The Celtic Trust along with the Green Brigade and a few other supporter organisations have cancelled their rally for Saturday outside Celtic Park.
There was a plan in place to greet the team bus and give Ange Postecoglou and his side while also protesting the current board. Many supporter groups want to keep the attention on the board for their part in last season’s debacle and believe they have not been held to account.
The Celtic board is stale and comprises of custodians who have been in their positions for a long time – many ten years plus. You don’t tend to see the status quo for that long at any company and it can breed complacency.
There was a backlash when the Trust put out their plans for the rally because some fans just want to move on – we totally understand that position. However, nobody can guarantee if things go badly this season that we won’t see a repeat of the complete and utter shutdown of Celtic’s communication in how they deal with supporters.
The board seem withdrawn and unwilling to engage with the support. If there was ever a bigger example of this; Ian Bankier sat in on the mainstream media presser with Dom McKay and Ange Postecoglou, but didn’t attend the fan media press conference CeltsAreHere.com attended. The PC we attended was just downstairs at Celtic Park and minutes after the mainstream media conference.
On the rally itself, The Trust and the rest of the fans group put this message out onto social media:
‘We have been notified that the Celtic team and coaching staff will unfortunately not travel to Saturday’s pre-season friendly against Preston North End in a team coach in the usual manner. The players and staff will instead arrive for this game individually in their own cars. As a result of this, we are sadly no longer able to meet and greet the team to give the new manager the welcome that we sought to.
‘We are therefore cancelling Saturday’s planned rally, though we hope to be able to return to the stadium soon to provide our full support for Ange Postecoglou and the team when this is possible. We are growing slightly alarmed at the slow pace of change within the club as the UEFA Champions League Qualifying Rounds approach. The board must demonstrate that they have learned the lesson of previous years and provide the new manager with the tools to succeed within his role.’
The Trust have taken the decision that dialogue between themselves and the board can’t continue at present.
They have clashed over a number of issues including how to handle season ticket compensation. The Trust pushed for shares in the club to be given to supporters but as far as we’re aware, the club didn’t entertain any ideas from groups before they decided on the £50 superstore voucher. There’s still a chasm between supporters and the board which needs to be bridged.
You can simultaneously back the manager and the team and still have the capacity to ask questions about the people who run the club.
We hope Dominic McKay implores the board to be more transparent in his modernisation of the club.
