KILMARNOCK, SCOTLAND - JANUARY 18: Celtic Fans during a Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Fourth Round match between Auchinleck Talbot and Celtic at BBSP Stadium Rugby Park, on January 18, 2026, in Kilmarnock, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
This morning I read Matt Lindsay’s piece on Celtic and the Green Brigade with a heavy heart, because it is exactly the kind of rubbish that could have come straight out of the boardroom itself. It reads like an apology for a fraudulent position and rests on a central claim that has no basis in reality whatsoever.
His suggestion that allowing the Green Brigade back into the stadium would somehow damage Celtic’s title chances is so idiotic that it takes your breath away.
Like many pieces of this kind, it simply takes the club’s word for certain incidents which, at the time of writing, remain entirely unproven. It paints an entire group of supporters as hooligans even though only a small number are actually accused of anything.
Worse than that, it suggests that allowing the Green Brigade back into the ground would only amplify protests against the way the club is run, as though the protests themselves were the problem.
Last night we were dismantled on the pitch. The reason for that was simple. This is one of the poorest Celtic squads many of us have seen in years.
There is around £70 million sitting in the bank. This is a club that posts profits year after year. Yet the taxman has taken more from Celtic in recent seasons than the club has spent in net transfer fees, because there has effectively been no net spend over the last three years.
This is a club without a modern academy structure. It is a club that has rebuilt its scouting network multiple times. At this moment it has no head of football. It has no head of scouting. Celtic has no permanent manager. It has no permanent chairman. Several senior figures connected to the football operation add little of value. We have a head of security holding the Green Brigade issue hostage over a personal dispute. We have a chief executive who is clearly out of his depth. And the largest shareholder continues to exert influence from a distance while avoiding any real accountability.
Here is the thing. None of this is unknown. Matt Lindsay knows it. So do the rest of the journalists who have spent months writing about a weaker Celtic squad and a club that looks nothing like the one that stood tall in Munich this time last year. They know what the problems are. They know where responsibility lies.
And yet, knowing all of that, they still want supporters to pay their money, sit quietly and keep their opinions to themselves. That is not a position you can defend with logic. It is embarrassing. Worse than that, it is gutless.
Calling this media coverage ignorant rubbish only goes so far.
The deeper problem is that too much of the modern football press has become comfortable punching down. Supporters are an easy target. They are far easier to criticise than people like Michael Nicholson. Writing that the chief executive is out of his depth and should step aside might have consequences. It might risk access or invitations. It might risk the cosy arrangements that come with proximity to the club.
God forbid a journalist should lose privileges. Unless, of course, you are fan media.
I have yet to see a single voice in the mainstream press stand up for bloggers, podcasters or independent outlets. Then again, many of them never liked the fact that fan media had access in the first place. That is where the hypocrisy in pieces like Lindsay’s becomes obvious. There is a clear discomfort with supporters having a voice at all.
What they really want is a compliant audience. Good supporters who turn up, pay their money and leave the running of the club to the people in charge. They cannot understand why fans are no longer satisfied with that arrangement. They cannot understand why people want accountability or influence over the direction of the club they fund.
Celtic has treated supporters with contempt for years. Much of the media has treated them with contempt for even longer. So, it is no surprise to see journalists instinctively side with the board. That is their natural constituency.
I did not expect the mainstream media to campaign alongside the fans. What I did expect, perhaps naively, was a degree of honesty and a degree of respect for why these protests are necessary to affect change. That, it seems, was too much to ask.
Instead, they would rather attack supporters than examine the people those supporters are protesting against. They would rather repeat the club’s narrative than confront the reality that sits in plain view. At this stage, I have no confidence that the fans will ever receive a fair hearing from our hacks. I have no expectation that the mainstream press will look at this situation from the supporters’ perspective.
Whether that is because they cannot see beyond their own bubble or because they are simply unwilling to jeopardise their access hardly matters. The outcome is the same.
Last night Martin O’Neill suggested that those responsible for the protests needed their heads examined. I have already dealt with that nonsense elsewhere. But the idea that allowing the most vocal and committed supporters back into Celtic Park would somehow weaken the team is one of the most absurd arguments I have heard so far.
If Matt Lindsay genuinely believes that, then he too needs to get his head examined. But only after he pulls it out of his own backside.
Who’s Matt Lindsay? I’ve never heard of him.
ditto Johnny
Wake up …..smell the coffee.
The Celtic Board do not want Ultras , Green Brigade whatever you want to call them as supporters.
They will not be allowed back nor will their season tickets be renewed ,
The GB went too far ….no going back for them.
You’re either a Hun, or else you’re one of the 5% of Celtic Fans who will follow this Board down the hill of steep declne to a future of regularly finishing 3rd or 4th in this League.
No other club in the World ban their Ultra Fans. A lot season tickets will not be renewed, and it will be thousands of fans taking that decision, because they can’t take any more of this Board leading our club to decline, decline, decline.
