If we defeat the Ibrox side on Sunday, under no circumstances should it mean a free pass for the Celtic board!
Eric Knott 
(Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
As we quite clearly understand, there are many Celtic fans who measure success by staying on top of our commercial partners from Govan.
Unfortunately, the many are starting to become the minority after last Tuesday night.
More and more fans are beginning to wake up to the reality of continuing managed decline from our wonderful board.
You see, staying millimetres ahead of a basket case of a club, should under no circumstances, be considered success of any kind.
With a Glasgow Derby looming on Sunday between two sides who were utterly humiliated in the Champions League qualifiers, its open to debate which side experienced the more humiliating defeat.
The side that lost 9-1 on aggregate to a team with three 20 year olds in their back four.
Or the team that lost on penalties to Kairat Almaty?
A team with a similar ranking to Derry City in the Airtricity Premier League of Ireland.
Either way, both sides were totally humiliated.
However, the fundamental difference between our situation and theirs, is that we had the finance readily available to ensure we had the players in the squad to avoid Tuesday night’s debacle.
Our humiliation was entirely avoidable, and ultimately self inflicted.
That, in and of itself, is unforgiveable.
And in this instance, forgiveness of any description should not be forthcoming.
In the past, a Glasgow Derby victory was always good to paper over the cracks when it came to the underlying problems at our club.
For two weeks, all the happy clappers would be filled with joy and happiness.
Even the consistent critics of the Celtic board, like myself and my other blogging colleagues, would be happy for a short period of time.
We are, after all, lifelong Celtic fans.
We will never tire of beating any entity that plays out of Ibrox.
That’s just the way it is, and always will be.
However, we are realists.
We do not measure success by beating a side that is entirely incapable of getting it’s shit together.
This has been going on for the majority of the last 13 years.
With no end in sight.
Even the fabled American take over has fallen flat on it’s face.
But the simple fact is that our success should NEVER be measured by what goes on across the city.
Staying millimetres ahead of a club that walks around with a shotgun constantly blowing it’s feet off, is no measure of success.
None at all.
Now someday, it may be in the not too distant future, it may be years away, that club will get it’s shit together.
It is inevitable that it will happen.
Our current custodians at Celtic Park believe that we do not need to insulate ourselves in any way to protect against such an eventuality.
Our behaviour in Europe is a tell tale sign of what could happen down the tracks, if suddenly, everything started to click over there.
Accepting this Celtic board’s modus operandi will be guaranteed to ensure they are allowed to catch up to us, and possibly even over take us.
As fans, it is our duty, especially since the Celtic board will take no measures to ensure it, to make sure our club is insulated against any form of Ibrox resurgence.
That starts now.
Today.
Our message to this board from here on out needs to be loud and clear.
We will no longer tolerate mediocrity from this point onwards.
Neither in Europe, nor domestically.
They will be under the illusion that if we defeat the Ibrox side on Sunday, this will in some way placate the support after Tuesday evening’s shit show in Almaty.
That simply will not fly.
They will think all will be rosy in the garden once again if we win.
They think that it will give them a free pass.
If we cannot beat a side that shipped 9 goals to Club Brugge, then we are just as much of shit show as they are.
And if our board thinks achieving a victory against that basket case of a club will take the heat off them in any way, I’d say think again.
If we win, it’ll be a hollow victory.
It won’t mean shit in light of Tuesday’s events.
Nothing should take the focus off the board after that night of infamy.
This board has lost it’s mandate, and no amount of victories over that shit show across the city will change that.
If we lose, then we can discuss the repercussions of that for the entire two weeks of the International break.
And we can decide how we’re going to make our feelings known when the Scottish Premiership resumes.
Its time for change, and the time is now.
You have a voice.
Use it at every home game.
Make yourself heard.
And make life as uncomfortable as possible for them.
They do not deserve to be in charge of our fantastic club.
They forfeited that right last Tuesday night, and throughout this summer’s transfer window.
Anything after that will be too little, too late.
#Sack the Board
#Renewal is coming
I’m just more than a tad concerned about who and where the goals will come from on Sunday in Ibroxland? Sure , theRangers are absolutely rank rotten ..but so was Almaty ! Oh by the way , will someone please drill into big Idah that he should be in the opponents box and not in the centre circle like a midfielder ? The amount of times he does this during a game explains why he currently could not score if he was in a Las Vegas bordello ….
Looks like Swansea City might be the ones who have to drill that into him…
Fantastic article. The shit show which is our board are dragging us down. I will no longer put up with this board and calamitous failings. Competing in the highest and most prestigious setting of the CL is where Celtic belong but until we get rid of this board we will be doing this again next year.#sacktheboard.
Eric,
Losing a mandate!
This board weren’t voted in.They bought the shares and have no intention of selling them.
The board are thick skinned and will ride the out the chants and vitriol that will come their way knowing that as time passes the noise will die down.
Given the poor relationship with the green brigade it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if they were removed at some point this season and their tickets given to accommodate the long waiting list and kill the noise at source.
The only way to effect change is cut the cash off by exiting the HTTC, Europa league boycotting and stop buying merchandise,paradise windfall tickets.
All of this will take a coordinated plan and I don’t see as yet any individual emerging with the bandwidth to lead this.
DD isn’t selling under any circumstances.
We can only hope he is embarrassed by empty stadiums making national news and decides to alter policy.
