Yesterday, I read the comments by Neil McCann where he laid out his theory that the Ibrox fans are one of their best weapons and that right now the Celtic fans are a toxic drag on the team.
He might not have used those exact words but he didn’t have to. The inference was pretty clear. He, like many other people in our game, has completely missed the mark.
This idea that the Celtic fans are part of the problem at the club right now is so wrong-headed it should be laughed at. Of all the things that have gone wrong at Parkhead, the best thing about the club remains the fan-base.
The board is a joke. They’ve gotten away with too much for too long and we should be making their lives hard every chance we get. The manager has a lot to sort out in this team. The players need to seriously up their game.
The fans will do what they’ve always done. They will cheer the team on. That’s the thing about knowing our club is under siege, and that the manager in particular is in the crosshairs.
It’s why the blogs stand up for the players, and urge all of them to pull together and get this title race over the line. Over years, over decades, we’ve been the best support in this country.
His assertion that the Ibrox fans are their biggest strength is even more hilarious. Has he been on their forums and checked the toxicity level when they drop points?
Their fans are notorious for giving their team stick and for letting the frustration boil over when things aren’t going their way on the park.
They have hounded every board of directors over there since they crawled out of the grave of Rangers. They have hounded out every manager except Gerrard and a lot of them were sharpening the knives for his back when he pulled on the parachute and jumped.
A lot of people have developed selective hearing when it comes to the anger in the Celtic stands, and I reckon that some of them are inside our club.
Those people have heard some grumblings in the crowd and have mistaken it for being directed at the manager and the players, but it isn’t. Earlier in the season it was about The Green Brigade being missing, rightly or wrongly, and that was directed at the board.
It erupted full-scale on the day we lost to Hearts and the name the fans sung in derision was Lawwell’s. The January window has brought more of it and there should be even more of it to come; all of it should be directed at the men sitting in the stands who screwed that up.
But Celtic fans are the best supporters of their team in this nation. It’s not for nothing that our stadium and our supporters are respected and well regarded across Europe. We’ve all seen games where the team was on the bones of its arse and it was the fans who roused them up and cheered them on to victory. When we have ever not backed them up?
If McCann and others are waiting for the people in the stands to turn against these players and act as the millstone around their necks which drags the team down, they will be waiting a long time. And as some online pointed out last night, if he thinks the Ibrox crowd will be showing their loyalty even when the wheels come off, he’s in for a big surprise.
But he shouldn’t be, because we’ve seen it all before with them.
Im sure that you wont publish my comments because like all other bloggers you dont like negative feedback
However I will ask how you can say the board of Celtic PLC are a joke when Celtic are the best run football club in the country?
There may have been a lack of transfer activity and even poor transfer activity in the past including some transfer authorised by the last manager but these things happen in life
How many PLC boards have you sat on? How many directorships have you had in your career?
As a Celtic supporter for over 50 years it saddens me to read the rubbish that you and your colleagues write on a regular basis decrying the club and the team to entice the younger generations to believe what you write is true when you have no justification.
Have you ever had a real job in a PLC?
I’m publishing your wanky nonsense without making any real comment on it.
I do this stuff for a living and I’ve devoted literally tens of thousands of words to answering that question. If you’re too fucking lazy to go back and read some of it, I’m too busy to go through it all.
I’ll leave that to the rest of the contributors.
For me the board are a joke because, they run our football club so that the business side prospers.
Where as, as a fan I’d rather the business side was run so that the football team prospered and achieved to the highest possible standard and our boards dealings are always more for the business I.e profit. And I’m lot talking about debt or risky business I just mean the quality to quantity ratio
Jeezo! That’s desperate Dan!
How many PLC boards of any well run football clubs are stuffed to the gunnels with cronies and family members with no qualifications for the job they are appointed to?
Be honest. The crucial position of head of recruitment has been given to a man not because of his qualifications experience or ability, but because his daddy is Chairman.
The dreadful results of that are plain to see.
That is totally unprofessional and no way to run a modern football club.
