There is a resolution about club licensing and financial pair play in front of the Celtic AGM next month.
It is an entirely laudable effort by several concerned shareholders and I commend the resolution to anyone with a vote at the AGM.
Currently the club licensing system in Scotland is flawed and people often confuse it with membership.
Clubs in Scotland can and do play without a licence and, for example, almost certainly RIFC/Sevco does not currently have one.
The resolution argues that membership of the association should be conditional on a club being granted a licence, but it is not. Membership is at the SFA’s discretion with no criteria listed.
Of course had UEFA Financial Fair Play guidance 2010 been around a lot earlier and policed properly (crucial point) then Rangers (1872-2012) would never have got into the position where they died from indebtedness.
Moreover, as I have written here before, Rangers almost certainly should not have been granted a licence by UEFA to play in their competitions in season 2011/2012.
The response of the Celtic Board to this resolution has been to say that the SFA looked into the entire Rangers in Europe thingy in 2011 and it and it’s all fit and proper.
“The company received assurance from the Scottish FA regarding the Club Licensing process Season 2011/2012 at the time. The board considers that it took appropriate steps to protect the interest of the Company.”
Sorry Peter, but that’s bollox and I suspect now that you know that it is bollox.
The only reasonable scenario that I can come up with was that someone at Parkhead has not been paying full attention to the entire flying circus at Ibrox.
I know that they have been meticulously briefed over several months.
My guess is that the information provided was not looked at with any care until this resolution entered the AGM system.
This resolution is not about Rangers (1872-2012) per se, but about the failure of the SFA to exercise their duty of oversight in the governance of the game in Scotland.
You will note that the resolution refers to ‘Financial Fair Play Regulations of 2010’.
Apart from combating racism and discrimination in the game Platini’s vision thing is about preventing financial doping.
It was that performance enhancing substance that David Murray poisoned the Scottish football with when he bought Rangers with the banks money in 1988.
Celtic supporters have Brian Quinn to thank for opting out of the debt fuelled arms race that led Rangers to self-destruct.
However, there is another type of financial fair Play that should also focus minds as Celtic shareholders gather for the AGM.
There is another resolution in front of the shareholders and the Board is also opposing this one.
The Parkhead club is a slick operation, of that there is no doubt.
The ability of Celtic to run a self-sustaining football budget of £30 million is really quite something and is to be commended.
Everything comes at a cost and , for example, failure to get into the Champions League Group Stages means that the club has to sell a player to make up for the loss of revenue that season.
The resolution calls for Celtic to pay the Living Wage (calculated at £7.45 per hour) and the Board is opposing this.
The people that run Celtic say that they can’t afford the extra £120,000 per annum that it would reportedly cost the club to provide a living wage to their staff.
That is £2,307 per week.
When Gordon Strachan won his first SPL title as Celtic manager he invited all of the back room staff out onto the podium as well as the players.
Some considered this a stunt at the time, but I thought it was spot on from the wee man.
Celtic Football Club was formed to alleviate hunger. The people that set up the club over 125 years ago were from the Famine generation in Ireland.
Brother Walfrid lived through An Gorta Mór as a child in his native Sligo
The idea that no child should go hungry was something that drove him to set up a football club in the east end of Glasgow.
Celtic is his legacy.
In contemporary Glasgow some people once again need charity in order to avoid hunger pangs gnawing at their families.
The Food bank is not the type of bank that the government bails out with your money.
However it is a symptom of the corporate ‘fuck you’ zeitgeist.
Last week I put a media request into the club about whether or not any Celtic staff were on zero hour contracts.
So far I haven’t had an answer.
Once more the Celtic supporters have their moral compass pointing in the correct direction and fair play to Thistle too. Scottish football is full of guid folk.
Yes, yes, I know that there is a morality free zone in Govan, but we all know that .
Like any football fan when I see my team on the park I want them to be better.
I suppose that is true about any supporter of any team at any time.
However, when it comes to Celtic and how they treat their staff I want Walfrid’s club to be better in other ways.
The club was established with charity in mind.
In opposing this resolution the Board are effectively saying that the club can’t find £2,307 per week to raise people up to a living wage.
I have simple solution for them:
Sell a player who earns that amount per week and put the transfer fee into a separate account.
That should pay Celtic’s staff a living wage for several years.
Of course if Neil Lennon said that he couldn’t afford to lose the player then I am sure that £2.307 per week could be shaved off executive remuneration without any loss of performance.
This winter some people who work at Celtic may be struggle to heat their homes while others on the payroll have warm driveways.
Is this part of Walfrid’s legacy?
Across the city we see a weekly soap opera where the remains of Sevco are ripped apart in a grisly display of hyena capitalism.
It is horribly fascinating to watch, but I hope that Celtic is better than that.
I’m proud that no creditors were stiffed in 1994 and that everyone was paid in full and, of course, that the club survived.
There was no NewCo con and no need for the SFA to bend the rules of the association out of shape to accommodate a phoenix operation.
However, I will be prouder if I know that the people who work for Celtic and pass Walfrid’s statue every day are fairly treated and aren’t queuing at a food bank to feed their family.
