Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay were forced to literally turn away from the Celtic supporters at Firhill on Sunday.
With almost 6,000 fans holding up cards asking them to leave the club, Celtic’s CEO and CFO shamefully pretended to be scrolling through their phones.
The Premier Sports cameras highlighted the entirety of the Jackie Husband Stand holding up banners asking the two executives and chairman Peter Lawwell to leave the club.
But when those same cameras panned round to the padded seats, our millionaire executives suddenly felt the need for a quick game of Candy Crush.
It was a pathetic display of cowardice.
Fans are sick and tired of being ignored and Nicholson and McKay demonstrated exactly that on Sunday, live on TV.
MICHAEL NICHOLSON
A CEO is supposed to be a leader.
They are meant to be the one person in an organisation that can stand up and face any issue head on.
Tackle the difficult situations and find a solution, demonstrate leadership.
Michael Nicholson refused to even look at 6,000 of the people that funded his £837,000 annual salary for the year to 30 June 2024, the figure for 2025 won’t be far off £1m.
He couldn’t even acknowledge the views of Celtic fans when they are the width of a football pitch away holding up signs that covered the entire length of the pitch.
The board ignoring the fans… Proving the protesters point!
Symbolism of the symptom of boards detachment from the fans pic.twitter.com/PelYXZ1uGv— Malahide Celtic Supporters Club (@malahidecsc) September 21, 2025
The bad news for Nicholson, McKay and Lawwell is that the Celtic fans are just warming up.
The Celtic Fans Collective has only just been formed, the full force of the fan movement has yet to be demonstrated.
Sunday’s protest was a massive win for the Collective on its first outing.
Huge credit must go to everyone who organised and paid for the signs which once again forced the fans message to the fore.
There was a definite buzz among the Celtic fans at Firhill.
The ultras were up at the Jackie Husband Stand for 2pm to get the protest materials into the ground.
To be fair to Partick Thistle, the decision to give Celtic fans the bigger Jackie Husband stand created the perfect atmosphere with the home fans putting on their own display in their packed stand behind the goal.
A full stadium with a great atmosphere.
CELTIC FANS COLLECTIVE
By the time most Celtic fans got into the ground there was a sheet on every seat, with a picture of Lawwell, Nicholson or McKay with a red line through it.
Basking in the sun, the white cards went up as the Celtic board took their uncomfortable seats and the teams came out.
“All Celtic Fans Against The Board” was emblazoned across the front of the stand and was the song Celtic fans belted out in unison.
Point made. Emphatically.
TEAMWORK
On the pitch there were some good signs that the team is coming together despite the asset stripping of the first team squad that went on this summer.
Sebastian Tounekti impressed again and got his first goal, Kieran Tierney played his first 90 minutes since returning from Arsenal as the Bhoy’s racked up an impressive 4-0 win to secure a semi final place against Glasgow’s newest club.
The manager and players got a fantastic reception from the protesting fans at the final whistle.
And academy Bhoy Colby Donovan got to lead the fans in the traditional after match rendition of Finder by Ninetoes.
The team looked like they are beginning to gel and the fans are motivated and organised.
The only problem area in the Celtic world is in the boardroom.
The open letter backed by tens of thousands of Celtic fans remains unanswered.
GUILTY SCHOOLBOYS
But the pressure is building, Nicholson and McKay looked like guilty schoolboys at Firhill, staring down at their shoes desperately trying to avoid what’s inevitably coming to them.
That wasn’t leadership they showed yesterday, it was cowardice.
The leadership on display was in the Jackie Husband stand, from a Celtic support that is sick of being ignored and short changed.
If the CEO and CFO can’t handle what the fans had for them on Sunday, just wait till the Celtic Fans Collective really gets going.
After their jolly to Belgrade it is time to face the music at Celtic Park in the first match since the transfer window closed.
The directors of Celtic TV are in for a challenging afternoon as they pretend that all is hunky dory inside the #celticfamily.
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