requires confrontation.
Sometimes it requires discomfort and someone willing to make noise.
That is what leadership looked like the last time Celtic had a chairman prepared to fight the club’s corner.
And given the mood around Celtic today, it is a fair question to ask.
When did the club stop doing that?
When we pick our next chairman, this is the type of man it has to be.
The times demand it. Celtic’s days of being the kid who always raises his hand ought to be well and truly over.
When i seen the picture that accompanies your article i thought you meant Platini. I thought, right, that’s it, James has flipped. There’s no way Platini would be interested or considered. He’s too powerful for the board parasites.
And btw, as combative as Reid was, he’s no different to the other Celtic supporting Unionists in the Labour Party. Traitors such as Brian Wilson & Jim Murphy etc. Red Tories. Supporters of the British military and their wars on foreign soil around the globe. Murphy even supported & promoted nuclear submarines etc. Unionist lickspitals. Taking their London masters coin and doing their dirty work. Self-serving unionist lickspitals.
If Desmond is wise rather than a grudge holder, he will appoint a strong willed guy with real leadership qualities, and give him the freedom to lead and make decisions, without consulting the Irish controller at all times.
Will he do that, or will he sit in his Irish bunker still simmering at those “Anti-Establishment” Celtic supporters, who dared questioned his minions in the Boardroom? C’mon Dermot let bygones be bygones for the good of Celtic.
i think every Celtic supporter to a man will agree with James on this brilliant article and we need another Reid as soon as possible , sadly he won’t be in time for the cup game where i believe sevco will have a penalty , watching tavpens timeline will tell all.
Mick we would hope that dd would bury the hatchet and move forward with the fans , start by having the GB back as a peace offering , he has to be honest and recognize there a real genuine concerns amongst us
I have voted for the snp and independence in every election since the fixed independence referendum of 1978,( if you didn’t vote it counted as a No).
I would rather have John Reid as chairman of Celtic a man with guts and balls to tell the truth .I don’t care what his politics are as long as he parks them while chairman of Celtic,certainly better than dermot thatcher Desmond’s appointments .
Reid would be a good appointment. If you remember, pre the appointment of Peter Lawwell as Executive Director and the subsequent sweetheart sale of the majority shareholding to Dermot Desmond Celtic under Fergus McCann has some substantial “City” names on the Celtic board pre and post the Public Sale. ( Sheehy etc ) To get from that heavyweight substantial Credible Professional Board to the Incompetent Yes Men, Jobs for the Bhoys, Empty Suits that are now in charge has not been an overnight, or unintentional thing……..
LORD Reid…??…No Labour man should be a LORD…Tells you all you need to know about the man…Oh and there’s enough Tory types on the Board and in the support …We don’t need a LORD as well…Keep him well away.
Excellent post Terence Nova. We do not want lords or Sirs anywhere near Celtic and that includes Rod Stewart. There is already a Labour Sir, our PM, and leader of the party of the “working class”, and look what a liar and hypocrite that he is.
Read this earlier and been thinking about it.
I think we need totally new fresh people with no previous connection to the club to be CEO, CFO and chairman.
Come in with no emotional baggage and who can sort the club out from the bottom to the top and make the most important thing the priority- the football.
Of the football is right, then the bank balance will follow- it doesn’t work the other way round.
We need people who know football and sports management and not pals of pals to sort this shitpile out
Did we ever find out what happened to the guy who came in and only stayed for a couple of months before dickolson took over??
Fuck him as a Labour Butchers Apron loving bastard that he is…
Just like Wilson is as well…
Fuck every Labour, Tory, Lib Dem, and Reform Bastards as well both politicians and voters…
Scottish Sinn Fein !
But I’ll concede that he did kinda stick up fo Celtic !
Whilst I can sympathise with a lot of what has been said about certain individuals and politicians in general I would point out we are, “a club open to all”.
For me, the only criteria is do you support Celtic.
As a support we will always have conflicting views, there is no way to avoid that with such a large fan base, so lets be a bit more accepting of others and just see what they can do for the club we all support.