{"id":450327,"date":"2026-02-28T13:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T13:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/450327\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T13:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T13:22:10","slug":"thank-goodness-chris-sutton-reacts-to-willie-haugheys-midweek-celtic-pledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/450327\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Thank Goodness&#8221; &#8211; Chris Sutton Reacts To Willie Haughey&#8217;s Midweek Celtic Pledge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Sutton has welcomed <a href=\"https:\/\/celtsarehere.com\/celtic-fc-willie-haughey-season-ticket-alliance\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Willie Haughey\u2019s midweek pledge to invest in Celtic<\/a>, describing it as a much-needed and potentially positive step at a time when the club feels deeply fragmented.<br \/>\n<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SPFL_KILLIE_CELTIC_00097A-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1904\" class=\"size-full wp-image-135399\"  \/>15th February 2026; Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, Scotland: Scottish Premiership Football, Kilmarnock versus Celtic; Ex Celtic star Chris <a data-autolink-id=\"9\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/celtsarehere.com\/chris-sutton-glasgow-celtic\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sutton<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"190\" data-end=\"515\">While Celtic were away in Stuttgart for their Europa League tie, Haughey was back in Glasgow working on a proposal aimed at bringing supporters closer to the heart of the club. The lifelong fan has outlined plans to invest up to \u00a310 million in Celtic shares and to launch what he is calling the Celtic Season Ticket Alliance.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"517\" data-end=\"984\">The idea is straightforward but ambitious. Membership would be limited to season ticket holders and, for every 10,000 supporters who sign up, Haughey has committed to purchasing \u00a32 million worth of shares.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"517\" data-end=\"984\">Should the full \u00a310 million be invested, supporters aligned with the initiative would hold more than five per cent of the club, enough to trigger the right to call an Extraordinary General Meeting and, crucially, to have a meaningful voice in boardroom matters.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"986\" data-end=\"1321\">Celtic\u2019s off-field issues have dominated much of the season, with protests, boycotts and fan unrest running alongside inconsistent performances on the pitch. The sense of disconnection between supporters and the hierarchy has been hard to ignore, and Haughey\u2019s proposal is being viewed by many as an attempt to rebuild trust and unity.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1323\" data-end=\"1547\">Reacting to the announcement, Chris Sutton struck an optimistic tone. He acknowledged that some supporters remain sceptical but stressed that Haughey\u2019s intentions should not be dismissed lightly.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1323\" data-end=\"1547\">He wrote in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrecord.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/willie-haugheys-celtic-share-plan-36793073\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">RecordSport<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1323\" data-end=\"1547\">\u201cWe have to see how it unfolds, but I am genuinely optimistic it could be a positive first step for the club. Some people are sceptical about Haughey\u2019s Season Ticket Alliance but we are talking about a smart guy here\u2014someone who has always been a huge Celtic supporter.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1323\" data-end=\"1547\">\u201cThank goodness for Willie\u2019s plan and voice of reason. He\u2019s offering to put his money where his mouth is by potentially investing up to \u00a310m.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1323\" data-end=\"1547\">\u201cBut it\u2019s about more than just money. It\u2019s about giving supporters more of a voice at the club. That can only be a good thing.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1323\" data-end=\"1547\">\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt Celtic has been fragmented over the last 12 months and many fans are unhappy with how the club is being run or the lack of transparency at the top. Haughey\u2019s plan would give a sizeable portion of the fanbase a decent amount of shares \u2013 and that alone would at least get them a place at the table.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1323\" data-end=\"1547\">\u201cThat\u2019s what a lot of supporters crave. They don\u2019t want to be left in the dark, only being spoken to by an interim chairman and interim manager or reading the occasional flamethrower statements on the club\u2019s website.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2219\" data-end=\"2590\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Whether the Celtic Season Ticket Alliance gathers the momentum required remains to be seen. For the first time in a long while, he believes there is at least the outline of a constructive path forward for Celtic, driven by a supporter prepared to invest heavily in both the club\u2019s future and its fanbase.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/teesfortims.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/celtic-fc-shop-retro.png\" alt=\"Tees for Tims\" width=\"100%\"\/><br \/>\n    <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Sutton has welcomed Willie Haughey\u2019s midweek pledge to invest in Celtic, describing it as a much-needed and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-450327","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\/450327","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=450327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}