The Celtic Football Club that I grew up supporting was founded to stand up to the powerful and be shoulder to shoulder with the vulnerable.
This Board seems to be happy to do the exact opposite.
Please vote ‘YES’ to both resolutions.
I have read some brilliant posts on here but this one is quite simply the best post you have ever written Phil.
Vote “YES” lads
HH
So Celtic would have difficulty making ends meet if they paid out another £2307 per week and they solve the problem by employing slave labour. To look at it in another way: the low paid workers must be keeping Celtic in business with their sacrifice. I would be happy to pay the extra on a ticket to cover the costs (5p should do it) but why should the fans be asked for more when Lawell’s bonus will be well in excess of quarter of a million and useless players are sitting on the bench only to be freed at a future date. I don’t know about a grand old team but they are certainly greedy, capitalistic b4stards.
Hi Phil,
If the resolution for the fair wage fails, someone should embarrass the board by getting a new resolution started and that woul be to raise the price of a ticket. Roughly about 1.16 if there are 40,000 fans in the stadium.
But in all respects when we have players in 20,000 a week 2 grand does not seem like a lot of money to come up with.
Stunned
Sorry for the typos and spelling errors – tired and emotional
Here Here and well done Thistle for this remarkable act…
The pompous, debt managers at Celtic really ought to reconsider what it really means be part of the much heralded Celtic family…
Or is that a wee glib soundbite that Tony himself would be proud of
I remember what wee Gordon did that day, a class act in every way..
Come on Celtic, embrace fair play in its truest sense, we can afford that amount easily and while we are at it through any zero contracts in bin marked toxic..
Brendan
Vote for minimum wage and UEFA done. Been a snakl shareholder since Fergus floated club..Wee Bunnet wouldnt have allowed this shenanigans. Agree with Phil. A small renumeration cut would pay for minimum wage. God Bless Brother Walfrid.HH
Small shareholder…soz
Just got in and read both your recent blogs. The nail hasn’t so much as been hit on the head but driven in deep with a piledriver! Excellent.
Re the Living Wage, are staff at matchday catering outlets employed or part of a sub-contracted franchise? if it’s the former, then I wonder if a withdrawal of custom (the B word has been brought into disrepute by sevconians) would help shift attitudes in the boardroom?
Re the licensing issues, I had the misfortune to read Keevins in the Mail. It truly was one of the most inept articles that i’ve seen re this saga and that is really saying something. Apparently by supporting this motion, Celtic fans are trying to put ‘Rangers’ out of business! Seriously, that was his claim. Apart from the blindingly obvious point there is also the fact that if any claim were to be successful it would be borne by the SFA…….actually now i think about it, maybe he deserves more credit than i first thought…….if the SFA hit financial problems then without their rule bending Sevco are truly stuffed.
Maybe he’s an insightful genius who deserves more credit? …..or maybe he should be charged with bringing journalism into disrepute.
I agree with you stance Phil ,the old school at the front of Celtic park is to be demolished, the council want shot , and have made all sorts of excuses to have it pulled down before the Commonwealth games start , the building could have been used as a museum along with a drop in centre supplying hot food and other support measures to the east ends needy , it is a very deprived area and needs all the help it can get,that would have been in the spirit and in keeping with the original values set up by brother Walford
Regard myself as quite apolitical these days , as life has taught me that most politicos and their ilk are self serving and generally not very talented at anything other than spouting their rhetorical diarrhoea.
They look after number one in the only job that most of them would ever make the type of salary they enjoy.
Peter Lawell would make a marvellous politician , in my honest opinion,as he has all the qualities required for such a job……..that sums him up.
Celtic need better and more transparent leadership than the PR clusterfeck of silence from the current incumbents.
Our PR is awful and raises suspicion that our board have issues to hide.
The board’s response to the living wage resolution is disgraceful. But i assume it was writte with dermot’s ok, so no chance of it succeeding, unfortunately. Looks like a few banners and songs from the GB and all Celtic Park will be required to make them see sense.
100% Spot on Phil and it’s not too often I read a piece that long and agree on every single point.
It is an absolute disgrace those Entrusted with running of Celtic Football Club have the audacity to very publicly promote themselves on “the wonderful job they are doing running Celtic” when they are by stealth cheating those who actually keep the place ticking over out of a basic living wage.
Charity begins at home as the old saying goes so mibees it’s about time Celtic looked after their own just this once.
You keep shining your torch into the dark recesses of Football Phil these matters do need highlighting no matter how uncomfortable they may make us feel at times.
Keep looking forward Phil modernisation of the mind indeed.HH.
It amounts to about £100 per week from the wages of a 25-man 1st team squad.
That is nothing to some handsomely paid players.
The fact that a resolution like this is required at a club which pays fortunes to players who can be at times “average,” is sobering.
Failure to pass the resolution would truly be an own goal.
Consider the grief that some staff must endure in the ticket office for example (hot or cold job that one) and the minimum wage seems cheap.
Lets hope that decency prevails.
If not, Celtic fans have proved in the past that regardless of who is in charge, there are ways and means of making your point.
Well said Phil, agree 100%.
