When two factions have long been embroiled in battle and a ceasefire is called it’s not uncommon for a peacekeeping force to watch over the delicately poised truce. One employed to keep a watchful eye and ensure the agreed terms of the ceasefire are adhered to.
It would appear that the Celtic Trust may be about to become the overseer of the Celtic Board and The Requisitioners cessation of hostilities after Monday’s upcoming AGM.
Speaking to Larry Cafiero as published in yesterday’s exclusive interview on The Celtic Star, the Requisitioner Auldheid outlined that Resolution 12 may no longer be necessary:
“If Celtic’s response is reassuring at AGM, Res12 as in taking matters up with relevant authorities means Res12 indeed no longer is necessary but in view of their past record there has to be some oversight that Celtic do what they say and the Res12 Group can no longer commit to doing so from a smaller base, but hope the CST will, given their growing numbers, perhaps set up a small oversight committee under CST auspices to do future monitoring of an issue that affects all supporters of Celtic – is the game they pay to watch played on a fair playing field and governed without fear nor favour?”
For the first time in seven years, assuming there is a suitable response to supplementary requests for detailed clarification at Monday’s annual meeting, Resolution 12 ends, as all await UEFA’s Integrity Unit’s response and the Celtic board’s timetable by which we can all hope the SFA will in due course be held to account.
Should they be furnished with suitable assurances the Requsitioners will be looking to the Celtic Trust to assume the position of the UN, as they withdraw from engagement and seek a well-earned sabbatical.
The engagement to date has been predominately fought out between two sides you would have assumed would have a common enemy. Yet the Acceptance of a 5 Way Agreement that actually requires the CEO to lie to shareholders to protect Celtic’s biggest competitor remains a huge issue, as to an enemy within, and one that will continue to cause problems going forward.
As such it is something The Requisitioners have tried to remedy. This group of determined shareholders have already explicitly asked for assurances that Peter Lawwell will not be directly involved from here on in. More than 50 emails have been sent to the AGM post box an example of which you can see below.
Trust is clearly broken in that regard and will be impossible to restore whilst the current CEO remains involved. Clearly and rightly the Requistioners have pointed to the issue to the issue of credibility:
“Dear Company Secretary
I attended last year’s AGM, and heard all of what Mr Lawwell, CEO, said in reference to the ‘res 12’ issue]
Please accept that I fully endorse and associate myself with the sentiments expressed in what follows below, adding my voice in support of the five questions posed and requesting that these questions be raised at the AGM and responded to by the Board.
“Further to your invite to raise questions in the AGM 2020 Notice and as a signatory to the resolution rejected on defamatory grounds, what is not defamatory is that our CEO and another Director at the time on 26th July 2012 had an e-mail from Neil Doncaster (SPL CEO) which provided both the opportunity to read the 5 Way Agreement and in not responding by following day accepted what it contained.
Either the 5 Way Agreement was read rendering the CEO’s reply to the question posed at the 2019 AGM which asked ‘had he seen the Agreement/ had he knowledge of it?’ untruthful, or the Agreement was not read by either, which makes the CEO and the Director guilty of unacceptable dereliction of duty.
The impact of this is that to me as a shareholder, whilst welcoming Celtic saying they will pursue the matter with SFA and UEFA , any effort to pursue will be compromised in respect of the SFA because Celtic are part of the parties who accepted the 5 Way Agreement and also have casts doubts on any of their dealings with UEFA that in the past have only focussed on the monitoring period June and September in 2011 and not the period the licence was granted under in April 2011, that according to sought legal opinion, was by false pretence/fraud.
The lack of a timetable to complete a follow up process is deja vu in respect of treatment of Res12 from 2013 to date – 7 years, and there is a lack of a definition in respect of whom Celtic will be reporting to and any end date.
However my main concern is that any pre knowledge of the 5 Way Agreement, which was denied at the 2019 AGM , compromises our CEO and my questions are:
What assurances can The Board give that the CEO will not take any part in the follow up process to enhance its credibility?
Will The Board give a credible commitment to follow up in the shape a timetable for pursuing the issue with the SFA AND the UEFA Integrity Unit based on the information they already hold?
Can The Board state who exactly will be reported to on progress and in what way?
Can The Board provide an end date by which they wish the follow up process to end?
Will The Board consider an independent intermediary (or intermediaries ) whom the shareholders can trust to oversee the follow up process, that would balance the removal of the CEO from it?”
Assuming the Requisitioners receive responses that allay their concerns, then Resolution 12 after seven long years will cease to be. It will be illuminating to see what the response of the Celtic Board is when the AGM convenes and Resolution 11 is discussed.
The Requsitioners will hope to leave behind the battle to be watched over in future by the Celtic Trust. They therefore may well have a big part to play in ensuring Celtic show enough appetite to push UEFA for a verdict and in turn challenge our own governing body. As when it comes to the Celtic Board, the Requisitioners certainly have a fully justified mistrust based on well documented past experiences.
In yesterday’s brilliant interview with Larry Cafiero, Auldheid likened the seven-year engagement coming to a close as the the hod carriers bowing out. It will then be down to the appetite of the Celtic support now to see it through and face up to and try to mould the post battle landscape when it comes to football governance in Scotland.
How this plays out over the next few days and beyond may well depend on the assurances afforded to the Requisitioners at the AGM itself, but it also appears far too murky a break to mean that the rules of engagement may not yet see a return to the front for the hod carriers. Perhaps it may well be more a ceasefire than a withdrawal.
You can’t help but think they may be withdrawing prior to the terms being fully agreed or do they know something we don’t? Have they an inkling into a CEO who may be making an announcement on his own future at Mondays AGM?
As Michael Corleone found out in the Godfather it can be hard to withdraw. ‘Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in.’ as the famous quote goes. Though it may be easier to call a truce when the head of the opposition is retiring from front line service.
Whatever happens on Monday it would appear that for the time being at least The Requisitioners are stepping back. And that brings to mind another line from that famous film.
“A friend should always underestimate your virtues and an enemy overestimate your faults.”
There can’t be many friends within the Celtic support who any longer underestimate the virtues of The Requisitioners. They have been selfless, determined and a source of great pride to much of the Celtic support.
While on the other side if the Celtic Board at any stage overestimated the faults of this group, they soon had their estimations realigned by their forensic attention to detail, before turning that scrutiny to those they had perhaps afforded, with the benefit of hindsight, too much trust.
It would appear now that the task of keeping a watchful eye on further developments and ensuring the requested timetable is adhered to will now fall to the Celtic Trust. In the meantime, the hod carriers will rest their weary minds and limbs and hope they never need to return to work.
We wish them all a peaceful and uninterrupted retiral. Their efforts are greatly appreciated. We also hope they will not be required to return to active service.
Niall J
