GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MAY 17: Celtic Chairman Peter Lawwell, Majority Shareholder Dermot Desmond, and Chief Executive Officer Michael Nicholson (L-R) during a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and St Mirren at Celtic Park, on May 17, 2025, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Alan Harvey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Celtic and their friends at the Daily Record have decided to smear hoops supporters using a standard and much loved tactic from the nineties.
Back then any story featuring on the front page of the Sunday Mail carried huge impact. Over 400,000 copies of the Mail were sold back then, it set the agenda for the new week, reaching every nook and cranny. Mud sticks.
RECORD CIRCULATION PLUNGE
Other than 30 minutes on the Super Scoreboard phone-in on a Saturday no-one else had a voice. It was four TV channels, a dozen newspapers and some radio stations that marginalised football.
No business wanted to be on the front of the Mail. An appearance in The Judge meant the end for any dubious business.
During October 2025 the Mail was selling an average of 35,238 copies, today it is likely that around 33,500 mugs will part with cash to be greeted by the agenda from the Mail. Online it has merged under the Daily Record banner. Changed days.
The probe comes after anti-board posters were put uphttps://t.co/OdeHVntTRe
— The Daily Record (@Daily_Record) December 6, 2025
Late on Saturday night the combined might of the Sunday Mail Editor and the News editor decided to produce:
Police are investigating an “intimidation” campaign against Celtic directors and their families, the Sunday Mail can reveal.
It comes after anti-board posters were put up close to the homes of chairman Peter Lawwell, CEO Michael Nicholson, chief finance officer Chris McKay and head of security Mark Hargreaves.
Posters can be found in many areas in and around Glasgow, correct.
The club has criticised the “disgusting and cowardly” attacks and claimed the school of one of the staff members’ children has also been targeted.
A Celtic spokesman said: “We can confirm that a targeted attempt has been made to intimidate Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson, Chris McKay, Mark Hargreaves and their families.
“A number of posters similar to those we have seen this season have been posted in the vicinity of the homes of Peter, Michael, Chris and Mark.
“These signs have also been posted at a school attended by one of their children.
“This is a disgusting and cowardly attempt to intimidate and threaten Club staff and their families.
“We are aware that Police Scotland is investigating these incidents.
“The Club is firm in its resolve not to give in to this type of intimidation.”
The standard shock horror template with absolutely nothing to back it up.
Any threats of any kind have to be condemned, the posters seen around Glasgow don’t carry any physical threat.
and claimed the school of one of the staff members’ children
You can hardly get any more vague after the shock horror headline. I suspect kids hear worse than the content of a poster in the playground, any google search for a board members name will throw up a variety of content, some of it critical.
COMPARISONS AND CONTEXT
At a Europa League tie at Ibrox last month banners featuring Paddy Stewart and Kev Thelwell appeared with shotgun crosshairs imposed.
Legacy media outlets steered well clear of that detail, concentrating on other banners and forms of protest.
Many Celtic fans are angry at the way that the club is run. At the start of this season over 400 groups formed the Celtic Fans Collective. It consists of the main supporter organisations, ultra groups and fan media outlets. A very broad church.
On September 3, even before it had a name the Collective issued an open letter with seven questions for the Celtic board to answer.
AGM PANIC STATIONS
On November 21 panic stricken Chairman Lawwell closed the AGM after less than an hour that included a 30 minute adjournment and a bland 15 minute video presentation. The AGM was closed long before CEO Michael Nicholson answered a question.
Chairman Lawwell did allow Ross Desmond to deliver a blistering attack on fans and shareholders.
Since the AGM Celtic have suspended 300 Season Ticket holders indefinitely based on a grainy video clip of 80 fans leaving their seats to visit the stadium concourse.
CEO Nicholson’s commitment to communicating will see the launch of a club app and a revamp of Celtic TV. The app will make it easier for fans to spend money on the club. With Gerry McCulloch fronting Celtic TV it is believed that worldwide subscriptions are less than 11,000.
CELTIC LOST IN TIME
Smearing fans through the Record/Mail isn’t going to do the trick in 2025 but does highlight how out of date the Celtic board is.
In 2025 that story is just a click from a discredited Unionist rag that no-one under 40 would be seen dead reading. They dug their grave in 2014 with The Pledge, two years after ‘Rangers’ came back from the dead!
Barely anyone will be at the newsagent today queuing up for the Mail, Post and half a dozen rolls.
Celtic fan media and the Celtic Fans Collective are running rings round the club and their tired band of discredited messengers.
THE REAL ISSUES
The Mail/Record story highlights their desperate tactics. Today thousands of fans will back the Collective in a march from St Mary’s to Celtic Park. Ross Desmond can google the significance of the venue or text his Daddy.
The Green Brigade are expecting more support than ever for their food bank collections.
Nicholson and Lawwell could still salvage a dignified exit from Celtic, turning to the Record/Mail isn’t going to help their cause.
On November 14 the Record got the Exclusive! news that Celtic were in advanced talks to appoint Wilfried Nancy as manager. On December 3 Celtic confirmed his appointment.
Teaming up with their legacy media chums isn’t going to create a future. The men behind this year’s managed decline have created their own legacy.
It wasn’t the pesky, entitled fans that sold off Kyogo Furuhashi and NicolasKuhn without bothering to sign replacements. Or went into a Champions League play-off trying to sell Adam Idah, Daizen Maeda and Yang Hyun-jun.
A cynic could conclude that the wording and the timing of that piece is a transparent attempt to lesson the numbers attending the march against their pathetic running of the club today .
Just confirms to me how unfit for purpose these well past their sell by date NED board members are
We as a club have many very wealthy supporters & shareholders, do they agree with what’s going on at the club , nobody is asking them to buy out DD , so I can only assume they are scared to give an opinion as to weather they agree with what is or is not going on at the club, a little bit of support from people like Rod , billy , & the many other so called celebrity fans who telling everybody that they love the club , would not go amiss , keep up the good work Joe HH
An attempt to intimidate the board and their families. Have these same posters not adorned the TV screens of every TV Channel for months now including some global brands like Sky and TNT ? Are they not easily accessible on any search engine ? I also bet that if you liked at any scholl kids phone you would find worse. They are looking at anything to cling on to. Step up the campaign with boycotting games and picketing retail outlets in the run in to Christmas. We have to get this mob of parasites out
I actually hate these cretins on oor board…they need removed pronto…liewell is well named..a scum bag of a man
Scum board of the highest order
As you rightly highlight Joe, this smear attempt is an analogue tactic in the digital age, emphasising just how out of touch these Old White Men in charge of the club – but not really running it in any meaningful sense – are.
They’ve barely had an original idea between them in a decade and by persisting with their business model of stockpiling money for a rainy day they make that rainy day a self-fulfilling prophecy. They are reminding me more and more of the White – Kelly – Grant cabal that nearly destroyed the club.
Their denouement was messier than it needed to be and their 21st century equivalents seem determined to repeat the same mistakes.
In all seriousness if one of these posters had to fall and hit someone it could lead to a deadly paper cut.FFS!!
PARASITES THE LOT OF THEM!! NOTHING MORE!!
DD/PL/MN ‘should’ have had a decision to make:
do we reach out to the support, start tentative ‘peace talks’, even engage a professional, third party mediator to help?
Or, do we double down, and publicly cast further, murky – and serious – allegations against our paying customers?
The Board is just accelerating the inevitable car crash, endpoint – when they have to walk…?
They really are taking the utter pish selling their dirt to The Scummy Daily Fuckin Record !