{"id":238841,"date":"2025-11-02T02:26:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T02:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/238841\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T02:26:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T02:26:26","slug":"welcome-to-simulation-celtic-the-endless-continuous-loop-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/238841\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to Simulation Celtic, the endless, continuous loop of it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\tRumours, eh? Somewhere out there, in someone\u2019s Celtic simulation, the tectonic plates under Celtic Park are grinding again\u2026 <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SPFL_CELTIC_FANS_COLLECTIVE_00053.jpeg\" class=\"lazyload lazyload wp-image-174403 has-webp size-full\" alt=\"Celtic Fans Collective protest at Celtic Park\"  data- style=\"aspect-ratio:1280\/844;max-width:1280px\"\/>Celtic Fans Collective protest at Celtic Park ahead of the Celtic v Falkirk match. 29 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)<\/p>\n<p>Lawwell, the man who never really leaves, is retiring immediately, apparently for the second, third, or fifteenth time, depending on which version of the simulation you\u2019re trapped in. Sorry if you\u2019re still in single digits. Much pity for those debuting in this rodeo.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Nicholson has floated off to UEFA, that bureaucratic cloud city in the sky where good soldiers go after keeping the peace in Desmond\u2019s empire, provided they haven\u2019t angered the overlord, or they know where the skeletons sleep. Two more non-execs are vaporised in the same breath, so quickly we missed who they were.<\/p>\n<p>And in walks the fresh face, from Leicester, the new CEO, bright-eyed and briefed to the hilt. Another \u2018fresh start\u2019 that smells faintly of an expensive education and purchased morals, or maybe of deja vu and and hollow assurances. Who knows anymore. As I said, this is not my first rodeo.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-209.jpeg\" class=\"lazyload lazyload wp-image-174404 has-webp size-full\" alt=\"Celtic Fans Collective protest at Celtic Park\"  data- style=\"aspect-ratio:1280\/856;max-width:1280px\"\/>Celtic Fans Collective protest at Celtic Park ahead of the Celtic v Falkirk match. 29 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019d think by now they\u2019d have learned. But this is Celtic, where the corridors of power echo with the spectres of false dawns and the eternal clinking of glasses at Parkhead\u2019s corporate level. It\u2019s a place where \u2018change\u2019 means everything shifts so that everything can stay exactly the same.<\/p>\n<p>It was like this the last time. Lawwell bows out, McKay breezes in with reformist zeal, Nicholson smiles benignly in the background. Two months later, the guillotine drops. McKay\u2019s gone. Lawwell\u2019s back in some non-exec emeritus overlord capacity, and Nicholson becomes a man-shaped shadow of the man he replaced. Not quite a myrmidon, too meek to be a henchman, too overqualified to call a lackey, and such a light shade of pale you\u2019ve never been sure he wasn\u2019t a hologram.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/imago1051715308h.jpeg\" class=\"lazyload lazyload wp-image-149345 has-webp size-full\" alt=\"Dermot Desmond\"  data- style=\"aspect-ratio:1280\/853;max-width:1280px\"\/>Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2024 Dermot Desmond<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExperiment over,\u201d the cynics said. They were right.<\/p>\n<p>Three years later, we\u2019re back in the same labyrinth, with the same minotaur waiting at the centre. Or are we? Who knows anymore. Reality is optional on Planet Celtic, and most of us opt against it in these parts.<\/p>\n<p>Every so often, the faithful hope for a reckoning, for modernisation, transparency, vision. Instead, we get reshuffles that resemble hostage swaps. We get Desmond\u2019s divine right reaffirmed, and press statements so bland they anaesthetise, or so venomous they feel like we\u2019re eavesdropping on a fiery domestic fallout. And we get the creeping sense that no matter who\u2019s at the front of the ship, the same hands are always gripping the wheel behind the curtain.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_1610.jpeg\" class=\"lazyload lazyload wp-image-174356 has-webp size-full\" alt=\"Celtic fan protest poster\"  data- style=\"aspect-ratio:960\/1280;max-width:960px\"\/>Celtic fan protest poster outside Celtic Park on 29 October 2025. Photo The Celtic Star<\/p>\n<p>The truth, or is it? Celtic isn\u2019t just a football club anymore. It\u2019s a long-running psychological experiment on what happens when a support is asked to believe in change while being served the same dish of corporate cryptomnesia every season, on a maddening, inner-ear-piercing loop.