The article by Phil Mac on Duncan Smillie was an interesting read. Yes the organisation has let people down in the past but Duncan’s vision for the Celtic Trust is for me the way forward. If it’s possible, as he states to garner 10% of the shares under one group, the board can no longer dismiss claims from the floor at AGM’s as just one supporters view. Every Celtic fan with shares should at least give this consideration.
Got to agree with Stevie above on most of what he says . The fans are getting mugged off . This is OUR club . #sack the board
I do not know a solitary fan who wants us to just stay ahead of the Govan mob. We all I am sure want us to be the best we can be.
There is many other ways to bring pressure on the Board and it does not include Bloggers negative shit on other fans and aligning with the MSM.
Regarding the awful result in Kazakhstan I am convinced that a great deal of the cause is the bloody awful industrial league we play in. THAT should not be underestimated. Also the Kazakhs great efforts. Until the technical side of the game improves in dear auld Scotia I fear we will only have an occasional good showing.
ZZBHOY ‘S post touches on one method of the fans getting the attention of the Board and believe me there are other ways as well.
I agree entirely
I honestly couldn’t give a shiny shit if we never played our “Business Partners” across the city,ever again.The celtic support is mainly young,diverse,and have no interest in this stuff that would fly back in the day.Both boards got fat on the back of hatred and division.Hardly anyone can be arsed with that these days ,it’s so yesterday.But them upstairs obviously never got the memo.We want our club to grow in Europe,and win a bit of respect back.
Brilliant article it’s time for the fans to be heard once & for all HH #sacktheboard
I was encouraged by Duncan Smillie’s approach re the Celtic Trust. That is a good idea and makes sense because this board appear to be detached from reality when it comes to criticism. I don’t think they read any fan news, they think we’re just jakey plebs who lap up wins over sevco and get hammered to rebel songs and all we need is a league win and a new adidas kit. The support is evolving, just as all fans are evolving.
I do not understand why the sfa, spl and the clubs don’t recognise the gulf that is growing between this country and Europe, never mind England, with their vast finances from Sky and ITV (£4bn for 3 years and the next deal will be bigger). As a country, we should be looking at teaming up with other nations such as the nordic countries, Belgium etc and playing them. That is how we will improve both as a club and as a country standard.
But getting back to us, I think arrogance, familiarity and a failure to think in a modern way is why this board are garbage. They would be punted from any exec board at any private sector company. It’s like when things go tickety boo, you think, oh well let’s just keep doing more of the same, more money, we know best. Kairat was a slap in the face, a public embarrassment and although I don’t think they will radically change, they’ll be forced to buy a couple of players. But we’ve lost the manager and probably a few of the current players.
So next season, we’ll have a new manager, who will rightly expect a transfer kitty, or as the record say, a ‘war chest’! But that is just papering over the cracks, as we know. We need this current board to be more embarrassed, until they cannot ignore the embarrassment. Sorry to suggest that, but it will take something radical. Call them out, direct anger towards them. They won’t bother about us being upset but when the press start lapping it up and writing about it every week, when DD’s pals start asking him on the tee about the debacle going on in Glasgow, that’s when the change might start.
Lastly, we should have a financial model like Germany, with more fan ownership, more cohesive, modern thinking, a commercial team that can build new relationships, and start speaking more openly. This is achievable but we can’t let up in our efforts, or as Eric said, this board will just ignore us, hoping we’ll pipe down in time. We can’t. HH
The blame for celtic exit from the champions league falls squarely on the shoulders of Brenda Rodgers. His job in his own words were it’s my job to get the best out of the players at my disposal who they are is irrelevant my job is to get the best out of the players who are here. He most certainly did not do that, and, different players would still be playing the same negative system, waiting for a mistake not creating chances.
The board at celtic have their own issues of blame. They could go and buy players much quicker spend more money and easily keep a hefty sum for rainy days, oops we just had a torrential downpour. A tad too late for spending guys. I know spending more doesn’t always mean success but, still?
Fans need to spread the word about the Celtic trust. I think this is our best option going forward. Because DD & co aren’t going away. Fans all have to coordinate this. I honestly believe it’s our only way to have some control of our club because the 1s mentioned aren’t going to care much if the fans become loud in their removal. Celtic trust. Spread the word
I for one would add my shares to the Celtic Trust if that’s what it would take and am sure many other fans would as well .
Great article Eric.
Let’s get this board out.
Absolute nonsense ( I assume that you won’t publish anything that you disagree with ). Rodgers and the team at his disposal had more than enough ability to get through the qualifier and we didn’t. We didn’t play as well as we can and even our penalty record was abysmal. The board cannot be blamed for us not scoring even one goal over two games and the board cannot be blamed for our penalty misses. Rodgers and the team are being well paid to do a job and they failed but dont blame the board.
You should never assume Danny, it makes an Ass out of U and Me. This is an open forum, with open debate. Nobody gets blocked here unless they cross a line and become abusive. I have my opinion, but everybody else is entitled to theirs, just as you are. You have voiced your opinion, I don’t agree with it. I’ve outlined my reasons why over many. many articles, and I will continue to do so. Outside of that, you’re welcome to comment on here, everything gets published barring the exceptions I’ve outlined.
It’s simple one club has no money but loads of ambition and the other has loads if money and zero ambition! Guess what one we are ?
Govan is near to iPox. The huns stadium is clearly in ibrox, not Govan. I was born, and live here.