If Ross Desmond is our club’s future, then all I can say is God help Celtic

I’ve taken a day to gather my thoughts after yesterday’s AGM, which was an exercise in farce from our club’s ‘beloved and misunderstood’ custodians.

In reality, there is so much to unpack from it, it’s hard to know where to start.

One thing is for sure, the repercussions from yesterday’s events will reverberate long into the future.

For a while now, we’ve been talking about the beginning of the end of all of this.

There are so many utterly insane things that have happened at Celtic over the last two months, you begin to wonder if yesterday was even peak insanity.

I never imagined that I’d see the day where our club proved it was more batshit crazy than the one across the city.

But that day has now come and gone.

Because the one thing you can say about the Ibrox board is that firstly, they communicate with their fans, and secondly, they go out of their way to appease them.

At Celtic, there is no appeasement, no engagement, no communication, nothing.

Just a board that drips complete and utter disdain and contempt for the Celtic fanbase.

Yesterday, Ross Desmond had an opportunity to perhaps endear himself to the Celtic fanbase.

Under the current regime, it seems likely that his father will pass the baton of principal shareholder onto his son when he finally retires from making his billions and enjoys them in the relative tranquility of Sandy Lane in Barbados.

Listening to Ross Desmond speak yesterday, it is clear that he has enjoyed a life of privilege thanks to his billionaire father.

It is doubtful he has ever experienced hardship, poverty, or struggled to put food on his table.

Nor is he a working class individual.

The working class have made up the majority of Celtic’s fanbase throughout it’s history.

Therefore, Ross Desmond would struggle to identify with, converse with, or understand the average Celtic fan.

But he had a chance yesterday to show Celtic fans that he was willing to listen to their concerns.

That when he eventually became Celtic’s principal shareholder, he might be inclined to lead the club into a bright and exciting new future.

Instead, he chose to use the opportunity he had to drive home that under his family’s control, absolutely nothing would change at Celtic.

Desmond Jr. joined the Celtic board back in January of 2021.

He brought with him absolutely zero previous experience of working in football.

He is the definition of a nepotistic appointment at the club, and it has shown over the last four years or so.

Although he attended previous AGM’s, he never spoke at them.

Yesterday was the first time we had the privilege of hearing him speak.

If you want to get my opinion on that, check out last night’s emergency Trinity Tims podcast.

There’s an old saying you hear a lot in business, it’s very clichéd, it goes like this, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”.

It seems to me that Ross Desmond never heard that expression throughout his years in business, or if he did, he chose to ignore it.

Put it down to arrogance and egotism.

I’m sure someone like him really doesn’t care what kind of impression he makes on people.

With his family’s extensive wealth, he doesn’t have to.

It certainly showed yesterday in the way he delivered his pre-prepared statement.

Ross Desmond has no intention of ever lowering himself to understand, let alone engage with, the average Celtic fan.

He clearly gave no thought whatsoever to the “first impression” he would make on Celtic supporters with that statement yesterday.

Nor did he care by the looks of it either.

But there is one thing I am certain of, he sat down and wrote that statement in conjunction with his father.

It’s easy to see how and why.

Have a look at this part of Dermot Desmond’s 27th of October character assassination of Brendan Rodgers:

Regrettably, his words (Brendan Rodgers – the first and entire cause of all of Celtic’s woes up until yesterday) and actions since then have been divisive, misleading, and self-serving. They have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the Board. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable.

Every member of the Board and executive team is deeply passionate about Celtic and acts at all times with professionalism, integrity, and a shared desire for success. What has failed recently was not due to our structure or model, but to one individual’s desire for self-preservation at the expense of others.

Almost a month ago, it was fashionable to blame Brendan Rodgers for every single issue at Celtic Park.

He was the cause of everything we have seen go wrong at the club since the beginning of last summer.

Rodgers had the audacity to want better for Celtic, he believed we could go further than the pinnacle that was Munich last season.

That was his biggest crime of all.

But when Rodgers was out of the picture and could no longer be blamed, the Desmond’s took aim at the people they expected to back the hell off after the October 27th statement.

After all, didn’t Desmond Snr. clarify everything for everyone in that missive?

In his view, that should have shut down any dissension, but it didn’t.

Which then led to this:

So we will not be bullied by aggressive or irrational factions. We will not be railroaded by those whose only vocation in life is to be anti-establishment and by those who try to degrade the club. Our focus is on what matters: improving this club step-by-step, systematically, without ever risking its future. Improving recruitment (bollocks), investing in data analytics (God help us), upgrading facilities, enhancing the stadium (utter bullshit) and trying (and failing miserably) to make Celtic stronger in every way.

Criticism and advice are welcome and the right of every supporter (but we’ll just ignore it as we always do and carry on regardless), but some of what we have seen recently is not constructive, it is destructive and cynical. All it does is strengthen our resolve to protect the integrity and stability of Celtic Football Club. Our board, led by Peter, and our executive, led by Michael, are dedicated to the Celtic people.

The attempts to dehumanise and vilify them are shameful. These are people with families; they love the club every bit as much as anyone here, and when we are not performing, they suffer just as much as anyone (if they do, it doesn’t show, ever). They work tirelessly (clearly not), often under intense pressure (what pressure, who pressurises them?). They do an outstanding job for this club (utter fantasy), and we are very lucky to have them (Really? Read the room man, for Christ’s sake!).

You will note that I have put a few of my own observations in brackets, Ross did say he welcomes criticism, so that’s my tuppence worth there.

That aside, you will recognise the similarities in the language in both statements.

Which tells you they were both orchestrated by one individual, and it’s easy to recognise who that is.

Hostility, aggression and bullying are the central themes in both of these statements.

I’m sure Dermot Desmond recognises a bully when he sees one, after all, it takes one to know one.

You don’t get to be a double billionaire as a result of being nice to people.

Desmond bullies the entire Celtic board into carrying out his orders.

He has bullied them into allowing him to have complete control of our club when it is not his to control.

This is the main reason he controls our club, because he is a bully, and people are afraid to stand up to him.

He, and now his son, release inflammatory statements with impunity, and expect people to just sit back and accept the accusatory language contained within them.

They do this under the pretence of being bullied.

The level of hypocrisy here is staggering.

Peter Lawwell, who clearly has no balls whatsoever, then plays the cheerleader, and tells grown men and women to “behave” when they react to this attack on ordinary Celtic fans.

What are we?

School children who need to sit down and behave?

It’s absolutely pathetic, and this whole charade is beyond transparent.

These men, all of them, have lost the right to represent Celtic.

They certainly do not represent the majority of the Celtic fanbase, which becomes clearer by the day.

This small group of individuals believes that going to war with the fans will solve all of Celtic’s problems.

Well, they’ve picked the wrong fight here.

Make no mistake, they will not win.

As for Ross Desmond, it’s clear he’s just another puppet of his overbearing father.

If what we saw from him yesterday was a glimpse of Celtic’s future, then God help Celtic.

These are indeed dark times for the club.