I was out and about this morning and heard Neil Lennon on the radio making it very clear that he was not about to abandon Bolton Wanderers, despite their inability to pay wages or settle creditors when due. Having “shed millions from the payroll in the summer” his focus was on winning points with a squad augmented by youth development players.
For Neil, the financial realities are simply the parameters he had to work within.
Think back 18 months to when he left Glasgow. Celtic Park was awash with amicable statements from club and manager but the news coverage could not have been more skewed – Neil left because he was unhappy at working within his given budget. We had former Celtic players broadcasting this message that very day. And like every negative Celtic story, it got traction among those more than happy to believe that narrative.
It was nonsense. Celtic’s football budget hadn’t changed. Neil had not adopted a view of himself which only allowed him to deal with more expensive players. What happened was a PR campaign took flight within moments of the news breaking. Dig into Celtic, turn the fans against them. It worked too. A simple lie, a couple (literally) of compliant ‘Celtic’ voices and it was job done.
This has been going on for decades. It’s only recently, with formal PR companies competing for the same demographic, we’ve seen how these messages get into the media.
Celtic have PR to arrange media conferences, distil club news and formal statements. There’s no attempt at subversion, either outwards or at our own demographic.
Saturday is a big day for our Treble Winning Captains. Shortly after Billy McNeil unveils his statue in front of the stadium, Tom Boyd, our only other Treble Winning Captain will be in the Kerrydale Suite, to sign personalised copies of The Winds of Change. The book which covers Celtic managers from Liam Brady to Martin O’Neill, across what was an unforgettable story of redemption.
Joining Tom at the signing session will be Billy’s former team mate, John Hughes. If you get talking to Yogi, just listen. He’s seen it all, so don’t interrupt him.
You’ll be able to buy The Windows of Change, as well as Caesar and The Assassin, the book which documents Billy McNeill and Davie Hay’s periods in charge, inside the Kerrydale Suite before kick off.
Club sponsor, Magners, have kindly offered us two Premium Seat tickets for Saturday’s game in the Jock Stein Stand. To enter the competition, what you’ve got to do is email me, celticquicknews@gmail.com with the name of the team we’re playing in the email Subject Line. Competition closes at 18:00 TODAY, so it’s only open for a short window….
…………while you are entering the competition. You might want to take an extra minute and donate £1 to our Mary’s Meals school kitchen project. You have already built four kitchens in Malawi. These donations go towards putting food on the table. You can donate here.
Around 75% of people who enter donate something – thank you.
381 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- »
Give your money to charity rather than bigots who hate us.
If the Celtic PLC wont fight the corruption.
It will be all over.
A rigged league cannot be allowed.
We cannot just roll over.
Surely.
HH
Kitalba
Why attack a poster on here you neither know nor are you liable to meet,
Just because some one has the audacity to disagree with the likes of you, does not make him right or wrong, it’s his opinion, an opinion he has the bollox to stand by, I can assure you Tony Donnelly is none of the things you called him.
Shocking unprovoked attack for no reason, not the first time I have seen you do this.
THE GREEN MAN. I think you might be surprised how many Celts share your views.H.H.
Mike in Toronto.
Without being unkind. I find it incredible that you do not understand the power of the bigot pound.
As soon as I posted t, I realised that the above sentence was a bit out of kilter
It should have read power hat bigot pound has in Celtic Boardroom.
There is a growing disconnect between fans and management and so far, management does not seem inclined to bridge the gap.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/a-simple-lie-compliant-celtic-voices-and-it-was-job-done/comment-page-3/#comment-2738252
Dinner on table. Will be back later.
JFH
Its beyond a joke…way out of control.
Something needs done.
It cannot go on.
No way.
HH
Corkcelt
Believe me I don ‘t want to walk away . All I am saying is if I am asked to forget what has went on and to move on that is a step to far for me.
Celtic have been a huge part of my life since I can remember. We have been playing in an unequal, sometimes hostile environment since I can remember.
I was brought up in a city where I couldn’t play for the closest club as the crow flies.
Through the hard work, guile and perseverance of those who came before us , we have reached a place where we are the dominant force.
I will not walk away or abandon Celtic. I have too much time and pride invested. I would prefer the club to move out of Scottish football where we could fulfil our full potential.but if not so be it.
It may even be the case if many of us walk away, we reduce our capacity accordingly, take stock and launch our new footballing model.
Hopefully it will never come to that, the future is ours to define.
