Responding to Celtic Chairman Brian Wilson’s Latest Supporters Update

Celtic’s interim Chairman Brian Wilson addressed the Celtic nation last night through the comfortable surrounds of a Celtic TV studio with club employee Gerry McCulloch as asking the scripted questions. Let’s make a look at what the former cabinet minister had to say to the Celtic support…

Supporter ‘Engagement’

Brian Wilson: “When I came into this, we made that commitment that we were going to engage with supporters’ groups. We were going to talk to everybody. We have done that. We have listened and we have taken on board an awful lot of what was said. Some of that has started to be implemented. For instance, we are about to appoint a new head of supporter engagement, which is a new post. That will be part of a much more structured approach to engagement where we committed to creating a link between the club and supporters in a much more structured way.

“We are still consulting and talking. We will put out what we think is the way to do it. We have looked at scores of other clubs throughout Britain. We have seen the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches and we will come up with one of our own in order to have the widest possible range of Celtic supporters with a channel of communication with the club. All of that has moved ahead and it will come to conclusions over the summer.”

Celtic Shorts: Brian Wilson makes no reference to the Celtic fan media who remain banned by the club. Nor does he reference the Celtic Fans Collective which is the broadest organisation ever formed across the Celtic support.  Proper engagement comes with speaking these groups and others. 

Reviving the fans’ forum 

Brian Wilson: “We intend to revive the fans’ forum, which was successful up to a point for those who attended them. Instead of having a static event in Celtic Park, we intend to move around the country and indeed to the wider Celtic supporter base so that we take the fans’ forum to the fans rather than asking the fans to come to the forum. All of that is going on.”

Celtic Shorts: Why did the fans forum stop?  It seemed to run smoothly as a box-ticking exercise that could be reported back to UEFA and mentioned at the AGM.  Yet, strangely it’s demise seemed to coincide with the shambles that the Celtic Board made of things this season, from the transfer windows to their disgraceful antics at the AGM and then their reckless appointment of a rookie manager plus the disgraceful and prolonged ban on the Green Brigade and the Celtic fan media. Binning the fans forum seemed to coincide with all that happening.

Strengthening Celtic’s digital offering

Brian Wilson: “We are strengthening our digital offering all the time. More information, more exposure to what is happening in the club itself. Reliable information coming from the primary source. Lots of things are going on and obviously the focus of the current time is getting to the end of the season in the best possible place, but everything we have talked about will be delivered.”

Celtic Shorts: Older supporters will remember the Celtic View being called Pravda by supporters and that was the inspiration for Celtic fanzines like Not the View to emerge and prosper. Speaking to Celtic TV is fine but there’s no scrutiny and as a former politician Brian Wilson knows this and knows exactly what he is doing here. This looks like confirmation that the Celtic fan media will NOT be allowed back into media conferences, not because of anything that they have done but because of the awkward questions that they might ask in future. It’s a cowardly approach that harms the credibility of those making the decision more than it does the podcasts and websites that worked with Celtic in good faith. 

A boardroom refreshment 

Brian Wilson: “The refreshment of the board was talked about. Peter resigned and Tom Allison retired. There is work to be done, and is being done, on the refreshment of the board. Everything we have talked about we are working on delivering and we will deliver.”

Celtic Shorts: Two elderly gentlemen who have been on the Celtic Board forever half a century combined decide to retire,  and best wishes to both.  However that is way short of what the Celtic support wants to see. For example on what basis was Michael Nicholson appointed as CEO, has he done anything to justify the position as effectively the leader of the club, why does he never speak to the supporters, what was his role win the transfer window shambles of last summer and again in January and does he have the competence or indeed the support of the fanbase to take the club forward?  Much more needs to be done to change the dynamics in the Celtic Boardroom that Peter Lawwell and Tom Alison retiring. 

Unity in the chase for trophies 

Brian Wilson: “I am very excited. We are in a real strong place, maybe in a better place than we would have anticipated a few months ago. I think what Martin and the backroom staff, and the team on the park, have done is fantastic to put us into this position. The great thing now is we have unity, which is what we have worked for from the outset of this. Unity is strength and division is weakness. For the rest of the season and beyond, what we have is a united Celtic, all behind the team to absolutely maximise the opportunities and hopefully to take us across the line. Just on the manager of the month award, a well-earned recognition for what Martin has done here and will continue to do.”

Celtic Shorts: Brian Wilson is correct, there is unity at the moment but it’s unity within a ceasefire which was called by the Celtic Fans Collective so that the support can fully focus on the title run-in and the Scottish Cup final against Dunfermline. Nothing Mr Wilson or his colleagues have worked for caused this unity to emerge, there is no credit due to them at all. The Celtic support brought the unity to the business end of the season. On Saturday against Falkirk the stadium was rocking, the team were given a brilliant reception when they arrived at Paradise with Martin O’Neill and the players appreciating it greatly. That as organised by the Green Brigade, the group of supporters the Board banned for most of the season. 

Celtic’s big summer 

Brian Wilson: “It is going to be a big summer. Everyone, I hope and expect, has learned lessons from some things which influenced this season. Therefore, everyone is up for that challenge and the work is going on. The immediate focus is on getting to the end of this season in the best possible place, but thereafter there is a huge effort assured in the summer so that we face next season in the strongest possible position. Everything else is secondary to what happens on the park and therefore we have to have the best possible chance going into next season based on what transpires over the summer. That is the absolute commitment to supporters.”

Celtic Shorts: The summer is indeed going to be huge. We have no manager in place. We have a huge transition ahead in the playing squad, possibly the biggest ever. We have a CEO who has already been issued with votes of no confidence from numerous supporters groups including all the big ones. The structure of the club with one man and his son deciding on everything rather than a competent board running the business. 

There’s also the end of the ceasefire from the Celtic Fans Collective which will happen after the last kick-off the ball at Hampden on 23 May, even if both trophies have been won. Unity is indeed the goal. For that to happen we need more than an occasional Brian Wilson sit down with Gerry McCulloch.

For the avoidance of doubt, neither the Celtic Fans Collective nor any affiliated groups have been consulted by Celtic FC on a new supporter engagement model.

Without meaningful fan input, any structure the Club introduces will have no credibility from the outset. https://t.co/ugvQAWDset

— Celtic Fans Collective (@CFC_Collective) May 1, 2026

Here’s Brian Wilson’s supporters update posted by Celtic last night via their YouTube channel…

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