Nothing so completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity himself, than straightforward and simple integrity in another…

Well, that particular quote covers Celtic’s approach to Resolution 12, and in turn the man Phil Mac Giollabhain. Indeed for a man of the standing of the prominent Irish journalist – take note planet fitba, a real journalist – such deference, given his own status amongst those who shone a light on Scottish football’s now permanent embarrassment, shows the reverence by which the man known as Auldheid is held, not only by Phil but also by any Celtic supporter who knows the name and respects the impeccable standards he upholds, matched only by his efforts to get to the truth and in turn move the wheels of justice.

Now it appears Auldheid has stepped aside but now he asks of us one more thing, and if what he asks is his legacy, we need someone or more than one of us to make it happen. For this part, I’ll pass to Auldheid himself to explain:

Resolution 12 A Story of Duplicity From Cradle to Grave…

What follows is the story of a world that began with what seemed to be a promise of hope of reforming the SFA, that became Resolution 12. Its aim was to use the process under which Rangers application for a UEFA licence was handled by the SFA in 2011 to seek reform of the SFA.

That promise came from Celtic CEO Peter Lawwell in May 2013 who said a Dougie Dougie moment was needed to cause SFA reform (see Footnote). All exchanges in this e mail chain HERE were made on the assumption Peter Lawwell would be a champion for SFA reform which always was, for me anyway, essential for Celtic’s future well-being

It was a false promise.

When put to the test of supporting Res12 in 2013, despite asking for and being provided with evidence from June 2013 that there was a case to investigate, Celtic signalled in the Notice to the 2013 AGM that they would vote against the Resolution using assurances from SFA that all was in order!

Thus duplicity brought Res12 into the world. It continued at a meeting before the 2013 AGM at which Peter Lawwell asked two requisitioners to drop Res12. They declined, knowing that if the evidence already provided was published, questions would be asked about Celtic’s reason for ignoring it and voting against Resolution 12.

Our current CEO Michael Nicholson, then the Company Lawyer, on the following day proposed an adjournment. This would allow time to make enquires, but at Celtic’s insistence limited solely to the SFA. The proposal was accepted in good faith, allowing time to learn more about UEFA rules on overdue payables and how HMRC dealt with debt recovery, new territory for the requisitioners.

What was not made known to the requisitioners at that time was that there was a paragraph in the 5 Way Agreement that required any future matters concerning the parties to the Agreement to be carried out under the auspices of The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) effectively preventing the SFA from applying their own judicial process to Rangers FC PLC (Oldco) and Sevco Scotland Ltd both parties to the 5 Way Agreement.

As a result, the motivation for Celtic’s insistence in the 2013 meeting that all enquiries be dealt with through the SFA became highly questionable when, at the 2019 AGM, Peter Lawwell denied sight of the 5WA. This was despite an e mail emerging from 2012 that he had been sent a copy of it personally, along with Eric Riley the then Celtic Director on the SPL Board.

The duplicitous birth in 2013 then moved onto the second phase of Duplicity that has clouded Resolution 12 from 2014 to 2019.

After a couple of years delving and finding a lawyer to help deliver the findings to SFA and UEFA, it became evident in 2018 that the UEFA licence had been granted under false pretence. A payable to HMRC existed from 21 March 2011, not “a potential tax liability in relation to a Discounted Option Scheme associated with player contributions between 1999 and 2003” as it was described in Rangers Interim accounts on 1 April 2011 and in the proof dated 30 March 2011 provided to SFA by Rangers Auditors.

It was on this basis that the SFA avoided having to apply UEFA FFP Article 50 on overdue payables. Enquiries would have shown the potential liability at 31 December 2010 had ceased to be ‘potential’ on 21 March 2011 and became a payable that had not been paid by 31st March 2011. The misrepresentation provided in the ‘proof’ avoided the SFA checking if the payable met the criteria for excusing it from being overdue. Whether it was or was not an overdue payable is immaterial. Preventing that enquiry taking place was a breach of UEFA Articles 43 e) f) and i), not to mention possible fraud under criminal law, another name for ‘false pretence’.

In August 2018 the minutes of an HMRC Meeting of 21 March 2011 (supported later elsewhere by HMRC Testimony in Court) were handed over, in front of witnesses, to the current CEO – Michael Nicholson – in the company of his then boss – Peter Lawwell – with a request that UEFA be approached to decide if the licence in 2011 had been granted as UEFA rules required.

No reference was made at the November 2018 AGM to UEFA being approached.

At the 2019 AGM Peter Lawwell (as well as denying sight of the 5WA) justified Celtic dropping the UEFA Licence matter on the basis that the breach of UEFA Rules was under Article 65, covering the monitoring period and any sanctions against Rangers FC (had they not been liquidated) would have been applied in the following year. Thus, shareholders could not claim to have lost share value by being denied a place in the Champions League in season 2011/12.

