Celtic fans continue campaign against board with pre-match poster display

Celtic fans continued their campaign against the board with a pre-match display ahead of the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final against Partick Thistle.

Thousands of visiting fans held up posters featuring photographs of key directors with red diagonal crosses through their faces.

A new umbrella organisation, the Celtic Fans Collective, emerged on Saturday to carry forward supporters’ attempts to force out chairman Peter Lawwell, chief executive Michael Nicholson and chief financial officer Chris McKay.

The board took collective responsibility for Celtic’s Champions League failure on Friday when the club posted their financial accounts, with both Nicholson and Lawwell vowing to improve execution of transfer dealings.

But fan frustration over the inability to strengthen in attacking areas before the play-off defeat by Kairat Almaty would only have grown when Celtic announced a pre-tax profit of £45.7million for last season and revealed they had £77.3million in cash reserves at the end of June.

Supporters chanted “all Celtic fans against the board” and “sack the board” as the teams emerged from the tunnel at Firhill.

The Celtic Fans Collective outlined its manifesto on Saturday as a number of supporter groups came together.

A statement read: “We strive to ensure that Celtic Football Club operates with transparency, accountability, and ambition, aligned with the values and aspirations of its supporters.”

The group called for a “clear vision” from the club that reflects supporters’ ambitions, a “transparent and respectful relationship” between the two and “corporate governance standards befitting an organisation of Celtic’s scale and reputation”.

The group is looking for “credible, transparent, and comprehensive answers” to a number of questions posed by supporters earlier this month, change in boardroom personnel and the creation of a fan advisory board.

The group features representatives from a number of groups, including the Celtic Supporters Association, Affiliation of Registered Celtic Supporters Clubs, Association of Irish Celtic Supporters Clubs, the Celtic Trust, Fans Against Criminalisation, Celtic Disabled Supporters Association, the Green Brigade and Bhoys Celtic ultras, North Curve Celtic plus fan media and individual supporters clubs.