If there has ever been a time in the last 30 years when the Celtic fans have been this angry, I do not remember it.
My memory is long.
I recall those days, when the old board felt. I might have been in my teens but I understood well the euphoria of those events.
When the last member of this board has left Celtic Park far behind I shall drink a similar toast and write an article about my general sense of relief that they’ve gone.
It is hard to imagine that any future board will be this removed from the wishes and ambitions and ideals of the fans. This lot have gotten too used to the soft-seats and the warmth from the stands.
Those days are over with. From now until their date of departure, every single one of them is going to feel the heat. Celtic fans are fuming with the way this campaign has gone, and this is only partly to do with the performances on the pitch.
It’s the vast disconnect, and the obvious existence of “them and us” attitudes which has fuelled this anger to a fury.
To be frank, there is no coming back from this.
The loss of the ten would have been a grave enough threat to their legacies.
The failures that have surrounded it, including their impotent acceptance of this failure and the retention of the manager in the face of it, have fed the flames.
The obvious, the total, disregard they have for the supporters gave it all them all the oxygen they’ll ever need. Things have happened here which are simply unforgivable.
The one thing that has saved them is the absence of fans in the grounds.
They would have tasted the anger on the air, like animals scenting a fresh kill. I believe that had they been subjected to it in full that they would already have acted on Lennon.
Their failure will haunt them for as long as they are at the club.
They will never have another moment of peace or calm to enjoy a game.
They are never going to be without scrutiny.
Those who let us down now are going to be remembered for it.
One of them can clue the rest in on how this is going, if he was wanted to read them the writing on the wall. Brian Wilson was a Labour MP for a long time.
He’s a smart enough guy to see where this is headed, and if he was able to tear himself away from waging war against the Scottish Government, with whom we need good relationships, he’d be able to educate them on how bad things are right now.
Although he’d retired from his parliamentary role by the time the 2015 General Election came around he saw first-hand what happens when an out of touch group who think they are born to rule lose the ability to read the runes.
He saw what happens when folk who have been taken for granted decide that they won’t stand for it anymore.
Labour in Scotland had become like this Celtic board has; arrogant, complacent, insular, bereft of vision and led by pygmies. They had stopped listening to the people.
During the independence referendum they stood toe-to-toe with the Tories to tell the people of this country how weak and stupid and incapable of running our own affairs we were, much as this board condescends to us and tells us how little we understand the game we’ve been following the whole of our lives.
Not only that, but Labour MP’s used the language of our enemies against us; they threatened jobs and livelihoods, they sided with big business.
Our board boasts on how great it’s relationship is with the SFA and about how they believe that organisation has reformed enough to suit us.
Finally, Labour stood on the same side of the debate as the bigots and the racists and wrapped themselves in the Union flag and took places on platforms alongside the Loyalists of the Lodge and the Crown.
Like this Celtic board, conspiring on the Five Way Agreement and promoting Old Firm Inc.
Wilson must see the parallels even if everyone else can’t.
People in Scotland felt a deep-seated tribal loyalty to Labour; I did myself for many, many years. But things change. When the 2010 election gave Cameron his first term, the Labour vote in Scotland went up. By 2015 it had collapsed entirely and the party nearly wiped out.
What’s more, anger is only the first part of this.
Next is apathy, and that’s much more dangerous and it has already settled across much of the support. For the last year fans have been reduced to watching poor quality streams on their televisions and tens of thousands paid the club £600 for the privilege.
What happens if tens of thousands decide that they can do that for free in the next campaign?
The means exist; I know people who watched every game that way before this season made it mandatory.
Fans will not actively turn against the club, but if this malaise looks like continuing the club is going to find many of them deciding there are better ways to spend that kind of money.
A lot will have found watching games on the telly not at all unpleasant … if they decide they can do it from now on, what is the club’s response to that going to be?
How does it win them back? Labour has been trying for six years to recover the ground it lost, and I don’t see any sign that they’ll be able to do it. Celtic might find itself dealing with its very own lost generation.
If they fail to listen and act like they get it, if they fail to show leadership now, then those wheels will be turning and who knows where we’ll end up.
The anger amongst our support is very, very real … and if those in the director’s box are kidding themselves that they can ride it out or that it will subside before next season starts they had better think again.
Lines have been crossed here.
Things have been done that cannot be undone.
They no longer even speak the language of respect; instead they call us entitled, using the media we despise to carry the message, and they put up the fences.
People know what contempt looks like.
They remember the smell of it.
Scottish Labour paid a momentous price for failing to recognise it … this board is in serious danger of making the same grave mistake.
