The video clip from Willie Haughey’s breaking news on Go Radio was widely shared among the Celtic support last night, with one eye being diverted from the action in Stuttgart as Celtic achieved a first for the club by winning a competitive match on German soil…
It was a morale boosting evening on the park and set’s Celtic up for the trip to Ibrox on Sunday to face theRangers in the most crucial match of what has been a turbulent season for Celtic on and off the park.
The Celtic Season Ticket Alliance
Go Radio have now shared the longer video of Willie Haughey’s appearance on the show and there’s more detail included there as he is asked about various aspects of his initiative which he is calling “The Celtic Season Ticket Alliance” – so it’s well worth a watch.
Willie Haughey for instance confirms that stage two will be to open the Celtic Season Ticket Alliance up to a wider audience, bringing in other supporters who are not season ticket holders and explains that the Alliance will be looking for the members who join, presumably in their tens of thousands, will be able to pull shares together to create a larger percentage that the £10m he is providing to end up with a larger share of the club.
He confirms that he has spoken to prominent members of the Celtic Fans Collective, plus David Low who has a share operation in progress. Haughey has also spoken to the Celtic Board about the plan but not to Dermot Desmond, who he points out is someone who has been a winner all of his life and is someone he has great admiration for.
The member of The House of Lords also confirmed that he is NOT going to be the next Chairman of Celtic and he has no interest in taking such appointment. He blames much of Celtic’s current woes on one thing and that’s recruitment and points a finger to Paul Tisdale while seeming praising Peter Lawwell’s son Mark for his time in that role. Doubt Brendan Rodgers would agree with that last point.
In recent days Willie Haughey has also spoken to the Board and also to the Green Brigade about bringing harmony through ending the ban on the Ultra groups and he points out that they have been attending games anyway so doesn’t understand what is to be gained from the continuation of the bans.
Haughey has also confirmed that he has a prominent Celtic legend ready to become a figurehead for the Celtic Season Ticket Alliance and that this will be announced, along with further details in the coming weeks.
Here’s some of what Willie Haughey had to say when making his initial announcement on Go Radio last night…
“Over the last few months I’ve been looking at what’s going on. If you’ve not got harmony in a business, you’ve got no chance.
“Some of the stuff has been a distraction over the past few months. After last week and the fantastic atmosphere at the stadium to be killed in two minutes, we need to come up with a better solution for how the fans can get a voice.
“I’m going to look at setting something up. I believe that the 54,000 season tickets holders are the core, they’re the heartbeat of Celtic. I’m going to set up a thing called the ‘Season Ticket Alliance’. I’m going to pay for it, I’m not looking for money from anybody.
“What I’m offering is, for every 10,000 fans that join us, I’ll put £2m in to buy shares for this trust. If we take all the shares of the people who join through the trust, if everyone joins, that’s £10m. They will be gifted to the trust. It won’t be owned by me.
“I think we have to get something that all the fans can get behind. Let’s get harmony, let’s get the Green Brigade back in the stadium. Let’s get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet.”
“I’m going to get a Celtic legend to front it, I’ve got that done. Hopefully in the next few weeks there’ll be more details. The long-term play is to get enough people behind us that we can go to the club and this should be the vehicle as to how the fans can get their viewpoint over to the club.
“Maybe even potentially in years to come, we can get someone from the fanbase onto the board.”
Later Willie Haughey said that he stepped forward when Celtic was in trouble the last time back in 1993/94 and always promised himself that if Celtic was ever in trouble again he would look at doing what he could to help. This is now that time.
It’s too early to support or oppose this plan and the best option that most Celtic supporters will take is to keep an open mind, wait for the additional information and then make a judgement on whether they want to join or not.
There will be plenty of commentary on this but all the early stuff is nothing more than initial thoughts based on perceived opinions. It’s certainly an interesting development and as money talks there is real weight behind this initiative from the word go.
Devils in the detail
in 93/94 he was also very vague on the detail putting out he has a Celtic legend as a figurehead fronting it Reeks of a scam coming , already message boards are full of one’s ready to drop there drawers to this without fully understanding what’s being offered
He dosen’t need lists of shareholders on his side to go buy shares , a quick phone call can get you that
So maybe he wants to shout it’s ma baw once he has the season ticket holders data
time will tell , but right now it smells like sh1te
I’ve been calling for this for years . This is the only way that genuine supporters will ever get a say on how OUR hard-earned cash is being mis-spent year on year . Our club is run by a hard- core of , “elitists” who put money into Celtic for a handsome Financial reward . Organisations like The CELTIC TRUST are already up and running and postulating buying into Celtic to get representation on the Board . This is the only way to give the vast majority of fans influence on how the club is run . If , Willie Haughey is true to his word and willing to add 2 million shares for every 10 million invested ; then , I , applaud his efforts —-Much better than throwing tennis balls onto the field before a match which is going to be Broadcast World-wde and making an exhibition of ourselves in public . Whilst , at the same time , playing into the hands of the , ” Anti-Catholic / Anti-Celtic media .
If , Willie Haughey is true to his word and willing to add 2 million shares for every 10 million invested
But he isn’t , He’s willing to buy £2m of shares for every 10k season ticket holders personal data who sign up to his ponzi scheme
He’s not buying the support the shares
Got to hand it to him though get all the season ticket holders onside in his wee camp plays well FOR HIM
nobody asking where are these shares he’s going to buy up if 54 k season ticket holders call his bluff and sign up where is he going to buy over £10m shares from ,,,,who is the seller even if Desmond was selling his shareholding ,
lord haw haw would still be sort by a couple of hundred million
2 nd major shareholder aren’t selling there shares either , even if they were it would still fall short
If fans want shares go buy some , spend a tenner a week buy yer own , and even after 50 yr you’d still be nowhere near making a change
The only thing Celtic fans have in there arsenal to evoke change is a season ticket and even then it would need to hit a threshold of 30k to even make the board sit up and take notice
Thousands will fall for HawHaws pitch but in reality all he’s doing is trying for a place on the board , you watch the moves coming it’s an easy sell while the supports disgruntled , now the plan is to split the support further
Take out the Trust take out the collective cosy up to the GB and promise jam tomorrow
Support took the eye off the ball when we were winning they were downsizing , now it’s all come to ahead
once i sell my bridge i’ll promise for every 8k season ticket holders who join ma club i’ll by £3 worth of shares and throw in a few dead cats
To good to be true, I smell a rat.