Bernard Ponsonby is a chap that when he speaks, people tend to listen. The political commentator and journalist is a self-confessed Celtic fan, and could be heard defending the club’s values and excoriating its principal shareholder and his lackeys, when speaking recently at an event at Glasgow University…
That was recorded without permission and was subsequently posted all over the fan media and also made its way into the red-tops.
The bright and articulate orator managed to succinctly and eloquently describe how the vast majority of Celtic supporters feel at this moment in time, towards those who run the club on a daily basis.
Touching beautifully and warmingly on the club’s values and it’s history, which carries with it a certain romance, Ponsonby regarded Celtic Football Club as having somewhat of a spiritual quality to it. A spirit that many feel is slowly dying through gross mismanagement, nepotism and tasteless commercialism.
Everything that was said, was right on the money, even if it wasn’t meant for the wider audience it eventually achieved.
Supporters being treated with sheer contempt by Dermot Desmond and the Celtic Board
Now Ponsonby has been speaking again – this time publicly – about the current state of affairs at Paradise, in the wake of Martin O’Neill reportedly being given the job now on a permanent, short-term basis.
Many are rightfully concerned about the direction of travel we are currently embarking on, if there even is one at all, as it just seems like meandering in the dark at this point. Like so many others, Bernard is just one supporter being treated with sheer contempt by Dermot Desmond and the Celtic Board.
Communication is non-existent from the club
Communication is still non-existent from the club and we are well into June now. Major restructuring issues and recruitment problems remain, sitting idly, whilst supporters have shelled out a pretty penny again for uncertainty. The optics are atrocious and with no formal approach to supporters to heal the wounds of last season, and the ongoing ban with fan media and certain sections of the fanbase, we are in murky waters.
Fotheringham and Maloney have been lowballedÂ
Now we hear that the Martin O’Neill announcement has been delayed as Celtic have lowballed his backroom staff, notably Mark Fotheringham and Shaun Maloney, despite their vital roles in getting Celtic over the line on the Scottish Cup and most importantly the Scottish Premiership.
Speaking to his old STV colleague Peter Martin (!) on PLZ Soccer, the journalist was less than complimentary about our executive suite, although still gave them their flowers for the years of domestic dominance.
Ponsonby starts by giving credit where credit is dueÂ
“You would have to be just the most unreasonable individual and the most unreasonable supporter, if you simply didn’t accept that the utter dominance that the club has had over a quarter of a century, has been delivered on the basis of the club being well run,” Ponsonby said.
Continuing to give credit where it was due, he added: “Because if you don’t get it right off the park, you’re going to make bad decisions, which will filter through on the park.
“So it is only right and proper to say we have been well run and to say that a lot of the people who have been driving the management of the club deserve a lot of credit.”
What rankles with the support, is our embarrassing European record, which has seen us not win a knockout tie on the Continent since 2004 against Barcelona, when Martin O’Neill was last here as manager.
An inability to make any meaningful progress in Europe
Ponsonby went on to say: “The issue on the debit side of the ledger, which the supporters are concerned about, is an inability to make any meaningful progress in Europe which, they believe and which I believe, is because they haven’t spent properly.”
Our principal shareholder was not spared the rod once again, as he fumed: “The only things what we’ve heard from the Desmond family in recent times is that incendiary statement on the night that Brendan Rodgers resigned, which may well all be true. It may well be true, but it has no credibility because there is no communication with the support.
“I don’t know what Desmond’s vision for the club is because he doesn’t say anything.”
A sad Ponsonby revealed that in all of his 50 years following the club, he has never known a disconnect with the fans and it’s custodians so terrible.
“The last season has been, if we take out the magic of the last couple of weeks, it was in part horrible,” he said.
A toxic atmosphere
“And one of the reasons why it was horrible is that I’ve never known in all of my years as a Celtic supporter, and I’ve been going to see Celtic for over 50 years, supporters actually falling out with one another and a toxic atmosphere.
“It’s not what I was brought up in, and a complete disconnect between the mainstream and the board. You can only change that if you yourself are prepared to change and engage. I hope he (Desmond) does because if he doesn’t, the chances are we will be back here again,” he added.
The disgruntled broadcast journalist expressed reservations about Martin O’Neill getting the job heading into next season, with age concerns just one of a number of issues.
Martin O’Neill earned the right to decideÂ
“He’d earned the right to decide whether or not he he wanted it,” Ponsonby commented. “But all of the issues around Martin’s age, the individual that had raised these issues were Martin himself. Everybody knows though of course that’s what drives the concern with the supporters, the inability to make it in Europe.
“From that point of view, we need a change in terms of the financial model at the club. We need better communication at the club and we probably need a manager who is a two-to-five-year project over several transfer windows that can take you forward.
“Clearly, Martin in that sense is not your two-to-five-year project. So I mean, the key thing is to keep us ahead and at the end of the day all managers will live or die by their signings and there’s a complete rebuild needed at Celtic,” he added.
Watch the full Bernard Ponsonby interview below
You can watch this interview below, either skipping to the Celtic matters nearer the end or watch the full thing, which gives an insight into the boozing that goes on inside the mainstream media and have various political stories that are worth hearing if that’s your thing.
But it’s the Celtic content that will attract the most interest and it’s hard to argue with a single word that Bernard Ponsonby has to say. Have a listen…
Paul Gillespie
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