GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 20: Peter Lawwell (L) and Michael Nicholson during a UEFA Champions League Play-Offs First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Cetic Park, on August 20, 2025, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Rob Casey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
David Low has highlighted the failings in Celtic’s attempts to communicate with supporters.
The cocktail of contempt and disdain is best summed up in Michael Nicholson. A CEO afraid to even speak to the club’s in-house TV station. No-one ever nicknamed Gerry McCulloch as Paxman.
Nicholson has been involved in three media interviews since becoming CEO in September 2021.
In June 2023 he was alongside Brendan Rodgers and Peter Lawwell when he blurted out the infamous ‘world class in everything that we do’ claim. Clearly not communications Michael?
In December 2025 there was a flurry of media activity from Celtic’s £17,000 a week CEO. He was all over the Wilfried Nancy appointment.
Twice within a fortnight Nicholson was sharing his excitement over appointing the seventh best coach in the MLS Eastern Conference to replace Brendan Rodgers.
The first interview was especially cringe-worthy. Nicholson gave Nancy a particularly lame hug coming out of a taxi at Lennoxtown.
He then acted like the caretaker as he showed the new manager around the outdated facilities.
LOW REVEALS HOW LAWWELL ALWAYS CONTROLLED THE CELTIC MESSAGE
Nicholson had been cloned by Peter Lawwell but lacks the cockiness and personality of the long term Celtic CEO.
Lawwell would boast about anything to his elite group of messengers who would run off and portray the news to their audiences.
In many outlets you won’t ever read about Celtic going 22 years without winning a European knock out tie. Most of that period was under Peter the Great.
The acclaimed transfer model has produced Patryk Klimala, Ismael Soro, Vakoun Bayo, Maryan Shved, Albian Ajeti, Vasilis Barkas, Albian Ajeti and dozens of other disasters.
Rarely will you read or hear about those signings in legacy media outlets.
Low worked closely with Fergus McCann at Celtic.
Joining the ACSOM podcast he detailed one of the many failings currently haunting Celtic.
5 minutes 30 seconds in Low said
I’ve not been involved in Celtic, I’m talking about inside the building if you like for best part of 20 years so, I can’t say with any degree of authority but when I was there, it was always get the news out even if it’s bad news and let the PR people deal with the fallout.
If you’ve got news, get it out there and then articulate, you know, why you’ve made these decisions. And Peter McLean was the guy that was in house at the time and he got a lot of criticism, but he was a very professional guy and a very good guy at getting the message out.
But we don’t seem to be doing that any more, nobody is communicating off the record or on the record.
Celtic do communicate. Peter Lawwell’s got a wee gang of six that he used to use when he wanted to get a negative message out about somebody.
Usual suspects, a few people in social media and a few guys in the mainstream media, but that’s a reactive type thing.
They’re not they’re not they don’t seem to have a proactive policy, you know, for getting their message out when big decisions are made,
You know, and it’s a major failing on the board’s part.
Think Paul, Harry, Stephen, David, Ally and AN Other for the gang of six.