Hail, Hail.
Well said masty, an absolute disgraceful post on TonyDonnelly.
THE GREEN MAN. I feel we lack leadership a group or a person to draw the support together and to examine as many of the actions we could take.We also im afraid have to ask many questions to the Celtic board and impress on them there incomes without the support would be nil that may be a clincher.H.H.
Burgas
Tony’s a big buoy who is more than capable of defending himself, always does in here, but that was totally out of order
quonno. thanks for that. I dont disagree with a word you say.
I do feel like I am being pulled in many directions …. I dont have any easy answer. In fact, I dont believe that there will be an easy answer.
I am reading through stuff today in preparation for a mediation …. .where an independent person tries to help the parties resolve the case before it goes to trial. In almost every mediation I have ever attended, the mediator normally makes an opening statement which includes the phrase ‘I will know the mediation has been effective if everyone walks away a bit unhappy’. In order to get a resolution, everyone has to take a bit less than they believe they are entitled to, or risk going to trial where someone wins entirely, and someone loses entirely….
there are certain business and cultural realities that we, as Celtic fans, have to live with (some we dont)….
I think, at best, we will all be a bit disappointed in the outcome … the only question is ‘how big will the disappointment be, and can we live with that?’
My humble opinion on today’s debate,,
Let it play out to the end and see where the dust lies. We might be surprised at the outcome ,, certainly think Mash will topple this current regime at the very least.
IF there’s a cover up and its move along everyone then we should move along,,to another league. MLS or league of Ireland would take us.
IF moving leagues fails we should take over a small club in another league and put our hopes and dreams into that club,,watching it grow and hopefully florish,,helping charity and the community should be its primary aims,,with a fan run board room. Wouldn’t that be worthwhile!
Hail Hail
Mahe
Totally agree, let’s see how this plays out, plenty of time for boycotts.
JFH and others.
Why should we wait for the outcome of the court cases, why ?
Their cheating has nothing to do with the illegal registration of players, nothing whatsoever.
Res 12 is another example of why we shouldn’t wait.
They have already admitted they were due tax, yet they got a licence.
It’s just an excuse to say we should wait.
HH
JFH
If the PLC cannot oppose the corruption, in my view, they are not Celtic men.
Football in Scotland is dead otherwise.
If they get the right to cheat….its all over.
HH
TET
Am I reading and taking this all correctly? Have the club officially kicked resolution 12 out?
MAHE THE MADMAN. You have given several options in your post that is what is required a group of Celtic supporters with the backing of the support to come up with a plan of action from the many options. The group would need funding in order that if going to court was an agreed option there would be funding. It would be no easy task in pulling the support together but in my opinion it needs a sharp legal mind to be in any action group. H.H.
JFH
The support has in the past been rallied and the funding raised, it can be done again
MASTY
No they haven’t.
But they may as well have imo, it’s been left to the shareholders to persue.
Res 12 is only psrt of it imo, the illegal regristration of the players is the biggie.
HH
THE EXILED TIM. Fella I understand your frustration but I live in hope the courts will fling the book at them and the Scottish football authorities.However,if you can come up with a better plan that will unite the support and help us clean up Scottish football I am all ears. H.H.
TET
The rotten mob are imploding from the inside outwards,
They could be dead and buried (again) before anything else gets to court, I honestly think big mike wants them on a plate, and he normally gets what he wants
JFH
A better plan than what ?
Waiting for the inevitable, it will be too late, it’s prob already too late.
HH
Dumbhoy 4:49
But Mr King was specifically asked if title stripping was spoken about at the meeting with Doncaster and he said no. So that means it wasn’t.
Errrrrr…….
Tet,,
Because the court cases to come might do the work for us.
Like I posted Mash should topple the sfa/spfl.
When that happens,,and I do honestly expect that to happen,,there’s a clean slate.
This could all work out well for us.
The new set up should include a foreign head of referees imo.
With Mash on one side and res12 on the other, plus fan pressure they will crumble.
And if they don’t we move along. They lose a giant club,,the TV deals,,our away money,,and it falls to pieces.
It’s justice or collapse.
Again my humble opinion.
Good to converse with you,,I admire your posts.
Hail Hail
On here we operate in a bit of a bubble, CQN contributors represent less then 1% of the Celtic Support. The truly disaffected on here only represent a tiny percentage of CQN, however if a few posters post a lot it gives a lop sided impression of where people stand.
