As Celtic continues to self-implode, the SMSM smells blood and tries to twist the knife…

I think it is now fair to say that Celtic as a club is now in a position that supersedes the turmoil of 1994.

Most people might raise their eyebrows at the statement, considering Celtic almost went into liquidation in early 1994, but I’ll tell you why we’re in a worse position now than we were then.

You see, the events of 1994 were the culmination of sheer incompetence and bad management at the club.

How is that, you say, any different to what we’re seeing today?

Most people view the current behaviour of the board as a deflector shield for their utter incompetence.

Whatever way you view it, the optics of what they’re doing reflect very poorly on our club right now.

The optics were horrific in 1994.

But they occurred under entirely different circumstances.

Celtic was minutes from liquidation because the club simply had no money.

The Kelly’s and the Whites had run Celtic into the ground, with the club £7 million in debt.

At that time this was £2 million over the £5million overdraft facility the club had in place with Bank of Scotland.

Bank of Scotland, driven predominantly by David Murray’s good friend, Gavin Masterton, issued an ultimatum on the 3rd of March 1994 to the club demanding a £1 million guarantee by noon the next day, followed by a £5 million guarantee the week after, or face receivership.

Receivership would most likely have led to liquidation afterward.

Fergus McCann rode into the rescue at the eleventh hour, and secured Celtic for £9 million.

The rest is history.

We owe the existence of Celtic to today to Fergus McCann.

But you’re probably still asking the question, why is now worse than the Kelly’s and the White’s regime?

Make no mistake, that regime was despised.

Celtic Park was falling down, the squad on the park was an aging one, propped up by star players like Paul McStay, John Collins and cult hero, Willie Falconer.

Considering Celtic’s position at that time, and the financial struggles they were enduring, their situation was reflective of the mismanagement that was going on.

Put simply, the Kelly’s and the Whites were grossly incompetent, and the fanbase were fighting for the soul of the club at that time.

They wanted that regime gone.

Compare and contrast that to Celtic’s position today.

It is entirely self-inflicted.

Celtic never needed to be in this position.

Ironically 32 years on, Celtic Park is becoming dilapidated again, despite the finance being there to keep it up to date.

The current regime has invested little to nothing in the upkeep of the stadium other than an obscene amount of money for some disco lights.

There is no hot water in the toilets in the main stand.

But hey, we have state of the art disco lights, what more could we want?

The squad on the park has been asset stripped to the extent that it is one of the weakest we’ve seen since 2010.

Yet the finance was there to ensure the squad could have been in much healthier position.

So, once again, what makes the current regime worse than that of 1994?

Where do I start?

The hoarding of tens of millions in cash.

The utter contempt in which the board holds the fanbase, who are the lifeblood of Celtic.

Then there’s the constant attacks on the fans.

They come from every angle.

Starting with Ross Desmond’s pathetic attack, to banning the Green Brigade indefinitely.

The banning of fan media from both the men’s and the women’s game.

The barriers up around Celtic Park, restricting people from accessing the statues of past heroes, and bricks with the names of deceased loved ones on them.

Ultimately alienating the people who support this club through thick and thin.

Many of whom, including myself, still remember 1994 and the events that occurred back then.

Then there’s the spineless lack of engagement when it comes to the state of refereeing in our game.

In the last few weeks alone, we’ve seen brutally incompetent mistakes made throughout the top division.

With a certain club benefitting hugely from many of them.

Yet Celtic remains completely silent, while others speak up.

Our new manager has literally been under siege since his first game, with the SMSM attacking him from every angle.

Yet our gutless board does nothing to defend him.

They allow media titles who initiate these attacks access to Celtic Park, yet ban fan media outlets, who have stepped up to defend the new manager.

I could go on, and on.

But I’ve been over the course on this many times.

We are now more of a laughing stock than the club across the city, and that takes some doing.

They, at least, recognised the people who were the root cause of a lot of their problems and relieved them of their duties.

The more our incompetents f*** up, the more protection they get.

The SMSM is reveling in all of this.

It’s like all of their Christmases have come at once.

They are loving the fact that they can cover our complete implosion from every angle.

They smell blood and they are twisting the knife with every opportunity they get.

While the people inside our club are content to facilitate it.

Yet they were too gutless to face the media at the unveiling of our new manager this time last week?

The current Celtic board has made itself the most despised board in the club’s 137 year history.

They WILL go down in infamy.

Tonight, we play the biggest game in our season to date.

Roma are the visitors to Celtic Park.

The media will watch on gleefully, sharpening their knives to stick them into our club if Wilfried Nancy’s side lose again.

But I have had a strange kind of feeling all day that something special is in the offing at Celtic Park tonight.

We now have to rely on the new Celtic manager to lead our club out of the darkness we are in at the moment.

And what better way to do that than with a win over Roma tonight?

Right now, he’s the only leader I can see at Celtic Park.

The board just hides in the background, parasitically leeching everything they can from our club.

This is why our current position is worse than that of 1994.

We are controlled by cowards.

Lily-livered incompetents who blame everyone else for their inability to run our club as it should be.

The more they attack us, the harder we’ll fight back.

Tonight, we’ll be in full voice behind our new manager and his team.

But make no mistake, our contempt for the board will be meted out in equal measure.

We deserve better.

And we will get better, no matter how long this fight takes.

We will win out in the end.

Because we ARE Celtic.