OPINION: Interim CEO Michael Nicholson is reminiscent of Uriah Heep, and “team player” tag affirms these fears…
It speaks at last. Well, a statement was produced anyway. We’re getting really good at them eh?
Ian Bankier and Dom McKay in conversation. Photo: Jeff Holmes
As our “acting CEO” spoke to the fans for the first time since Dom McKay was ousted from Celtic, I don’t think I read anything in his opening soliloquy that hasn’t already been manufactured to death before now. With fans worried – and rightly so – about change not being forthcoming after the short and sweet tenure of Dom, I see little in the statement from Michael Nicholson that will assuage our fears.
That acute stabbing feeling in my gut will not abate, until these people are removed from our Club. In all the conjecture that has been flying around about the departure of Dom, is it really that hard to imagine the most obvious scenario, when the accounts have just shown we lost £11.5 million over the course of the pandemic?
If it’s anything other than a coup, headed by the cravat wearing billionaire and his cronies, I will literally eat my hat. There have been murmurings that Big Daddy D was unhappy at the amount of money spent on players during the window just past. Unbelievable. I mean, what do these people think it takes to rebuild a full new team? How can you work in an industry for so long and know absolutely jack about it?
Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell are all smiles. Photo Vagelis Georgariou
Remember the belter last year in his selected interview? Aye, that Celtic team last year was a better outfit than the team that took us to Seville (cue tumbleweed). Disrespectful on a different level.
But onto the new CEO (we all know it will be him).
When I first clapped eyes on him, he reminded me instantly of one of the characters in Charles Dicken’s ‘David Copperfield’. ; namely the shifty Uriah Heep. Heep is described by Dickens as “cadaverous” and the obsequious nature of Heep gives the reader chills.
Reading the CEO’s statement today, I see alarming similarities between the nature of our new Commander-in-chief and the Victorian villain. Let’s look more closely at this. When he was appointed, Chairman and blow-up dummy, Ian Bankier, described Nicholson as a “team-player” wink wink – basically code for saying he will kiss posterior on command. A love-child of the upper deck Cabal incarnate.
Then, we have his shamefully obsequious statement today, going over old ground and thanking previous custodians for their part in a catastrophic end to our ten-in-a-row season. Why was there a need to thank Peter Lawwell instead of the CEO that handed over to him? And why on earth a debt of gratitude to Neil ‘I didn’t do it’ Lennon? Answer: this man is merely an extension of the milieu in which he was created.
Dominic McKay in the directors box. Photo Andrew Milligan
The whole PLC at Celtic embody elements of Dicken’s awful character. They claim to be “umble men”, but in truth, they are so far removed from the people that pay enmasse at the gates, they’d be as well sitting next to Uriah Heep in Charles Dicken’s Victorian novel.
Mr Nicholson may not have done anything personally wrong to me, but his quick Ascension to the head of our football operations, leave fans in no doubt that the status quo remains the same. I just wish we could all wake up from this Dickensian nightmare.
Paul Gillespie
Is this opinion piece by Paul Gillespie fair and reasonable, based on the fact that our writer doesn’t know Michael Nicolson and has never heard him speak? Maybe that’s the problem, he is now not only a Celtic Director but also the Interim CEO as the club comes through a challenging year on and off the park.
The magnificent Celtic support in full voice at the Celtic v AZ Alkmaar game or as Ian Bankier puts it “our stadium has been operating at near full capacity” – well done the stadium! Photo Andrew Milligan
Nicholson didn’t mention Dom McKay in his statement today, perhaps tellingly. However the thing that might stand out for many people reading this is the failure to properly acknowledge and recognise the incredible backing that Celtic PLC has been given by the Celtic support throughout the pandemic years. Without that level of support, especially in paying full season ticket prices for a year with little or no prospect of seeing a game, Celtic Plc would have been in dire straights and that should have been recognised and properly acknowledged today.
Maybe Celtic FC should alter those ads pictured above that run across their “near full capacity” statement to read something like this…
CELTIC FC – THANK YOU CELTIC SUPPORTERS FOR YOUR INCREDIBLE BACKING DURING THESE DIFFICULT FEW YEARS
Can anyone name another club in major world football that received season ticket money paid in full by 60,000 supporters despite not being allowed to attend a game? The Board can analyse the accounts in any way they like but the truth is that Celtic PLC were bailed out by the Celtic support last season. The least we should get for that is for the interim CEO to come forward and tell us his plans for taking the club forward.
