CELTIC TRUST “NOT THE VEHICLE FOR CHANGE” AS FANS PLOT NEW COURSE TO CHALLENGE CELTIC BOARD
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 8 hours ago
- 3 min read
I reported earlier this week that there was an AGM of The Celtic Trust due to take place on Tuesday.
I also went on record as saying that ACSOM was supportive of moves to bring about change via the Celtic Trust with the appointment of new leadership within the 25-year-old organization being the starting point for all this.
Several of our team subsequently attended the meeting, with high hopes of a breakthrough.
Unfortunately, as many of you perhaps already know, things didn’t pan out at the meeting as we would have hoped.
Celtic Trust “Almost as Dysfunctional as Celtic’s Board”
Sadly, whilst no one is questioning the desire of those currently managing The Celtic Trust to realize the goal of direct fan representation in the Celtic Boardroom, the reality is that the Trust, in its current form, is not the means to accomplish this.
Last week, ACSOM spoke with Duncan Smillie, one of the prominent Celtic fan voices leading this new push to challenge the current hierarchy at the club.
Mr. Smillie said at the time that standing for election as Chairman of The Celtic Trust would be the start of a wider movement.
However, speaking with Irish Journalist Phil Mac Giolla Bhain after Tuesday’s meeting, Smillie admitted he and his group will have to look at alternatives.
Describing Tuesday’s meeting as “not great”, Smillie confirmed that he and his team will not be taking up positions with The Celtic Trust moving forward.
He acknowledged that the Trust now has fewer than 100 members, and has not acquired any new shares recently.
Smillie was being very diplomatic about the whole thing and said of the Trust “they want what we want
“However, we have a different path and a different timeline.”
Other attendees have been less cordial in their own summations of the meeting. The general consensus seems to be that the Celtic Trust suffers from many of the same structural and legacy issues as the Celtic Board.
Too few voices, people who have been in positions of authority for too long, bringing with them a lack of innovation and an inability to change or adapt.
Smillie concluded that a new group will need to be formed to move forward from here.
Despite all this, the fact that a joint statement, which last time I checked had the co-signatures of close to 200 Celtic fan groups, Celtic fan media outlets and Celtic supporters” clubs, still managed to emerge in the hours after the meeting, thanks to the ongoing efforts of several groups behind the scenes, shows that fans are serious about change.
There is a break now before Celtic’s next home game. Expect Michael Nicholson to adopt his usual, turtle-like posture of hiding away and keeping his head down until everyone forgets about this mess.
I don’t think the usual tactic employed by the Celtic Board of “ignore them until they stop complaining” is going to work this time however. I cannot remember the last time I saw such a wide swathe of the Celtic support so angry and so disillusioned with the way our club is being run.
A smart operator would have looked to break cover and try to take control of the narrative as soon as possible. However, for Nicholson and company, that horse already bolted from the stable on Monday night.
The lightning is out the bottle now, and one way or another, change is coming.