I have tried to remain hopeful. I have tried to convince myself that a plan might eventually emerge, that the people running Celtic could see the same warning signs the supporters can see and that some urgency might finally enter the building.
But I cannot pretend any longer.
I am absolutely scunnered.
I am angry, frustrated, exhausted, disillusioned and increasingly sickened by the direction in which Celtic are being taken. I feel worn down by the excuses, embarrassed by the dysfunction and completely fed up watching a world-famous football club with so much potential being operated with so little vision.
I am not disillusioned with Celtic itself. I never could be.
I love this club. I want Celtic to win every game, lift every trophy and fulfil every ounce of its potential. I want to see the team succeed, the stadium thrive and the support given something to believe in.
What I cannot accept is this level of incompetence being passed off as responsible management.
I cannot accept stagnation being dressed up as stability.
I cannot accept a world-famous football club of Celtic’s size, wealth, history and support being dragged backwards by people who appear unable to understand what is required.
That distinction matters.
Celtic Football Club is not Dermot Desmond. Celtic Football Club is not Michael Nicholson. Celtic Football Club is not the boardroom.
The club is the support, the history, the stadium, the community, the European nights and the generations of families who have carried Celtic through good times and bad.
The board are temporary custodians.
Supporters need to separate the two.
Two things can be right at the same time. You can support Celtic with everything you have and still want the board gone. You can back the team every week while believing the people running the club are failing it. You can love Celtic and be absolutely furious about what is happening behind the scenes.
That is not disloyalty.
It is because I care so deeply about Celtic that I cannot stay silent while opportunity after opportunity is squandered.
Where Is the Vision?
The most infuriating part is that Celtic should be in an enormously powerful position.
This is a world-famous football club with a huge support, a magnificent stadium, substantial financial resources, commercial strength and a profile that most clubs in Scotland could only dream of possessing.
Those advantages should be used to create distance.
They should be used to attract better players, improve recruitment, modernise the stadium footprint, strengthen the football operation and build a club capable of competing with authority at home and with credibility in Europe.
Instead, Celtic continually appear hesitant, reactive and painfully slow.
Where is the vision?
Where is the plan for the next five or ten years?
Where is the ambition to improve Celtic Park, create a proper museum, develop the surrounding area and turn the stadium footprint into something worthy of a world-famous football club?
Where is the elite recruitment structure?
Where is the modern football department capable of identifying targets, negotiating deals and completing signings before the manager is left scrambling?
Celtic possess enormous potential, yet the people at the top appear content to supervise the status quo.
That is why Dermot Desmond has to go.
He has been the dominant figure around Celtic for decades, but his outlook now appears completely out of date. Football has changed. Recruitment has changed. Media has changed. Commercial opportunities have changed. Supporters’ expectations have changed.
The entire world has moved forward.
Dermot Desmond appears to have stood still.
He is rarely seen, does not regularly face supporters and does not attend annual meetings to answer difficult questions, yet his influence hangs over almost every major decision.
That cannot continue.
A world-famous football club cannot be run by a distant figure who appears disconnected from the reality supporters are witnessing every week.
Celtic need visible leadership, modern thinking and genuine accountability.
Instead, we have a power structure that feels remote, unresponsive and completely insulated from criticism.
Michael Nicholson Cannot Do the Job
Then there is Michael Nicholson.
I have reached the point where I simply do not believe he is capable of doing the job Celtic require.
That is not personal. It is a judgement based on the evidence supporters are repeatedly forced to watch.
Nicholson is the chief executive of a world-famous football club and one of the biggest names in British football. His position demands decisiveness, communication, authority and the ability to complete difficult negotiations.
Yet Celtic’s business continually appears laboured, late and chaotic.
Kelechi Iheanacho was known to the club. Martin O’Neill wanted him. A deal was apparently believed to be in place, yet Celtic still failed to complete it and the player ended up elsewhere.
Marcelo Saracchi had already been at Celtic. He knew the club, the players and the environment. Yet that deal was also allowed to disappear.
Then there were Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham.
Both men were already at the club. Martin O’Neill wanted them as part of his backroom team. There was no complicated scouting process, no battle to persuade them to move to Scotland and no need to introduce them to the football operation.
They were already inside the building.
Yet Celtic still managed to make the process unnecessarily difficult.
Instead of backing O’Neill immediately and ensuring his staff were in place well before pre-season, the club reportedly tried to lowball both men on wages. Negotiations were allowed to drag on until the first day of training before the deals were finally completed.
Yes, Celtic eventually got them signed.
But that misses the point completely.
Why did it take so long?
Why was the manager not given the staff he wanted before the players returned?
Why does every piece of business have to become an ordeal?
This is not prudent management. It is needless penny-pinching that risks disrupting the football operation.
A professionally run world-famous football club should have had O’Neill’s coaching staff confirmed, contracted and ready to work long before the opening day of training.
Instead, even two men already working at Celtic became another prolonged negotiation.
That is the pattern.
Deals look possible. Discussions take place. Confidence grows. Then Celtic hesitate, haggle and create complications.
