In the last week, we have seen much disconcerting information emanating from the executives and the manager. These have not been official pronouncements because, as mere fans, we’re undeserving of such communication, but have arisen from interviews with the manager and from the board’s worst fear: fan questioning.
The latest utterances from the Chief Executive in response to questioning by the AICSC members in Ireland on the 4th July are scandalously poor. I have included these below as they are so infuriating I have no wish to regurgitate Nicholson’s nonsense. It should be dismissed as the vacuous wittering of an individual promoted so far beyond their ability that David Brent, the world’s most cringeworthy office manager, seems like a clear-eyed visionary by comparison.
His description of the club’s long-term strategy is utterly laughable. It would be the equivalent of an investor asking you to outline your own business strategy and replying with, “I want to be successful.”
The investor would undoubtedly reply with a variation of “Please identify specific targets in each segment of the business, the timeline for attainment, and the means by which you intend to achieve each one. Please identify market challenges and your growth strategy. Please do so in granular detail, as I need to understand if your plans are remotely feasible.” As they say, a goal without a plan is just a dream.
Now, am I expecting the CEO to go into that level of detail? Obviously not, but the same vague annual utterances and what we now know about operations and planning, clearly demonstrate that the vagueness is entirely by design. Remember, when pushed on it, the ‘axis of feeble’ of the CEO & CFO, claimed that European qualification, for ANY competition, was a success. So, ‘compete in Europe’ couldn’t be more imprecise and equivocal. Given the club’s advantages over the rest of the league, they may as well have ‘compete in Scotland’ as a goal.
Again, this is not a surprise. Long suspected and then vocalised by our own princeling at the AGM, where he made it clear that any European success is purely aspirational. So, if we trip over some success in between transfer windows of increasingly unmanaged decline, then that’ll be fine and dandy. But let’s not lose the run of ourselves and actually plan to improve or succeed at the highest level of our European peers. That’s just madness in the eyes of a board so paralysed by risk aversion that they’d spend six hours debating the existential liability risks of switching toilet paper brands and sincerely feel like they’ve been productive.
His comments about agents are horrifyingly laughable. Celtic are gaining a widespread reputation for being impossible to deal with. It is a fact that many agents won’t entertain them and many clubs will dismiss them if there’s a plausible alternative. The painfully ponderous pace of dealings, the nitpicking and penny-pinching over contracts, and the almost regular going back on previously agreed deals at the death. They have become toxic to many and a laughingstock to many more.
His comments about the Premier League are demonstrably nonsensical. Why on earth would we be targeting the richest league in the world for talent? Loan deals can be useful, but heavy reliance is again illustrative of a lack of vision and proper recruitment. Unless of course, your appointment of an elderly, short-term manager, is now impacting every subsequent recruitment decision?
And why exactly did that manager take this high-stress, high-pressure job in his 74th year? He sounded less than enthusiastic on his return, indicating that he had been exhausted by the previous season, but didn’t want to have any regrets when he was once again feeling refreshed. Essentially, it seemed to be fear of missing out. Was that plausible? Maybe.
However, there have already been multiple issues which call into question the simplicity of that explanation. I recall the giddy statements upon his permanent appointment, about a massive recruitment war chest and having secured assurances about transfers. I remember critiquing a press article which ran with a headline about an unprecedented transfer kitty, based solely on Dermot Desmond saying the manager will be fully backed. Nothing more than that. A statement that has been made in respect of every manager. It was a deliberately disingenuous interpretation, to sucker optimistic Celtic fans with false hope.
Now we know that no such assurances were sought or given, leaving many fans aghast and confused. Why would he take the job without that agreement? At the time I wondered about the sequence of Martin’s return, when his coaches were left to fight their own battle with the club to reach a deal on compensation. Why didn’t he ensure they were all signed up before coming back? He’s a manager, not a coach, so there’s nothing more important to his success than the coaching team. His likely intervention via Graham Spiers ultimately saw those deals done, but it was all a bit odd.
