The Unbelievable Achievement of the Celtic Fans Collective

The Celtic Fans Collective have achieved their most impressive goal to date.

On 12 August at 8.45pm Celtic became net SPENDERS in the transfer market with the signing of Haissem Hassan from Real Oviedo.

For the first time since summer 2022 Celtic were spending money before selling off players.

Back in the summer of 2022 Mark Lawwell inflicted Alexandro Bernabei, Sead Haksabanovic, Benji Siegrist and Oliver Abildgaard on the the manager. As soon as the 2002/03 season ended Ange Postecoglou left Celtic. In January Josip Juranovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis were sold to balance the summer spend.

This summer there has been an extensive clear-out of the flops accumulated over recent transfer windows.

Selling Maik Nawrocki and Luis Palma brought in around £5m after three wasted years. Hayato Inamura left after less than a year following some star spotting from Paul Tisdale. Doctor Football also inflicted Shin Yamada on the payroll.

THE UNEXPECTED SHIFT IN CELTIC TRANSFER POLICY

The fees for Palma, Nawrocki and Daizen Maeda just about balanced up the signings of Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh.

Celtic fans were encouraged to see proper fees invested in proven Champions League goal-scorers.

You don’t tend to get over-ready players from the A-League, K-League or elsewhere unless you have a specialist like Postecoglou in the house to identity the Maeda’s and Reo Hatate types.

Without that you end up with Marco Tilio and Kwon Hyeok-kyu type signings. Two five year contracts, £2m wasted in transfer fees and 28 minutes of first team football.

Frustration was. No effort had been made to replace Kyogo Furuhashi in January, Michael Nicholson was taking the same approach with Nicolas Kuhn.

Brendan Rodgers faced Kairat Almatry with a squad deliberately weakened. On the way back from Kazakhstan the Celtic CEO celebrated selling Adam Idah.

The club Chairman was on a jolly to the Champions League draw to see who Celtic could have played. Kairat won one point from eight matches.

CELTIC FANS COLLECTIVE FORCE BOARDROOM CHANGE IN POLICY

What has followed since has been incredible. No one predicted this course of events.

• A group of concerned fans published an open letter at the start of September.
• By mid September the Collective had been named and formed.
• At the start of October Nicholson and Chris McKay held a meeting with various fan groups. Even with low expectations their answers were jaw dropping.
• In November the club retaliated with the suspension of the Green Brigade. The atmosphere inside Celtic Park plummeted
• Chairman Lawwell had had enough by mid December. He stormed off in similar fashion to his handing of the AGM in November.
• In January the dud that was Wilfried Nancy was sacked over fears about a total boycott of the home match against Dundee United.

The outstanding candidate to replace Rodgers lost six games out of eight. An achievement that is almost impossible in the dross of Scottish football. CEO Nicholson hasn’t been heard of since December 17.

The Collective had shook Celtic to the foundations. Elderly Chairman Brian Unity Wilson was forced into monthly Supporter Updates. Losing precious time from campaigning for his Red Tories.

Faced with losing the SPFL title Unity Wilson lifted the ban on the Green Brigade having previously blamed it on Glasgow City Council.

Spending real money on proper players however hasn’t happened since season 2000/01 when Chris Sutton, Alan Thompson, Neil Lennon and John Hartson were signed with only Mark Viduka sold.

An appointment in October 2003 soon put a halt to any thoughts of ambition. The profits were soon staying in-house and allocated by the Remuneration Committee.

NEXT STEPS FOR THE COLLECTIVE

Having achieved so much in such a short space of time now is the time for the Collective keep the accelerator on the floor.

There are already a number of fans wanting to call peace. To race into the shops and get NICHOLSON 26 on the latest Lisbon related tat.

Clearly they are deluded. Failing to see the big picture, possibly wilfully.

The pressure absolutely needs maintained.

Signing Hassan and Mika Baur doesn’t cover the multitude of failings led by Nicholson.

The Celtic Academy doesn’t produce footballers, the club doesn’t communicate with anti-establishment fans, the facilities at Celtic Park are from a previous century.

WHEN WILL CELTIC BE READY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY?

Celtic have 50-50 chance of getting past LASK into the group phase of the Champions League.

Two successes in qualifying from the last nine attempts suggests that the club prefers the comfort of Europa League Thursday’s.

Celtic shouldn’t be in next week’s Play Off matches.

If they had been run competently over the last decade they would have the highest co-efficient in the Champions route and gain an automatic place in the group stage.

Shakhtar Donetsk are automatically through to the group stage. Is it too much to expect Celtic to better the performances of a club that hasn’t played a home European tie since2021?

Rodgers showed in season 24/25 what Celtic are capable of. Despite having Matt O’Riley and Kyogo sold he took Celtic to the 177th minute of a Round of 16 Play Off against Bayern Munich.

Celtic are currently 53rd in the UEFA Co-Efficient table.

Once they are inside the top 30 with a negligible Corporation Tax bill the Collective can call off their actions and say job done.

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