Up to a few month ago I was sitting on the fence between our Board and their critics, but the way this Board have attacked their own fans has sickened me,and I am in no doubt who is to blame for the myriad of faults affecting our club right now.
I agreed Mic that I aint renewing my tickets til I know we secure the title.
That last night was the worst ever and I have supported them for over 60 years
Please stop calling fellow fans huns just because they disagree with you Michael.
Sorry, stupid predictive text.
I’m wondering if all the negative press thats been headlined in the red tops the past few years is one of the reasons. The running battles with the Union Pricks at Hampden and last year on Argyle St. The issues around safety due to pyro etc the claims of stewards being assaulted and threatened inside and outwith Celtic Park. Pigwatch and their response to claims of heavy handed targetting by Police Scotland simply for engaging in ultra culture. The support of Palestine, banners for IRA members and their strong vocal dissent about the way the club is being run. This is not a dig at the GB as I know some members who are really decent individuals who do brilliant work for the less fortunate in society and their communities. I also think maybe the ultra scene like so many subcultures has ran its race and will disappear. Time willl tell.
The Ultra culture is alive and well and accepted everywhere except by those in charge at Celtic Park, as was shown last nght by the Stuttgart Ultras. Celtic are run by auld pricxs and middle aged [auld] pricxs. Being an ancient Auld Prixk myself, I can recognise an Auld prixk from a mile away, and some of the Board sychophants commenting on here are a good example of Auld Prixks, who don’t seem to remember being young, or have just been boring Barstewards all their lives.
I’m an auld prick too Micmac and while I don’t agree with everything they do, I’m all for their reinstatement as in my eyes they’re my fellow fans who bring a lot of energy and colourful vibrancy to the stadium. It’s an absolute witchhunt propagated by the incompetents. I remember being 15 and running about Glasgow city-centre and football matches home and away with the CSC thinking it was brilliant. Oh the memories of being young.
Is it just me but are board haters beginning to sound like Farrage and his shit reform party? Britain’s on its knees! It’s the immigrants in the small boats Innit. Celtic are struggling a bit this season It’s the board innit!
Was a great CL run last season and 70million in the bank so the board must be doing something right.
Yes they could do their business a bit quicker but in the economics of Scottish football but let’s look at where it started to go wrong
Firstly Celtic broke the transfer record to buy players and everything seemed rosy.
Brendan Rogers is an elite manager and was very successful with Celtic and we thank him for that but his biggest flaw was no plan B Unfortunately for him the Aberdeen manager outhought him and the Almaty boss copied Theleins tactics to the letter A total of 5 and a half hours against two poor teams and a solitary own goal to show for it Well done Brendan for getting another job so quickly Blame the board innit
The green brigade? Probably have cost Celtic as much if not more in fines than the cost of their season tickets
Protests? The looks of bemusement and bewilderment on the faces of the Celtic players as they cleared tennis balls off the pitch at the start of the Dundee game said it all No wonder we lost 2-0 that night
Lesson learned? Not a bit of it I was at the game last night and the atmosphere was built up as the game kicked off Then what?All them tennis balls come on the pitch Not blaming the result on that alone but wtf
2 minutes clearing up balls had zero effect on the players or the football or the result.
And you contradict yourself.
Erm yeah it’s just you.
Just you trying to associate our Bhoys with far right racists as a truly pathetic and desperate attempt to blacken our Bhoys name.
Your board pals sold 60 goals and assists from our team before Kiarat and dragged back two players who were packed and half way to new clubs. BR won a double and sometimes even the best lose a cup final ,see Partick and Jock Stein in the early 70s for details.
The board did do some things right up until last summer when they started doing everything wrong.
The reality is dd has put this board ahead of the fans who finance the club , one of the above comments that there is no way back for the GB is greatly mistaken , they and theirs will be around long after the present board are gone rotten and forgotten , the sooner they piss off the better ,
It’s pretty obvious that hu ns like johnc want rid of the green brigade…that ain’t gonni happen so go away ya cretin
You go away you rabid cretin. You have nothing constructive to say and your grammar indicates that you are a moron. However, it may be that you have disabilities and if that is the case, I apologise.
Grammar or spelling is no indication of intelligence.
Like Johnny in Post No.1…
WHO – THE – FUCK – IS – MATT – LINDSAY
Perhaps if he’s up Lucan’s anus should it be Door Matt Lindsay !
We need change at Celtic at board level no doubt about that and their performance over last 10 years deserves condemnation, but they are not the only ones.
If the GB were nothing more than a an organisation that led the singing at Celtic Park and raised funds for charities all power to them. Trouble is they’re not though they are a malevolent group with their own political agenda. They should never have been part of the collective as they seem incapable of reasonable behaviour; running battles with sevco thugs, allegations of bullying of stewards, pigwatch, hamas flag and pyros to name a few of their indiscretions.
They believe in mob rule and that is not the Celtic way and neither is disrupting the teams prep for an important game or booing our own keeper as some fans did last night.