It’s also clear that Martin is leaving recruitment in the hands of the ever-incompetent CEO. Making the fatal mistake of believing what he says, and parroting platitudes about “working away in the background,” “augmenting the squad with a couple of players,” and “we’ll have to sell a few before we sign.” The list goes on, and for the dedicated fans, these are more red flags here than at a Chinese army parade. Copy and paste the previous desperately poor windows, and that’s where we find ourselves. They have made a liar out of the Interim Chairman and will shortly make a fool out of Martin O’Neill.
Why would he stay though? He may have returned out of a misguided love for the club, but he surely won’t put up with this nonsense. Remember, he left Aston Villa just before the start of the season because he was so irate at the lack of transfer dealings. The confusion amongst fans is palpable. Why would this legend tolerate unsuccessful business as usual?
Martin did leave Villa in a fit of pique and principle. That was in 2010. Everything relevant to this story occurred around 2016. Let me explain as succinctly as possible what happened. This story is widely known about, but I don’t believe the devastating impact on Martin has been fully appreciated.
The film schemes that ensnared sports stars like Martin O’Neill represent one of the biggest tax avoidance and investment scandals in UK sports history.
Originally introduced by Gordon Brown in 1997 to stimulate the British film industry, these structures morphed into highly aggressive financial vehicles that ultimately collapsed under legal scrutiny.
What the Schemes Were and How They Worked
- The Premise: Promoters such as Ingenious Media and Kingsbridge Asset Management invited high-earning celebrities to invest in Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) designed to back blockbuster movies.
- The Scale: Famous films like Avatar, Life of Pi, and Shaun of the Dead were funded through these vehicles.
- The Loophole: The partnerships deliberately structured themselves to produce artificial trading losses during the early stages of film production.
- Tax Relief: High-earning sportspeople could lawfully offset these massive commercial “losses” against their personal income—such as substantial Premier League wages and managerial salaries—drastically reducing or eliminating their tax bills.
- The Leverage Trick: Many investors only put down around 30% of their own cash, borrowing the remaining 70% from banks. Crucially, they claimed tax relief on 100% of the total amount, maximising their tax savings while spending minimal personal capital.
How Sportspeople Lost Millions
- Massive Retrospective Bills: HMRC finally cracked down hard after years of gruelling tax tribunals. They finally won a landmark victory against suppliers, such as Ingenious and Knightsbridge. They demanded full repayment of all disallowed tax reliefs, alongside interest and severe penalties.
- Financial Ruin: Because many stars had spent or poorly invested their initial tax savings, they were unable to pay the sudden multi-million-pound demands.
- Collateral Casualties: The crackdown triggered widespread financial devastation across the footballing community, driving numerous retired players into bankruptcy, divorce, and the loss of their homes.
- The Blame Game: Multi-million-pound lawsuits were launched against financial institutions and advisors. For instance, Martin O’Neill and dozens of other managers and players sued Coutts, NatWest, and independent financial planners. They alleged they were mis-sold the investments as safe, legitimate government-backed incentives rather than high-risk tax avoidance schemes.
Martin’s calamitous personal losses have been described as many millions. So, in case you were wondering, there was a good reason he was doing the circuit of fan events. Up to 3 or 4 a week before he was asked to come back in by his old friend Desmond. Clearly, Martin is primarily motivated at this stage by trying to fund his retirement, no matter how much he genuinely loves the club. Let’s be perfectly clear, ‘man needs money’ is not a headline, nor is it a criticism.
However, if you have been confused by his profound gratitude to Desmond for bringing him in from the football wilderness, then you have your explanation. If you are confused as to why he would tolerate these embarrassing recruitment efforts, now you know. If you think he will stand up to this board, you will be profoundly disappointed. This isn’t Aston Villa 2010.
A principled stand needs to be funded.
So does a pension.
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