My concerns with respect to governance and management at Celtic plc are long-standing. Specifically, the board’s and CEO’s:
- silence regarding the illegal use of EBTs by the liquidated club;
- acquiescence to the 5 Way Agreement;
- tacit acceptance of the continuation myth;
- acceptance of the outcomes of the flawed Lord Nimmo-Smith commission;
- obfuscation, delays and lies regarding Resolution 12;
- failure to act on the ongoing financial irregularities of the tribute act; and
- failure to act on the institutionalised corruption of the Scottish football authorities.
It seems there is no corruption or financial crime serious enough to which the Celtic board and CEO will not turn a blind eye for their “Old Firm” friends.
Their policy of not using the term “the Old Firm” is fooling no one. It is very clear the Celtic plc business model depends on “the Old Firm” remaining alive. The craven acquiescence to (and facilitation of?) the above and more is now coming home to roost and affecting results on the park.
A blind eye was turned to the involvement in Scottish football of a convicted fraudster for how many years. At what other club would this have been accepted by the SFA and the other member clubs? The latest financial statements of RIFC cast serious doubt if that club/company is a going concern. Despite the disclosure that they have offers extant from two directors to cover forecast cash shortfalls of £23.2m “as necessary”, the financial statements further disclose explicitly there is
no binding debt facility in place as at 17 November 2020, the date the financial statements and audit opinion were signed. Information should be sought on the ultimate sources of the directors’ and other loans. There is a proven track record of proceeds of crime being invested in that organisation by a convicted South African criminal.
Based on the publicly available information in the 2019-20 RIFC financial statements, in my professional opinion there is genuine reason to be sceptical about why the audit opinion did not include a qualification on the basis that the company is NOT a going concern. [Disclosure: I am a Company Auditor and Chartered Accountant with over 38 years’ experience.]
Celtic could easily commission professional advice that would reach a similar conclusion and demand further forensic investigation. So why don’t they?
Why are the Celtic board so unwilling to insist on a level playing field for all clubs?
If Celtic are unwilling to act on any of the above, they must be forced to by Celtic supporters. And as minority shareholders who hold no voting power, only financial sanctions, I believe, will be effective in doing this.
The board and CEO have done just enough and no more to stay ahead domestically, with the notable exception of the appointment of Brendan Rodgers. Even his short 33-month tenure was corrupted and disrupted by a CEO who is an unqualified, de facto Director of Football, supported by a compliant board. They have achieved very little for years to assist any progression in Europe or to move to a competition outside Scotland.
Who among us wants our club’s very existence to be dependent on a rivalry with bigots, cheats and criminals?
Governance at Celtic has failed in the last decade or so. The current board has morphed into the same cosy, group-think set-up that characterised the pre-1994 board. Any external criticism is verboten and rejected outright. Just keep buying season tickets and merchandise and shut up!
Renewal and regeneration are required to bring fresh, modern thinking and strategies to the board and management; and, most importantly, knowledge of the global football environment in the 2020s. How many of the current board know how a contemporary, professional sporting organisation with a global footprint should be positioned and run?
Good corporate governance includes succession planning and a healthy level of turnover in board and CEO positions, with recruitment of those with contemporary and complementary skill-sets relevant to the sector, not the complacency, hubris and stagnation that allows the same people to hold the same roles for decades.
For the vast majority of us, Celtic is an emotional investment. We want our club to be able to compete on a level playing field. We play by the rules, so we should insist others are forced to do the same and are held fully accountable when they do not.
We need these messages to be conveyed strongly and clearly to the board and CEO; and if they continue to refuse to act, they need to face financial sanctions.
Potential financial sanctions:
- Mass requests for refunds of season tickets for games not played in the 2019-20 season
- Mass cancellations of direct debits for 2020-21 season tickets
- A boycott of Celtic stores
- Lobbying of corporate sponsors to withdraw in lieu of a boycott of their products
All of these measures will be seen as controversial by some and will be financially harmful to Celtic in the short-term, of that there can be no doubt; but for far too long these issues have been ignored by the current board and CEO.
Regrettably, if they will not listen to the people who
are Celtic football club, in my opinion we need to communicate with them in the only language they understand – a financial one.