AGAIN, THE CELTIC BOARD FAIL TO “READ THE ROOM” NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE

Money continues to dominate the Celtic Board's thoughts at a time when customer sentiment is very low.

To all intents and purposes, today should be a day when we’re all in a good mood. For those who follow international football Scotland have qualified for their first World Cup since I was in high school, and Ireland remain in with a shout of joining them via the play-offs.

And even if you’re one of those who see international football as little more than an annoying interruption to watching Celtic games, then I think you can still appreciate the joy of seeing Kieran Tierney silence his critics with perhaps the most spectacular goal of his career.

Unfortunately, amidst all the jubilation, another two tone-deaf statements from the Celtic Board dropped online. Suffice to say, it’s all been about as well received as one of ACSOM’s own “Kasper Saves” T-Shirts would be in Denmark this morning!

Poorly Timed Statements Yet Another Celtic Board Own Goal

Firstly, let’s deal with the more serious of the two. The Celtic Board allege that their on-going dispute with The Green Brigade has now escalated to the point where it is “beyond their control”.

An emergency meeting will take place on Thursday at the request of Glasgow City Council’s Safety Advisory Group. Celtic’s statement was forceful, direct and represents a very severe escalation of tensions between the club and this influential yet ultimately only 200 strong group of supporters.

Apparently one of the rationales for this meeting is the Green Brigade’s own statement, which dismissed the “violent incident” that led to them being banned by the club for 6 games as “extremely minor”.

The Celtic Board claim in last night’s statement that the video evidence they released last week shows this is “evidently wrong”.

Erm, sorry, Peter, Dermot or whichever AI bot you asked to write this latest verbose word salad, but your video evidence shows nothing of the sort. It shows a bunch of people running towards the concourse. That’s all it shows. Yes, perhaps a couple of them jumping over the barricades to do so could be seen as a safety violation, but funnily enough that would be “extremely minor” if that’s all you’re using to ban the Green Brigade.

Now, I am not saying the Green Brigade are innocent here. I think both sides, to a certain extent have been “highly selective” in what they choose to share via their increasingly detached and increasingly aggressive statements. Both groups are guilty of publicly talking past each other, when they should be, privately, talking with each other.

Last night’s statement adds: “Any suggestion that this matter is motivated by the Club’s reaction to wider fan protests is completely misleading and disingenuous. “

Maybe, but the fact that you even need to point this out in an official club statement tells you that this isn’t a good look. Again, read the room!

At a time when relations between the Celtic Board and fans are not great (to put it mildly), you should be seeking to calm things down, not escalating them with another stern schoolteacher style lecture. And if, as last night’s statement admits, the Green Brigades actions on October 29^th are the subject of an “ongoing investigation” then why has the club chosen to summarily and collectively impose a punishment before this investigation has concluded?

Again, not a good look at a time when fans are already frustrated with a Celtic Board that seemingly refuses to listen to anything that goes against their own, pre-conceived narrative.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, there were two press releases from Celtic last night. One was regarding the latest escalation of the Green Brigade situation; the other was a merchandise launch. Apparently, there’s a new Adidas winter range dropping this week, just in time for us all to not order it for Christmas.  

A reminder, we are now a little over 2 days away from the Celtic AGM. Two of the biggest flashpoints of this AGM will almost certainly be fan interaction with the board, and the seemingly relentless pushing of merchandise and other monetization with scant regard to affordability or respect for customer loyalty.

There's also the ongoing silence regarding our new manager who will, probably, be Wilfried Nancy, but the longer he goes unconfirmed, the more likely it becomes he'll go the same way as Eddie Howe. But that's a side issue. Ahead of the AGM, the club have, needlessly, put fan communication and perceived price-gouging front and center, when the smart thing to do would be to keep quiet on both fronts.

Celtic can hide behind the facts that it’s Glasgow City Council calling this meeting, not them, and that it’s Adidas that sets the merch launch schedule, not them.

However, both notions, like almost every official club statement these days, only tell part of the story.

Glasgow City Council’s intervention comes after the Green Brigade defied a ban imposed on them by Celtic. A form of collective punishment that many fans outside of the Green Brigade believe was unjust, especially when the full facts of the incident in question remain unknown.

The Green Brigade offered to enter into dialogue with the club on the issue the day after it happened. The club ignored this request. So, the current impasse is as much down to the Celtic Board’s intransigence as it is the Green Brigade’s defiance.

And as for the merchandise situation: well, who signed the contract to give Adidas that level of control of Celtic’s own branded merchandise?

Once again, Celtic’s own commercial department saw outsourcing as the easier alternative to actually doing their jobs for a change.

Again, a situation of the Celtic Board’s own making. Blame Adidas all you want, but it’s not their fault you didn’t do your due diligence or bother to consult with your customers before signing up to such an aggressively marketed merchandise deluge.

The whole fiasco just serves to remind us of why we need to push those in power at Celtic as hard as we can in Friday’s AGM. We might not be able to remove them from power by sheer force alone. However, the more we highlight their ongoing incompetence, ignorance and in some cases, malice, the easier it becomes for other stakeholders, with the power to force genuine change to step in.

Friday will be an interesting one, that’s for sure.