The Celtic Fans Collective have said that they were not consulted by the club on their new fan engagement plans.
On Thursday evening, Parkhead chairman Brian Wilson announced a commitment to develop supporter engagement structures, saying that the club had met with supporter organisations in recent weeks.
The Collective is the biggest mobilisation of Celtic fans in the 21st century, comprising of supporters’ clubs, in-stadium fan groups like the Green Brigade and fan media outlets like 67 Hail Hail.
For the Collective not to be included in the plans certainly seems like a conscious sidestep from the club.
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Celtic Fans Collective on club engagement plans
In response to the club’s plans, the Collective posted on X: “For the avoidance of doubt, neither the Celtic Fans Collective nor any affiliated groups have been consulted by Celtic FC on a new supporter engagement model.
“Without meaningful fan input, any structure the Club introduces will have no credibility from the outset.”
In the announcement on Thursday, Wilson had said on Celtic TV: “When I came into this, we made that commitment that we were going to engage with supporters’ groups.
“We were going to talk to everybody. We have done that. We have listened and we have taken on board an awful lot of what was said. Some of that has started to be implemented.
“For instance, we are about to appoint a new head of supporter engagement, which is a new post. That will be part of a much more structured approach to engagement where we committed to creating a link between the club and supporters in a much more structured way.
“We intend to revive the fans’ forum, which was successful up to a point for those who attended them.
“Instead of having a static event in Celtic Park, we intend to move around the country and indeed to the wider Celtic supporter base so that we take the fans’ forum to the fans rather than asking the fans to come to the forum. All of that is going on.
“We are strengthening our digital offering all the time. More information, more exposure to what is happening in the club itself.
It will be fronted by Paul McStay…
“Reliable information coming from the primary source. Lots of things are going on and obviously the focus of the current time is getting to the end of the season in the best possible place, but everything we have talked about will be delivered.”
The Collective question the credibility of the club’s plans, given that they have not consulted the club’s biggest fan organisation in the build-up to this announcement.
In the eyes of many supporters, different promises from the same individuals offer little optimism.
To his credit, however, the upturn in public communications since the arrival of Wilson has been noticeable.
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