The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[No1]

You are 100% right that things can get worse and they will unless the club changes how it operates.  While Desmond is "in charge" nothing changes.  It probably seems mad to non Celtic fans that many supporters are angry at the state of the club given the domestic success of the last 15/20 years.  The post below stolen from another forum pretty much sums up how I feel.

"I saw Stephen McGowan and Tino on Scotcast last night with Martin Geissler.

Didn't catch all of it, but from what I did see it seemed fair enough. Including from Geissler who seemed pretty non-plussed by Desmond's overblown reaction to what was, despite the 'club' Statement, a peaceful protest. Disrupting an event is as peaceful as it gets... no one aimed a soft tennis ball at Desmond. They just disrupted the golf with them.

Anyway, couple of things. It was again asserted that Celtic is a well-run business, or good at the business side of things. Can't remember the exact wording.

I can see why the argument is made... there is money in the bank, but in my mind a well-run business doesn't miss out on nearly half a billion quid in lost CL revenue (I know we make up some of the shortfall in EL money if we qualify, so just for the sake of argument, let's say we're £200m down).

We've lost millions through NAP, which is brought upon entirely by the club's intransigence in thinking they don't have to be accountable to fans in any respect. Not talking about communication, because I wouldn't mind their utter silence if they were doing things well, but obviously a club good at business would have effective comms.

Our transfer strategy costs us tens of millions. See Balikwisha and Tounekti as examples. Last-minute signings, post-CL elimination. Then there's the cost of the last-minute loan deals, often a bag of garbage that contributes nothing. That's just a couple of things.

One other thing put forward, IIRC, is that Celtic and the fans are in for this interminable war. There's a suggestion that this is simply two incompatible sides who won't budge.

It's really not the case. The ball is in Celtic's court. The fans pony up the money and turn up. The board hoard the money and often waste it, put out inferior teams, refuse to invest in a proper management and coaching structure, and is riddled with a job for the boys culture.

They (and I'm really talking about Desmond, but the rest have let him have free rein) have presided over a dreadful 20+ years in Europe. We are suffering routine embarrassment. No one thinks we have a divine right to win, but to almost always lose qualifiers, not least against teams who will have the best moment in their history against us, there's something systematically wrong.

They don't take stock, they don't learn lessons. We just go through the same shampoo year after year after year and the transfer window is now a combined four months out of every year that is utter torture. Both for the 'strategy' and for it's bungled execution.

Celtic fans just want the club to do a few things. Have the ambition befitting the club. We're not going to see another Lisbon, but a world is possible where we do match up well against clubs of similar standing, sometimes punch above our weight, and aren't overtaken by clubs that should be nowhere near our level.

Don't hoard money while putting out inferior players who would be lucky to get in the Hibs, Hearts or Aberdeen sides.

Act like a proper professional club. Don't just dish out highly paid jobs to people because they met Dermot Desmond at the horses and that chance encounter means they get the manager's role and start a 3-decade family dynasty. Employ the best people on merit.

Celtic isn't a plaything. Don't act like it is.

Fans have been angry at football boards since time immemorial. This is nothing new. It's always the result of the behaviour of the club though. The ball is in Celtic's court. It always has been. They're the ones who have chosen conflict with the people who put the money in and, without whom, there is no club." 

With apologies to the guy who I stole this from!