CELTIC FAN MEDIA BANNED AS BOARD GOES FULL FARAGE
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 21 minutes ago
- 3 min read
You know, it’s almost admirable. The level of utter incompetence it takes to turn something as simple as the arrival of a new manager, a manager that many fans remain unconvinced about at that, into yet another needless conflict between The Celtic Board and Celtic Fans.
In this case specifically, Celtic fan media.
All major Celtic fan media outlets, including ACSOM, received a notification from Celtic this morning that today’s press conference, the first for our new manager Wilfried Nancy, would take place at Lennoxtown, in breaking with the usual, established protocol of having the conference at Celtic Park, and also that fan media’s presence would not be required.
The Celtic Board join quite a unique group of people today, among the list of names who have either banned me from asking them questions, or have blocked any attempt I’ve made to question them and hold them to account in the context of my writing work.
Celtic Fan Media Ban is a Tactic Straight from the Totalitarian Playbook
I have to ask though, is it really a good look to be on the same list as the likes of The Chinese Communist Party, The BNP, Nigel Farage and The Sanseito Party (basically a Japanese version of Reform UK on steroids)?
All of these entities have told me personally over the years that I am not welcome at any of their press events. Some even went as far as to threaten me if I dared speak against them.
For the sake of legal clarity, nobody at Celtic has done that to me, at least, not yet. But hey, the day is still young so who knows what'll happen if they read this?
I am in equal measures, shocked, disappointed and also, somewhat confused by Celtic’s actions today. I get that the board are absolutely desperate to maintain an iron grip on the narrative, no matter what. However, there is no way that a blanket Celtic Fan Media ban ends well for them.
Nobody amongst the many Celtic bloggers and writers I’ve conversed with recently had any interest in using today to attack the board, or to launch any kind of salvo at the club.
Today should be about Wilfried Nancy, and all of us uniting behind him. It is in our interest as Celtic supporters, and also in the board’s interest as people who benefit financially from our support, that Nancy does well.
Very few managers get the opportunity to take their team top of the league should they overcome their closest challengers in their very first match.
Thanks to the heroic efforts of Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney over the past month though, that’s exactly where Celtic are at the beginning of the Wilfried Nancy era.
Believe me, I wanted nothing more than to sit down at my computer today and write a glowing piece about how the manager is “making all the right noises” and reinforce the point that, despite not having any prior connection to Celtic, he clearly “gets it” when it comes to understanding our club, our fans and what we expect.
Instead, I find myself presiding over yet another PR disaster entirely of the club’s own making.
I really isn’t that difficult to get this right. So many of the current problems between Celtic fans and the Celtic board could be solved with two simple words: Communication and Accountability.
We need both of these, they aren’t optional, but neither are they hard to deliver.
CEO Michael Nicholson’s series of heavily vetted, softball questions with Celtic TV today is, frankly, an embarrassment.
Remember that wee guy that used to speak for Saddam Hussein during the final days of his regime in Iraq?
I can’t remember the guy’s name, but I remember the press branded him “Comical Ali” in reference to the terrorist “Chemical Ali”. He earned this monicker for his steadfast insistence that “everything is fine, and we will soon win this war” as Baghdad buildings were literally being blown to bits behind him.
Honestly, I felt today’s “exclusive sit down” with the CEO was just as embarrassing and equally as damning an indictment of Celtic’s complete inability to communicate in a sincere, honest way with supporters.
Like all tyrants, the more the Celtic Board try to tighten their grip, the more the ability to control the narrative will slip through their fingers.
This is nothing short of a disgrace, an embarrassment, and it’s completely unacceptable at a club of Celtic’s size and scope.
I will close by once again reiterating what seems to be a sadly repetitive yet no less prescient mantra for the Celtic support these days:
“Back the Team! Sack the Board!