GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 05: Former Celtic Non-Executive Director Willie Haughey (R) and Celtic Chief Executive Officer Michael Nicholson during a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and Motherwell at Celtic Park, on October 05, 2025, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Willie Haughey will present some details on his Celtic Season Ticket Holders Alliance today.
Unfortunately there will be no fan media outlets in attendance.
Haughey wants to deliver his message to Celtic Season Ticket holders through Sky Sports, BBC Scotland, the Daily Record and other tired outlets. None of them known for balance or objectivity.
That comes on the back of two appearances on Go Radio where he has soft launched the Alliance, creating more questions than answers.
Today’s launch and media conference is likely to produce a few nonsense soundbites and headlines such as building a statue to Dermot Desmond outside of Celtic Park.
It is doubtful if the real questions bothering Celtic fans will be raised let alone answered.
Three questions that need answered are
DO YOU THINK THAT THE CURRENT CELTIC BOARD AND CEO ARE DOING A GOOD JOB?
The answer clearly is no.
Being dominant domestically is very enjoyable, we all like the trophy days and appreciate the hard work that creates it.
Unfortunately Scottish football is of a very poor quality. Outside of Celtic, in 14 UEFA group stage matches just one win was recorded. Two clubs couldn’t even qualify through to the UEFA Conference.
Scottish football has never been of a lower standard. Being the least bad team in Scotland is nothing to crow about.
When you inherit a stadium with 10,000 seats more than anyone else you have an in-built advantage
When your only serious domestic rivals were formed in 2012 having over 100 years of a head start gives you an in-built advantage
WOULD YOU APPOINT MICHAEL NICHOLSON TO A SENIOR POSITION WITHIN YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE?
Even by his own pitiful standards Nicholson has excelled himself this season.
We got to hear the reclusive CEO in two Celtic TV interviews and realised why he had spent the previous four years hiding.
Having previously appointed Mark Lawwell and Paul Tisdale to critical positions Nicholson excelled himself this season by appointing Wilfried Nancy as manager. The seventh best coach in the MLS Eastern Conference.
Nicholson has overseen a horrific season. Senior figures briefing The Sun about Brendan Rodgers, two more recruitment nightmares and allowed a Non Executive Director to use the club website for a personal attack on a highly successful manager. No competent manager will come near Celtic in the future
IS IT UNREALISTIC TO EXPECT CELTIC TO COMPETE AT THE LEVEL OF CLUB BRUGG AND BODO GLIMT IN UEFA COMPETITIONS?
European failure is a serious issue for many Celtic fans.
Being patronised about the famous Celtic Park atmosphere, loved across Europe no longer washes. It isn’t even true. Utrecht, Sturm Graz and Stuttgart fans left Celtic Park seriously underwhelmed this season.
Celtic have had one competent season in Europe over the last decade. Partway through it the club sold the first choice striker. They followed that up by selling two more leading scorers in the summer with Shin Yamada the replacement striker.
All of that leads to Kairat Almaty. Not a one off.
Over the last nine opportunities to qualify for the Champions League Celtic have failed SEVEN times.
Maribor, Malmo, AEK Athens, Cluj, Ferencvaros, Midtjylland and Kairat aren’t in the UEFA elite. Should Celtic fans expect and accept being beaten by clubs of this size?
HAUGHEY HAS A LOT OF CONVINCING TO DO
Haughey has plenty of questions to answer to convince a large number of Season Ticket holders that he can deliver the changes required.
Having the title of Baron or Lord in front of his name is an instant red card for many fans.
The mechanism to buy £2m of shares for every 10,000 fans registering is a puzzle. There is no set price on shares, there are no known large scale sellers.
Why is the Alliance not being opened to non Season Ticket holders. The strength of Celtic is the reach of their support, no EPL club has a network of fans anything like the North American Federation of Celtic Supporters Clubs.
Haughey has one chance to make a first impression today. Already many fans would rather trust the Celtic Fans Collective than the mysterious Alliance.
It will need to be a better performance than the Labour party MPs and party workers he’s been funding to convince me
Listening is one of the most important skills yet this event has been framed and dissected before it takes place. No effort at objectivity here it seems, which is a great pity.
Editor: Asking is also quite important.
First the launch, then the questions. The target audience of season ticket holders are best and most comprehensively reached through the mainstream media outlets at this time.
The fan media outlets, without doubt more erudite and compelling than ever before are still a haven for those in the margins deserving of the Internet Bampot tagine. I would hazard a guess that this is a season ticket holder first phase launch with a controlled spread to follow in subsequent holders into the wider Celtic diaspora. Statues to DD are as likely as Mutley at his feet for the sitting. Let’s give it a hearing.
Unfortunately I’m anti establishment so I’m out.
Me too!
Answer the Question
There’s a better chance of a statue to brother Wilfried being placed outside Celtic Park than that of Dermot Desmond.
My three simple questions to Willie Haughey would be,
Why hasn’t he acted sooner?
What is his strategy to remove the cohort of entrenched executives if Desmond disapproves of it?
Why should we trust him and his golden promise to make things better?
Stevie @ 4.40pm…
I’m like yourself as in Fu*k the establishment so I’m out too !