Ian Bankier supported him and at the 2020 AGM stated that he had personally examined the handling of Res12 and concluded that no one had been misled.

What took place at the 2019 /2020 AGMs can be read in the following Recital of events that formed the basis of the Note of Concern adopted in August 2021 by Celtic Trust (CT) members who confirmed that they had read it and on that basis they had reasons to express concern. Read it HERE.

Continue reading on the next page…

Unfortunately, that Recital and all reference to it was removed by CT Trustees over the weekend of 16 October 2021 for reasons that the proposer and seconder of the resolution did not accept, once they realised what the original, democratically adopted resolution had been replaced with, particularly as the aims of the Concern resolution had been clearly set out to Trustees and CT Members when it was published internally for debate.

The supporters of the original have subsequently raised questions on the CT Forum, accessible to CT members only, about the validity of the Trustee’s authority to change the original resolution without further due democratic process, which questions the validity of the Resolution 11 that Celtic responded to at the 2021 AGM.

However, as these events involve all shareholders not just CT members, some of whom would be unaware of the background as they signed up to the replacement Concern resolution that made no reference to the reasons for concern, all shareholders are entitled to know the concerns of the CT members. These can be read HERE.

There is a lot of reading at all three links but for anyone who wants to read how Resolution 12/11 was born as result of duplicity, lived a life shadowed by duplicity and died of duplicity, totally within the Celtic sphere of influence, it is a must read.

It makes depressing reading, but it creates an opportunity to change how supporters everywhere can bring the Celtic Board to account, without any negative impact on the emotional support the team depends on to be successful.

We have the chance to create a full time, professionally managed and administered Membership Service for Celtic supporters globally, not just shareholders, thereby increasing the potential numbers from 28k shareholders to at least 50k supporters (based on Season Ticket sales). It depends however on enough paying customers; however they watch Celtic play, being persuaded that restoring a sense of integrity in what they pay to watch is in both in their and Celtic’s longer term interests to do.

The means to greater accountability via transparency would use professional knowledge of Company law. There is a legal requirement (for Directors) to act fairly between members. It is old law, but remains good under the Companies Act 2006. The private shareholder with a few hundred shares is entitled to the same treatment as the institution with many millions of shares.

A list of Directors’ duties a Board cannot ignore can be read HERE.

Continue reading on the next page…

Legal knowledge of football law, mainly UEFA FFP, would also be utilised so that instead of a club asking UEFA if a rule has been breached, putting clubs and SFA in control, a statement from an expert in football law on behalf of thousands of supporters via a Membership Service would be produced. This would be evidence based, preventing the ‘long grass’ tactics that both the SFA and Celtic used to prevent an early conclusion being reached on the noncompliance with UEFA FFP by Rangers in 2011.

The formation of such a Service to a Celtic supporting membership with a global reach needs professional, Celtic-minded folk of integrity, with the relevant business acumen and the energy to get a full-time, professionally run, sustainable Membership Service off the ground.

An enterprise that has the potential to attract Celtic supporters from all backgrounds, sharing their own individual expertise to make Glasgow Celtic a beacon of integrity in a football industry that sadly lacks it.

Without integrity our Gemme’s a bogey – (bogus).

Footnote: This referred to the time Dougie McDonald changed his mind about awarding a penalty at Tannadice and gave a misleading account to then Celtic Manager Neil Lennon which Celtic raised with the SFA and resulted in McDonald retiring as a referee.

I’ve been lucky enough to become acquainted with Auldheid, and it’s fair to say I’d place him amongst the greats who have represented Celtic, our culture and our history. His work over the years with Resolution 12 has not only seen him fall foul of the custodians of our club, but also some within our support who should perhaps have known better.

The thing with duplicity is it can never possibly be construed as impulsive. Someone, somewhere lumped duplicity alongside dishonesty and cowardice together and stated all three could never be an impulsive decision. I’d disagree on two out of three, but wholeheartedly concur on the latter.

Cowardice can be a base reaction, as too can dishonesty. Both can be actioned with a flick of a switch, a flight rather than fight, a little white lie rather than a hurtful truth, uttered or reacted upon immediately.

Duplicity however isn’t a snap decision; duplicity needs to be planned. It is a summing up of a situation and choosing to be deceptive. It is pretending to be someone or something you are not. The deceptiveness in duplicity is intentional, it is deliberate, and it is designed to give one impression, all the while being willing to ultimately deliver another. Duplicity is Machiavellian in nature. As Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar – “And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear, millions of mischiefs.” That is duplicity in thirteen words.

And that is how Celtic have handled the Resolution 12 debate and that is why the last man standing has chosen that very word of the cornerstone of his most recent article, bringing years of correspondence from 2013 to now into the public domain and asking every single one of us to question, in good times or in bad, – are the current custodians of Celtic the right kind of people to run our club?

