Brian Wilson pulls out of meeting with Celtic Fans Collective

Brian Wilson has backtracked on a promise to meet with the Celtic Fans Collective before March 19.

The Interim Chairman of Celtic is a former Labour Cabinet Minister. A colleague of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson.

Not telling the truth was an art form under Prime Minister Blair, a skill that Wilson has put to use throughout his time at Celtic.

Since taking over from Peter Lawwell as Chairman on January 1 Wilson has gone out of his way to publicly call for unity between the supporters and the club.

Wilson sent out his first call on January 5. No meetings were held that month with the Chairman focussing on transfer activity.

Celtic failed to make one permanent signing during the January transfer window. Joel Mvuka was the pick of the duds selected by Celtic’s Recruitment Team. A downgrade on Shin Yamada and Hayato Inamura.

WILSON SPEAKS WITH FORKED TONGUE

A meeting with the Collective was arranged for February 11. When the Collective submitted their agenda Wilson put the meeting back a week, apparently to include an executive presence.

When the meeting took place Wilson added Kevin McQuillan, head of club media and long serving SLO John Paul Taylor to the club representatives.

Early on in the meeting Wilson admitted that he had no power to make any decisions.

He would report back to the club executives. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Nicholson and McKay were hiding in an adjoining room.

The Interim Chairman praised the performance of Nicholson then made a promise that he has failed to meet.

The two parties met on February 18 with the minutes from the Collective stating:

B. Fan Engagement

Advisory Board / Structured Engagement

The Collective referenced October minutes which included discussion of a Fan Advisory Board. Four months on, no structured engagement mechanism had been introduced.

BW confirmed consultation on supporter engagement structures would begin and committed to meeting again within one month to update on progress.

Wilson had no idea about the commitment at the previous meeting with the Collective to set up a Fan Advisory Board.

Wilson and McQullan were unable to name who had banned fan media from club activities.

There has been no mention in Collective updates about a proposed March meeting.

The previous meeting came the night before the Europa League tie at home to Stuttgart.

PASS THE GB BAN TO SAG

To be fair to Nicholson there has been contact with the Green Brigade.

Apparently Celtic are all for the return of the Green Brigade but that has been blocked by the Safety Advisory Group of Glasgow City Council.

There is a clue in the inclusion of the word Advisory.

Last week SAG met with another football club and recommended the closure of the Union Bears section at Ibrox.

On Saturday the Union Bears were at full strength sharing their poison at the match against Aberdeen.

At the previous home match hundreds of fans had invaded the pitch. Physically attacking Celtic players and staff. Launching flares and other missiles into the Free Broomloan.

Wilson was wheeled out to reach four days after the match was played.

He said virtually nothing. His claim that SAG are responsible for the Green Brigade is at best questionable.

Celtic fans can now look forward to two weeks of silence before the next match, at Dundee on April 5.

After three months of his unity bandwagon Wilson is likely to slip back into the background as he concentrates his energy on ousting the SNP Government from Holyrood through his columns in The Scotsman.

NOTE: Celtic haven’t held their quarterly Fan Forum since May 2025.

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