Articles

The Celtic Supporters Association Slams Regan In An Astonishing Open Letter.

|
Image for The Celtic Supporters Association Slams Regan In An Astonishing Open Letter.

Yesterday, Joe O’Rourke circulated the text of an email he’s sent to Stewart Regan to various Celtic supporters groups, to let them know that the Association is taking their views on board and communicating those to the club and to the governing body at Hampden.

The email is, frankly, fantastic and I asked Joe for permission to share it with you all, as I’m sure even non-association members will find it interesting.

I am pleased to offer it here in full.

“Mr Regan

I promised myself I wouldn’t write to you again, because my time and energy are more important to me than your opinions, even if you had the guts and the courtesy to reply. But I find that your silence for several months was quite strange in as far as there were several incidents in Scottish Football which I believe merited comment from a person in your position.

But you only ended your silence to make comments on the trial of Craig Whyte in the High Court. I found that strange as Mr Whyte no longer holds a position in any football team in Scotland, even one that is only five years old.

I might be wrong here but I believe Mr Whyte was acquitted of all charges and free to leave the court of his own free will.

But you decided that he had some case to answer by claiming that he was no longer welcome in Scottish Football, I wonder if you could enlighten me on what grounds that is the case.

There has been, as I said previously, a couple of incidents in Scottish Football that deserved comment from the SFA Chief Executive. For whatever reason you have kept your council on these incidents, but I believe that genuine football supporters would agree with me in thinking that it is part of your remit to make comment when the situation is important enough.

Let me take through a couple of those incidents, not in any particular order.

First of all when my team Celtic played at Ibrox stadium on April 29th, our club captain Scott Brown was confronted on the field of play by a supporter of (the Ibrox club); I use the term supporter loosely. At the time of the incident the response from the Police/Security was at best lax, and at worst pathetic. I would have thought such a serious incident would have merited comment, but all we got from you was silence.

At the same match there was another incident which if anything was even more serious. After Scott Sinclair scored for Celtic he was celebrating with his team mates when he was subjected to the most obscene racist abuse, by more than one supporter of (the Ibrox club) and again I use the term supporter loosely.

Again the silence from you and the rest of the SFA was deafening.

During that match, and in fact at every match we have played against (the Ibrox club) we have been subjected to almost non-stop sectarian singing, and while I would not contend that our support is perfect, they are certainly not sectarian.

I have met with Police Scotland on several occasions this season, they have for the most part been very complimentary in regards to the Celtic support.

I also note with interest this morning in the media, your colleague (should that be Brother?) SFA President Alan McRae state that it would be a “very boring and dreary” season in Scottish Football if our Invincible Treble Winners aren’t challenged. McRae doesn’t want just any team to challenge, he just wants it to be (the Ibrox club) who are doing the challenging.

This is coming from a guy who has contributed absolutely nothing to Scottish Football, except at Amateur or Highland League level; the guy like you has been an embarrassment to Scottish Football, and those in power at UEFA must wonder how you both got into your high level positions.

Finally Mr Regan, I would like to ask you if you have changed your position on the questions sent to you by the group of Celtic Supporter Shareholders on the matter known as “Resolution 12”.

Although I never followed the Craig Whyte trial very closely, I read enough to suggest that contrary to what you claimed, the Tax Liability had crystallised and therefore a European Licence should not have been issued to Rangers.

That means without a shadow of a doubt one or more people were telling lies, the question is Mr Regan were you one of them?

I don’t expect you to answer that, but I thought I would ask the question anyway. There is also the case of the DOS/EBT ran by Rangers with side letters; was the full truth put before Lord Nimmo Smith? Again were one or more people telling lies?

That only leaves me to reiterate the position of the Celtic Supporters Association.

After the six blind officials match at Hampden our members unanimously passed a “Vote of No Confidence” in you.

I think you can safely add your colleague Mr McRae to that now.

I also think it is time that you actually asked the supporters of all the member clubs in Scotland if they have any confidence in you to take Scottish Football forward. I would safely predict that UKIP would be more popular than you.

Joe O’Rourke.”

As you can see, Joe does not pull any punches here and nor should he.

This website and others have been asking for a comment on the Ibrox incidents since the game itself. The Resolution 12 issue rumbles on, and Regan has been given the pulpit of the media to state his case over and over again, whilst never actually being asked a direct question on what the work of our fans uncovered.

The Celtic Supporters Association is determined to hold this guy to account, even if no-one else is. I hope that, in time, other supporters organisations, from other clubs, have questions of their own and are just as unafraid to put them in the public domain.

Share this article