Celtic Say They Want Fan Engagement – But It’ll Only Be On Celtic’s Terms I Bet.

Celtic want better engagement with their supporters.

Brilliant. About time.

There’s just one wee problem.

It increasingly looks like Celtic want fan engagement, but only if it’s done on Celtic’s terms.

I’ve had the chance to look through the minutes from Tuesday’s meeting between Celtic and representatives of the Celtic Fans Collective, and there’s plenty in there worth talking about.

But one thing jumped off the page immediately.

Who actually gets to choose the supporters who supposedly represent us?

Because Celtic’s answer appears to be Celtic.

The Collective’s answer is much simpler.

The supporters.

And for me, that’s where the whole argument starts.

Celtic have already launched their Celtic Connect consultation, presenting it as a new way of improving communication between the club and supporters.

Fine.

But if you’re going to create something that’s supposed to give supporters a genuine voice, the supporters should decide who that voice belongs to.

The Collective’s alternative is a Fan Advisory Board with democratically elected supporter representatives.

That’s not exactly some wild, revolutionary idea.

It’s common sense.

If someone is walking into Celtic Park claiming to represent me, you and thousands of other Celtic supporters, then we should have a say in who that person is.

Not Michael Nicholson or the Celtic board.

Nor somebody sitting inside Celtic Park deciding which supporters they’d quite like to talk to.

Us.

That’s what genuine representation looks like.

And this is where I start getting suspicious whenever Celtic start talking about change.

We’ve seen this movie plenty of times before.

Something gets announced.

It’s dressed up as modernisation.

We’re told there’s a refresh underway.

Everyone gets excited for five minutes.

Then you scratch beneath the surface and realise Celtic are still trying to control the whole thing.

Look at the recent “board refreshment”.

New directors, new ideas, new insights.

Except one of those new directors is already a significant Celtic shareholder with deep connections to the club.

Now we’re getting supporter engagement.

Except Celtic would quite like to have a major say in who represents the supporters.

That’s not really change, is it?

That’s Celtic changing the wrapping paper and hoping nobody looks too closely at what’s inside.

And that’s exactly why I hope the Celtic Fans Collective hold their ground on this.

Keep meeting Celtic.

Keep talking.

Try to find common ground.

Nobody benefits from the two sides refusing to speak to each other.

But don’t give up the fundamental principle of democratically elected supporter representation just so Celtic can announce they’ve got their shiny new fan-engagement model up and running.

Because the minute Celtic get to choose who represents the support, we’re defeating the entire purpose of having independent representation in the first place.

The people going into these meetings should be capable of asking questions Celtic don’t particularly want to answer.

They should be capable of challenging decisions and be capable of making things uncomfortable when things need to be uncomfortable.

That’s the bloody point.

And let’s not forget how we actually arrived here.

The Collective had been trying to arrange meaningful discussions with Celtic from June onwards.

Instead, Celtic went ahead and launched Celtic Connect without discussing the Collective’s alternative proposal with them beforehand.

Then, according to the minutes, Celtic didn’t exactly knock themselves out promoting their own consultation either.

For something supposedly designed to improve communication with supporters, it’s been a strange way of going about it.

So yes, Celtic finally sitting down with the Collective is progress.

I’m not going to criticise them for actually getting around the table.

Keep meeting.

Keep talking.

But don’t mistake being allowed into Celtic Park for having genuine influence once you’re there.

We’ve had enough things dressed up as change at Celtic that don’t actually change very much at all.

If Celtic genuinely want supporter engagement, fantastic.

Here’s a really simple place to start.

Let the supporters decide who speaks for the supporters.

Surely even Celtic can’t make that complicated.