Or should the duplicitous nature of the Celtic Board, past and present, and the subsequent treatment of supporters and shareholders by way of those requisitioners mean those very fans, stakeholders and shareholders need to look to find a way to challenge the club, and not just now, not just then, but always be in a position to find a way for the ordinary everyday stakeholder to be in a position to call upon the requisite skills to ensure such a challenge is possible?

Continue reading on the next page…

That last man standing, now stepping back, has a plan and it is worth listening to that vision and pulling our resources behind him.

As Auldheid stated to The Celtic Star in recent correspondence:

“I think Res12 has done a lot already – Traverso letter – new club, exposed 5WA, showed UEFA not involved in 5WA, explained UEFA 10 year coefficient table (both thanks to Phil McG placing my questions), given our support reasons to refute the same club Craigy White, but I’d love to see some businessmen of integrity step up to the plate on the Membership Service.”

We covered that very membership service in a previous article and in truth, should we all be willing to step up to the mark, this very service would not only be a fitting legacy to Auldheid himself, it would be the strength of the Celtic support in numbers we’ve all thought needed but until now never thought possible.

‘No sort of duplicity can long flourish without the help of vocal falsehoods’, – George Eliot.

The Celtic support themselves needs to consider that very quote. It’s never been about Rangers, theRangers,, Newco, or whatever you wish to call them. This has always been about the governing bodies, their complicity in the Old Firm model, the money, the easy sell over the sporting integrity of Scottish football and our own club’s willingness to play its part.

Those governing bodies failed, they did so, possibly deliberately, and it required calling out. Auldheid and those who took on that battle alongside him called it out, found the evidence, and despite encouragement from those within our own, were left to twist in the wind.

To now assume the position of being bored, tired or indifferent to all of this this is to embolden those who allowed it all to happen, denied Celtic their dues, and accepted Scottish football needed the ‘ugly sisters’ to prevail. It did not and it does not, it needs a fair system, nothing more and nothing less.

Scottish football needed honesty and transparency, not an ‘Old firm’ at all costs. To be a clean enterprise it needed to follow the rules of fair play. And when it didn’t, it undermined the Corinthian spirit of Association Football and fair play for all, never mind anything due to Celtic.

And since then, it has seen the Zombie rise from the dead and somehow become all the more powerful and all the more entitled. And those governing bodies, having created Frankenstein’s Monster have now lost all semblance of control. They can’t and won’t reform themselves, theRangers won’t do it and the five-way agreement of which Celtic have knowledge, won’t allow it either.

And so Celtic need to defend our corner, but cannot be hamstrung as they are. They must first admit to it, and subsequently do something about this rigged game we all are now a part of, or duplicity reigns.

“When a man bleeds inwardly, it is a dangerous thing for himself; but when he laughs inwardly, it bodes no good to other people.”― Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

Now is the time for the Celtic support to pull together and make a Membership scheme a reality. Now is the time for a clean broom to sweep through Celtic, admit the errors of our ways and under a new CEO, not one without his own contribution to this almighty mess we find ourselves in, step up and find a way to shed ourselves of the shackles we tied ourselves with.

However, while we wait for what is likely impossible the Celtic support themselves can get ourselves prepared.

To get started we need all of you and all your skills. We need that figurehead, or more than one. We need people with a public persona, not connected to the board and trusted by the support. This is exactly the kind of proposition that is ideally suited to David Low’s skillset and the former Chairperson on The Celtic Trust may well be interested in this one, judging by his earlier comments when the matter was briefly discussed on social media recently.

But it also needs the skills and solidarity of every Celtic supporter to join such a Membership service, alongside people who could add weight and may even have the deep pockets required to help get such a scheme get off the ground and the business contacts to make something that seems such a large task become far simpler than it appears.

Such a membership service brings everyone together. It can include the Celtic Trust, the North Curve, Celtic Shared and other supporters’ associations, but it also includes fans who up to now haven’t felt any of that suits them.

It brings strength in numbers, skills and expertise in abundance and it creates a means to raise funds on a regular monthly basis, from as little as £5 a month, or more if you could commit to It and less or zero if unwaged. And it brings the support together in a way, which could, if done correctly, challenge the Celtic Board to behave more professionally, be more democratic, and to in turn challenge themselves.

For nigh on nine years Auldheid and for most of that time his fellow requisitioners fought the corner of the Celtic support and indeed that of Scottish football. Now we need one of two things or both. Either Michael Nicholson rights the wrongs, or the Celtic support pull together, create the membership service Auldheid envisages, pull our resources and become the challenge our rigged game in Scotland requires. It would not only be a fitting tribute; it is now a necessity.

Niall J

PS Thank you Auldheid.