Our man Hugh Keevins has a message for the Parkhead board after the club released their latest accounts
Veteran sportswriter and broadcaster with a distinctive style. A boxing expert as well as a football writer and columnist for the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, Hugh also presents Clyde 1 FM’s Superscoreboard show.
I would give up my state pension in exchange for a seat at Celtic’s AGM before the end of the year.
They are masters of profitability, as their latest stunning accounts show, and architects of their Champions League downfall at the same time.
Otherwise, why use the word “apologise” in their fiscal statement to cover the failure to make that tournament proper?
The statement released on Friday evening, like the one sneaked out late on a Saturday night to explain an eccentric transfer window, will exacerbate annoyance among the wealth providers known as fans.
The club that gets poorer on the park the richer they become off the field have succeeded in making a very good team an extremely ordinary one, if last Sunday’s 2-1 victory against Kilmarnock was any indication.
Three good points to regain top spot in the Premiership table, of course, but a laborious style of football that fooled no one with an open mind and a memory of what things used to look like before quality players were sold and not replaced
One fans’ group statement recently said Celtic’s board gave “sterile responses” to requests for information and indulged in “corporate jargon” when they finally did explain why the transfer window now closed was rigged against them.
Their response infuriated rather than inspired Celtic’s rank-and-file season-ticket buying legions.
What happens when the corporate floor is thrown open to shareholders at the AGM and the hierarchy are asked a straight question in the hope of getting a straight answer might be interesting.
I’m told the board seriously dislike long, lingering camera shots of the directors’ box during TV coverage of matches.
But the cameras will again be trained on the board at Firhill on Sunday at the start of a demanding sequence of games squeezed into the space of a week.
A cup tie with Partick Thistle, a Europa League match away to Red Star and a league meeting against Hibs will lay bare the suitability, or otherwise, of Brendan Rodgers’ squad.
The last window was a catalogue of errors. The next might be viewed differently if Rodgers gets his way. Assuming the manager is still in his post, of course.
Rodgers has condemned the “cowardly act” carried out by the unnamed person inside the club who planted an inaccurate story about him plotting a way out of Celtic.
Rodgers wants the culprit to resign. Nothing more has been heard of the matter but it will be hard to sweep under the carpet. Unless, that is, the manager sees the boardroom inactivity as a sign his employers are trying to tell him something and leaves of his own volition.
Rodgers created a stir on Friday by speaking about the morality of former Rangers personnel criticising Russell Martin when they know the demands of his job.
The same principle must surely apply to the person who planted the inaccurate story about Rodgers. The mole must be aware of the success the manager has brought. There is a moral obligation to clear the manager’s name.
Meantime, Celtic have to guard against reputational damage in Europe. Their Champions League exit at the hands of Kairat Almaty was a humiliation.
The teams to be faced by Celtic in the Europa League will be of a higher calibre and performance levels will need to undergo a transformation.