For reasons known only to the senior figures inside the club, Celtic issued a statement at 8.42pm on Saturday to explain and deflect away from a horrific period of corporate mismanagement.
There are credible suggestions that the 1030 word statement was partly created by AI, whatever the purpose of the statement if only served to increase anger over the way that the club is run.
It seems that the club led by Michael Nicholson knows best on every issue but have been thwarted by other clubs, mainstream media, players, agents and even social media to deliver a competent team on the park that can qualify for the Champions League and not be terrified of eight brutal beatings.
On top of that it seems that Celtic are on the brink of UEFA sanctions for breaching Financial Sustainability Rules, strange considering that Celtic like to declare themselves as the best run and most admired club in Europe.
On and on it went, doubling down and digging holes as fans scrolled through looking for either a confession of failure or a positive to take away. They found neither.
The statement opened with:
CELTIC: Following constructive meetings yesterday (Friday) with representatives of the Celtic Supporters’ Association, the Affiliation of Registered Celtic Supporters’ Clubs and the Association of Irish Celtic Supporters’ Clubs, the Club thanks them for conveying the concerns of their members, and Celtic supporters more widely.
Since the meeting all three organisations have passed votes of no confidence in the Board of Directors.
At the meeting Michael Nicholson knew that one of his colleagues was about to trash Brendan Rodgers in The Sun, not much of a unifying action especially in a publication that few Celtic fans have any time of respect for, clearly it is a favoured publisher of Nicholson.
CELTIC: Transfer activity attracts enormous attention and speculation, particularly across social media, and the mainstream media has commoditised the transfer window in its relentless search for content. In connection with Celtic, we recognise that debate around this subject reflects the passion of our supporters. Unfortunately, as is often the case in the media and social media, there is inaccurate or misleading information in circulation.
That will be the mainstream media that one of Nicholson’s colleagues was speaking to to undermine the manager including the claim that he was giving off the record briefings against the club! Apparently Rodgers is the first manager to ever question the club strategy which is a clear lie based on comments made in the past by Neil Lennon, Ange Postecoglou and Ronny Deila over the last 15 years.
The mainstream media are given special access and facilities at Celtic Park, not once this year has the club used their own media platforms to correct any inaccuracies.
CELTIC: However, the Club must adhere to our self-sustaining model: to protect the present and secure the future, ensuring Celtic remains strong for generations to come. The Club’s model has been developed and applied over many years, and during that period the Club has enjoyed a sustained period of success and growth.
Further, the Club’s model is not optional – it is now essential as a consequence of the UEFA Sustainability Regulations, with which the Club must comply. Wages and transfer spending are strictly governed by UEFA’s regulations, which effectively cap wages and transfer spending as a proportion of our revenues. Importantly, the Club’s cash reserves are not relevant to the assessment of this de facto spending cap for the purposes of the UEFA regulations.
Celtic are the most compliant club in Europe with the new Financial Sustainability Regulations. No one runs up profits like Celtic, no club involved in group stage football reinvests a smaller percentage of their transfer income.
Over the last two seasons Celtic could have spent around £20m more on transfer fees and wages and still complied with the 70% ration.
In the final week of the transfer window Celtic were widely reported to be negotiating to sign Kasper Dolberg from Anderlecht, clearly there was plenty of slack left in the budget to sign players.
Swiss Ramble provides the sort of breakdown that the club is afraid to provide supporters with.
CELTIC: The Club plans our recruitment and player trading strategy responsibly and consistently, ensuring the squad can be strengthened for the short, medium and long term, while also seeking to ensure the development and progression of our Academy players. Our objective is to create Champions League players.
It is more than 10 years since Kieran Tierney came through from the Academy, over the last three weekends Celtic B has lost to Linlithgow Rose, Bonnyrigg Rose and Alloa Athletic, conceding 13 goals in those matches. Only a complete fool would expect any Champions League players to emerge from the B team.
The player trading strategy this year has resulted in Kyogo Furuhashi, Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah being sold and not replaced. A promise was made to Daizen Maeda that he would be sold if he would play in the matches against Kairat and at Ibrox, on transfer deadline day Celtic went back on that promise.
CELTIC: Successful transfers can only be negotiated privately. It would be impossible to secure players if every stage were conducted in public. From time to time, other parties may also seek to create pressure by leaking information to the media. The Club’s position is clear: transfer business will remain confidential until agreements are concluded and announced by the club.
It follows, therefore, that much of what is written in the media or online about our transfer dealings is inaccurate. We also understand that this leads to frustration among supporters. While we cannot comment during ongoing negotiations, we are exploring ways to seek to address the gap between speculation and reality once each transfer window closes, in order to improve clarity for our supporters.
Absolutely no fan expects transfer negotiations to be completed in public, no one is wanting daily or hourly updates on negotiations. Fans do expect the team to be strengthened not weakened ahead of Champions League qualifiers, the club seems far more adept at selling players rather than signing them.
Announce the signings of player of the quality of Liel Abada, Kyogo Furuhashi, Josip Juranovic, Carl Starfelt, Jota, Giorgos Giakoumas, Joe Hart and Cameron Carter-Vickers and no-one cares how those deals were concluded.
In their usual patronising fashion the club statement ended with
CELTIC: We thank Celtic supporters for their unmatched passion and commitment. We all share the same ambition: to see Celtic succeed on the pitch while remaining strong and secure off it. We hope this statement provides clarity about our transfer policy and reassurance of our unwavering dedication to Celtic’s short, medium and long-term success.
How misguided can you get, the statement is an exercise in gaslighting and failing to read the room.
The tweet for the statement has been viewed more than four million times, there is no way back for the current board members that have allowed the club to slide into the current condition.
Brendan Rodgers wasn’t once mentioned by name in the statement.
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Nicholson 8 minutes- the strategy has always been clear and that is to be a world class football club in whatever we do
Irrespective of the condescending and insulting content of this statement, 350+ Celtic fan entities representing tens of thousands of Celtic fans around the world have signed an open letter with 7 explicit questions – these questions, and those asking them, have been ignored. https://t.co/WXnpgU5js4
— North Curve Celtic (@NCCeltic) September 6, 2025
