The Diary has been back for less than a week, and already it’s had an impact;

On June 10, 2026, Celtic plc (LON: CCP) shares traded between 236.00p and 256.00p, ultimately closing the day around 246.00p to 247.00p. The stock peaked intraday at 256.00p, marking a strong 1.19% to 2.40% daily increase as it hit the higher end of its 52-week range. 

I’ve emailed Dermot and asked him for a couple of free tickets. Knowing my luck, he’ll probably send them!

Celtic have announced a couple of pre season friendlies to take our mind off the tedium of the World cup, with a trip over the water to face Sheblourne at Tolka Park on July 7 and a visit to Lisbon to play Sporting on the 14th. these two games are followed by the game at Celtic Park on the 25th against Milan.

Who knows ? Maybe we’ll still have eleven players by then.

Martin O’Neill still hasn;t been formally announced as manager, and stories are beginning to leak suggesting the hold up is due to contractual negotiations with one or more of his backroom staff.

Celtic whispers about Martin O’Neill coaching team ‘leak’ as insider names non negotiable amid next boss wait

Believe it or not, that is a real headline from the Daily Record. I read the story, so you don’t have to, and I’m none the wiser, though Tony Watt and Paul Dickov think we’ve got some great coaches.

The “whisper” seems to have started on a Celtic forum, and suggests that Fotheringham and Maloney are being offered contracts that are not as good as they expected.

That’s all it is, a rumour.

Which, in the time honoured manner of the internet, is now a rant about how Celtic have a cheek to lowball two valued employees. Never mind if it’s true or not, it’s another chance to have a go at the board, and in particular, Michael Nicholson.

Podcasts, blogs and websites require traffic, they need subscribers because that way they get advertising money. Sometimes the need to earn outweighs the need to verify things, and the race becpmes not about veracity, but about speed, getting the story out before anyone else does.

At etims, of course, we just make stuff up and work as volunteers, so none of that nonsense affects us. Although that’s not to close the door entirely on commercial interests. If anyone wants us to say something nice about their products, such as luxury cars, villas in warmer countries or cigarettes and beer, I’m as morally flexible as the next guy.

There is a sense that the online Celtic community is happier when it’s moaning, and in absolute ecstasy when it can have a go at Michael Nicholson, whether it’s his fault or not. No wonder our board don’t want to communicate with us, and it’s easy to see why one wouldn’t attend a meeting or press conference where the general feeling is that one should get to fuck. In fact, even when he does show up at a game thousands of people scream at him to get to fuck.

If you went to work and just one person said that to you, how would you react?

But I’m not here to defend his record, and in fact, let’s get rid of him.

There you are, he’s gone. I’ve sent him a text and as you can see, he’s read it.

right, so let’s see if we can replace him. Obviously, we need to first of all work out exactly what we want from a CEO.

So, let’s set some targets.

Two trophies minimum every season.

That should keep the punters cheering.

Improve Group revenue by ten per cent per annum 

That’ll please the suits and the shareholders.

Improve cash reserves by ten per cent 

That’ll put a smile on the bank managers face.

Improve player trading profit significantly 

Which means we must have some good players coming in, or no one would buy them.

Increase capital,structural and infrastructure expending by around 400% 

Always a good idea to have strong foundations.

Oversee and negotiate record breaking commercial and sponsorship deals and revenue, growing income by around 22%

All possible income streams have to be assessed and developed

Keep us ahead of our main rivals with a pattern of profitability which leads to fifty per cent more revenue and an operating profit that is around eighty per cent greater than theirs. 

That should bring in a quality candidate, as long as he doesn’t mind the abuse and disruption to his personal life.

Oh, hang on, let’s check Nicholson’s  record.

He has actually done all of that while he’s been here.

Which begs the question then, why so much abuse? What has he done, or not done , to deserve it ?

I’ve never seen a CEO score a goal, or coach a side, or develop a young player.  We can;t blame the footballing side on him.

Apart from the Nancy debacle, and the Tisdale experiment, Nicholson has pretty much done his job.

In fact, when you actually look at the list of grievances against even Desmond , it’s pretty shallow.

But it does get people talking, and it does ramp up the pressure.

But we need to be careful what we wish for.  Yes, the club could do a lot of things a lot better, but when you actually look at it properly, there’s a lot they’re doing right.

So what exactly do we want from them ? How could they pacify the support ?

Is it all really just down to transparency ? Is that it ?

Abusing them is not only going to make them not want to bother any more, but it’s going to make it very difficult to replace them.

I suppose I’d better ring Michael and see if he wants to come back.

Yesterday, we had this;

Today…