Details
Started at Celtic for transition: 19 April 2021
Started as Chief Exec: 1 July 2021
Taking over from: Peter Lawwell.
Biog
Taking over at Celtic during the disastrous 2020/21 season and the covid pandemic, Dominic McKay had a lot to pick up on and improve on. Celtic had squandered their advantages over Sevco, ending the season trophyless, slumped in Europe and flushed down a lot of money on what were to be sub-standard signings/transfers. Add in the managerial issues, he was arriving at the deep end as Neil Lennon was cut with a whole new managerial team to be installed with a new approach demanded after the collapse in the past season.
He was starting the day after Celtic lost two nil away to Sevco in the Scottish Cup ending a disastrous season without any silverware, and the announcement of a proposed controversial European Super League which was limited to big nations so far (which didn’t get off the ground).
He was a Celtic fan and season ticket holder, and so ticked the boxes for many as a good replacement with his experience. Outgoing Peter Lawwell had been in his role for 17 years, and had way overstayed his time but was to be to the detriment of the club, something that hopefully wouldn’t reoccur under Dominic McKay.
He was leaving Scottish Rugby where he had reputedly done a fine job, and saw the national side finally seeming to accumulate some much respected results including rare victories over England & France away. So leaving the SRU on a high at least.
At Celtic
Hit the ground running to get a new manager and all came unstuck a few days before he started when Eddie Howe pulled out, and Celtic scrambled to get Ange Postecoglou in. It was a baptism of fire.
Yet he quit before it all got going!
He resigned for ‘Personal Reasons’ on 10 September 2021! Barely in the door, and just soon after the transfer window was closed. Celtic on the field had actually a fair start to the season, albeit losing to Sevco away, but the mood had been buoyant but this resignation darkened the mood, and took away the focus from Sevco had had been having a hellish time in the media of late.
Reports were coming out, details below, claiming that he was being shown to be a bit out of his depth in the football world, and there were concerns moving forward on his position. So he jumped before he was pushed possibly.
If he was out of his depth as some state (and we’ll know fully ) then really it reflects as badly on the Celtic board & management for hiring him. He will have been unfairly humiliated here when it was avoidneverable.
We wish him the best.
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Articles
Dom McKay’s exit, the future direction of the club seems uncertain
By Niall J 10 September, 2021 1
Dom McKay’s exit, the future direction of the club seems uncertain
The announcement of Celtic’s hoped for modernisation under the leadership of Dominic McKay having ended before it really got started is a blow to those who believed Celtic’s now departing CEO was a man who could reverse the managed decline exhibited under our previous micromanaging accountant-turned-director of football.
Indeed, his transfer window success in turning around the squad, allied to what appeared to be a strong working relationship with Ange Postecoglou was something of a modern-day miracle in comparison Celtic’s previous squad management.
The news is a bitter blow to Celtic supporters who saw clear and obvious early indications of a club, and a Board in particular, who could be dragged kicking and screaming into the 2020’s and at least improve on just how far we were behind the curve when it came to forward-thinking football clubs. Sadly, with McKay now announcing, or at least the club announcing, his departure for ‘personal reasons’ the future direction of the club remains uncertain.
Copyright: xJeffxHolmesx 61642121
Every single Celtic fan of course wishes Dominic McKay the very best when it comes to navigating any difficult circumstances he may have to in the coming weeks and months. However, it must be considered that Celtic as a club haven’t exactly instilled any confidence when it comes to transparency with the support and as such anyone with any level of cynicism when it comes to Celtic’s custodians may well have an outlook that cries ‘suspect’ to today’s surroundings.
Let’s take the statement itself. There are no quotes from the outgoing CEO, there is no mention of how, when, and if a long-term replacement will be sought. Instead, we have a previous Peter Lawwell appointment in post as a sudden stop gap with Michael Nicholson appointed as an acting CEO.
Then there is the timing. 72 days of a CEO is strange is it not? As is the explanation of the personal reasons. If the reasons are personal, does that not indicate a sabbatical, rather than a permanent solution? Then you have to consider the announcement comes soon after the manager himself spoke to the press this afternoon. Once again cynical it may be, but to avoid direct questioning on such a matter, when you consider the club had clearly reached an agreement with Nicholson to step up, such conversations are unlikely have happened between Ange Postecoglou meeting the press and Friday tea-time.
That for me simply smacks of wishing to avoid press scrutiny and trying to get enough time to get your ducks in a row after an almighty row.
Then there is the consideration that a Friday evening, a day utilised by our near neighbours and many others besides, when it comes to reducing scrutiny is an age-old trick of the trade. ‘Personal reasons’ may well be the case, the timing of release on a Friday evening may be coincidental, but there has to be a healthy dose of cynicism added to the Friday night meal Celtic are wishing us to swallow tonight.
Photo: Andrew Milligan
There have been rumours abound that Celtic’s CEO was finding his modernising ideas being far from welcomed, if not dismissed, but rumours they were and rumours they remain. And as much as it is difficult now to take anything our pale, male and stale Board offer as genuine reasons for anything we have to assume that ‘personal reasons’ is not, as it is so often, code for the buying of silence as it is in other walks of business life.
If that is to be the case then we’ll soon hear from Dom McKay, we’ll soon be furnished with a timetable for a modern thinking and comparable replacement for the new man and we’ll then know that this Celtic Board haven’t shot themselves in the foot, reloaded and taken aim at the toes they’ve missed.