James not so long ago you were the voice of reason regarding the childish behaviour of the GB, what happened?
Booing Kasper had nothing to do with the Green Brigade or the Celtic Fans Collective yet here you are trying to associate them.
Do you lambast all Ultras to get them banned from Scotland and Europe or just the Celtic ones ?
Disruption for 2 minutes had no affect on the players or the result.
The ‘Celtic way’ is grand magnificent tifos , support for Irish and Scottish culture, singing heart warming songs in praise of all things Celtic,created by the very same Ultras which your board pals even pipe through the tannoys.
GB didnt boo the keeper from were i sat
Sorry Frank but I didn’t say the GB booed the keeper i said some fans did. More than happy to criticise some of the GBs behaviours but last night by all accounts they have an alibi!
The GB are a mob and if you’ve ever been in their space you will see they are just a bunch of entitled Neds.
They have shown to be uncontrollable and if they were allowed back they would be back to their look at me attention seeking,disruptive antics.
Yes they can bring noise and passion to the stadium but it’s on their terms . They will not accept any sanction or control.
GB supporters how would you control them .
And for the record I am not a hun …just a humble Celtic supporter since my first game in 1962.
You state the GB are uncontrollable (as if it’s a bad trait in human beings not to obey the arbitary commands of others no matter what they are) since the criminals who stole their tickets from them have total control for now over whether they enter Celtic Park or not and, for now, they don’t.
You don’t need ideas on how to control them. Billionaire absent leader, his multi-millionaire minions in conjunction with Police Scotland and weak politicians enacting draconian laws I’m sure they were well rewarded for have already done that for you. Why then are you and others still after all these months of having no GB present at matches still whining and lying on a daily basis about them?
I didn’t agree with the GB funding the “Pay the fine for Palestine” campaign after UEFA fined the club for the fans’ display of the national flag of Palestine which was perfectly legal and the fine of £16,000 had UEFA break its own rules which state that nobody may be discriminated against inside a stadium based on nationality or perceived nationality, but the fine they stated was for the display of an illicit banner. Not just wrong and against their own rules but highly fucking offensive to millions of people whose national identity and refusal to yield to an enemy determined to control and eventually exterminate them all is represented by that official national flag and so were essentially being delegitmised as human beings by UEFA because if that flag is illicit and it is their national symbol then they too must be illicit.
That’s why I was against the GB campaign or any notion that Celtic should pay a penny either – to me it represented their agreement with UEFA’s hypocritical sanction of the club for a display of solidarity with a nation of people that went viral around the world to great acclaim by almost everyone who saw it not least the people of Palestine who reciprocated by uploading their own videos thanking Celtic and their supporters. But I know the GB’s hearts were in the right place – they organised the display after all – so I understand why they not only received enough donations to pay the fine, they collected over ten times the amount it totalled and the fine was paid. But you just said they don’t accept any sanctions.
You might not be a hun but you use lies to attack other Celtic fans and they’re fans you probably can’t remember the last time you set eyes on them at Celtic Park it was that long ago. They’re gone, you got what you and others who despise the GB wanted, them out of sight – and yet here you are still whining about a group you never see or hear from inside the stadium. That’s what you wanted, you got it, but you’re still not happy? You keep visiting sites that don’t share your contempt for other Celtic fans and talking about them even though it was 2025 you last saw them at a match???
I believe you’re not a hun because even they aren’t that obsessed or hateful of the GB and there is no campaign to ban them from Ibrox by that club or its supporters. But there have always been Celtic fans like you and I’ll never get it because any and all explanations for your position and assertions must contain lies or you would have nothing to say in response when your points are called out as misinformed BS at best.
I can assure you when this board is gone you won’t read their names again in any post of mine because that’s what I want and believe the club needs not to end up being sold for a quid down the line and begging like Sevco FC to be allowed back in to play and pretend we’re still the same club. Why can’t you do the same when it comes to the GB? You hate them more than you love Celtic, admit it. Why else would you ask for replies from GB supporters and not just fellow Celtic fans cos believe it or not the GB are fellow Celtic fans not a separate entity from those allowed into Celtic Park for the moment. And they have their own sites and social media – why don’t you confront them directly?
‘ Neds’.
You have a problem with the lower working classes I see.
Not gentrified enough for you?
Perhaps Polo or Cricket may suit you better.
Green Brigade and Bhoys are Ultras, just like all the rest throughout Europe and the world for that matter. We had plenty similar in the Jungle and Celtic ends in the 60s etc but you don’t know that ?
They have dropped the pyro yet you say they can’t be controlled, looks like you are wrong or tell me what else do you want ‘controlled’?
Not protesting against your board ?
Yeah the Smsm are losing money from newspapers sales and clicks to fan media, so as direct competition, they will always back those who help them.
They want a return to the old days when they had full control of the Scottish football media and old dinosaur run clubs who are averse to adaptability or modernity are happy to oblige.