For once, the dominoes have fallen exactly the way they had to in terms of supporters getting the chance to let the board know exactly what they think of the situation we’re in, and putting pressure on them to do something about it.
Last season, one of the worst things about the Champions League exit and the colossal failure of the transfer window was that supporters did not get the opportunity to confront the board head-on about those things early enough because of the way the fixture list had shaken out. This time around, the board gets no such comfort.
Tomorrow, we play Falkirk at home.
That in itself puts these people under pressure, and the atmosphere towards the directors’ box should be, and must be, entirely hostile if supporters want to change minds about the direction we are going in.
If fans want to focus these people on doing the best job they possibly can over the remaining days of this transfer window, tomorrow is the opportunity to make their voices heard. To be silent now, as far as I am concerned, is to give these people your consent.
If you are at the game tomorrow, make your voice heard loudly.
It is the only way we are going to move the needle.
Just as crucially, the next home game is only days later.
Aberdeen come to Celtic Park on Wednesday night, the same day Celtic must submit the Europa League squad. If serious transfer business has not been done by then, that is another opportunity for supporters to make their contempt, disgust and fury at the board of directors absolutely crystal clear. Again.
That opportunity cannot be wasted.
The one after that, of course, is the league game against the Ibrox club at Celtic Park, with the League Cup tie against them the previous weekend. Normally, those are occasions when everybody would want to come together, put everything else aside and focus completely on beating them.
We had better get a positive result in that cup tie. Because otherwise the atmosphere towards the board of directors when the Ibrox club comes to Celtic Park the following week is going to be the most toxic this club has witnessed since the game which led to the sacking of Wilfried Nancy.
For once, these people have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
The consequences of their failure will be made clear to them tomorrow. The consequences of further failure, should that transpire, will hit them like a sledgehammer on Wednesday.
That is what has to happen because these are the last chances supporters have to be heard at precisely the moment when being heard might actually influence events. If we are going to express our concern and our anger in a way which can still have an impact on this transfer window, it is now or never.
Beyond this, you are shrieking into the void and pissing into the wind.
Those two home games are the last real opportunity supporters have to try to push this club in a positive direction before the decisions which define the European squad and the rest of this transfer window are taken.
If this club ignores the anger of supporters over the next few days, then it is setting itself up for a confrontation of biblical proportions further down the line.
And not merely with supporters.
There was enough anger in the aftermath of Tuesday from seasoned professionals such as Callum McGregor, and I suspect there is enough anger within the coaching staff, including the manager, that a failure to strengthen appropriately for the Europa League campaign is going to result in some pretty dramatic issues raising their heads.
For one thing, the idea that this club is simply going to sell out those Europa League games regardless of what happens between now and the registration deadline is incomprehensible to me.
We really could be heading back towards the days of top tiers being closed and millions of pounds in revenue being sacrificed because supporters are simply not going to get behind a club which drifts in such a directionless fashion.
The people who run Celtic cannot continue to run it this way.
It is as simple as that.
It isn’t merely that supporters are unhappy or that we are watching humiliating performances like the one we witnessed on Tuesday. It is that the accumulated losses from those five consecutive failures do not run merely into tens of millions, but over £100 million in revenue left on the table from those exits.
There is no credible corporate culture in which the people responsible for a failure on that scale should simply survive indefinitely.
And if they intend to cling on to their jobs regardless, that will be one of the most selfish acts in Celtic’s history, and supporters should respond to it accordingly.
As I have said on this blog before, if an external force had inflicted this much damage on Celtic, the unity amongst the support in opposing that force would be virtually total. We would be doing everything we possibly could to defeat it.
But that force is inside our walls.
The people responsible are sitting in our directors’ box.
I genuinely cannot think of an external force which could have damaged Celtic as much as, or to the extent that, these people have through their repeated failures.
And if you care at all about the future of this club, it is your sworn duty as a supporter to oppose them however you can.
Tomorrow is an excellent place to start. The directors will be there. The supporters will be there. The anger will be there.
There can be no misunderstanding about what Celtic supporters think has happened to this club and who they hold responsible for it.
Then, just four days later, they get to hear it again. That is the hand the fixture list has dealt them this time. No weeks of distance between catastrophe and accountability. No convenient away fixtures. No time for anger to dissipate. No opportunity for another carefully constructed piece of corporate messaging to fill the vacuum.
Tomorrow, they sit in that directors’ box while tens of thousands of Celtic supporters have the opportunity to tell them exactly what they think.
On Wednesday, if they have not acted, those supporters get to do it all over again. For once, the timing works for us rather than for them. Use it.
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The board are reverting to type. A proposed deal for a 19YO from the PSV “B” team. A 18YO loanee LB from Chelsea. That’s what MON can expect to help strengthen the squad.
Unfortunately, Mars Bars are a lot smaller these days, than the were in January 1994. Perhaps a few Parkheid pies lobbed into the directors’ box would send a message. These are, of course, the hardest objects known to mankind.
Hail Hail.
You’re talking “mince”. Just Googled SPL pies and Celtic are second bottom of the “Pie League” for quality etc. This damns the Directors more than transfer dealings. Again “a Club Like No Other” should have the best in everything and even sell the Kids Jersey’s for cost at Christmas. You know lead the way. This lot are a bunch of leeches.