Phil
I am quite shocked to hear what you say but certainly NOT surprised at your saying it. Whether I agree with you or not on a topic, I certainly do not believe that, unlike many of the MSM and others, colour gives chameleon protection to any institution that comes into your line of fire. I have to say the more I consider Celtic’s attitude in this matter, the more I feel angry and ashamed. Such selfish, greedy behaviour is symptomatic of “business broguery”, to rephrase your oft used terminology for these business “heid yins”. In my opinion, no it is not an opinion, it is an absolute fact that such management policies totally contradict the values, the ethics, the principles and any other essential of Celtic Football Club. I just returned yesterday from Donegal (I know you will be sorry you missed me
) and Ballymote was a short trip away. What a feeling to stand in front of that image of Bro. Walfrid. If I had read your piece prior to going, I would have been honouring the man’s memory with a very bowed head and a shameful red face. I pray on bended knee that people vote “yes”. To treat staff at any level with such an attitude and for such “non existent reasons, is not just unfair, it is utterly disgraceful, especially from Celtic.
H H
Spot on phil.
Been saying it for years the biggest scandal in this country is the amount of working poor there are having tl live from hand to mouth every week, shocking.
Keith
The something for nothing culture , as Lamont says , if £250 is a living wage why do pensioners get £140.
Living wage good , greed bad.
Well in phil and thanks for highlighting all the negativity it’s up to men like you and us to turn them in to positives the sfa are crooks and this Agm issue could see them forced to resign this must be the main theme and stance by the support they done us out of a euro place and the food bank issue is shocking but there has always been food coops in Glasgow due to social exclusion of the less well of on behave of all Glasgow men a can only thank you for your work on this hail hail keep up the good work fighting the good fight
‘HEAR HEAR’ Phil , very well done in bringing this out in the open !
lets hope the board see sense! Compassion, Celtic and fair play, courses through our veins!
fair play to you on this one phil … at no point did i expect you to stand against celtics practices in support of the normal working person …10 out of 10 in my view your not so bad … well done
Your level of surprise at my stance is an indicator of your lack of knowledge of my value base.
Get a grip iain,the opposite is the case here……I,m wondering now about you !
They were offering zero hour contracts for ticket staff a few months ago, shocking
Here here Phil. This article should be posted on every Celtic web page. Absolutely shocked about this. Should also be posted in the Lennox town and Parkhead dressing rooms.
The reporting of the UEFA licence resolution is totally misleading and simply passes on misinformation because the authors themselves are either uninformed, or if they have taken the time to research the issue, do not want to report what they have found.
The blind leading the blind, who when having their eyes opened, complain of the brightness rather than celebrating what they can now see for the first time.
Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than in the latest article in the Sunday Mail by Hugh Keevins who totally misses the point and in doing so simply keeps his audience in the dark. Good to see some real journalism letting in the light.
On the Living Wage resolution it is one which I would support because it is in line with the Celtic ethos but as a matter of personal principle I would rather the cost were absorbed by the support rather than cut back on either squad quality or wages of existing employees no matter how remunerated they might be.
I have been at AGM’s and have never been to anything else that was a complete waste of time. The board hold the majority of votes so it is a paper exercise putting up any proposal at it. They railroad anything they want through and reject anything they don’t. There would need to be a massive swing to make any changes and I can’t see that happening and them paying the living wage. The club has long since distanced itself from its origins and is run for the benefit of major shareholders not the fans.
Phil, Here Here.
To both resolutions, Yes phil there are zero hours contracts at celtic park, just call it casual work!!
Living wage £2,307 on the wage bill per week!!
Maybe Mr Derrmot could contribute something, billionaire that he is, after all a couple of years ago he was paying £25,000 to have 121 with Mr Cameron for 15mins. HALF TIME WINDFALL TICKETS UP 100%.
Why not make 5 people happy with 2 grand and give the rest to local charities,looked after by Celtic charities
Do you thing Brother Walfraid would approve?.
As the great Bill Shankly said it is a form of Socialism.
Look within ourselves our great club has always been light for the needy, give some of your great stewardship back the them!!!
Well done to Thistle on an admirable collection for a cause which simply should not be required in this country. But sadly,it is.
Maybe the most important piece of work you have ever written Phil. Absolutely spot on – word for word.
I am appalled to learn that some staff at Celtic park are paid less than the minimum wage…in fact I’m angry. I wrote a poem on the occasion of Celtic’s centenary and a line in it referred to Brother Walfrid …if he looked down now he would be proud…we’ll I think he may be a wee bit ashamed. Get thi sorted Celtic!!!!
They are not paid less than the minimum wage
Alternatively Peter could just hand back £120,000 of his almost £1,000,000 salary and bonus…..
Hear hear Phil….a cupla grand a week is not asking too much of our board….hopefully the yes vote will prevail
) HH
that’s pretty disgracefull ,and I feel ashamed that my club who know how to take care of business fail to pay a living wage to its emplyees,then say they cant afford just over £2307 a week .cmon celtic were more than a football club were a football family,ive no doupt if most of these employees were asked to work for free to help the club out on occasions they would,get it sorted
That’s certainly surprised me……Celtic just isn’t about business.