In December, Celtic made the harsh decision to ban fan media from attending press conferences and accredited matches. This unexpected move sparked controversy, with supporters believing it was unjustified.
It was even more disturbing when the ban extended over to women's football, affecting journalists who had been covering Celtic Women for years.
The club have refused to make contact with publications affected, with emails and messages going unanswered. This is a stark contrast from how communication has been previously, with Celtic's relationship when it comes to women's football coverage having always been praised.
The Cynic make decision to decrease coverage
Clare Wilde from The Cynic has been covering Celtic Women for years, speaking about them on The Celtic Women's Football Show. Clare has followed the team all around Europe, watching them play against top-level opposition such as Real Madrid.
When the ban struck, Clare was one of the first to be affected. There was an assumption that the ban was only for the men's team, so it was extremely disappointing when it was revealed that she would no longer be able to receive as much access as she had in the past.
Although she has often been fine at away venues, things took a turn when Rangers banned fan media from accreditation for Celtic's clash with them at Broadwood in the Sky Sports Cup last weekend. No explanation was given for the denial, despite multiple enquiries by different journalists.
Now, Clare has taken the difficult decision to decrease her coverage of Celtic Women.
In a release posted to The Cynic, she said:
""As many of you know, it has been a labour of love over the last six years, supporting, following, promoting and cheerleading for Celtic FC Women. I have led the coverage driven by a passion for promoting women’s football at Celtic and in Scotland. Discourse around the wider running of the club, the undetermined role of fan media, changes of personnel and a sense that the club itself is pulling back on the forward momentum of supporting the women’s game has meant we find ourselves at a complete and unprecedented impasse in terms of access and communication. The Cynic, including coverage of the women’s game, is sanctioned under a total ban of fan media across the club.""
Going on to her decision, she said:
""With that in mind, I have come to the tricky decision to pull back on the level of coverage we have been producing, at least until the end of this season. Our hand has already been forced by the access issues and trying to find ways round these restrictions has just become too challenging and has taken a very personal toll.""
The Cynic will be reassessing the situation in the summer.
The current state of Celtic Women
There is no doubt that the club needs to make a big move to ensure that Celtic Women are respected to the level they should be. Despite being a professional club and one of the biggest in the country, Celtic still receives less funding than their direct competitors in the Scottish Women's Premier League.
Finances were something that former manager Elena Sadiku took issue with. She revealed on occasion that she wished to be backed more, and with only two signings made in the winter window under Grant Scott, both being loan deals, it seems that isn't changing.
When the mainstream press fails to provide adequate coverage of the women's team, fan media step in and promote the game heavily. Before the ban, there were many occasions where fan outlets were the only ones showing up to press conferences, and they were the only people asking the difficult questions that supporters wanted answered.
Now, there is no one to ask those questions. There is no one to hold the club accountable. Everything fans know about Celtic is now directly controlled by the club, so they can share exactly what they want when they want.
Whether this will change is yet to be seen. Attempted contact with media staff members has failed, and no answers have yet been given. Contact has completely stopped, with the club standing firm in their decision to harm women's football.
Hopefully, this will be resolved in the near future, but if the Celtic hierarchy is unwilling to reverse their choice, then a resolution becomes more difficult by the day.