How does Celtic boardroom figure and acting Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson view the game of football? What are his personal ambitions regarding the CEO role? Was he surprised to take it? Is he wanting the job long-term?What of Dom McKay, who left in September?
Any and all of these would’ve been fitting questions at a jam-packed Celtic AGM. As it turned out, Dom McKay’s name went unmentioned, no clarity was provided and really, we know little more about Michael Nicholson.
Nicholson, parachuted into the CEO role after the dramatic, sudden exit of Dom McKay, was in front of the cameras for the first time yesterday. For what it’s worth, he acquitted himself well.
Talking about player recruitment, backing Ange and all of that, he did alright. Nothing spectacular, but not PR fluff either. Solid [Celtic FC].
Except, are we meant to act as if he’s going to be there long-term? Does he know what he wants from this job, and does he have plans to take the club forward beyond this season?
We just don’t know. There’s no way of telling, because – remarkably – it never came up.
Not to criticise shareholders, that is to say. It was the board’s job. Whitewashing Dom McKay from our recent history wasn’t just disrespectful, it was absolutely bizarre.
The primary remit of an AGM is to discuss how Celtic have performed as a business. One of the key figures of running that business came and went in no time. Now, the acting replacement’s future isn’t known to any real degree.
It’s just particularly odd behaviour.
Yesterday’s Celtic AGM really ought to have brought clarification on the CEO role. It didn’t.
Now the dust has settled on what was a feisty AGM, of course there are questions. The solidity of Ian Bankier’s position is questionable. Ange not being given the live mic was weird. No mention of Neil Lennon, and the absolute chaos in replacing him.
Admittedly, we were never likely to get some solid answers on a range of topics. But to borrow from a Limmy sketch [YouTube], it was just a yes or no: will the acting CEO Michael Nicholson be kept on at the club long-term?
Again, you’d have thought it might’ve come up. We don’t really know anything about the future of the Chief Executive of our football club.
As amiable as Nicholson appears to be – and none of this is meant as any criticism of him – what’s the story here? It hardly paints the picture of a settled, collaborative hierarchy running the club.
Maybe this is hyperbole. But it seems very odd that the club is being ran, in large part, by a man whose job security and outlook on football we know next to nothing about.
Celtic had the chance to clarify yesterday. It wasn’t taken.
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