GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 21: Celtic Chief Financial Officer Christopher McKay and CEO Michael Nicholson during a Premier Sports Cup Quarter-Final match between Partick Thistle and Celtic at The Wyre Stadium at Firhill, on September 21, 2025, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Alan Harvey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Alone among pundits Michael Stewart seems to have a grasp of why Celtic fans are protesting for change at the club.
Thirteen titles out of 14, five trebles in nine years etc etc are thrown up as outsiders question what on earth the problem is.
Celtic also generate profits, lots of profit, so much so that for the 24/25 financial years they paid HMRC £11.75m in Corporation Tax.
In football the minute that you stop pushing forward you slip back, last season Celtic made the Play Offs for the last 16 in the Champions League but last month they lost out to Kairat Almaty to slip into the Europa League.
With another transfer surplus, a weaker squad and no offer of a contract to Brendan Rodgers supporters see the direction of travel.
There is a big picture outside of sharing top spot in the SPFL with Hearts and a semi-final place in the League Cup.
Stewart acknowledged the protests during the League Cup win over Partick Thistle, tuning in to Premier Sports the Daily Record reports the former Manchester United midfielder saying:
Celtic seem to be hiding the good news on a Friday afternoon because that sort of headline, it doesn’t help the position that the board are trying to present.
That exact story only goes to emphasise what a brilliant financial position Celtic are in. But equally it just goes to emphasise how poor the transfer window was and how it is a false economy when you are penny-pinching or when you’re not investing properly at the right time.
There was potentially another £40million on the line for the Champions League that they’ve lost out on because they didn’t do their transfer business appropriately.
Nobody’s talking about spending crazy sums of money. They’re talking about spending the sums of money that they have and that they generate.
To go back to the statement briefly, it’s a lot of conflating things that aren’t relevant and also some gobbledygook about UEFA regulations that really Celtic are in no danger of being in trouble with.
Tomorrow night in Belgrade Celtic take on Red Star in the Europa League which will give everyone a better idea of their standing than six wins and one draw domestically.
For the excessive c.£800K we pay MN to be CEO,
we could attract a highly capable, ambitious – and already proven football club CEO –
from other clubs across England / Europe,
[except from maybe the top 20 clubs in Europe?] – or even further afield?
We know we can’t afford world class players on the pitch,
but it certainly looks like we can pay top salaries and bonuses to Directors?
If we’re protesting about being smarter in the transfer market,
then we have to be smarter across all the Boardroom appointments as well?
And a set, maximum appointment period would be a helpful start for all
the exec & non-exec Directors, to avoid stagnation / ‘jobs for the boys’ ?
While Peter Liewell is in the building, Celtic will always buy rubbish hoping that one will be good. Not 1 of his buys is in the first team, and most will be gone by next summer again. First team players are haggled for, then we usually get them in the last few days costing too much. We should buy the first team players right away, end of purchases, sit back and watch Celtic in the Champions League. But Liewell will never change.