Dublin , Ireland - 7 June 2026; Celtic majority shareholder Dermot Desmond during the friendly match between Shelbourne and Glasgow Celtic at Tolka Park in Dublin. (Photo By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
Short of a couple of websites determined to deny reality and a handful of people online who left it behind a long time ago, there is now something approaching a unanimous verdict on the Celtic board’s running of this club over the past couple of years.
That verdict is that they are making a complete mess of it.
The transfer windows have been disastrous. The man-management has been disastrous. The communication has been disastrous. The overall strategy of the club has been appalling.
And it does not matter where you look.
It does not matter if you are reading the blogs, the forums, mainstream media or fan media. It does not matter if you are listening to podcasts, radio stations or television pundits. It does not matter whether you are dealing with people who have never sat in a director’s box in their lives or people who have operated at the very highest level and actually run football clubs. The verdict is overwhelmingly the same.
Everyone, save for that tiny handful, many of whom appear to have some vested interest in defending the current regime, can see that this club is on a downward trajectory because of its leadership.
And now that the financial consequences of that leadership are beginning to show themselves as well, the argument becomes even harder to deny.
So, my question is simple; when the whole world is telling you that you are wrong, how can you still be convinced that you are right?
How arrogant do you have to be to believe that your judgement supersedes everyone else’s?
Well, it probably helps if the club is effectively run according to the wishes of one man who has never shown much concern for what anyone else thinks.
And we know this because Dermot Desmond has said it himself.
Years ago, in an interview with Andrew Smith, Desmond made one of the most revealing statements I have ever heard from someone in his position.
He said that if a million people told him to do something and he believed they were wrong, he would still take his own counsel.
At the time, a lot of people interpreted that as bravado. They heard a successful businessman saying that he trusted his judgement above all else.
Some even admired it. But it was always dangerous thinking. It is megalomania. It is what you might, charitably, call delusional.
Because if Desmond remains convinced that he is right in spite of the evidence, in spite of the outcomes and in spite of almost everyone around football telling him otherwise, then that mindset can lead this club into a very dark place.
Who inside Celtic is going to tell him he is wrong? Certainly, nobody on the current board appears particularly willing to do it.
Are the people around him going to challenge him? Is anyone close enough to him prepared to say: enough, this is not working?
Because that is what strong institutions require. They require people around power who are prepared to tell the person at the top things he does not want to hear.
Instead, you look at Celtic and see a board which appears to defer constantly upwards.
You see executives whose authority is difficult to discern.
You see a structure in which accountability appears to flow everywhere except towards the person with the most influence.
And you see mediocrity at far too many levels of the organisation. That is the evidence. This is not simply angry supporters reacting to a handful of bad results.
There was a time when large sections of the Scottish football media treated Desmond as though he could do very little wrong.
That has changed. Now even people who once admired him are increasingly convinced that he is out of touch with modern football thinking.
When people say that Desmond will defy supporters, that he will not allow himself to be told what to do, there is often a tacit admission in the way they say it that this is no longer being regarded as strength.
It is being regarded as ego getting in the way of good judgement.
And that is the fundamental problem.
He can appoint whoever he likes. That does not mean those people will command respect. He can involve himself in transfer business if he wishes. That does not mean a manager will necessarily accept the players he wants. He can exert financial pressure on managers and executives if that is how he chooses to operate.
But all that achieves is resentment.
It makes Celtic a less attractive place for serious football people to work. And that is where Desmond’s influence begins actively working against the club.
Because Celtic does not exist in a vacuum.
Managers talk. Executives talk. Agents talk. Players talk. People know what clubs are like to work for. They know where power sits. They know whether managers are properly backed. They know whether football departments are allowed to function.
They know whether the owner or principal shareholder has a habit of involving himself in areas where professionals expect autonomy.
And that reputation matters. You can be as domineering and demanding as you like inside the walls. But when you pick up the phone to speak to a top-level manager, all of that history comes with you. Increasingly, it works against Celtic.
That is the reputation Desmond risks leaving us with: an uncompromising, intolerant figure whose influence does not empower managers but restricts them.
Someone who wants things done his way. Someone whose judgement is not meaningfully challenged. Someone whose involvement can become an obstacle rather than an advantage. And even if the people currently inside Celtic Park accept that arrangement, those relationships are transient.
They will eventually leave. Then they have to be replaced.
That is where the real problem begins.
Because when the whole football world is telling you that the structure is wrong, you are free to ignore it. You can fly in the face of that judgement for as long as you like. But those are the very people you will one day need to convince to come along for the ride.
That is the reality now, and I do not know how Dermot Desmond intends to reconcile it with his view of how Celtic should operate.
He can issue all the statements he likes. He can publicly back Martin O’Neill. He can posture. He can project certainty.
None of that changes what people can see.
Celtic is in a very bad place, and more and more of that leads back to him. People do not see, in the latest stuff about O’Neill, someone standing by his man. In fact, most people think he’s exploiting O’Neill and his loyalty to this club. Most people believe he hides behind O’Neill because he has burned so many bridges with his prior conduct that we’ve got nowhere else to go.
I no longer believe Dermot Desmond is capable of solving the problems at this club. He is the biggest one.
