Are Celtic Becoming the Newcastle of the Mike Ashley Era?

Every few weeks, it feels like the same notification appears on my phone.

“New Adidas range available now.”

A home kit.

An away kit.

A third kit.

A training range.

Now even Adidas Gazelles with a Celtic badge slapped on them is announcement worthy news from the Club.

As part of the new adidas Originals Culturewear range, the new Handball Spezial shoes 👟#CelticFC🍀— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 14, 2026

Look, before anyone deliberately misses the point, and there are still some of you left, let’s clear something up.

I understand how modern football works.

I know Celtic have contractual obligations with Adidas. I know clubs release multiple kits every season and I know merchandise is part of the business model. Nobody is suggesting Celtic should stop selling shirts or refuse to maximise commercial income.

No one is suggesting anyone is forcing you to buy any of it either. Another classic Happy Clapper line.

That’s not the issue.

The issue is perception.

The issue is priorities.

And right now, the perception is that Celtic seem far more enthusiastic about unveiling another pair of trainers than unveiling another first-team player.

Am I wrong?

I didn’t miss when I ironically reposted their tweet.

We are turning into what Sports Direct and Newcastle looked like in so many ways. https://t.co/zVDIZCLuXw— Russell Boyce (@RussellBoyce1) July 14, 2026

It’s becoming a problem.

Every social media post feels like another sales pitch.

Every week there’s another product or another collection.

Another opportunity to spend more money.

Meanwhile, supporters are still asking the same football related questions they’ve been asking all this summer and in my case the last 5 summers.

Where are the signings?

Where’s the ambition?

Where’s the urgency?

Watching Celtic at the moment reminds me of another football club.

Newcastle United under Mike Ashley.

Now, before anyone starts shouting that Celtic and Newcastle are completely different situations, hear me out.

Mike Ashley owned Newcastle for 14 years. During that period, the club spent the overwhelming majority of its time simply existing in the Premier League. There were two relegations, two Championship titles and, outside one fifth-place finish in 2011-12, Newcastle rarely challenged the division’s elite. They generally finished in mid-table while supporters became increasingly frustrated that survival seemed to be the ambition rather than success.

Sound familiar?

Ashley wasn’t interested in building a football team capable of competing with England’s best.

He was interested in maintaining a business.

Balance sheets mattered more than team sheets.

As long as the club remained financially healthy, the owner was satisfied.

But supporters weren’t and that’s the key similarity that has led me to writing this article.

Eventually, Newcastle fans stopped protesting individual transfer windows.

They started protesting the philosophy itself.

Because they recognised something important.

Standing still in football isn’t really standing still at all. Everyone else moves forward.

If you don’t evolve, you’re actually falling behind.

Our Domestic Bliss Era has disguised this.

But Europe over the last 20 years has not.

And this is where I think the vast majority of Celtic supporters are finally beginning to ask uncomfortable questions.

Has the football become secondary to the business?

That’s a serious accusation, and one that deserves careful thought.

Nobody can deny Celtic have become a commercial powerhouse, in Scottish football terms at least.

The Adidas partnership has been hugely successful.

The club shop is constantly refreshed.

Yet football clubs don’t exist simply to become successful retailers.

They exist to build successful football teams.

Team sheets before Balance sheets.

The commercial department should support the football department.

Not appear to be the f**king priority.

Sometimes I wonder whether Celtic themselves realise what the biggest financial prize actually is.

It’s not another clothing range. It isn’t another pair of trainers.

It isn’t another limited-edition Irish-themed collection.

It’s the Champions League.

Qualifying consistently for Europe’s elite competition is worth tens of millions of pounds.

More importantly, it transforms the football club.

It attracts better players and enhances the club’s reputation across Europe.

It creates memories supporters remember for decades.

Nobody sits in the pub twenty years later talking about the season’s training wear.

They talk about famous European nights against Liverpool’s, Barcelona’s and the like.

That’s where the focus should always be.

Instead, supporters increasingly feel as though the club is asking them to buy into a commerical brand, while buying less and less into the football team itself.

That’s the disconnect.

And it isn’t because supporters have suddenly become impossible to please.

It’s because years of transfer windows have created this atmosphere.

One slow summer might be forgiven.

Two, perhaps.

But when the same frustrations appear year after year, eventually people stop believing it’s “always difficult” to navigate said window.

People are beginning to Keep Their Eyes on The Board.

Imagine if strengthening the squad carried the same urgency as promoting the latest Adidas drop.

Professionally filmed.

Carefully marketed.

Relentlessly promoted.

The worrying part is that Celtic appear perfectly comfortable operating within their Domestic Bliss Era.

They are in for a shock soon, I fear they can’t see the problems coming this season that could affect this supposed incredible era they have presided over.

Who is constantly searching for the next level for Celtic?

The next challenge.

The next improvement.

Today, I’m not sure I see that hunger from those making the biggest decisions.

Instead, I see a football club that sometimes appears delighted simply because the commercial machine keeps turning.

And that’s where the Mike Ashley comparison begins to make sense.

Not because Celtic are in financial trouble. In fact it is more frustrating that despite the lack of any worries in that regard we remain Europe’s most gun shy Football Club in the transfer market.

Supporters increasingly fear that maintaining a successful business has become the primary objective, while building a better football team has become secondary.

That’s a dangerous road for any football club to travel.

The irony is that these two objectives don’t even compete with each other.

Success on the pitch drives success off it.

Invest in the team – Compete properly in Europe – And guess what?

The commercial growth follows naturally. How can they not see this?

So yes, keep releasing the shirts.

Sell the training jackets and zippies.

Sell the Gazelles.

Good luck with it though, as the tide is beginning to turn with the “Not Another Penny” Campaign.

Never lose sight of why people fell in love with Celtic in the first place.

It wasn’t because of a clothing range.

It was because of what happened on the park.

Until the football once again becomes the club’s loudest and most frequent statement, every new merchandise launch risks reminding supporters of the same uncomfortable question.

Is Celtic still being run like a football club?

Or is it increasingly being run like a retail business that just happens to have a football team attached?

Look at the replies on their Social’s last couple of days and you’ll see what I mean.

Keep Your Eyes on The Board.