Celtic’s board have spent years waiting for the football team to rescue them from their own decisions. That hiding place has now gone before the new season starts.
Every transfer window follows the same script. Celtic leave the manager short, the anger builds, then a few wins arrive and the people responsible hope everyone forgets how the season was allowed to start.
Martin O’Neill made no secret of wanting Kelechi Iheanacho and Marcelo Saracchi back at Celtic. Instead of giving their manager two players he already trusted, the board begin another season asking him to make do.
The Trust has effectively told Celtic supporters to judge the board on its actions, not the results O’Neill’s players produce. After another chaotic summer, that’s becoming harder to argue against.
Celtic Trust has called out the real problem
The Trust has followed the Celtic Supporters Association statement and slammed the board’s leadership and their very own statement is summed up with this line, “The issues at Celtic Football Club are structural and cannot continue to be glossed over by domestic success.”
That is the line Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay should be worried about. The anger is no longer about one failed deal or one slow transfer window.
It is about a club that keeps making the same mistakes, then relying on the manager and players to clean up the mess. A trophy win buys silence, Champions League qualification gives the people at Celtic responsible the chance to avoid the scrutiny they deserve.
Camilo Duran may prove to be a good signing, but one arrival does not hide the holes still sitting in Martin O’Neill’s squad.
Kelechi Iheanacho wanted to stay and Marcelo Saracchi made it clear he wanted to return. O’Neill already knew both players and wanted them back. Celtic still failed to get either deal done.
O’Neill should not have to drag Celtic into the Champions League before the board finally gives him the squad he asked for.
Celtic’s board cannot keep hiding behind success
The Celtic Trust is right about one thing. Winning trophies does not automatically mean everything behind the scenes is working as it should.
Celtic completed the Double last season, yet supporters still watched an AGM descend into chaos and are still waiting for the club to appoint a permanent chairman.
The Trust has now challenged Brian Wilson to explain where Celtic are heading and why recognised supporter groups have struggled to get answers. Whether Wilson agrees with every criticism is almost beside the point. The questions are not going away.
Beating Dundee, reaching the Champions League or squeezing through another late signing cannot be allowed to wipe the slate clean.
Results belong to Martin O’Neill and his players. The board should always be judged on its own performance.
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