Celtic Board sinks to new low with pathetic attack on Celtic supporters

Here’s the story which presumably has been given to Celtic’s long-time favoured media out by the Celtic PR team lead by Iain Jamieson. The ‘story’ is by The Sunday Mail editor John Ferguson and also credited is Jennifer Hyland who is The Sunday Mail News Editor.

‘The probe comes after anti-board posters were put up close to the homes of chairman Peter Lawwell, CEO Michael Nicholson, chief finance officer Chris McKay and head of security Mark Hargreaves,’ they report. 

‘It comes after anti-board posters were put up close to the homes of chairman Peter Lawwell, CEO Michael Nicholson, chief finance officer Chris McKay and head of security Mark Hargreaves.’

‘The club has criticised the “disgusting and cowardly” attacks and claimed the school of one of the staff members’ children has also been targeted.

Then they quote ‘a Celtic spokesman who certainly lays it on thick…

‘A Celtic spokesman said: “We can confirm that a targeted attempt has been made to intimidate Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson, Chris McKay, Mark Hargreaves and their families. A number of posters similar to those we have seen this season have been posted in the vicinity of the homes of Peter, Michael, Chris and Mark.

“These signs have also been posted at a school attended by one of their children. This is a disgusting and cowardly attempt to intimidate and threaten Club staff and their families. We are aware that Police Scotland is investigating these incidents.

“The Club is firm in its resolve not to give in to this type of intimidation.”

Let’s be clear there is NO intimidation here. The posters that have been produced under the Celtic Fans Collective are  about protest and not intimidation. The Celtic support asked a number of perfectly reasonable questions after the summer fiasco caused by those in the Celtic boardroom. Answering was beneath them.

Eventually they held a meeting with the Celtic Fans Collective and their responses were entirely unsatisfactory, especially from Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson who prefers to say nothing at all to the Celtic support. Nicholson moved up from Company Secretary to acting CEO after Dom McKay left the club suddenly. Nicholson was then given the job on a permanent basis with apparently no wider recruitment process undertaken. Being Peter Lawwell’s right hand man was more than enough.

Lawwell had resigned as CEO after the shambolic 2020/21 season but he too came back when  as Chairman when Ian Bankier stepped aside. Mark Lawwell was then appointed – and was effectively given the Jota windfall from Saudi Arabia to spend ahead of Brendan Rodgers arriving, looking to restore Celtic’s fortunes on the European stage.

Rodgers was being targeted by a Lawwell friendly blogger for some time and that campaign escalated when ‘A Celtic Insider’ savaged the Celtic manager in The Scottish Sun. If Celtic want to see what  “disgusting and cowardly attempt to intimidate and threaten Club staff” looks like then that is a much better example. 

When Nicholson met the Celtic Fan Collective representatives he was asked about the club’s investigation into this – Rodgers had said that he’d spoke to the CEO who said the matter would be investigated.  Nicholson told the Celtic fans that their amounted to him asking each board member was it them who briefed the Scottish Sun, which they all denied therefore the investigation was closed.

If you look back through all of Brendan Rodgers media conferences this season he sad nothing at all that was a personal attack or insult towards anyone, all he said was the team needed additions, which incidentallyNicholson failed to deliver.

But it’s a results game and if they wanted to change the manager then that’s football. He offered to resign, they accepted, we move on. However Dermot Desmond that launched a scathing attack on Rodgers that was way over the top and totally unnecessary.

He did the same at the Celtic AGM via his son Ross, dragging his family into the ‘family business’ and that resulted in no scrutiny at all from the Celtic shareholders.  Not one singe question was allowed to be asked. They later said questions could be emailed to the club but have answers been given? There’s nothing to say that is the case.

On Friday morning at 11.31am The Celtic Star and another fan media outlet scheduled to appear on Celtic’s fan media rota received an email saying that we would NOT be given access and the club would now review their policy on fan media, effectively stopping any questions and closing down communication with the Celtic fan media which in their own fan survey represents a sizeable percentage of the media landscape for our supporters.

The Sunday Mail ‘exclusive’ claims the Police are ‘probing’ this – what offence has been committed? These posters have been posted around the city, they appear on line in all media outlets covering Celtic – except the official site and Lawwell’s pet blog – and also in print on the various newspapers.

These posters have the backing of the Celtic Supporters Association, The Affiliation of Registered Celtic Supporters Clubs,  Association of Irish Celtic Supporters Clubs, and all other supporters associations plus hundreds of individual Celtic supporters clubs and every Celtic fan media site that worked with Celtic and many others who had dropped out over the past number of years for various reasons.

Celtic believe that they have all the power but they don’t, the Celtic support does and if they are forced to escalate this dispute further then that will become apparent.  During the COVID season the Directors still collected their substantial salaries. Dermot Desmond didn’t have to bankroll anything as a result of an empty stadium. Celtic didn’t even have to take advantage of the loans on offer from the Scottish Government which every other club needed and used.

Why? Because over 50,000 Celtic supporters put their hands in their pockets and paid full price for their season tickets knowing that they wouldn’t get to go through the turnstiles even once.  And this in the Sunday Mail is the thanks that they get.

Green Friday Sale Now on at Celtic Star Books, all books other than David Potter’s Celtic in the Eighties, are now HALF PRICE! Great Christmas Shopping bargains, choose from Celtic in the Thirties, volumes One and Two, Harry Hood – Twice as Good, Bould Bhoys – Glory to Their Name – The Story of Celtic’s First Title Win,  Invincible, Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style, Majic Stan and the King of Japan – Gordon Strachan’s first season at Celtic and there are also a few remaining copies of Alec McNair – Celtic’s Icicle.

All these books shown below are now HALF PRICE at only a TENNER each and please note that you will only be charged postage on the first book in your order, so order two or more and get FREE postage on the second book onwards.

Shop now at Celticstarbooks.com and support the great historical writing from our authors on The Celtic Star. High quality hardback books and the best Celtic writers all in one place. Also if you are ordering any of ’s books he’ll be happy to add a personal dedication, just ask in notes when ordering and Matt will do the rest!