And the thing is, if this was just me and a handful of others saying it, he could get on with running this club into the ground and never have to concern himself with that view at all. But it’s not just us … increasingly, it’s everyone and you can only deny the realities that come with that for so long.
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He was never a fan, he’s just a venture capitalist who invested in the club/plc because he thought he’d make a lot of money out of it. At the time he described investing in Celtic as “commercially one of the best opportunities I have ever come across” – because back then he thought, as most of us did, that money would eventually talk and an invite to the EPL was only a matter of time. Well the FA moved to ensure it remained a closed shop – they may have been stuck with the Welsh for historical reasons but they certainly weren’t taking the jocks, and especially not the Irish jocks. So now there is no danger of a DD “two cheques” sale ever occurring.
A sensible investor would just sell, walk away, flog the shares to the fans and claim that was always the plan- some you win some you lose, but DD’s ego does not like being publicly criticised by uppity plebs so before he chucks it, there is the perfect opportunity to inflict some pain on them as payback for daring to criticise him…..
Slightly off topic but I have a theory regarding the statement last night. I found it strange that Rodgers was mentioned again and they go on to say that his sudden departure left a period of uncertainty before saying Martin would have their full backing… I wonder if this is their way of saying “If Martin bails now then we had no idea it was coming and we, as heroes, will need to fix it again”. The timing of it just seems suspicious to me. Because everyone knew Rodgers was likely to walk, everyone apart from those morons in the boardroom it seems. Are they playing dumb to the fact Martin could quit too? He basically admitted he could after Sunday. So I think this is them publicly putting pressure on him to stay by saying he would be leaving them in a crisis like they blamed Rodgers for. If Martin was to walk they would actually need to do their jobs and we all know they don’t like doing what they’re paid vast sums to do. I personally hope Martin does walk while he still has his legacy intact, but i dread who will replace him when they accuse him of “Leaving Celtic in a period of uncertainty”.
JS – as the saying goes “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me”. I don’t think anyone believes that this board can put this on MON. As manager MON’s achievements are and will always remain in our hearts and on our honour boards. Our “suits” will be largely forgotten or recalled in foot notes. We need a plan to get 50% +1 share into the hands of real fans who will then vote and take action at AGMs and such like. Willie Haughey could be the catalyst to transform our ownership back to the way that Fergus intended and to a point that Brother Walfrid would appreciate.
Willie Haughey left Livingston and Queen’s Park in the shit!
A good businessman does make you a good football club owner, DD ring a bell
Does not
Not just his repeated failure in Europe, or repeated failure to qualify for the CL and that £ 200+ million lost revenue, the most damning act was the backstabbing of Brendan in The S*n and via Celtic.
Has any other owner done that to a household name manager of Brendan’s caliber ?
That disgusting act made news and must have been big news within football managerial circles.
As in who the hell would want to go manage there ? and steer well clear of that place if you want to keep your reputation intact.
Only a compliant yes man, someone desperate for the money or someone not that capable would be interested.
What has that appalling act alone done to Celtic’s reputation.
A takeover from Americans or other shady people would be just as bad though, perhaps even much worse.
Someone should point out this Bertrand Russell (Welsh philosopher) quoteto DD
“One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision”
James in answer to your question no one’s going to stand up to him because they’re all cowards and simpering wimps doffing their caps to his “Lordship.” You used the word megalomaniac and that’s exactly what he is, he’s a man who’s ridden his luck for years and got away with it, but we all know luck runs out in the end and you have to face reality. Our reality is here, now, we’re in turmoil and have been for some time due to mismanagement, negligence and utter incompetence. In any other business going from a profit of over forty million pounds to a loss of about four million because you failed to prepare properly for the chance to reach the Champions League, your biggest potential earnings builder, would be a case for summary dismissal and a full refreshing of the boardroom. Not at Celtic, incompetence seems to be rewarded not punished and no matter how many of us point this out instead of listening they double down that their way is right and that we know nothing. Whether it’s ex-players, bloggers, podcasters or even us normal supporters they treat us with derision and utter contempt as they believe us to be an irritance but we’re not stupid we can see things with clear vision that they can’t or won’t accept. We’re in a woeful state on and off the park and changing the manager won’t change the structure of the club, the structures fundamentally wrong and if Martin were to leave or the board sack him him all we’re doing is kicking the can down the road because those structural problems will still be there. The players have to take a lot of blame as well when you’re getting thirty grand a week and you’re looking for direction on the park you’re stealing a wage. You could watch a game at a public park on a Sunday morning and watch players see that the way they’re playing isn’t working and they can change things themselves on the park without instruction from the sidelines, so why can’t millionaire professionals do the same thing? These days players can’t go for a piss without direction, that’s how it seems to me, they’re spoiled, pampered brats a lot of them. I’ll cut them some slack as the manager said he didn’t get the main midfield player he was after but even then they should be able to adapt and overcome problems themselves on the pitch and if they can’t they should maybe consider if there’s a problem inside them. In summation the club’s rapidly declining and we’re nowhere near rock bottom yet, I fear it’s going to become much worse before it gets better. It might’ve actually have turned out better if we won nothing last year as that papered over major cracks throughout the whole club.