<\/p>\n<p>So yes, in someone\u2019s simulation, Lawwell retires, Nicholson drifts off to UEFA, Susan gets the keys to the executive office, and somewhere in the mist, Desmond is still calling the shots.<\/p>\n<p>The fans watch, often bewildered but rarely surprised anymore. Because in Simulation Celtic, the revolution is always just another round of musical chairs.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/celtic-v-falkirk-william-hill-premiership-13.jpg\" class=\"lazyload lazyload wp-image-174336 has-webp size-full\" alt=\"Peter Lawwell, Dermot Desmond, Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay\"  data- style=\"aspect-ratio:2642\/1860;max-width:1536px\"\/>Celtic Chairman Peter Lawwell, Dermot Desmond, largest shareholder and Michael Nicholson CEO are seen during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on October 29, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Still, the hand goes up. Then more of them. But then many drop off, perhaps willing to believe that in this episode, in this loop, we\u2019ll open our eyes to meadows and sunlight.<\/p>\n<p>Welcome to Simulation Celtic, the endless, continuous loop of it.<\/p>\n<p>The overthrow is never seen through to the end. The head of the beast is never severed.<\/p>\n<p>Or does it happen in this simulation? Is this the final rodeo? Or do we go back to the start and begin again?<\/p>\n<p>Niall J<\/p>\n<p>Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter, signed copies by Danny McGrain available from <a href=\"https:\/\/celticstarbooks.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">celticstarbooks.com\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t miss the chance to purchase the late, great Celtic historian David Potter\u2019s final book. All remaining copies have been signed by the legendary Celtic captain \u00a0Danny McGrain PLUS you\u2019ll also receive a FREE copy of David Potter\u2019s Willie Fernie biography \u2013 Putting on the Style, and you\u2019ll only be charged for postage on one book. \u00a0Order from Celtic Star Books <a href=\"https:\/\/celticstarbooks.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/celticstarbooks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_9129.jpeg\" class=\"lazyload lazyload wp-image-172373 has-webp size-full\" alt=\"Celtic in the Eighties and Willie Fernie - Putting on the Style both by David Potter \"  data- style=\"aspect-ratio:1280\/807;max-width:1280px\"\/><\/a>Celtic in the Eighties and Willie Fernie \u2013 Putting on the Style both by David Potter. Photo The Celtic Star<a href=\"https:\/\/celticstarbooks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Unknown.jpeg\" class=\"lazyload lazyload wp-image-171025 has-webp size-full\" alt=\"Danny McGrain signing copies of Celtic in the Eighties\"  data- style=\"aspect-ratio:880\/601;max-width:880px\"\/><\/a>Danny McGrain signing copies of Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Photo: Celtic Star Books&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\t\tMore Stories \/ Latest News<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/thecelticstar.com\/perhaps-we-can-suspend-our-torment-until-december\/\" title=\"Perhaps we can suspend our torment until December\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"601\" height=\"481\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1002216006.jpeg\" class=\"lazyload lazyload wp-image-59817 lazyload\"  data-\/>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/thecelticstar.com\/celtic-v-the-rangers-a-hampden-cauldron-ready-to-witness-who-blinks-first\/\" title=\"Celtic v the Rangers \u2013 A Hampden cauldron ready to witness who blinks first\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/celebrations_1024.jpeg\" class=\"lazyload lazyload wp-image-154166 lazyload\" alt=\"Anthony Ralston\"  data-\/>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/thecelticstar.com\/it-was-an-annihilation-of-brendan-an-absolute-slaughter-job-chris-sutton\/\" title=\"\u201cIt was an annihilation of Brendan. An absolute slaughter job,\u201d Chris Sutton\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"6000\" height=\"4000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/imago1051746533h.jpg\" class=\"lazyload lazyload wp-image-149347 has-webp lazyload\" alt=\"Dermot Desmond\"  data-\/>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rumours, eh? Somewhere out there, in someone\u2019s Celtic simulation, the tectonic plates under Celtic Park are grinding again\u2026&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-238841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}