The Celtic Fans Collective has called on Celtic interim Chairman Brian Wilson and other representatives of the club to meet with the organisation…
With tensions reaching at a breaking point between supporters and board, Celtic Fans Collective issued a detailed statement on Tuesday night highlighting concerns spanning the recruitment of Wilfried Nancy and the continued ban on both Green Brigade and fan media.
The Celtic board have made error after error this season and having to sack their number one candidate 33 days into his new role just about sums it up.
Yet, in their statements, there was not one apology by Michael Nicholson, Dermot Desmond or Brian Wilson of making a mess of the Nancy appointment which has left Celtic in third place heading into Martin O’Neill’s return to the dugout on Saturday against Dundee United.
Now, posting a statement on X, Celtic Fans Collective stated:
On the 9th of September, following a calamitous summer transfer window and a fifth Champions League qualification defeat in a row, 420 Celtic supporter organisations, buses, supporters’ clubs, and fan media outlets signed a joint open letter addressed to the Celtic Board. The letter outlined three key areas of concern based around seven questions. This letter represented the views of tens of thousands of Celtic supporters who wanted greater clarity around the club’s footballing strategy and modernisation plans, meaningful accountability for repeated failures, and a significant improvement in how the club engages with and treats its supporters.
Following the formation of the Celtic Fans Collective and the commencement of a series of protest actions highlighting the Celtic Board’s failure to respond to these concerns, a meeting was arranged between representatives of the Celtic support and the Executive members of the Celtic Board. This meeting yielded no progress in addressing the legitimate concerns of the fanbase.
In the months that have followed, things have gone from bad to worse on the park. Celtic dispensed with the services of Brendan Rodgers and his coaching team, signing off with a devastating personal attack on Rodgers from the largest minority shareholder. The interim appointment of Martin O’Neill temporarily steadied matters, with on-field results improving.
However, an already difficult season with an underprepared squad was made significantly worse by the inexplicable decision to recruit an inexperienced and ill-equipped manager in Wilfried Nancy to the managerial role, at a point where O’Neill had stabilised the team and reached a Cup Final. This decision resulted in Celtic losing 4 league matches at a crucial point of the title race, the League Cup Final, and will cost the club millions of pounds in lost revenue and compensation. We now find ourselves where we were 5 weeks ago, with Martin O’Neill and staff back, but significantly damaged in results, player confidence and reputational terms.
When the PLC Board had the opportunity to take responsibility for some of its failings, most notably during the meeting with fans in October and at the cynically aborted AGM, they chose to double down, insisting that they had delivered success, shrugging off the compelling body of evidence that suggested otherwise. When Brendan Rodgers left his position, Dermot Desmond was allowed to use club channels to attack him and lay all blame at his door for the season to that point. When Wilfried Nancy was removed following a historically disastrous tenure, there was not a single word of contrition to be found within club communications.
Since the joint letter and the founding of the Celtic Fans Collective, the Board has repeatedly taken aim at supporters through a series of punitive decisions. The Green Brigade have been banned since early November, collectively penalising supporters who contribute greatly to the matchday atmosphere and experience, without a full investigation or willingness to engage with the group. Fan media access has been revoked, preventing podcasts from attending club press conferences, including for the women’s team. Moreover, the club has published statements chastising supporters, facilitated a disgraceful attack on fans by the son of the largest minority shareholder at the AGM, and released videos making baseless accusations against its own fanbase.
Where we do agree with a Board member is in interim Chair Brian Wilson’s call for unity on Monday evening. This has been sorely lacking all season and Celtic can only reach its true potential when there is unity across the club: Board, Manager, players and, crucially, the Celtic support. This is something that all fans want to help push the team in the race for the league title. However, unity can only come through a process of mediation, contrition and reconciliation.
We are calling on Brian Wilson and representatives of Celtic Football Club to meet with the Celtic Fans Collective in the spirit of reconciliation and a genuine desire to achieve unity, on the same themes presented in the initial open letter:
- Celtic Football Club’s footballing strategy must be modernised and communicated with clarity and regularity to its supporters. Additionally, professional recruitment processes need to be deployed with a commitment to making merit-based appointments to key strategic roles. No longer can jobs be filled through the patronage of personal relationships or family ties.
