After six months of ongoing acrimony, Celtic interim chairman Brian Wilson last week offered an olive branch to the wider Parkhead support by agreeing to a sit-down with various groups to discuss the issues which are threatening to tear the club apart.
There is widespread dissatisfaction among the rank and file at the way the club is operating at all levels.
The transfer policy, the apparent stockpiling of money and a lack of meaningful communication are the main frustrations for fans which culminated in a boycott of Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie against Dundee.
Here, Daily Mail Sport’s John McGarry looks at the questions Wilson is likely to be asked and wonders what answers, if any, he can provide to satisfy those sitting on the other side of the table.
Where is CEO Michael Nicholson?
It’s a completely fair opener. Wilson deserved some credit for showing a willingness to belatedly engage with organised groups. But he’s made it clear that he’s only filling the role recently vacated by Peter Lawwell on a short-term basis.
Michael Nicholson is the chief executive of Celtic Football Club. He’s responsible for the day-to-day operation. He’s the person who should be sitting down with fans’ groups.
Since moving into his current role, initially in an interim capacity in 2021, he’s attempted to avoid scrutiny by restricting his interviews to the occasional appearance on club TV. He didn’t even sit beside Wilfried Nancy when the Frenchman was unveiled as manager.
The fact Nicholson evidently sees nothing wrong with Wilson taking the lead with these meetings strengthens the view that he’s the wrong man for the job.
Interim chairman Brian Wilson has agreed to sit down with various Celtic supporters’ groups
Celtic fans are increasingly angry about the way the club is operating on and off the pitch
CEO Michael Nicholson’s silence has led many to question the club’s communication
Why did Brendan Rodgers leave the football club?
With Nicholson purposefully avoiding mainstream media duties, it means no one has adequately explained why Celtic’s most decorated living manager mysteriously ‘resigned’ last year.
To date, supporters have only had Dermot Desmond’s extraordinary character assassination – published on the official club website – to go on.
That was the one which claimed that the Northern Irishman’s ‘words and actions since then (summer) have been divisive, misleading and self-serving’.
It continued: ‘What has failed recently was not due to our structure or model, but one individua’ls desire for self-preservation at the expense of others.’
Now working in Saudi Arabia, Rodgers hasn’t bitten back and is not likely to.
But the issue remains unresolved. Why would a manager who reiterated his commitment to the post just days before supposedly walk out the door?
Why were Paul Tisdale and Wilfried Nancy appointed in their respective roles?
There were major red flags in both cases. Tisdale had been a successful manager with Exeter, but his last job at Stevenage had been a disaster.
The self-styled ‘football doctor’ had never managed anywhere other than the lower echelons of English football. He seemed to lack the requisite skillset to be Celtic’s head of football operations.
Nancy did win the MLS Cup with Columbus Crew, but that was only after his side finished third in the Eastern Conference. They finished seventh prior to Celtic moving for him – just four years after his managerial career had begun.
What was the process which led Celtic to the doors of both Tisdale and Nancy? Who was on the interview panel?
If there were concerns in both cases simply by looking at their respective CVs from afar, it seems extraordinary that they were waved through.
Who is running the show?
When Martin O’Neill’s morning coffee on the King’s Road was disturbed by a phone call in October, the name on his phone was that of Dermot Desmond – not Nicholson.
This kind of situation when it comes to the big calls at the club has long been accepted as the norm when it’s far from that.
The Irish billionaire owns just over 34 per cent of Celtic. While he’s the biggest single shareholder, he does not own the club outright.
Desmond is entitled to feel that his voice should be the loudest in the room, but it should not be the only one that’s heard. He’s a non-executive director after all.
Wilson could do with explaining why Celtic appear to have this curious set-up where the word of one man apparently goes.
Why the need to stockpile money?
At last check, the club had £77m in cash reserves sitting in the bank.
While clearly having substantial funds set aside for a rainy day is prudent, what’s the point in amassing this gargantuan amount?
A professional football club exists primarily so supporters can watch the best possible version of the team. By refusing or failing to reinvest so much of the profits in new players, Celtic aren’t properly functioning.
There have been suggestions that this money has been earmarked to upgrade or rebuild the outdated South Stand, but the board don’t seem to think this is viable.
That being the case, there seems no plausible explanation for the current financial state of play.
How long will the Green Brigade be locked out of Celtic Park?
This matter now dates back to November when 200 members of the ultras group were hit with an initial six-game ban due to ‘safety incidents’.
But with the suspension extended indefinitely, there appears to be no end in sight.
While the club are adamant that it had no choice but to act in the way it did, the situation is clearly not helping Martin O’Neill’s team.
Notwithstanding the boycott of Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie against Dundee, the atmosphere at home matches across the past three months has been flat.
No one is gaining from the current impasse. If Wilson was able to indicate an end point, it would go a long way to building bridges.
What’s the club’s grand plan?
One of the most extraordinary things to come out of November’s rowdy AGM was the admission from Ross Desmond, son of Dermot, of where Celtic apparently see themselves in European football’s great food chain.
‘Those who talk about the club not having kicked on in Europe since 2003 ignore the enormous change in the management landscape of football in that period,’ he stated.
‘It has created a gap which keeps growing. Of course, clubs can still punch above their financial weight and we should aspire to that. But if you swing and miss, you risk the very stability of the club and that would be profoundly irresponsible.’
Rightly or wrongly, this was seen as the white flag being raised in Europe.
No one would expect Celtic to try and compete financially with clubs like Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid.
But that’s not the gauge by which Celtic have been judged. The club has now lost five successive Champions League qualifiers to AEK Athens, Cluj, Ferencvaros, Midtjylland and Kairat Almaty. In each case, there were concerns that they were going in undercooked.
There is no reason why Celtic could not act like a turbo-charged Club Brugge, trading players smartly, aiming to reach the last 16 each year while winning trophies in Scotland. It might help if someone in authority said as much.
