Celtic seem keen to avoid answering- Is the party over with fan-media?

It seems that there are signs of distress developing between Celtic’s Communications team and the websites that have been granted very limited access to the club over the last 13 months. 

Starting off in style with Dom McKay and Ange Postecoglou things were quickly watered down under Michael Nicholson as the club decided to concentrate their efforts on their long term partners at the Daily Record, BBC Scotland, Herald/Times, Scotsman etc despite their clearly declining reach. 

Promises of access for fan media sites to the engaging new manager failed to materialise although they were put on a rota and restricted to one question for Postecoglou’s pre-match broadcast conference.

Fan sites did add some meaningful questions to the usual agendas from the usual suspects. One voice that switched from PLZ Soccer to Radio Clyde seemed to struggle with the concept that someone from Australia could be on top of the different dynamics of Scottish football. 

With virtually no mainstream interest in the Celtic Ladies Team the fan-sites were given almost blanket access to Fran Alonso and his players. With two trophies delivered the fan-sites provided endless publicity even though attendances outwith one fixture and cup finals barely budged beyond Family & Friends. 

There appears to be some problems with the Ladies Team this season, the better players have moved on to the full time professional game in England, with Celtic finishing third in the League it is less of a good news story to share. 

Basic squad information seems hard to find although the club decided to launch a Season Ticket for the Ladies Team at the end of last week. 

Touching on the lack of contact and information about Alonso’s squad, yesterday the Celtic Star reported: 

Celtic are asking supporters to purchase season tickets to support the women’s team and the package on offer is attractive, to say the least. However with interest in the team comes the need for answers.  

The Glasgow Cup matches have essentially been pre-season training games ahead of the big SWPL kick-off on 7 August against Hibs. Celtic have a few weeks to get up to full strength and to hopefully strengthen the squad with a few additional quality signings. 

Having won two trophies last season the natural progression would be to win the league this season. Is that looking likely at the moment? Without some positive answers to the questions Celtic seem keen to avoid answering that doesn’t seem too likely. Frustratingly so. 

Last season Tommy McIntyre was involved in a Zoom call the day before the Lowland League season got underway. It seems that McIntyre is no longer with the B team but there has been no media conference, mainstream or fan-sites, with anyone involved with the B team who started their season on Saturday with a 3—1 win over Cowdenbeath. 

Fan-sites were invited to interview Aaron Mooy and Moritz Jenz last week after the signed for Celtic. With no access to the B or Ladies Team the ball is in the club’s court over whether they are serious with fan-media or just use them as a useful prop for welcoming new players and for pushing pet projects.