As 2026 hoves into view, it is very clear that there is a need for a reset at Celtic.
2025 saw another league title delivered, but two cup final defeats at Hampden.
A binfire of a summer transfer window and then the ignominy of yet another Champions League failure, this time to Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan.
Terminado 2.0 duly followed, and then the de facto owner decided to hand down a fiat to the shareholding serfs at the AGM via his Princeling.
That meeting was also, well, terminated.
“Sack the board” is now a regular refrain at matches, which is a perfectly understandable aspiration for the most important people at any football club.
The schism between fans and board is now open and seemingly irreconcilable.
It should be self-evident that this is a totally different situation from the early months of 1994.
There is no realistic prospect of instigating regime change in 2026 by starving the current lot of operating cash.
If anything is to happen, it must occur in the boardroom and not the car park.
That’s why the guys at Celtic Supporters Limited (CSL) are very important indeed.
First up, here is David Low on the award-winning ACSOM podcast, laying it out in stark terms.
Next is his CSL colleague Duncan Smilie on the Celtic Exchange Podcast.
He makes it clear that the CSL is about “evolution, not revolution.”
Your humble correspondent is convinced that this course of action will perturb the Ancien Régime at Parkhead much more than any Collective action around matchdays.
Ultimately, it comes down to what will work in the long term.
A significant accumulation of proxy shares aimed at instigating change at the boardroom level is what will disturb the sleep of Celtic’s billionaire owner.
You can contact CSL here.
So, here’s to 2026 being a good year for the club in the east end of Glasgow, formed by immigrants for the best of reasons in a hostile environment.
That nativist enmity hasn’t gone away, you know.
Sadly, those in the Parkhead boardroom seem disconnected from that reality.
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Sorry but its a stretch to compare now to 1994. Back then we had a team that hadn’t won anything for years, not even qualifying for Europe and an old ground with barely 13,000 seats.
Now we win most things domestically and have a 60,000 seat stadium. Europe is still a tough one.
The point is, while the Board must do better like sign a couple of good strikers, one bad year (2025) does not make everything BLACK except for the opportunists in our support who have ALWAYS stirred up anti-board feelings any time they get a chance.
Overall Dermot Desmond has been good for Celtic anyone that says anything else doesn’t know our 30 year history.
Right now the players need support not the “Sack the board” nonsense.
You think is is just about 2025? You ain’t been paying attention.
Lovely words Phil
I fear DD will never relinquish his shares as he loves being owner of club yet puts nothing in…and takes so much out. Hes like the whites and Kelly’s rolled into one…Fergus must be horrified
First off i have to point out, as a ST holder, that the “sack the board” chants are not resounding round d paradise. Its mainly concentrated in the North Curve and the Bhoys section and is rarely taken up by many more.
The crowds around the main stand prior to games is a small section, largely enhanced by people who gather there week in week out and who in conversation are fed up in the main by the drivel spouted. We cannot be alone in seeing how ineffective those gatherings, the chants and the vain attempts to starve the board out are.
Now, I am all for regime change. I uttered the words “I hope we get beat here” to fellows around me against Aberdeen in utter despair and hope that a defeat would see Nancy removed and Nicholson, Tisdale et al shortly behind him.
I see the coherent, sensible and only viable path as one DL and the CSL are following. I would never in a million years court Jeanette Findlay and the Trust as a vehicle, especially after her ego driven outburst I witnessed at the AGM, her and the red card wavers who to me had absolutely no clue how much they stymied any opportunities to ask awkward questions during the SH time on the agenda.
I hope evolution and not revolution is successful and shall support this movement. I’ll keep my chants to whispers to those around me or even use my inside voice as it definitely has a negative impact on the field of play. I see Nancy has a plan, it seems to be fruiting and hopefully January brings an on field evolution even though that’s a double edged sword.
Phil,there’s an old saying that I know you’re aware of which goes like
“Time waits for no man !”
With all his billions behind him, even Desmond cannot do what no-one else has done before him and outrun the grim reaper.
I try not to think what goes on in his mind (or that of Lawwell & Co) as I find it so depressing to have their outlook on life.
I lead a comfortable existence ,which I worked hard to achieve but my philosophy is not their “Cash is King” mantra.
Desmond has it in his power to be remembered by the Celtic family in revered terms but his current stance will ensure that this will not be the case when his time comes to depart this mortal coil.
In the end,he will be seen by most as a pig headed capitalist who put his needs and wishes above everyone and everything around him…..Not a good look !
Ps,RIEP, to a TRUE Celtic legend John “Dixie” Deans who we said goodbye to today and will mourn his passing but look back with nostalgia on his time and exploits in the Hoops.
God bless him.
We have a board who are only interested in being in front of the team from Govan and no other ambitions
It’s sad to see the gulf that exists between the support and the current version of a board at Celtic Park. I am firmly in the disillusioned fan camp, and I find most of the responses from the board unbelievable to put it mildly. Who knows what it would take to effect much needed change in the people upstairs, but I wish the CSL well in their efforts going forward HH
Whilst I echo the comments of the bhoy in paradise and wish CSL well in their efforts to initiate regime change, I am not all that confident that it will happen.
Consider, if DD believes earnestly that he will always do his best for the club he purports to love then to retain his position of power what is to stop him increasing his shareholding at the same time as CSL is working hard to challenge his authority.
Could he buy the shares of Lindsell Train? I merely ask the question because we are told that he got a dispensation from having to make an offer to buy out all other shareholders when he passed the level of 30%. I cannot see/understand the man’s strategy.
Something alse to consider; a lot of us subscribe to Phil’s belief in “managed decline” and we have the famous quote by PL that them going bust cost him £X millions. My point is that if DD is convinced that Celtic NEED them to remain relevant then he will ensure that all board members share that conviction. As responsible parents we all think we know better than our children and so, if he believes that the actions of the vociferous fans could in any way be harmful to the club he will resist.
By the way I’m not throwing in my lot with DD, Im just trying to rationalise his behaviour.
Phil
The board not listening to the fans need take more than just a chant force them out this week huge if we lise to planrt fitba come saturday matters get lot worse to why cant the board not give what the fans want.