In news that will no doubt delight those in the Celtic Boardroom ahead of the Celtic Plc AGM, we report this morning on infighting within the Celtic Trust that threatens to divide the Celtic support and weaken any action in pursuit of change at our football club.
The work done by what was a Gang of Four Celtic Supporters on Resolution 12 is widely respected among those in the support who have taken an active interest in the fight against corruption in the Scottish game. Over time the four became one with Auldheid being the last man standing.
His recent strategy was to take The Celtic Trust at their word when they were seeking a wider participation from the Celtic support, who were quite understandably annoyed and frustrated at the numerous shortcomings from within our club last season, but we don’t need to remind you of all that stuff.
The Celtic Trust recruited David Low as Chairperson and that was welcomed on here and by many supporters as it looked like the first steps were being created to make this supporters’ organisation a force to be reckoned with as far as the Celtic Plc Board were concerned.
The recruitment drive increased membership and David Low’s strategy of re-uniting small shareholders in Celtic Plc with their shares illustrated a long term strategy was being put in place to sit alongside any more immediate plans. So far so good.
Auldheid and many other Celtic Supporters bought into the idea of the support getting behind The Celtic Trust to strengthen it and to provide a vehicle that could provide a real voice that the Celtic Plc Board could not continue to ignore or sidestep. Many new members joined The Celtic Trust and were accordingly able to propose resolutions for members to vote on.
They did this in the summer and the members of The Celtic Trust then voted for a resolution that was, the members believed, going to be put forward as a resolution by The Celtic Trust at the Celtic PLC AGM.
(Please note that the proposal was put forward by new members to The Celtic Trust. It could not have happened without them stepping up to the plate).
“The problem when the wee guy who used to bring the ball into the playground went in the huff and took his ball with him was that there was no more football.”
The Celtic Trust Board didn’t appear to like this Resolution that their members had voted for and therefore decided to write an alternative one of their own. Both sides reckon that theirs is better – trying here to keep this as simple as possible so that more supporters can get a general idea of what is going on rather than present a 5k word argument from both sides which is the alternative.
The resolution proposed by Auldheid had the necessary Celtic Plc shareholder backing and was good to go. The alternative from the Celtic Trust Board was short of Celtic Plc shareholder signatures and there was a desperate last minute appeal to get these so that the alternative resolution could be submitted and included at the AGM.
The Celtic Trust claimed that Celtic had pulled a flanker by bringing forward the date of the AGM and many supporters took this at face value, seeing it as yet another example of the current Celtic Plc Board shafting the Celtic Support. A clever ploy but it is worth pointing out that it wasn’t accurate at all. The Celtic Plc AGM is always held mid-November but last years due to Covid it was pushed back to December and held via Zoom links. That was a one-off and normal service was being resumed this time around.
Anyway the Celtic Trust Board got their signatures and their Resolution is going to be voted down at the Celtic AGM rather than the one their members voted for which was submitted by Auldheid. It’s worth stating again that both sides in this argument have their own reasons for believing their version is better. However what is the point in going through the democratic process only to take your ball away from the game if you don’t like the outcome?
It’s worth noting that The Celtic Trust didn’t get involved in Res 12 – but at the time all that was going on they did achieve many outstanding things on behalf of the Celtic Support. Credit where it is due.
The reason we’re trying to explain this today is that this all spilled over last night into open hostility with both David Low (who incidentally has resigned as Celtic Trust Chairperson due to work commitments) and Auldheid exchanging verbals on social media about all of this.
The biggest winners incidentally are those in the Celtic Plc Boardroom.
With all this bubbling under the surface and with many of the more informed bloggers being well aware of what was going on, James Forrest on The Celtic Blog vented his own frustrations in an excellent piece yesterday afternoon. James, like The Celtic Star, Video Celts, ETims and a few others probably wished he didn’t have to write that article at all. You can read it below…
READ THIS…
— TheCelticBlog (@CelticBlog2018) November 3, 2021
And here’s what David Low had to say about that (his tweets are protected so photo used) followed by responses from Auldheid, Phil Mac Giolla Bháin, James Forrest and others…
“The auldguy fella’s a dimwit snider every bit as duplicitous as those he seeks to criticise.” David Low
Coming from a guy who did his best to kill off Res12 by misrepresenting an offer of £20k pledged for legal advice put to him or framing a personal e mail as legal advice to quit or having business contacts with an interest in killing it being called duplicitous is a bit rich.
— Auldheid (@Auldheid) November 4, 2021
David, that ad hominem jibe against a good man is unworthy of you.
— Phil Mac Giolla Bháin (@Pmacgiollabhain) November 4, 2021
Whenever my opponents in a debate resort to language like that I know they’ve not got a fucking clue how to (properly) respond. I don’t like the smell of that at all. And you know how much respect I (usually) have for your views fella. Not warranted. At all.
— TheCelticBlog (@CelticBlog2018) November 4, 2021
You mean the fella who has been at the core of Res 12 since day one, stay classy David eh!, Your tweet reflects more on yourself than its target
— 74 Strand (@74Strand1) November 4, 2021
Yer having a laugh. I don’t know if I agree with him on most things (I think I do) but I do believe he gives up his time for the benefit of transparency and sporting integrity. That’s quite an accusations btw, very surprised.
— Stefano #OneClubSince1888 (@StefanoSix7) November 4, 2021
He’s still there, fighting the fight and hasn’t walked away due to other commitments.
— martin orr (@LeadahorseOrr) November 4, 2021
The Green Brigade annual foodbank collection will take place before the Aberdeen match on 28th Nov.
All donations welcome, especially those listed. pic.twitter.com/70LmLpUTu9
— North Curve Celtic (@NCCeltic) November 4, 2021
