Celtic Need a Voice — Bernard Ponsonby Is the Colossus the Boardroom Lacks

Celtic Need a Voice — Bernard Ponsonby Is the Colossus the Boardroom Lacks

There are moments when a football club needs more than tweaks on the pitch or minor boardroom reshuffles—it needs a shift in voice, tone, and credibility. The recent speech by Bernard Ponsonby laid bare exactly what Celtic FC have been missing: clarity, honesty, and meaningful communication with their own support.

Ponsonby didn’t speak like a pundit looking in from the outside. He spoke like what he is—a lifelong supporter who understands both the emotional and structural fabric of the club. And that’s precisely why he stands out as an obvious candidate for a formal communication role on the board.

A voice the support actually trusts

When Ponsonby says, “The communication simply has to be better. Whoever the directors are,” he’s not offering a throwaway line—he’s diagnosing a long-standing failure. Celtic’s hierarchy has too often operated in silence, or worse, in detachment. Fans are left to interpret decisions through rumor, frustration, and media leaks rather than direct, transparent engagement.

This disconnect is not trivial. At a club built on identity and community, silence from leadership creates suspicion. Ponsonby understands this instinctively. His career in journalism and political analysis has been built on explaining complex institutions to the public—clearly, credibly, and without evasion. That is a skill Celtic currently lacks at board level.

Calling out stagnation with credibility

Ponsonby’s critique carries weight because it is balanced. He acknowledges success: “The last 25 years have been a period of unparalleled dominance.” But he refuses to let that success excuse complacency: “The repeated failures on the European stage… are a sobering reminder that domestic dominance is not what the support craves.”

This is the tone Celtic need—measured, informed, but unafraid. Too often, criticism of the board is dismissed as reactionary noise. Ponsonby cuts through that by articulating concerns in a way that is impossible to ignore. When he questions whether anything will change if Dermot Desmond remains, he is voicing what many supporters think but rarely hear expressed with such authority.

Not just communication—representation

Perhaps the most powerful part of Ponsonby’s speech is his understanding of what Celtic actually is:

“The best ambassadors for the club are those who support the club… what this club means is bigger than the material.”

That perspective is almost entirely absent from the current boardroom image. Too often, leadership appears corporate, distant, and insulated—an “old pals act” rather than a meritocracy. Ponsonby represents the opposite: someone rooted in the club’s culture but equipped with elite professional expertise.

His line—“Season ticket renewal is about soon, and for the first time in my life, I have actually questioned if I will renew”—should alarm anyone in charge. When even the most committed supporters begin to hesitate, the issue is not results alone; it is trust.

A professional standard Celtic should demand

Celtic should be appointing the best people in every role. Not familiar faces. Not social connections. Not individuals who happen to move in the same circles as ownership. A modern football club requires specialists—people who are leaders in their field.

Ponsonby is exactly that. His background in high-level journalism and political communication means he understands scrutiny, messaging, and accountability better than most. He would not just “improve” communication—he would professionalise it.

Contrast that with the current situation, where messaging is sporadic, reactive, and often absent altogether. In that light, the board does not just look underperforming—it looks amateurish.

The figure Celtic need right now

Ponsonby described Celtic as “an affair of the heart” with “an almost spiritual quality.” That’s not sentimentality—it’s insight. He understands that communication at Celtic isn’t about PR spin; it’s about respecting a support that sees itself as inseparable from the club.

Putting someone like him on the board would signal a fundamental shift:

From silence to engagement

From defensiveness to accountability

From insularity to professionalism

In short, from a board that talks at supporters—when it talks at all—to one that actually speaks with them.

Celtic pride itself on excellence on the pitch. It’s time the same standard applied in the boardroom.