Now that The Green Brigade and the club have come to an accommodation, and the club is satisfied with the assurances that it has been given, the niggling battle between the fan group and those running things at Celtic is over. For now. If there are major violations there will certainly be major repercussions, but at the moment everything is calm.
Which of course, the Daily Record does not intend to allow.
Which is why tonight they’ve basically attempted to re-open the battle by accusing the Green Brigade of mocking the board and of acts of defiance.
There were no such acts. It is rubbish.
The Green Brigade put up a banner thanking their fellow fan group The Bhoys for standing alongside them during the dispute. The “Football without fans” slogan was not intended as a dig at the director’s box, but an expression of solidarity between two groups who have been rivals.
To try and turn that into more is pathetic.
They sang political songs, sure. But only the same ones they’ve been singing for years without them and the club coming into conflict with another. They flew a Palestinian flag, which isn’t exactly new; they’ve had one of them in their section since it was opened.
Yes they put up a banner about the plight of Gaza; who in God’s name could possibly have been offended by the wording on that? It was nothing but factual, and the stats on it should sicken every right-thinking person.
The club would have known about that banner in advance and they would have given it the nod.
Even if they didn’t, so what?
It still doesn’t come near to violating the new regulations for that section.
The Record will have to do a lot better than this if they want to create problems where there are none.
Celtic’s primary concerns were to do with behaviour that had nothing do with the politics or the songs or the banners. Those things have happened as Celtic for as long as I’ve been alive and fans never got banned for them. Other issues were of greater concern and since tthose issues are resolved Celtic will rightly consider this matter closed.
This was never about politics.
As this blog has repeatedly written, this was never about the songs or the Palestinian flag.
The club had very specific complaints, very specific concerns and whilst The Green Brigade did their level best to deny that in public, behind the scenes they’ve obviously been much more willing to discuss what the real issues were and they’ve given assurances on them.
That settles it. The club is not trying to silence fans, it never has.
The Record is playing games, that’s all. It is having a go at the club and using The Green Brigade as the stick to beat them with, but that’s not going to wash at all.
As long as there is no lateral movement risking blockades to fire exits, as long as there’s no pyro, as long as our stewards and club officials are paid the proper respect for the hard work they do, as long tickets and seats are going to the people allowed in them and The Green Brigade isn’t using Celtic Park to broadcast extremist political views – and neither Irish Republicanism nor standing up for Gaza come even close to meeting that standard – the club will quite literally be happy to “let the people sing.”
I know that bothers people in our media.
Tough.
I know that gets up the noses of large parts of this country.
Hard lines.
The Record isn’t going to achieve anything with this except to make itself look foolish.
This is a complete non-story.
Well said James ? The banners were both great & we all had a great afternoon. Merry Christmas ? ?
The match had a much better feel towards it within the stadium today.
Glad it’s finally resolved for now, but don’t believe this dispute between board and GB is totally resolved either, with all the potential of rearing its ugly head still?
Need to make Celtic Park a fortress with the aid of the support, especially when we have already enough to endure within Scottish football from scum cheerleaders without aiding the shower of shit any further imo
The only problem James is that Scotland is and always will be a bad outdated concept ie the KIRK, Scotland a unionist loyalist bout of date backwater,does anyone on her think if Celtic had went under ie bankrupt like sevco,do they think a new Celtic,ie Celco would have been allowed to keep there titles and European cup,of course not , Scotland is rank fucking bigoted biased corpse of a country.
I don’t like the Green Brigade, but I am glad to see it back. One of the myths surrounding Celtic’s dip in form is that the absence of the Green Brigade is a lot to do with that. It’s a myth that has been perpetuated by idiots in the MSM. Now that the Green Brigade is back, the idiots now must go on the offensive. They’ve built the Green Brigade up to be something it is not. As such, they are attempting to create division in the hope it’ll get booted again. Hopefully (for them), it will be in time for the next “Ol* F*rm” (sic) match. There is no chance that is going to happen. The Celtic Board has played this one very wisely.
Mon the Hoops. I feel much happier after today. Today was a good day. It was great to have Daizen back. I love that guy.
Were they allowed to keep the titles of the old club there was no official statement from the sfa on that ?
The daily Rangers want to cause trouble there’s a shock
Why the fk our club allows anyone from that tabloid intae our stadium is beyond me. Every time, they’ll focus on negativity when it comes tae us. If they’re strugglin tae find any, they just invent it. Should just ban them, they’re nothin but an ibrox mouthpiece anyway.
‘Allows them intae the stadium’, ‘ban them’, I do understand the need to try and minimise unpalatable truths, but this is to completely ignore the undeniable fact that they are our boards favoured outlet, with their go to journalist on their staff, so this is the opposite to what will happen re the Record.
Them yet again then…
Please Please Celtic, Beat Sevco on December 30th and let them hear The ‘Record’ (s) of The Green Brigade –
With any luck one of them (Record shiter writer) will jump grief stricken into the Clyde…
And that ‘article’ that you flag up all the time about his anti Celtic pish pot articles Jackson or whatever he’s called can damage his liver further due to his depressed alcoholic binges (a guy on another blog says he’s an alcoholic) !!!
Like most Celtic fans, I treat the Daily Record and their journos with disdain, anything they print is like water off a ducks back and once they go bust they will just be a distant amusing memory. They are continuously and desperately stirring the pot, but are more to be pitied than scorned, and certainly never to be taken seriously. Let the little piggies squeal all they want, before being prepared for the boiling pot and their imminent burial plot, oink, oink.
It was good to have the GB back. The statistics of the deaths of innocent people in Gaza are truely horrifying. We should not forget the Jewish men, women and children butchered on 7 October by Hamas as they proclaim a new Holocaust.
A better performance yesterday but still not as sharp as they need to be. The Daily Record non story is typical but if you are a Rangers mouthpiece I suppose they must look after their own club.
Hello fellow blogger 🙂
It is time I properly identified myself. I’m the Locked Ward Loony, you know the one who stalks you and Phil Mac and who once gave a gibbering public address at an award ceremony.
Just in case you feel like you need to track me down.
The Ibrox mobs’ so called Ultras’ had the game stopped for 20mins and nearly burnt down Dens Park with their Pyros a few weeks ago and the story was buried within 24 hrs
I’m really glad the GB are back and I admire them for supporting downtrodden people around the World and here at home.
The only thing I would ask from them is to adhere to safety regulations and respect their fellow Celtic supporters.
Celtic looked a lot better from the start yesterday, let’s hope we take that attitude into the next 3 games and we can all enjoy A Happy New Year.
What has ‘Palestine’, a mythical country, got to do with football ? The flag is certainly an issue for Jewish Celtic fans.
That is a fucking ludicrous comment, and I am publishing so my fellow fans can give you the maximum stick for talking such shite.
And I hope they do.
“What has Palestine a Mythical country got to do with football”? absolutely nothing.
What had a black guy being murdered by a racist white cop in the US to do with football? nothing.
What did Apartheid in South Africa have to do with football? nothing.
What did Russia invading Ukraine to do with football? nothing. etc etc
But people used sport and other ways to protest at the injustice of these actions, that is what the GB are doing using sport to protest against the injustices inflicted on the Palestinian people over the past 75 years and I applaud the young people and not so young people in the GB for their protests.
By the fact you call Palestine a “mythical country” shows your ignorance.