- There must be a commitment to accountability and transparency. We believe the Club requires a genuine reset in executive leadership, and that Executive Directors Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay should step aside to enable that reset, given their stated responsibility for the appointments of Paul Tisdale and Wilfried Nancy, and for the growing fan disconnect under their leadership. Unity cannot simply be requested but rather must be rebuilt through credible actions that demonstrate the Club learns from mistakes and changes course when required.
- The club should reinstate the Green Brigade, revoke the fan media ban and engage proactively with supporter organisations and independent supporters to rebuild trust, with the medium-term aim of instituting a democratically elected Fan Advisory Board, and developing improved communications and an enhanced matchday experience for the Celtic support.
We are keen to get behind the manager and players, given the importance of the months to come. However, it is worth noting that 142 active supporter buses contacted us over the weekend, urging the Steering Group to call for a boycott of an upcoming home match.
Fan anger has reached a breaking point, and the underlying causes of this must be addressed.
We wish to move towards a period of reconciliation and systemic change, and we call on Brian Wilson to demonstrate that he is serious about building the fan unity he claims to seek.
Open letter to Brian Wilson pic.twitter.com/3bbQGmkUqB
— Celtic Fans Collective (@CFC_Collective) January 6, 2026
Brian Wilson on Monday afternoon after the sacking of Wilfried Nancy and the announcement that Martin O’Neill would be the Celtic manager until the end of the season, called for unity but said nothing about how this was going to be achieved. This welcome intervention by the Celtic Fans Collective provides an opportunity for the club to re-connect with the Celtic support and the ball is now in the interim Celtic Chairman’s court.
Celtic Park will be packed on Saturday as third placed Celtic take on Dundee United under the leadership of Martin O’Neill. Had Wilfried Nancy not been there the Celtic supporters would have boycotted this game in their tens of thousands. That’s how close to the edge this Celtic Board has taken things in what has been a calamatous season that needs Martin O’Neill with the backing of everyone – players, fans even board members to save.
Brian Wilson is correct in noting that unity is needed for this to happen. Last night the Celtic Fans Collective pulled back from calling a full match boycott – as was with wishes of the majority of its members – to instead hand out an olive branch to the interim Celtic chairman. Hopefully he takes it.
Your comments are welcome below.
Hail Hail
Conor Spence
All Books Now Half Price in the Celtic Star Books January Sale…
Both volumes of Celtic in the Thirties are now available on Amazon Kindle, with the links to order below. Signed copies of both volumes are available on hardback from Celtic Star Books and if you would like author Matt Corr to add a special dedication to your copies please let us know. Order hardback copies HERE or for Amazon Kindle click on the links below…
This is an excellent step forwards and hopefully Brian Wilson will react to it positively. As the statement says, reconciliation will not come about just because Wilson asks for it, but from the actions of the Board in response to the CFC.
Wilson is showing common sense, but as we all know this so called board is intransigent. Mon the hoops.
The scene :- Ibrox Park , 6th. January 2026 ; A corner- kick for theRangers . Rascan of Rangers deliberately trips the Aberdeen goalkeeper as he comes-out to collect the cross-ball . The Referee ??? (Nick Walsh) stares at the incident from 10 yards . No VAR check —The GOAL stands . This is what the Celtic Board and the Celtic Collective should be fighting ; NOT EACH OTHER :- The Celtic Collective chant ,”Sack the Board” and then expect the Celtic Board to be amenable to reasonable discussions ? The Celtic Board then put-up the shutters ,
throw the ,”Dummy” out of the pram and refuse to ackowledge their errors of judgement . The self-distruct button is pressed and Civil War breaks-out bringing our great club to the verge of oblivion . GET A GRIP GUYS —Bury the harchet , Martin is back so let’s get together and show those ,” Cheating Bastards” down Ibrox way that good always triumphs over evil . God Bless the Celts !!!!!
Somebody please do something to end this behavior between the board and Celtic we need to get on the same page this is our life if someone could rise above this and help bring our team back together they would be a hero in so many peoples lives time for Celtic to come together and win the league and then hopefully get together during summer to iron out the difference between the board and fans lets get Celtic football team back to the top our fathers will all be proud God bless Glasgow Celtic