I didn’t see Ian Bankier’s performance today, but I watched his predecessor John Reid a few times. John wasn’t liked by a significant body of the support, largely for professional reasons (his role in government), but when he got on his feet to address Celtic supporters, he had an intuitive feel for what to say. No one ever needed to script him.
Ian Livingston has received a lot of criticism since voting with the government in the recent Tax Credits bill. I’d heard the nature of some of what was written online included reference to his background – appalling, without question. Nor would it surprise you or me, we’ve been online long enough to see just about everything, including those who troll others on account of their background or identity. Often with Celtic-related targets.
We are a plural club, with people from Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, and for all I know, other backgrounds, on our board, all these and more in our dressing room, and among our support. I’m proud of this. We are often caricatured as an exclusively Irish-diaspora club but few in the UK can claim such an ethnic panorama.
A club of immigrants founded 127 years ago has continued to attract new immigrants ever since. It’s worthwhile reminding ourselves of this, it should continue to be a part of our forward strategy. What correlates with this is that anyone with a prejudice will find a target at Celtic – such is the diversity of our club. Celtic fans, players and officials have been targets like this for a very long time.
Was Ian Livingston right to vote with the government on Tax Credits? No. I haven’t considered the policy’s economic merits (first pass suggested it had none) but I believe his voice should have been raised against the policy. The expectations of being a representative of Celtic, not just a board member, are weighty.
Ian Bankier could have read all inappropriate online comment referring to Ian Livingston’s background immediately before today’s AGM, but that forum was not the place to mark anyone’s card. The intuitive feel John Reid had on these occasions was missing today. Go complain about such comment to the appropriate authorities, or to whatever online facilities hosted the comments, tell Ian Livingston ‘You’ll never walk alone’ in a private moment, but address shareholders and Celtic fans on matters appropriate to them.
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Celtic is being used as a platform, a test vehicle, soap box, a battleground for individuals and groups.
Think about some of the issues being displayed, literally in some cases:
Living wage; food-banks, Palestinian flags…….there’s many more and that’ll continue.
Should the club ie the support, be used and manipulated in this way ?
Don’t know if that’s the club’s purpose ? Genuinely don’t should the club be used as a vehicle to get messages out ther ?
Many of the things seem to be too polarised and inevitably lead to animosity.
What I do know is the fractures created are not good for the club……..that’s us incidentally.
Bizarrely, whilst we seem able to gather behind an external political or moral issue ……….we seem unable to come together over issues that do affect Celtic.
HAMILTONTIM on 21ST NOVEMBER 2015 12:19 PM
No Tony either you didn’t see it or you’re deliberately making things up.
Enjoy the boardroom.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/bankier-livingston-and-most-plural-club-in-uk/comment-page-11/#comment-2722439
Getting playground stuff now, oh and I will enjoy the boardroom, I’m thinking you got your little knuckles wrapped on the petition thingie, and your putting the old Celtic Trust spin on it, par for the course.
http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/bankier-livingston-and-most-plural-club-in-uk/comment-page-10/#comment-2722405
In fairness to Fergus. Long before he took control, he made it plain that one of his objectives was to make money.
BRTH…
WOW,WOW,WOW…….take a BOW,BOW,BOW
Best post I have EVER seen about McCann’s personal enrichment at the hands of the mug punters….
He was never the only show in town when The Bank of Scotland came calling.
He gave so little and took so much…..AND he wants the Huns back!!
Brilliant summary on the legacy of his tenure……..Our current pee ell feckin cee
Chapeau sir…..you articulated your opinion so well.
BIG-CUP-WINNERS on 21st November 2015 12:29 pm
Bizarrely, whilst we seem able to gather behind an external political or moral issue ……….we seem unable to come together over issues that do affect Celtic.
Could this in part, at least, be due to a lack of leadership from the Boardroom.
Talking of which. Has the absentee had anything to say yet.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/bankier-livingston-and-most-plural-club-in-uk/comment-page-11/#comment-2722451
CHANNELISLANDCELT on 21ST NOVEMBER 2015 11:48 AM
Burgas Hoops
Can you remind me of that horse you posted last night ?
