When I saw the pictures of Dermot Desmond and his son Ross in Scotland this week, I genuinely had to laugh.
Not because there is anything wrong with playing golf. Dermot Desmond is entitled to enjoy himself. Nobody expects him to spend every waking minute locked inside Celtic Park until every problem at the club is solved.
It was the timing.
Celtic are going through yet another period of uncertainty. Martin O’Neill’s future is being questioned after a damaging sequence of results. There has already been European disappointment, a humiliating League Cup defeat to the Ibrox mob and then another defeat to the same mob at Celtic Park.
The supporters are angry. The football is worrying. Questions are being asked about the manager, the coaching structure, recruitment, the Board and the general direction of the club.
And there are Dermot Desmond and his son Ross playing golf.
Honestly, what a picture.
The issue for me is not golf. It is leadership and visibility, and that is where I have a serious problem with Dermot Desmond.
Silence from Celtic’s principal shareholder is nothing new. Desmond has never been somebody who regularly comes out and speaks to supporters. He keeps his distance, appears when he wants to appear and is often nowhere to be seen publicly when the club is going through difficult periods.
But Celtic are not simply another business.
This is a football club built around supporters, history, emotion and community. When things are going badly, I want to see leadership from the people at the top. I want somebody to acknowledge what supporters can plainly see and explain what is being done about it.
Instead, we get another photograph from the golf course.
Then there is Ross Desmond, and this is where the whole image becomes even more interesting.
Ross found himself at the centre of attention at last year’s AGM when his father was absent and he delivered a prepared statement defending the Board and its financial strategy. He spoke about unity, “toxicity” and people trying to “degrade the club”.
Most importantly, he defended Celtic retaining substantial cash reserves as a source of independence and stability.
Well, excuse me, Ross, but I am struggling to see much stability in the football operation.
I see managerial chaos. I see repeated European disappointment. I see enormous questions around recruitment. I see supporters increasingly uncertain about the direction of the football department. I see a manager whose position is being debated after a dreadful sequence of results.
What I do not see is a clear football structure.
That is why I struggle with the argument about stability.
I am not against Celtic having money in the bank. Financial stability matters. Independence matters. Sensible financial management matters.
But money sitting in a bank account does not organise a midfield. It does not find the right centre-back partner for Cameron Carter-Vickers. It does not create a coherent tactical system, build a proper recruitment operation or establish a succession plan for the manager.
This is the fundamental difference between the Board’s version of stability and mine.
For me, stability is not simply having money. Stability is knowing where Celtic are going.
Who is responsible for football strategy? Who controls recruitment? Who is developing the young players? Who is building the squad for the next three, four and five years? What is the footballing philosophy, and what happens when the current manager leaves?
Those are not toxic questions.
They are the questions supporters of any serious football club should be entitled to ask.
Ross Desmond can defend his father’s financial strategy if he wants. He can defend the size of Celtic’s reserves and explain why the family believes that money gives the club security.
But supporters are entitled to ask what that security is actually securing.
Because Celtic supporters are not interested in having the healthiest balance sheet possible while the football operation drifts.
I want Celtic run professionally from top to bottom. I want proper football expertise making football decisions. I want accountability, communication and ambition.
Celtic have enormous advantages compared with almost every club in Scotland. What I cannot accept is the suggestion that supporters should simply be grateful because the club has money in the bank.
I am grateful to Celtic.
I am grateful for the history, the memories, the trophies, the European nights and everything this club represents to me. But loving Celtic does not mean blindly applauding every decision made by the people running it.
Quite the opposite.
Caring about Celtic means asking questions when you believe things are going wrong.
And right now, plenty is going wrong.
That is why the pictures from the golf course irritated me. Not because Dermot Desmond should not play golf, but because of what the photographs symbolise.
While the people at the top enjoy their afternoon game, supporters are sitting at home wondering what exactly the football plan is.
That disconnect matters.
Celtic do not need another prepared statement explaining that everything is stable. They need to demonstrate stability where it actually matters.
On the football side.
They need a proper structure, clear responsibility, intelligent recruitment, investment where investment is required and people at the very top who understand that supporters are not simply troublesome “factions” to be managed.
So yes, Dermot Desmond and his son are perfectly entitled to play golf.
But seeing them doing it in Scotland while Celtic are once again surrounded by uncertainty does not exactly fill me with confidence.
And Ross Desmond defending his father’s financial strategy while supporters are desperately looking for evidence of a coherent football strategy is where the real problem lies.
You can defend the cash pile all you want, Ross.
What I want somebody at Celtic to defend is the club’s footballing direction.
Because right now, I am not convinced anybody at the top even knows what that direction is.
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