Celtic fans who targeted majority shareholder Dermot Desmond with a balaclava tennis ball stunt at St Andrews have created bogey men, with Desmond painted as a Machiavellian villain. The reaction on Celtic's official website was another statement that had to be read a few times to make sure it wasn't an AI wind-up.
The stunt clearly embarrassed and annoyed Desmond, and got his attention. But it won't shift his thinking. Does anyone believe the unrest at the Home of Golf will make him modernise Celtic Football Club, appoint a sporting director, a head of recruitment, get a plan in place for a long term manager behind Martin O'Neill, start signing players in time for the Champions League qualifiers, give Celtic Park a long-overdue glow up and maybe see about getting hot water in the place? Aye right.
No peace in sight
Desmond doesn't think there's much wrong with the running of the club and the protests and noise comes from a band of rabble rousers who take delight in causing mayhem. There's absolutely no chance he'll cave in to the pressure or sell up and leave them to it.
But what is clear is there doesn't look like much possibility of peace breaking out any time soon. If anything, reading the tea leaves suggests there is more trouble to come given this current squad looks vulnerable and tougher tests are coming thick and fast. The banners and bed sheets could be back out soon.
Route back for Desmond
It doesn't have to be this way though. There can be a route back for Desmond and his under-fire board. But there will need to be a huge shift in attitude to find it. Ross Desmond's infamous speech at the AGM last year went down like a lead balloon with a stink bomb attached. But there were some bits in it that were actually relevant. He accused a section of supporters dehumanising his old man and the board with their abuse. He was right. Some of the intimidation stuff around the homes of the likes of Peter Lawwell and Michael Nicholson was miles offside, likewise some of the personal vocal attacks in and around the stadium.
The problem is, it has become too easy to dehumanise these guys but the club hasn't allowed them to become human. Hiding away behind website statements and club TV interviews removes the human element. It creates bogey men – with Desmond himself now painted as some kind of Machiavellian villain. Which is a bit ridiculous given the amount of success the club has had in Scotland. But that's the issue. The people in charge at Parkhead have created this them and us, arms length approach to the supporters.
Lessons from across the city
That's why when things go awry on the pitch – which is going to happen from time to time – it creates a much bigger rift. A dispute with some neighbour or company that doesn't answer your calls is easy to escalate into all out war. They might not like it, but Desmond and the rest can change this by being more visible – and answerable.
Look across the city. New Rangers owner Andrew Cavenagh made a total rickets of year one. There's no other way to describe it. Managerial appointments, signings, you name it, it all went wrong and the club somehow managed to get a billionaire owner and get worse. But Cavenagh owned the issues. He regularly spoke to fans, sat down with the media, admitted to the errors and informed people of the plans to fix them. It bought him time and space and it put a human face on the suit at the top. Supporters might not have been happy but they gave him the benefit of the doubt because they could see he cared and was trying. Celtic's hiding does them no favours.
Some might say a majority shareholder shouldn't be talking to the Press or fans on club issues but that doesn't wash when Desmond is the one making all the major calls and using the club website to settle scores. If anything, as much as the fans might choke on their chips, he should actually be made chairman – but then actually front up and face the music on a regular basis. Likewise for Celtic's chief executive and it would be handy if there was some kind of director of football who could be the face of the operation.
But right now it's all left to the manager. And it means the guy in the dugout has the responsibility of representing the entire club rather than just the football department. Poor Martin O'Neill will sit down this week and he'll be getting grilled on everything from his own future to the tennis bat nonsense up the road. A lot of these questions are way beyond his remit. It's not fair and it's certainly not good governance but Desmond is the man who can choose a different path.
