Celtic are paying for advertising campaigns to shift heavily discounted Adidas kit for the current season.
Seven months of Not Another Penny has had a big impact on retail income with stocks high in unsold Adidas kit.
The hoops top is available at £50 having been launched in the summer at £75. The away kit, dark green with lime horizontal pinstripe is only costing £20 from a £75 launch price. For £70 fans can get two of the high quality Adidas kits launched last summer.
Except fans aren’t getting. They won’t pay up to a Board that treats them with contempt.
A board that makes the bank balance a priority over the team sheet. That prefers paying £11m to HMRC in Corporation Tax than investing in strikers that are Champions League ready.
CELTIC- WHERE CONTEMPT AND COMPLACENCY ARE IN THE DNA
After expecting Shin Yamada to see off Kairat Almaty Celtic wasted £10m signing Michel Ange Balikwisha and Sebastian Tounekti.
Any club interested in signing either of those wingers will be expecting at least a 70% discount on their summer 2025 transfer fees.
Yet some inside Celtic and selected messengers still push the line about being the best run club in Europe. Apparently admired by clubs large and small! That joke is wearing very thin.
I don’t subscribe to Celtic marketing. They have paid money to send the email to me. After a screenshot it was deleted.
Not Another Penny is working very well. Some uber fans are going out of their way to buy overpriced kit. Others are using their money in different ways.
Not too long ago fans would buy directly from Celtic to ensure that their money went straight to the club. Even if other retailers like Sports Direct were pricing items lower.
Those days are gone.
It takes a special level of contempt and neglect to force Celtic fans into that course of action. Under Michael Nicholson Celtic have achieved that.
Rather than face up to their issues the club is doubling down.
BRIAN WILSON AND THE BROKEN PROMISES
On February 18 Brian Wilson promised a follow up meeting with the Celtic Fans Collective within a month. April 18 is tomorrow with Wilson avoiding contact.
Another broken promise among so many.
Chairman Wilson still thinks that it is an honour for fans to speak to a Celtic Director. That they can patronise and palm them off without any follow up or kick back.
During that meeting with the Collective Wilson blamed the Green Brigade suspension on the Safety Advisory Group of Glasgow City Council.
The clue is in the word Advisory.
The Union Bears caused all sorts of carnage on March 8 after losing a Scottish Cup tie. Their club was advised to ban them. The club said no.
And with that the deflection and non-truths of Wilson were exposed.
Last Saturday the suspensions on 250 Season Ticket holders was lifted. They will be compensated for the games missed due to the actions of Michael Nicholson and Mark Hargreaves.
The Collective are going to step up their Not Another Penny campaign.
Interestingly they have another ploy lined up to hit Celtic in the pocket.
On Thursday night a blog post on the Collective website revealed
The Not Another Penny campaign has been incredibly successful in terms of the impact on merchandising and sales and we thank everyone who has stuck to that throughout the season.
That campaign will be expanded very soon by including Celtic’s digital endeavours which seek to monetise our data. There will be news on that one shortly but be assured it is another one which will cost you nothing at all and neither will it interfere with match-day outcomes.
CELTIC FANS TURN OFF THE CASH TAP
Adidas and others are bound to be taking notice. They don’t hand over millions of pounds without having targets attached.
Celtic fans have spent millions on Adidas kit since they came on board in 2000. Thousands of fans will have been spending £300 a more a year on Adidas kit. That stream is now a trickle.
With warehouses stacked with unsold kit there will be plenty of concern over how the 26/27 kit sales will go. Even playing the 60th anniversary of Lisbon card won’t dent the resolve of the Collective.
Celtic could of course try being honest with supporters, gut the boardroom and install qualified professionals based not on their surname or Secondary school attended.
That would point the club forward but would cast a shadow over 20 years on moonbeams delivered by Lawwell and his cronies.
Which explains why Celtic fans can expect more of the same over the coming months rather than the revamp and review badly needed.