Sorry mate for the late reply.
i did’nt post any horses last night ?
Bankier will walk past the statue of Brother Walfrid today impervious to the criticism of the support. Meanwhile the supporters, he appears to detest, will be keeping the spirit of Walfrid alive.
HH
McCann’s disproportionate personal enrichment from shareholders……
Now there is a pillager if ever there was.
Burgas
Think you may have posted your nap at end of last article as the way I of the naps comp
That could be it blantyretim.
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/neil-lennon-felt-let-down-after-tynecastle-attack-1-3953143
Thanks to COOLMOREMAFIA for posting this at 819am.
Read it through to the last line-which is telling about our fine country.
Sadly…
very good.
http://etims.net/?p=8176
CHANNELISLANDCELT
Burning Thread 15:10 @ Lingfield Park, is my nap for today on the ol
fleagle1888’s horse comp.
All it has to do is BEAT Snow Cloud -)))
CELTICROLLERCOASTER
My grateful thanks for your endorsement but I think I’ll stick to my strengths as Social Convenor!
Enjoy the match today mate,and have a lookout for a chittering sister of mine who has had her first winter cold but still went to work as she couldnae otherwise justify going today!
Wee trooper…
Big cup winners
Don’t think the Celtic trust or GB are running any real Palestinian campaign .. I haven’t seen anything advertised .
Members and other fans might bring flags but that’s their choice.. Sadly the poor people of Palestine need more than flags.
Sad to recap Neil Lennons life in Scotland in The Scotsman article. It’s a pity he couldn’t speak as freely when he was here. I wonder if that was his decision.
today i am wearing my new jock stein coming off the plane t-shirt from diego10.
i thought i had lost it and just found it in the drawer in its wrapper.
I am so fat it looks almost 3d.
brilliant picture though.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/11/article-2521628-1A04E7E100000578-137_964x1187.jpg
P67
We don’t know why lord livingstone voted in favour of the government bill (I read somewhere it was a point of principle about the unelected lords voting down a bill from the elected commons). It was politics and if he was considering his role at Celtic when voting, I would think he’d be capable of doing the reverse when he’s sitting on the board of Celtic. An extremely intelligent man like him would be able to make the distinction between the two roles, I’d hope he would show the same focus on the job at hand when he’s sitting on our board
Regards our Chairman’s comments, Bankier was never going to have the oratory skills of a front bench politician, but again we’re not in possession of all the facts, we don’t know what sort of abuse lord livingstone suffered, but it strikes me that, again, he was putting the requirements of his job above his own popularity. I think there was a misjudgment in how he expressed himself, but as chairman he needed to publicly back a member of his board. I don’t think his style lends itself to making him the most popular chairman but that’s not to say he isn’t very good at it.
Don’t understand Ian Bankier babbling about racism directed against Lord Livingston, whose ethnic origins are a mystery and of no consequence to the average fan. Something of a red herring. Thought the reference to Downton Abbey was clever and appropriate. In the same vein, I think we could do worse than draft in Mr Carson, major-domo at Downton, to play in central defence. His experience and calmness under pressure would be the perfect foil for the occasionally rash Big Efe. Anyway, today Leeds under Steve Evans look good at 4/5, along with Orient to beat Jackie’s York, and the Jamtarts, 9/2 treble.
HH
SAINT STIVS on 21ST NOVEMBER 2015 12:52 PM
very good.
http://etims.net/?p=817
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Agree 100%. Denying the shysters in the boardroom your green pound/euro is the only way to get rid of them. It’s obviously not an easy thing to do but has to be done otherwise the club we all grew up with will be as dead as RFC (1872). Wining and dining with them in the boardroom is like supping with the devil. Not for me. I have principles.
It’s CELTIC time :-)
CELTIC have been linked with a move for former Inter Milan and Lazio midfielder Gaby Mudingayi.
The Kinshasa-born 34-year-old was recently released by Cesena, having had spells with Gent, Torino and Union Saint-Gilloise, before five years with Bologna.
Mudingayi made 17 appearances for Belgium between 2003 and 2008 and has been linked with Celtic in the past.
Hmmmmmmm 34 ?
