It has certainly been a busy month or so for Celtic fans, particularly those of us involved in the Celtic Fans Collective.
The Celtic Trust was one of the original signatories along with the Green Brigade, the Bhoys and the North Curve and we have now been joined by all the main fan organisations, individual CSCs and more fan media than I had realised actually exist – over 420 groups in total.
Organising such a large and diverse group people has its challenges but, more importantly, it has the benefits of combining a huge amount of talent, energy and commitment.
In the first ‘phase of the struggle’ as you might put it, we have had silences, late walk-ins, balls (and tangerines) on the pitch, banners, multiple podcast appearances from those who are not the usual suspects and, over the next week or so leafletting and some other things…
I don’t think the Board can be in any doubt about the views of a huge proportion of the fan base but their reaction has been pretty woeful so far. The meeting to which they invited us, as has been reported widely, ended up being a further irritant to most attendees and those they represented. And so the campaign goes on. The reaction of the wider fan base has been largely positive – as evidenced by the participation of the entire away stand in Dundee last weekend.
However, there will always be disagreement about any kind of protest and the Collective is keen to listen to feedback. What I would say is that as someone who has been involved in a number of successful campaigns, you won’t find any action that will get universal support. Some people are just not really up for the fight. I think there is an omelette analogy which works here.
One obvious focus for us in the next month is the PLC AGM, the date for which has not been announced. Two resolutions have been put forward from shareholders and, as I write, we await confirmation from the Company Secretary that the criteria have been met and the resolutions will appear on the AGM agenda.
The Trust, which has considerable experience in this, did most of the organising around collecting the shareholder resolution requisition forms, but the assistance of the Celtic Fans Collective certainly made a difference. The number of forms submitted is the highest that I can recall.
One resolution calls for the incoming Celtic Board to produce a strategic plan with short-, medium- and long-term objectives with measurable outcomes and staging posts to assess performance in relation to them. This plan to be shared in an appropriate way with the supporters. The second resolution makes clear that the current Board do not have the confidence of the support and calls on the NEDs to resign.
The next step for the Collective is to ensure that as many people as possible either attend the AGM or proxy their vote to the Trust or other suitable proxy to vote for them. This is always an activity which the Trust puts effort into but hopefully doing this as part of the Collective will increase the effectiveness of that effort.
What is absolutely clear is that there is a very large and diverse section of the Celtic support which has had enough of the failings of the current custodians of the club and are prepared to give of their time, energy and money to campaign for change.
The more of us there are, the less that burden is, so please get involved. Join an organisation or just offer your services and talents to the Collective. There are a number of working groups and all are welcome to get involved.
More details about joining The Celtic Trust can be found on our website.
Jeanette Findlay
Vice Chair, The Celtic Trust
