Michael Nicholson is now at centre of a storm Celtic can no longer ignore

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The Celtic Star

·20 novembre 2025

Michael Nicholson is now at centre of a storm Celtic can no longer ignore

If the past few days have shown anything, it is that the Celtic Fans Collective is neither a gimmick nor a passing burst of online protest. It is a movement with organisation, clarity and nerve…

Celtic Director Brian Wilson with CEO Michael Nicholson at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock v Celtic, 14 September 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

One by one, the Collective has turned its attention to the pillars of Celtic’s corporate structure, first the long-serving Non-Executive Directors, then Dermot Desmond, then Peter Lawwell, and now, on the eve of the AGM, the CEO himself.

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Today, Michael Nicholson joined the list of senior figures publicly told that his time at Celtic “has expired.”

The latest statement is blistering, and not in the performative sense. This is not anger for anger’s sake. It is precise, detailed and grounded in frustrations that have been building across the support for years.

The Collective wrote.

“Michael Nicholson’s position as CEO is no longer credible. His tenure has been defined by weak leadership, poor communication and an inability to articulate any meaningful vision for Celtic. At a time when the club needs clarity, confidence and ambition, Nicholson has looked out of his depth. He promised supporters that he wants Celtic to be ‘world class in everything we do’. Under his guidance, the club is mediocre in almost all areas.

A Celtic CEO should be visible, authoritative and capable of engaging openly with supporters. Nicholson’s unwillingness to communicate has left the fanbase feeling ignored, detached and devalued. His record on fan issues is appalling.

These shortcomings were brutally exposed at the meeting with the Celtic Fans Collective. He struggled to answer basic questions, failed to explain the club’s direction and appeared completely overwhelmed by the demands of the role. His lack of ambition was underlined further when he stated he believed Celtic’s recent European record is satisfactory.

Celtic needs a leader who is ambitious, communicative and relentless in pushing the continual improvement of all aspects of the club. Instead, we have a CEO who aims low, accepts mediocrity and is normalising regression at a club that should demand far higher standards than he is delivering.

Michael – your time at Celtic has expired.”

Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay applaud during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Livingston at Celtic Park on August 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

If the statement aimed at Lawwell was dramatic, this latest salvo hits even harder. The boardroom can sometimes shield itself behind strategy and distance, but the CEO sits differently. He is the face of the executive, the operational leader, the person expected to stand in front of supporters, articulate direction and accept responsibility. When a CEO is unseen, unheard or unconvincing, the whole structure sags.

And the truth is, the evidence has been mounting for some time.

Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay during the Premier Sports Cup Semi Final match between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden Park on November 02, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Nicholson has presided over a period where communication with supporters has become startlingly sparse. Months will pass without a word from the CEO. When he does appear, the messaging is bland, unfocused and often evasive. It is a leadership posture that belongs in the days before fan media, before 24-hour digital scrutiny, before supporters held the club accountable in real time.

There was a moment, in the early days of his tenure, when it felt possible Nicholson might modernise the CEO role. He spoke of ambition, of world-class standards, of aligning Celtic with contemporary football operations. But as time passed, those promises evaporated.

And then came the meeting with the Celtic Fans Collective.

Those present described a CEO short of answers, short of conviction and, crucially, short of authority. When Nicholson declared that Celtic’s European record — the weakest in modern club history — was “satisfactory,” something shifted. Not simply a disagreement over standards, but a realisation that the man at the helm of Celtic’s day-to-day operations did not seem to grasp what Celtic must aspire to.

The Collective has interpreted the problem not as personal but structural. Nicholson operates in the shadow of a dominant shareholder who has repeatedly intervened directly in sporting and operational matters. The now-infamous Desmond statement after Brendan Rodgers’ resignation exposed that dynamic in the clearest terms. When the dominant shareholder uses club channels to attack an outgoing manager, what power remains in the hands of the CEO?

Peter Lawwell, Chairman of Celtic, Dermot Desmond, Non-Executive Director of Celtic, and Michael Nicholson, CEO of Celtic, are seen in attendance prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and theRangers at Celtic Park on March 16, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

In that sense, Nicholson is being judged not only on what he has failed to do, but on what he has been unable to do.

The Celtic Fans Collective sees a pattern, a board that is not independent, a chairman who is not impartial, and a CEO who is not empowered. Their conclusion is blunt, if the structure is broken, those who uphold it must change.

The timing of this latest call is no coincidence. The AGM is tomorrow. The board will want to avoid scrutiny, to steer the discussion toward safe ground, perhaps even reheating the Green Brigade ban to dominate the agenda. The Collective wants the opposite. They want the spotlight fixed on leadership, governance, competence and ambition. They want a discussion about Celtic’s future, not a distraction about its loudest supporters.

And in pushing Nicholson into the centre of that conversation, they have ensured the AGM cannot simply be a referendum on the North Curve. It must confront the direction of the entire club.

Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay watch on during the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Quarter-Final match between Celtic and Hibernian at Celtic Park on March 09, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

What happens next is difficult to predict. The bloc votes will carry resolutions as they always do. Desmond’s influence will remain. The current board may try to project continuity and calm.

But the atmosphere has changed. The support is speaking in one voice. The Celtic Fans Collective is showing an organisation and strategic clarity rarely seen in Scottish football. And the targets of their criticism are no longer fringe figures, they are the chairman, the CEO and the dominant shareholder.

Celtic sits at the edge of something significant. It could be the beginning of overdue renewal, it could be the entrenchment of the old order. But whichever path is taken, tomorrow’s AGM will not be quiet, comfortable or forgettable. And Michael Nicholson is now at the centre of a storm Celtic can no longer ignore.

Niall J

With the AGM approaching, the Celtic Fans Collective are putting the spotlight on every board member standing for re-election. Next up - Michael Nicholson
– giovedì 20 novembre 2025