Hearts 3–1 Celtic: Another Defeat That Proves the Board’s Neglect Is Killing the Club
THE RESULT THAT SAYS IT ALL
There are defeats — and then there are statements of decline.
Celtic’s 3–1 defeat away to Hearts wasn’t just another bad day at the office. It was a flashing red warning light, another example of a club being run from the top down by people who don’t understand, or worse, don’t care. Nine games into the season, and we’re already eight points adrift. That’s not form — that’s failure. Failure born from a decade of short-termism, underinvestment, and a boardroom that treats football as an inconvenience to its balance sheet. This is Celtic. Eight points behind after nine games isn’t just unacceptable — it’s unthinkable. But when you see how this club has been managed, it’s no surprise at all.
THE ROT STARTED UPSTAIRS
Let’s be clear: this result didn’t start at Tynecastle. It started at the top.
A summer transfer window that will go down as one of the weakest in recent memory. Promises of “quality over quantity” that delivered neither. A statement from the boardroom that insulted supporters’ intelligence. While Brendan Rodgers tries to build a team capable of competing, the PLC works against the football department — trimming ambition, blocking progress, and protecting dividends. How can a club that preaches “world class in everything we do” end up with a squad this unbalanced, this short on leadership, this riddled with players the manager clearly didn’t ask for? The answer lies in one phrase: “club signings.”
We all remember that meeting — when fans asked CEO Michael Nicholson about Rodgers’ comment, and he simply shrugged. That shrug has become the perfect metaphor for this board: detached, directionless, and disrespectful.
A DEFEAT THAT FUELS THE MOVEMENT
If anything good can come from this result, it’s this: it vindicates every warning the Collective and the wider fan base have been shouting for months. The “Not One More Penny” boycott wasn’t born out of hysteria. It was born out of clarity. Fans saw this coming — the decay, the apathy, the lack of football leadership. And today’s result proves them right. The board told us all was fine. The fans said it wasn’t. Now the scoreline at Tynecastle backs the fans, not the executives. So here’s the truth: this defeat doesn’t weaken the movement — it strengthens it. Because every poor performance now echoes the same message — football suffers when greed governs.
CELTIC IS MORE THAN A PLC
Supporters have always been the heartbeat of this club. We’ve carried it through the dark days, rebuilt it from ruins, and filled every stadium from Lisbon to Livingston. But that spirit is being tested by those who treat Celtic like a private portfolio. For too long, this board has hidden behind success built by others, claiming credit while quietly siphoning ambition into shareholder satisfaction. That era has to end. No more false dawns. Excuses no more. No more shrugging at failure.
THE FIGHT CONTINUES
So where do we go from here?
The same place we’ve been heading — towards accountability. Every defeat strengthens the case for reform. Every fan who stops spending strengthens the pressure. The “Not One More Penny” campaign now carries even more moral weight — because the consequences of this board’s neglect are playing out on the pitch. If they won’t act out of pride, they’ll act out of pain — financial, public, and political. That’s what leverage looks like. Celtic’s problems aren’t tactical. They’re structural. And no amount of PR statements or half-hearted signings will hide that truth anymore.
THE MESSAGE FROM THE FANS
To the players: we’ll always back you, to the manager: we see what you’re up against. To the board: your time of hiding behind the crest is over. You can shrug off questions, but you can’t shrug off results. You can write statements, but you can’t rewrite the table. Eight points behind after nine games. A fanbase unified in anger. And a movement that’s only getting louder. “Not One More Penny” isn’t just a slogan now — it’s a reality born of results.
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9 Comments
by Steve
Agree with everything mentioned in the article.
As a fan base we need to stand up together and back the collective.
It is time for more action though.
If that includes boycotting games, especially the EL ,then this has to be done or the board will just shrug and take no notice.
by Jamie Harvey
Boycotting games ONLY affects the team on the park. Board couldn’t care less if you don’t turn up for games, they’ve already got most of their money through season tickets. Boycotting merchandise and retail units inside stadium might be better and maybe Addidas will take notice of reduced sales? HH
by Che
Corporate greed and asset stripping, enormous bonuses and fat cat pensions they reward their failure and shrug when under scrutiny. Stop giving them your money
by Valentine's day massacre
What is it that the Celtic board doesn’t like about success ? That’s the conclusion I have reached I’m afraid . By refusing to invest in the team and the club financially by not bringing in so much needed new players in 2 windows and thumbing their noses to the fans tells me that they are obviously sick and tired of prosperity and continued achievements !
Either that or there is new rules set by the games governing bodies stipulating that no one club shall be winning everything every season …all on the quiet of course . How else can something so successful go so bad ..so quickly?
by Trough Watcher
‘Boycott games’ isnt the correct thing or in the strategy of the collective and nor should it be. This season tickets are bought and paid for.
We are involved in a resource withdrawal campaign, not a ‘spectacle campaign’. It completely misreads the strategy. Empty seats mean nothing when tickets are bought. Think about it. Fill the seats and starve them et the tills on match days and merch drops etc as has been clearly announced
I have started a further article explaining where I think the movement is at the moment and where the board are, which I started previous to the current Desmond pissed up auntie on Facebook statement and Rodgers’ resignation.
HH
by Dan
I agree with game boycotts, it sends a huge message to the greed group
by Trough Watcher
Game Boycotts aren’t on the agenda. They serve no purpose thos current season. Boycotts of matches would only be a thing in the new 26/27 post season ticket renewal era. Right now the boycotts are at the clubs resources on match days and merchandise. A game boycott will not happen this season.
by Bhoy4life
A successful, winning team on the park is what the whole business model is based on.
The team wins the league, they get circa 4m from the SPL.
They win the league they get a shot at the CL.
They get into the CL, its guaranteed 40m pot.
If we advance into the knock outs the payouts climb.
The club continues to be successful, the stadium is full for every game.
All euro packages are sold out.
The stadium is full, the shop is full, the kiosks are full, the programmes are sold.
Continued success attracts better players.
The clubs status is lifted by all of this, merchandise walks off the shelves.
And finally, the bank balance is healthy so that all of this can be maintained.
So….if stupid auld me can understand what it takes to keep the business up to snuff and Sevco and the rest at our heels….why can’t the likes of PL/MN & DD see this too?
Why would all, or any one of them, oversee a deliberate, because as far as I’m concerned it is deliberate, a managed decline in the squad?
There is nobody gonna convince me that a man like DD, a self made multi billionaire, has taken his eye off the ball that much, that one of his interests has been allowed to decay to a point of self harm without knowing what the endgame was.
The only one of my points above that I can see is that we have multi millions in the bank.
And if PL/MN & DD would like to explain to me and all the other fans what the point is, of having 70-100m in the bank, when the squad on the park disintegrates in front of our eyes?
If money in a football clubs bank account isn’t to strengthen the squad and keep the ground up to snuff….just what exactly is it for?
by Trough Watcher
Good points well made bhoy4life.
The very fact is, the club is rotten, lacking in imagination and ambition.
For years having to see that Gazebo on champions league nights is enough to embarrass any one, but not these mentalists. How can these men with such huge ego and precious delicacies not be utterly humiliated when the great and good turn up to that shit hole main stand and sit in their crappy seats? Not only that those little press benches. Haha wow if any thing is a beacon of that board it’s all of that in a nutshell. We are a joke. And it’s not funny!