Can’t comment on the pies as it’s been a long time since I risked them. But your suggestion on pricing for kids kits is on the money. This blog has boasted about the value of our kit deals with Adidas or whoever. The values are based on ripping fans off when they buy replica kit.
Why don’t we change the narrative – pay us less and charge the fans less. A Celtic shirt for £40 when every other one in the EL is £80 would be true to the spirit of both Brother Walfrid and Big Jock.
I for one will not be forking out for the Europa League package. Some may say big deal my seat will be filled & I’m not a true fan. F***k them. I’ve got to follow my conscience. Our “custodians” are not fit for purpose. Every day they’re in power they harm & damage our Club.Enough is enough!
James, you have said nothing about the collective throughout all this. They are supposed to be the voice of the fans. What are they actually doing?
I get the anger at the board. They are incompetent, amateurish and penny pinching but there are far bigger issues here. LASK’s most expensive player cost around £2m. We spent more on Hogh than they spent on their entire squad.
If I was in charge of another team eg. Aberdeen who has a similar stadium size and budget to LASK I would be asking how the fuck can they rip us to shreds with such a tiny budget.
There is a fundamental flaw in scottish football and we are part of it.
James, please tell me how a little team, with nowhere near our budget or wage bill, ripped us to fucking pieces? How much money do you need to throw at a team to stop a wee team from Austria putting 5 past us? LASK have no european pedigree and have won 2 league titles in their history. The manager and the players were way out of their depth with some cramping up after a hour despite having the weekend off. Our players were cowards.
Shouting abuse at the board tomo? ……is that the best we can do?
There will be no response to this Mr Mojorisin. We need to intervene to change the structure within Scottish football or we cross our fingers and hope that things will improve. Maybe if Hibs had held on this week then we would have seen the beginning of a renewal in Scottish football. A healthier Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen making some progress in Europe would be hugely beneficial to the quality of competition domestically. And yes add in Sevco if you must.
We can rant and rave at the directors box all we like, it wont make a shred of difference. Do we really think Nicholson is gonna come away from that game thinking “A fan called me a prick today.. you know what? Maybe I should’ve signed a left back since we only have one? Maybe Dane Murray isn’t a suitable replacement for when CCV inevitably gets injured in a few weeks? Maybe we should replace Engels? Maybe the squad does need reinforced asap? Thank god someone shouted at me today or I’d never have known that!”. Naw.
More likely they will smile and record us again. They are very aware how we feel and they couldn’t care less. This was supposed to be a summer rebuild and we are still roughly 10m in profit, which is the only goal in every transfer window. The CL money is gone, as are our hopes of covering any position we need unless it’s a loan for someone in England with no chance of game time. Mehmic apparently not signing for us because of no CL football but willing to go to a newly promoted Turkish side who finished 4th in the 2nd tier last season sums everything up and if O’Neill is willing to accept that and run with that excuse then he is just as bad as the rest of them. The board are a disgrace and the only way to get them out is to boycott games which will never happen as we all know. Sorry for all the negativity, there just isn’t much to be positive about.
As JS above said it won’t make a blind bit of difference but say they get a conscience and sign a few good players that we’ve been linked with but in a year a few of our top players will be punted for premium prices and they will revert to type . This is a soap opera that’s never going to end Desmond is holding our club hostage . He isn’t going to relinquish his shares , his power and he’s going to give his shares to his boys upon his death . I want to see them kicked out and barred from our club and their children and their childrens children . I know it’s futile and I’m having a rant . Only way is to boycott the home games and don’t buy their tatty merchandise
I had a wee think about this article… then searched for a word to describe it….I decided that ” hypocritical ” would do.. From the comfort of your season ticket seat…you’re going to shout abuse at the Board…whilst forgetting that buying a Season Ticket…is a vote of confidence in them…No other words for it…So do me a favour…Put up..or shut up.
Agree Terra Nova, can’t buy a ST then write so much anti board articles. Buying a ST is like a vote to them. No point in shouting at Nicholson at the games, he gets £17,000 a week, if Dermot Desmond is pleased with his financial figures, Nicholson won’t give a shit about ST holders shouting at him as after all, they have recently given him the guts of £40m for the bank balance and his bonus. Do you notice that no matter how many anti board articles are written, none include anything we can do to really make the board sit up and listen. The reason for that is that there is nothing they can come up with. Totally starving the board completely is the only way or don’t bother bringing it up all the time. Just support the team we have and put up with it. Ross Desmond will be a future CEO and we will have many years of the status quo
We seem to be running with a skeleton staff throughout, including the playing squad. I’m all for quality over quantity but you need two reliable guys fighting for each position. We seen the fitness levels of the first choice eleven so I won’t be surprised to see Ox, Murray, Scales, Hassan and Osmand all start tomorrow for three reasons, 1. To show that you get dropped after a shit performance, 2. These guys need minutes and to get match fit, and 3. Because we’ve got Aberdeen on Wednesday and we need the rotation or run a greater risk of injury.
It’s still NAP for me until there is proper change.
I do have concern that MON may not push hard enough for the required transfers we need. He body swerves questions about the board which tells me wont agitate for ambition like BR did but rather accept what they feed him and us.
I hope we don’t end up seeing a season only marginally better than last in terms of performance due to poor quality cover and a generally poor quality squad.
The collective will be collecting all the ping pong balls they can find as we speak.