The Celtic Fans Collective have extended an olive branch to the Celtic board which they barely deserve given their disastrous performance this season. To interim Chairman Brian Wilson
On the park the team is in crisis having finally slumped below the boards ridiculously low standard of just being slightly better than The 2012 Ibrox Tribute Act.
On Monday interim chairman Brian Wilson told the club website “I would appeal for unity within the stadium to create the best possible environment for the manager and team to launch the fight-back.”
And to the credit of the Collective they have responded to this appeal in a positive manner.
They have asked for a meeting with the chairman to find a way forward.
WILSON MAKES MEANINGFUL MOVE?
The chairman’s call for unity marks a complete about turn and of course it is to be welcomed.
It hopefully marks the end of the club’s disastrous policy so far this season of attacking supporters at every turn.
Had this collaborative approach been taken earlier in the season, fan disenfranchisement would never have reached the levels it now has.
All of the failings that were exposed by the departure of Wilfried Nancy and Paul Tisdale were exactly the concerns the fans raised at the start of the season.
What has unfolded is the inevitable result of poor recruitment, disastrous appointments to key roles and a complete lack of vision.
The hoarding of cash rather than investing in the team or stadium.
But despite the coming together of an unprecedented number of fans to question the club’s direction, the response was to shoot the messenger.
Over and over again.
SEASON OF DISCONTENT
Inside the stadium a security crackdown was enforced requiring a ticket to be shown to use a toilet.
Away from the stadium it was even worse.
False accusations of seriously criminality were thrown at fans on a regular basis, the manager was trashed by an anonymous source.
And when Brendan Rodgers could no longer tolerate the constant undermining of his position, Dermot Desmond launched a scathing personal attack on him on his way out.
The fans were wrong, the winning manager was wrong – the board insisted they knew what they were doing.
But the disastrous appointment of Nancy by the spectacularly under qualified Tisdale exposed all the failings the fans have been pointing to.
With nobody left to blame, Wilson has called for the support of the fans. He does so at a time when disillusionment within the fan base is at an all time high.
COLLECTIVE BOYCOTT PUT ON HOLD
As the Collective pointed out, fan anger has reached breaking point with 142 supporters clubs calling for a boycott of Saturdays home game.
Current season ticket holder are not attending games in numbers while the Green Brigade remain banned from the stadium.
This is a fan base that finally tasted a relative degree of success in the Champions League last season after years of disappointments.
Season Tickets were renewed in the hope of building on that platform.
And yet the club chose instead to sell off the best players from last season and not replace them.
Rather than kicking on in the Champions League, this season the team is unable to take care of Scottish clubs working on a fraction of our budget.
And while Chairman Wilson is to be commended in calling for unit actions speak louder than words.
Many pundits are claiming faults on both sides, fans and board.
What an astonishingly ridiculous argument.
Fans pay good money into the club and are responsible for turning up at games.
The Celtic board and executives take vast sums of money from the club and are responsible for running the club properly.
The idea that fans might be to blame for any of this mess is utterly ludicrous.
All we have ever asked is that the club is run properly and we get the best version of Celtic that is possible.
It is now up to Brian Wilson to speak to the Celtic Fans Collective and demonstrate that he wants the fans on board to rescue the situation.
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