It is not enough to say football negotiations are difficult. Every major club deals with agents, competing offers, wage demands and complicated contracts.
That is the job.
The best executives overcome those obstacles. They build relationships, prepare alternatives and move quickly when a target is identified.
Michael Nicholson appears far better at describing the difficulties than overcoming them.
He is not paid to list the barriers. He is paid to remove them.
If he cannot do that, he should not be in the position.
The Middlesbrough Attendance Said Everything
The attendance against Middlesbrough should have sent shockwaves through the boardroom.
That match should have been a celebration.
It should have been a sunny afternoon filled with optimism, excitement and anticipation. Celtic Park should have been packed with supporters eager to see the new signings, study Martin O’Neill’s formation and look forward to a fresh season.
Instead, the stadium looked drained of life.
Thousands of season-ticket holders stayed away.
That was not apathy towards Celtic. It was a message to the people running Celtic.
The supporters are fed up.
They are tired of being taken for granted. They are tired of seeing the same mistakes repeated. They are tired of being asked to fund a world-famous football club while those making the biggest decisions display so little urgency, ambition or competence.
The empty seats represented disappointment, anger and disillusionment.
The board should not dismiss that.
For years, supporters have continued to turn up, renew season tickets, buy merchandise and back the team through almost everything.
When those people begin voting with their feet, the warning could not be clearer.
The relationship between the board and the support is being badly damaged.
That damage is entirely self-inflicted.
Durán Is the One Bright Spot
Camilo Durán has been the one genuine bright spot.
Seeing him score offered a badly needed moment of positivity. He looks hungry, energetic and determined to make an impact.
Every Celtic supporter wants him to succeed.
But one encouraging signing cannot disguise the wider picture.
Durán should be one part of a properly planned recruitment drive. He should not be expected to carry the weight of an entire transfer window or be used as proof that everything is functioning correctly.
Celtic need quality, depth and competition throughout the squad.
They need players ready for domestic football and Europe.
They need signings completed early enough to train, settle and understand the manager’s demands.
Instead, we continue counting down towards competitive football while obvious gaps remain.
That is unacceptable.
Celtic Are Going Backwards
My overwhelming feeling is that Celtic are going backwards.
Not because the club lacks resources.
Not because the support lacks ambition.
Not because the potential is not there.
Celtic are going backwards because the people making the decisions appear incapable of matching the scale, history and expectations of a world-famous football club.
That is what makes me so angry.
This is not an impossible rebuilding job. Celtic are not starting from nothing.
The foundations exist.
The support exists.
The money exists.
The stadium exists.
The history and reputation exist.
What is missing is leadership.
What is missing is vision.
What is missing is competence.
What is missing is urgency.
I am tired of watching a world-famous football club operate beneath its potential. I am tired of hearing excuses. I am tired of seeing supporters made to feel unreasonable for expecting Celtic to behave professionally.
Wanting Celtic to be properly run is not entitlement.
Wanting players signed on time is not entitlement.
Wanting the chief executive to communicate and deliver is not entitlement.
Wanting the principal shareholder to face scrutiny is not entitlement.
It is the minimum supporters should expect.
Dermot Desmond and Michael Nicholson have had enough time.
Desmond’s approach belongs to another era. Nicholson has repeatedly failed to show that he can lead the modern football operation a world-famous football club like Celtic needs.
Both have to go.
Celtic require new leadership, fresh ideas and people who see the club’s potential rather than constantly focusing on its limitations.
I will continue supporting Celtic.
I will continue wanting the team to win.
I will continue celebrating every goal and every victory.
But I will not pretend this board is good enough.
Other supporters need to open their eyes and understand what is happening.
The board is not the club.
Wanting the board gone does not make anyone less of a Celtic supporter. It means they care enough to demand better.
Support the team. Love the club. Defend what Celtic should be.
But never confuse loyalty to Celtic with loyalty to the people currently failing it.
Celtic belongs to the generations who built it, supported it and carried it.
A world-famous football club with Celtic’s history, potential and support deserves far better than this.
Very few would disagree with you Phillip but unless he is successfully challenged by shareholders via company law, how do you propose we get him to go? The same with Nicholson – I do not doubt for one minute that the guy loves Celtic but if he wasn’t there and Desmond still called the shots then it would just be another lickspittle lackey who would replace him. Nicholson is clearly incompetent, ineffective and quite probably the least visible Chief Executive of a UK PLC in history but it is the stranglehold that Desmond has and the imposition of his will to make every decision that will forever hold our club back. For a while I could not understand why we sat with millions in the bank and didn’t reinvest this but having seen recently that Desmond has taken £7.5m dividends from the club then that may well be the answer – we are reporting mega profits and paying mental amounts of Corporation Tax to ensure that significant Shareholder’s Funds are held – it is from those funds that dividends are paid. It is genuinely the most frustrating thing in the world to know that there is very little that the millions and millions of Celtic fans can do to get him gone. Martin O’Neill also appears to be dancing to Desmond’s tune and that is another major worry which will reflect badly on his legacy with the club when we part ways for the final time.