BRTH:
Too revisionist and far too harsh on Fergus McCann.
Fergus brought to us the business model he’d become familiar with in North America; THE most successful sports franchise model of its time. And the only one that would save Celtic; loading capital upfront, appeasing creditors, getting the bank off our back, opening attractive avenues for future investors with shareholding plans.
There was NO alternative.
Sorry, there was the Hun alternative, the families dragging the club to the grave within days.
Your post I understand is partly utopianist theory; there could in a perfect world be a way to restructure but only if the support was united behind a few representatives. You only need to observe the daily polarised opinions and squabbling on here to see the chances of that working out.
Fegus didn’t lay the foundations for anything other than Celtic becoming a major European player again. To cite him as the moment some sort of downward spiral began is fanciful. The problem lies with his successors. Those under DDs command have leant too much towards market appeasement – which can be understood as the financail climate plunged towards freezing – and put too little effort into customer satisfaction.
PL, for all his PR failings, is still a Celtic fan, and seems the only one with a smidgen of Celtic in his soul among the collected corporate automatons on the board. Sadly, it may come down to PL making the moves to restructure operations. But on his form to date, I doubt he has the balls, will or power to rock the boat.
I suspect he may jump ship before having to clash; CEO self-preservation. I’d guess the best card he could play would be to install a fans’ hero either in office capacity, or more likely – in management; the likes of Henrik at the helm would rally the support again, but whther or not he’d use that as a smokescreen or platform for real involved input from a galvanised support would be the telling moment in recent history.
All the Trotskys Need to come down off there crucifixes and stop playing the victims, it was only an AGM ffs, no one died, beat your selves to death at the next Celtic Trust meeting, all this, I won’t be back, they will never get another penny off of me, this board has to go, PL is this, Bankier is that, Lord Livingstone is a ……..dry yer eyes ffs, grown men too?
Burgas hoops
We’re all depressed enough without reading that ..
The barrel must be nearly scrapped by now
Spot on Paul. What was the Chairman doing taking a pop at (some) fans at the Annual General Meeting? He must have been aware that gripes about Livingston were bound to surface. Give a neutral pre-prepared answer if you have to, make your views known in other forums, but DO NOT lose the plot in a formal public meeting which you are running!
Meanwhile, here is a big thank-you to everyone who voted for me in the Football Blogging Awards!
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2015/11/19/the-big-thank-you/
Sorry Burgas Hoops , just read that last night and thought I would have a bit of it considering that you cleaned up last week . Still have a little bit on it . Cheers Mate , I am off to boozer to watch game , hope you pick it up where you are .
HH
PROUDBHOY on 21ST NOVEMBER 2015 1:15 PM
Burgas hoops
We’re all depressed enough without reading that ..
The barrel must be nearly scrapped by now
Did you know it’s all down to the fantastic job our scouts are doing.-))
I see Tony Donnelly is still trying to spread his stupidity.
More and more supporters are refusing to go to Celtic games. Good. This is the only thing that will rid us of the parasites.
NEGANON2 on 21ST NOVEMBER 2015 1:20 PM
I see Tony Donnelly is still trying to spread his stupidity.
More and more supporters are refusing to go to Celtic games. Good. This is the only thing that will rid us of the parasites.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/bankier-livingston-and-most-plural-club-in-uk/comment-page-12/#comment-2722474
And I’m spreading stupidity, lol, your funny, no really you are.
Lawwell said: “When hugely sensitive issues come up we don’t always go public. – See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/agm-ahead/comment-page-19/#comments
===============
No, not always, but our Chairman can feel free to mouth off about racism, criminality, campaign, torrent.
BRTH@9-55AM
I concur.
NegAnon2
No stupidity would be promoting a boycott at each and every turn, Without attempting to achieve change by less destructive means. You advocate a boycott a lot.
Right, I’m off to the boardroom, must make sure his lordship is not to traumatised after those racists having a go at him yesterdayyyy, byeeeeeeeeee
Iki, agreed, the only time we hear from Bankier is when he criticises our support.
Behave yourself Mr. Bankier.
tonydonnely67
(dry yer eyes ffs.grown men too?
Such delightful irony!
What a curious little man