Davie Provan has called out Ian Bankier for his ‘supporters update’ used to excuse away a disastrous season that was as good as over in January.
The Celtic Chairman rarely makes any sort of public comment but with Peter Lawwell winding down towards retirement Bankier is required to keep the ship afloat.
Deflection and Denial were the order of the day as bleak financial figures were blamed on anything other than the failings of the board, the CEO and the team manager.
Reaching the Champions League group stage of selling one player desperate to leave would have provided a profit in a pandemic but as a business and as a football club Celtic have failed badly.
In The Sun Provan writes:
Here’s the reality Mr Chairman. When it comes to advantages, you’ll never be handed a bigger one than Rangers going bust. You were handed the keys to the bank. That £20m you have in the vault this morning could be countless millions more if you had shown an ounce of Champions League ambition.
Instead, you’ve blown the biggest gift offered to any Celtic board. Bankier sees it differently, putting the financial results down to “reduced gains from player trading as we sought to keep our squad intact”, and “prolonged value-destructive impact of the pandemic”.
Really? So nothing to do with losing the Champions League qualifier to a bang-average Ferencvaros? Or finishing bottom of their Europa League group? Seems Bankier has airbrushed this season’s awful European campaign.
As for keeping the squad intact? Of the six players signed last summer, only two were in early enough to start against Ferencvaros. How difficult is it to get players through the door on time for the most important game of the season?
After announcing on December 7 a managerial review it seems that the midweek update was the club’s response. Tellingly Neil Lennon wasn’t mentioned by name.
Bankier has been chairman for 10 years during which relations with the support has slowly deteriorated to the current extent. A check on the club’s Social Media content should give the Chairman feedback to think over as he oversees the launch of the next Season Ticket renewal campaign.