We all know what the Celtic Board are. We all accept, not with any pleasure, that they are likely Tories. None of us expect that Ian Bankier, Michael Nicholson, Thomas Allison (bet you didn’t know that one) or Sharon Brown would be especially good company.
Few Celtic fans would fancy them to be any good at a pub quiz, or at Celtic trivia, or perhaps even naming the Lisbon Lions! One thing we are right to expect, however, is that they show business sense. That is, after all, why we sacrifice all of the above, isn’t it?
We are willing to accept cold-hearted money men, given that they show financial sense. If the appointment of former assistant chief constable Bernard Higgins goes through, then the board must be completely without merit.
In appointing someone with such brazen, naked dislike for fans, the Celtic board will have thrown down a marker not easily erased. This is not a situation to be erased by performances, wins, or even trophies. There is only one thing that the fans will accept to appease this situation, do not appoint him.
The Celtic board are being given every opportunity to educate themselves. Sunday’s win over Aberdeen featured a banner and post-match protest by which the Celtic faithful made their opinions clear to all. Any movement now by the board will be seen in direct comparison to that: an appointment shows they don’t listen, a swift backtrack will show they do.
That being said, for Bernard Higgins to be this close to a job at Celtic is already a stark indictment for the board. All it would take is one staffer, one secretary, one tea lady to have a voice within the club and to be empowered to inform the powers-that-be.
Simply put, either there is no-one within the club with their fingers on the pulse of their lifeblood, or they’ve already been warned but simply do not care. No Celtic fan would relish either of these options, and that we are forced to choose between them is a depressing sign for the Club at large.
I spoke earlier about the board being without merit, if this is true, then the inevitable query must be: why allow them to remain?
Celtic fans have relinquished their club to business gurus, at the expense of the ethos of the support. Yet we are still faced with baffling decision making, and a board that seemingly can do no right.
This season, the board have stumbled upon an inexplicable appointment that has won the fanbase’s hearts: Ange Postecoglou. In appointing Bernard Higgins, they would be repeating their unpredictable decision making, with perhaps the final mistake we would allow them to make.