More importantly, it gives aid and succour to the cheats across the city.
Get a grip man.
Must be a Desmond a Lawwell or a Strachan or even a Wilson.one of the hun helping boards relatives or cronies.Rigged game to keep the huns afloat
Dan
Have you ever sat on a PLC board?
I take it that you have going by your speech, then tell me your opinion of our former CEO of many years now returned as chairman?
Also give your opinion on the length of time the NEDs have sat on the board, far beyond 5-7 years.
Both the above are regarded as dreadful business practice.
You say we are the best run football club in the country, does the above sound well run to you?
Dan, if you think Celtic are the best run club in Scotland, I take it that you believe this because we probably have close on £90 to £100m in the bank now with CL money coming in.
But, we are a football club, not bloody BP or HBOS. This board are a complete joke. The quality on the pitch is well lower than it should be with the funds available
Following on from your last two articles, I sincerely hope we turn up tomorrow and hammer that mob. We know a lot of our fans are nervous at the moment and that is perfectly natural. We are all different in nature and opinions…but what unites us, is a love for our club and the wish for continued domestic dominance and the hope for a huge improvement in Europe. We will be there tomorrow, with a capacity crowd, to hopefully see another great win and display. Ignore the outside noise, and all the critics, and ramp up the pressure on Sevco!!!
@ Dan you are moron and must be tuned to the moon if you think the charlatans on the board are doing a good job ,to a man and woman their just money grabbing parasites.
Can’t believe this guy,the Celtic Board have for years going back to Kelly and McGinn to the whites who all took money and freebies from our club,and if he remembers we were 24hrs of going into Administration till Fergus McCann stepped in, sorry mate Board are a shower of greedy Shysters,who gives nothing back to our club.Thats why Rodgers,Strachan, Postacoglu left,and they treated Stein,McNeil,Clark,McGrory, disgracefully someone should hav a poll to see how many fans do support this Board
Fan Dan …ooooohhhhhh!
McCann is a turncoat of the worst kind, a despicable Judas, and nothing he says will ever hold any bearing with me. Nuff said.
Dan is not entirely wrong, in fact he is half right and half wrong.
Along with being a sporting club, Celtic are a business and have to be run well in order to sustain itself. This century that has been achieved admirably, including success on the park with many trophies won. However as fans we always want more, particularly success in Europe. It’s not greed, it’s ambition on our part and our board just don’t seem to match that ambition, they are far to cautious and should be pushing the boat out more to achieve those aims, Whether it works or not remains to be seen, as Europe is still a major challenge no matter how much you spend, but at least take the gamble, have a go, and the fans will show their appreciation of that effort.
Dan, you are spot on that we are a very well run Club, but we need to improve on that if possible,
McCann’s paid to be controversial and often he is. He even called the Celtic huns match the Glasgow derby a couple of weeks ago. A slip I’m sure from hearing his Celtic supporting family members.
We are divided support right now. Some are anti board, some are pro board. Some are anti Rodgers, some are pro Rodgers. Some anti Palestine flag waving and supporters of GB’s stance, some not but at the moment the midden scum huns are loudly voicing their support of their manager and getting behind the fantasy that their team are on the road to the league title. Sadly we need to get back to the one road. HH
It’s strange indeed Roonsa how he allegedly grew up being a Celtic supporter then defected to The Darkside even though he played for them…
He didn’t even mention our name the other night calling Celtic supporters ‘The other side of the city’ –
He can shove his tiny little middle finger up all The Sevco Hun aero soles he wants but some of these said Sevco peepil still dislike him and don’t trust him…
Only last week in the mixed pub that I was in a Sevco fan said of McCann “He’s still a dirty wee Inverclyde Tarrier bar steward” so there ya go wee rat McCann – Not every single one of your strangely beloved Sevco Huns love you…
And we Celtic supporters certainly fcukin don’t !
Did you know that rangers once had a supporters club called Lee Harvey Oswald Loyal! Says it all about these fans