It will not take reinventing the wheel to take Celtic forward, sometimes the simplest ideas and changes work

If there is one thing that we have learned over the course of this season, its that the Celtic board are entrenched in their positions.

It is clear that none of them are going to give up their soft seats too easily.

As we discussed the other night on the Trinity Tims podcast, none of them are ever going to land jobs with the perks they have now, nor the level of salary they have now.

Bhoycie reckoned that Nicholson was protecting his family’s interests by staying in the job at Celtic.

That’s admirable from a family perspective.

But it isn’t admirable when you’re shit at your job, and the longer you’re in it, the more you piss off it’s customer base which numbers hundreds of thousands.

I care about my family, and if I was earning £800k a year there’s no doubt I’d fight tooth and nail to stay in the job.

But here’s the thing, I would do my utmost to learn from the mistakes I’d made in the past.

And instead of kow-towing to one person, such as Dermot Desmond, I would fight to ensure the very best for Celtic.

I know my love for the club would ensure that.

If I lost my job for that, then at least I’d have known I was acting in the best interests of the club, instead of an individual.

Who doesn’t even own the club, but acts like he does.

For a long time now, I have consistently had commenters on this blog ask me what the Celtic Fans Collective would do if we managed to oust the board entirely.

The question that resonates the most is, who are you going to replace them with?

As if it was the Celtic Fans collective’s responsibility to replace the board.

In a recent article, I highlighted that Dermot Desmond had hired a consultancy firm to do a deep dive into operations at Celtic.

Needless to say, we will never know the outcome of their findings.

Because we will not be told.

But if their findings produce enough evidence to support the removal of the current board, then who am I to argue with that process?

As I stated before, in the event that this happens, the likelihood is that the same consultancy firm will be used to find their replacements.

If the current board moved on, as fans, what we then be looking for in terms of replacements?

Well, its clear this will never be our choice.

But given the choice, it stands to reason that we would want relatively young and forward thinking executives to be chosen to take the club forward.

You Know?

People who are in tune with how to run a modern day football club.

I think it’s fair to say that none of us really wants to reinvent the wheel here.

We don’t want a board to come in at Celtic and spend recklessly.

Because we know it doesn’t take spending recklessly in Scotland to remain in a commanding position.

But what we do want is a board that shows ambition in Europe.

Who looks at progression in European competition rather than just being satisfied with participation.

What we also want is a board that sees the benefits of investing in the infrastructure around Celtic.

These things aren’t exactly rocket science.

It doesn’t take a huge amount of strategic thinking to achieve them.

People with vision know this.

Speculate to accumulate and all that.

This current Celtic board has been all about minimum input for maximum output.

The problem is that year on year, the minimum grows smaller and smaller.

Meanwhile, Celtic Park falls into disrepair while investment is not forthcoming.

Yet every year, season ticket prices increase, but fans see very little improvement in club infrastructure.

I could talk about the lack of hot water in the ageing and decrepit main stand.

I could mention the fact that there is no decent wi-fi at Celtic Park in 2026.

The current board does not want to move with the times and modernise.

In fact, I don’t think its a case of they don’t want to, they are so entrenched in their ways, they just don’t know how to.

That’s what happens when you’re in place for as long as they’ve been.

You run out of ideas, the kind of ideas someone young and forward thinking would bring the table.

Sometimes, just the smallest of changes can increase profitability in companies.

Its knowing how to implement them that is the key.

And it seems to me that our board just cannot do that.

I remember many years ago when I first started out on the career path to where I am now, I had a boss who told me a story about simplicity in business.

How the simplest of ideas can increase profitability massively.

Its just about knowing how to do it.

He gave me an anecdote about a leading tooth paste manufacturer.

The story is apparently true.

But I’m sure it has changed many times over the years.

The premise of it remains the same, though.

This company was lagging way behind the competition back in the 80’s.

The board, like the current Celtic board, was old and out of ideas.

Profits were falling rapidly, and something had to be done to pull the company out of the tailspin it was in.

So, one day, the board decided to call in all of their younger executives for a think tank.

To come up with ideas to increase sales of their products, and therefore profitability.

They were tasked with coming up with new advertising campaigns, rebrands, all those kinds of things.

On the day of the think tank, a young kid, who had only started in the company days before, was asked to come along by his line manager.

It was all hands to the pumps, he was told, no idea was a stupid idea now.

So they all gathered in the boardroom, and the CEO of the company went around the table to see what everybody had come up with.

Absolutely nothing impressed him.

He was very close to losing his temper because he felt the whole think tank was a waste of time, with nothing tangible or useful presented to him.

Then he saw the young kid smirking at the other end of the table.

He piped up and said, “What is it you find so funny kid? Please enlighten us, although I doubt you could come up with anything worse than what we’ve witnessed so far today?”

The kid continued smirking, and said simply, “Make the hole bigger.”

“Make the hole bigger??” replied the CEO incredulously.

The entire table erupted in convulsions of laughter.

But the CEO held up his hand to silence them.

“Go on,” he said to the kid.

So the kid elaborated, “Make the hole on top of toothpaste tube twice as big.”

“I don’t get it” replied the CEO.

The kid further elaborated, “Make the hole twice as big, then twice as much toothpaste will come out. Which in turn will mean the tube will empty faster.”

“But how is that any good to us?” the CEO asked.

“Simple,” replied the kid, “if the tube empties faster, then the customer has to buy a new one sooner than they did before, this in turn should double our sales!”

The CEO got it.

“Wow,” he said, “that could actually work.”

It did, and the rest is history.

The toothpaste company in question became the market leader over night once they implemented that simplest of changes to their products.

They did it in conjunction with a rebrand, and a conversion from metal toothpaste tubes to plastic tubes.

If you lived through the 80’s, you’ll probably know which brand it was that did that.

I guess the example I’m trying to make is that young, fresh, forward thinkers often spot the simplest of paths to business growth and in turn, profitability.

This is why Celtic needs change.

We need young people in tune with how modern day football works.

The current board is way past it’s sell by date.

Its time for them to step aside and to allow fresh blood to take the club forward.

And if that happens, the new board must only be in place for 5 to 6 years.

We need a continuous evolution at Celtic.

Not having that for the whole of the 21st century is why we find ourselves where we are today.

It’s time to break that cycle.

Number of days Michael Nicholson remains Celtic CEO since Wilfried Nancy’s sacking – 9