MICHAEL NICHOLSON: CELTIC FANS DON’T NEED AN “ADDRESS” WE NEED GENUINE, TWO-WAY DIALOGUE
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
I noted with interest the Daily Record’s report this afternoon that Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson and perhaps other members of the Celtic Board will “address” fans.
This isn’t good enough, but it would be a start. However, the timeframe stated, if true, is nothing short of contemptuous from Michael Nicholson. Celtic fans will not be sated by this token, insincere gesture. Nicholson will, according to the report "get round to it sometime later this month".
Personally, I think that should be the last statement he makes before his removal from Celtic's hierarchy.
They Just Don’t Get It: Michael Nicholson Celtic Fans “Address” Should Have Happened Months Ago
The time to talk to fans was months ago, before we sold our star striker and didn’t replace him. Before we lost a Cup Final we should have won at a canter. Before we sold Nicholas Kuhn for 16 million and did nothing to replace him.
A simple, one-way, and no doubt heavily stage-managed, address to fans simply won’t cut it anymore. The time for that has long gone. Celtic’s custodians have had ample opportunity to come out and address fans concerns, to tell us what was actually going on.
But they didn’t. They stayed silent. The only time the club made any effort whatsoever to engage with fans was when they wanted more of our money.
Be it the latest strip, the latest garish Adidas tie-in, or tickets for a pre-season friendly that should have been on the season book to begin with, the board aren’t interested in speaking to common plebs like us unless it’s to bilk us for more money.
So, any attempt by Nicholson or anyone else in the boardroom to try and “address” fans now, will, inevitably be shot down in flames. For too long, they have talked at us, or past us, yet never with us.
Pretty much all of Celtic’s problems, both on the football park and in the corporate backroom stem from the same, easily resolved issue: communication.
Celtic’s senior executives rarely, if indeed ever, speak to the public. And when they do, its either to gloat about how much money they’ve made in the latest financial statements, or to further demonize certain sections of the fanbase, like the Green Brigade and The Bhoys.
It’s time for Celtic’s custodians to get the message. They are no better than us. Me made them, and we can remove them if they keep up this attitude.
It’s not as simple as chanting “Sack the Board” or boycotting games and merchandize. Such things worked in 1994 when the club was skint, but not now.
However, this does not mean that we, the fans, are completely powerless. Tonight’s AGM of The Celtic Trust, which has my full support and will be attended by several of the ACSOM team, is a start. I hope it represents the start of much wider fan movement, to drive the change that is needed at our club. And I believe it will, in time.
John Wooden, a legend in Basketball coaching in the US, once said: “When success turns your head, you’re facing failure.”
Celtic’s Board need to wake up and engage with fans properly. Or they could be in for a very rude awakening. And it may come sooner than they, or perhaps even us, expect.
We will not be mastered, and we've proved this before, to those stupid enough to think their own petty squabbling or pursuit of power was more important than Celtic.
Interesting, but turbulent, times lie ahead.