Every year every Club loses some supporters for a variety of reasons but in most cases others step up and take their places. Much like the blog, good people tire of it and leave but others join and the blog goes on.
Celtic will go on and I for one will continue to support the Cause.
MASTY
I will wager you now that Mash will do some sort of deal prior to taking the sfa to court.
The huns are really feck all to worry about, their incompitance and arrogance will take care of them, it’s the sfa and the spfl that are our real enemy.
HH
Mahe
Thanks.
I wish I had your optimism mi amigo, I really do.
We have seen the powers do sfa, they have done nothing re anything that will harm the hun, in fact they have facilitated their cheating.
I fully understand the money aspect, but at the expense of justice and fairness, no for me.
The huns are deed FFS, doing the right thing and stripping titles and cups is the right thing to do, they cheated, end of, maybes if the powers just admitted what happened, the game could move on, but we know that will never happen.
HH
CORKCELT @5:57
So true
i am with CORKCELT and others who will not stop supporting the club regardless of the outcome.
This environment is one we have been in for 100+ years, EBT’s was just the lastest way of gaining an unfair advantage/cheating, our forefathers suffered a lot more than we have on that front, did they stop supporting Celtic !!
I would love the board to take a more proactive stance however they carry a massive responsibility.
They do need to look at the long term financial stability and it’s a fact our attendances and subsequently revenues have reduced significantly since they died, it’s to our shame that this has happened. (I get revenues have dropped due to non participation in the CL but that is for another day.)
It is undeniable the club has been abandoned by a element of our support although to be honest a lot of them were newbies as 60,000+ crowds did not exist until the late 90’s and then only for a few years.
Had the support stayed with the club over the past few years then maybe the board would be taking a different stance, who know’s !!
“if a few posters post a lot it gives a lop sided impression of where people stand.”
Corkcelt,
Aye there is a few who struggle to say their piece in less than ten posts.
HH
Corkcelt
You maybe right , but if they keep their titles and the SFA is not routed then I believe that will be a step to far for a lot of fans. And all we will be allowing is the future generations of fans you spoke about earlier to be cheated the way we all have.
The big difference is that our forefathers always thought they were being cheated, we now know we were cheated.
shooie … “it is undeniable that the club has been abandoned by a element of our support”….
Given my age, location, occupation, etc., I am not one who has been directly impacted by such things as police knocking on my door at 6 in the morning…. so I dont have a horse in that particular race ….. however, from what I have seen, it seems to me more of a case that ‘it is undeniable that an element of our support has been abandoned by the club” rather than the other way ’round.
SHOOIE
Maybes if the club had stood by the support, the support would have stood by the club.
HH
Corkcelt,
I think you speak for many Celtic supporters, certainly the likes of me who grew up when we were winning nothing. Times without number, we have been blatantly cheated. How we won what we have won is amazing. I still delight in each and every victory. I never ever take 1 for granted. There have been too many losses; some deserved, many of the debatable variety. We have been cheated from day 1. Imo, unless some English sports journalists turn the spotlight on the cheating, I can’t ever seeing it ending. Nothing that has caused the current consternation is new.
Mike in Toronto & The Exiled Tim
You make fair points, i guess I am thinking of the fans who stopped going as ‘there was no competition’, how many this is I do not know but suspect it’s a pretty high number.
As a side I do not view the board as Celtic meaning the board as individuals may get things wrong and I know that if we go away then the cheats will win, personally I am not up for that.
Parkheadcumsalford ….
I know you are a long time fan, but have to disagree with one thing….
An English journalist isn’t going to end things … they do a story … they leave ….
Like South Africa, the international boycott softened up the old regime, but it didn’t come down until those most directly impacted (the South African people) were ready, willing and able to stand up against their oppressors.
As has been pointed out, we always suspected we were being cheated. But now we have the proof. It is up to the club and fans to decide what they want to do with it.
in spite of the cronyism, Celtic are the biggest club in Scotland now …. we should be throwing our weight around… not for our own financial benefit, but for the good of the club and the good of football in scotland.
If the Club publicly and forcefully backed, for example, Res. 12, the end game would, I believe, be at hand. The question is does the club have the willingness to do so, and if not, why not?
Unlike our forefathers, we didn’t have the evidence that we now have, nor the financial and administrative clout that we presently enjoy. As such, what they didn’t do is of no consequence. It is what we do now with what we know that matters.
This is a battle that is now capable of being won.