For us as Celtic supporters this will be a surprise, but it probably isn’t a shock, not for a Board who presided over a summer of transfer discontent at the expense of Champions league football year after year and not after the time it took to listen to the support as 10-in-a-row unravelled and eventually get rid of Neil Lennon, and not when this board presided over but couldn’t close the deal for Eddie Howe.
Yet one man will be shocked, the man who has built up a relationship with Dom McKay, the man who has barely been able to disguise his own surprise of the state of paralysis Celtic was in when he arrived. If Celtic want to ensure there isn’t someone else finding ‘personal reasons’ for his own departure then this Celtic Board need to think beyond the stop gap who would make Peter Lawwell look cutting edge, move quickly and ensure at least one of the two best things to happen to Celtic in the last two years feels he has a chance to succeed and is not left twisting in the wind.
Because you had told him about this Celtic hadn’t you, before you sent him to face the media?
Niall J
Statement from Celtic Football Club
By Celtic Football Club
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Celtic Football Club announced today that Chief Executive Dom McKay has stood down from his position for personal reasons.
Dom McKay said: “I’d like to thank the Board and everyone at Celtic for their support and wish everyone at Celtic every success for the future.”
Celtic Chairman Ian Bankier said: “We thank Dom for his efforts on behalf of the Club and everyone wishes Dom and his family very well for the future”.
Celtic’s Director of Legal and Football Affairs Michael Nicholson, who has been with the Club since 2013, has been appointed to the Board of Celtic plc as acting Chief Executive Officer.
Following a successful career in sports law, Michael Nicholson (45) joined Celtic in 2013 as Company Secretary and Head of Legal. Michael was promoted to Director of Legal and Football Affairs in 2019.
He has been at the centre of executive decision making at Celtic during his time at the club, working directly with the Board, the Chief Executive and the Football Department.
Michael carries the confidence of the Board and his colleagues. He is widely known and highly regarded in football circles in the UK and in Europe.
Chairman, Ian Bankier added: “It has been my pleasure to work closely with Michael for more than 8 years now. Having been at the heart of the senior executive and reporting to the Board, he has a solid grip on how to achieve our immediate and future objectives.
“Michael is an absolute team player and he will lead an experienced and talented team of executives and colleagues at Celtic.
“Everyone at Celtic will of course work collectively and focus strongly on ensuring we continue to drive the club forward in every area, on and off the field.
“The Board, Ange, our management team and all our staff will continue to work together with the ultimate objective, as always, of delivering success for our supporters.”
Dominic McKay’s shock Celtic exit to be catalyst for more change as details emerge over reasons for departure
The departure of Dominic McKay as Celtic chief executive following only 72 days in post is expected to be the catalyst for further significant board changes at the club, it has emerged.
By Andrew Smith
Friday, 10th September 2021, 10:30 pm
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/dominic-mckays-shock-celtic-exit-to-be-catalyst-for-more-change-as-details-emerge-over-reasons-for-departure-3379552
The shock parting with McKay – replacement for Peter Lawwell, who had been in situ for 17 years – was announced by Celtic on Friday evening in a statement to the stock exchange that referred to “personal reasons”. In it, it was revealed director Michael Nicolson, previously in charge of legal and football affairs, had stepped into the breach created to serve as acting chief executive.
It is understood that the “personal reasons” centre on a lack of conviction from the Celtic board that McKay, who left his role as chief operating officer at the Scottish Rugby Union to take on his now vacated post, was the right fit for the club.
Across the transfer window – which resulted in 12 players being recruited and £30 million being drawn in from the sales of wantaway trio Odsonne Edouard, Kristoffer Ajer and Ryan Christie – it is believed there was disquiet over a passive approach to transfer negotiations as the season began under new manager Ange Postecoglou. In the aftermath of the Champions League qualifying elimination in Midtjylland in late July, the Australian coach hinted at issues over the pace of recruitment to bolster a depleted squad when he stated: “We haven’t got players in, I obviously haven’t done a good enough job convincing people we needed to bring people in … I’ve been trying to be as forceful as I can about what we need to bring in”.
Celtic are believed to feel the problems over McKay’s assimilation into the football world made it necessary to make a clean break with the former Celtic season book holder at the earliest opportune moment, the end of the window regarded as affording that. McKay’s undoubted success in re-engaging a disillusioned support by opening lines of communication with bloggers and fans’ group, and his oft-pushed modernisation mantra for the club’s structures, would appear not to have cut through with his paymasters.
Certainly, it seems appreciated McKay was not solely at fault for the summer difficulties, though, and that, just as the squad has been comprehensively overhauled, so similar remedial work must be initiated with a board that has changed little in composition over recent years.
In a statement on Celtic’s website, chairman Ian Bankier wrote: “We thank Dom for his efforts on behalf of the Club and everyone wishes Dom and his family very well for the future.
“Michael is an absolute team player and he will lead an experienced and talented team of executives and colleagues at Celtic.
“Everyone at Celtic will of course work collectively and focus strongly on ensuring we continue to drive the club forward in every area, on and off the field.
“The Board, Ange, our management team and all our staff will continue to work together with the ultimate objective, as always, of delivering success for our supporters.”
For his part, McKay said: “I’d like to thank the board and everyone at Celtic for their support and wish everyone at Celtic every success for the future.”
Meanwhile, claims awash on cyberspace across Friday evening that out-going Peter Lawwell had a part to play in McKay’s rapid downfall are considered to be a complete red herring, and wishful thinking on the part of what has developed into a rabid anti-Lawwell faction among the club’s fanbase.