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)
Later on today, I’m going to publish a piece on the Celtic season ticket renewal situation. I want that to stand on its own, but I am going to touch on it here, because the timing of those renewals matters.
Celtic are sending those forms out at a moment of deep uncertainty. And last night, a member of the Green Brigade, Martin, spoke to the Cynic podcast. I have to say, I didn’t like what I heard at all.
Martin has predicted that the Green Brigade could be out of Celtic Park for a long time. That doesn’t sound even remotely encouraging if you’re hoping they’ll be back before the end of this season. In fact, it sounds like the opposite.
And if they’re not back before the season ends, then the club is going to face a decision over their season tickets. That’s where the real concern begins.
Because I worry they won’t be back at all.
That fear has been there since the start of this crisis. Many of us have felt it, even if we didn’t want to say it out loud. But as this situation has dragged on and on, and as we’ve moved closer to season ticket renewal time, it has become harder to ignore the possibility that the club has been deliberately running down the clock.
We’ve heard plenty of soothing noises from Celtic. Plenty of reassurances. But much of it has felt like public relations cobblers. It reminds me a lot of Trump conducting sham negotiations whilst he gets pieces in place for military attacks.
A lot of this has come via Brian Wilson, and if this goes the way it now appears to be going, he will stand accused of taking mendacity and the gaslighting of supporters to a level that would have been unthinkable not so long ago. Because what it looks like is this: he is talking the talk without any intention of walking the walk.
He has been put forward as the front man for spin control, while the club engages in a process that, at best, misleads supporters and, at worst, deceives them.
Martin himself said that people warned him from the outset not to trust the club on this issue. He chose to believe that good-faith negotiations could lead to a solution. He chose to keep talking, to keep engaging, to keep trying.
Now, even he sounds unsure that any solution will be found. He hasn’t said outright that the Green Brigade will never return. But if the club moves to sell those season tickets, then the direction of travel becomes obvious. That would be the point of no return.
And everyone loses in that scenario.
I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist. I don’t want to be that guy, throwing accusations around without cause. But I also know this much for a fact: the club has lied to supporters about the Green Brigade before.
It lied to me. That was why I supported action against them a couple of seasons ago. I wasn’t the only one misled. I was just one of those who stuck my neck out publicly on the back of what I was told, and I am pretty ashamed of that now.
So, I know what this club is capable of on this subject. I know it is capable of betraying trust. I know it is capable of saying one thing while doing another. And that makes it very hard to take anything at face value now.
There is another angle to this as well, and it’s one that’s been nagging away at me.
There is a lot of noise around the club about Robbie Keane.
I think it is clear there is support within certain quarters in and around the boardroom for that appointment, or at least for exploring it. I think it would be a lazy appointment. It would be based more on familiarity and background than on merit.
And I also think it would be one of the most divisive managerial appointments in the club’s history. So, you have to ask the question: are these two situations connected?
Because the Green Brigade would be one of the focal points of opposition to a move like that. Remove them from the stadium, and you remove a significant source of organised dissent. That might sound like a stretch.
But these are the kinds of thoughts that come to mind when you are dealing with a club that has handled this situation the way Celtic has handled it.
We have already jeopardised this season by not having those supporters in the ground. That is undeniable. We have taken an unnecessary risk, and we are paying the price for it.
And there are clearly people inside Celtic Park who are willing to see the Green Brigade gone, regardless of the consequences for the team.
We’ve seen that kind of thinking before.
They were willing to force Brendan Rodgers out of the club, regardless of the consequences. They were willing to brief against him in the media, regardless of how that made the club look. These people didn’t care that it gave the impression of an operation run like a banana republic.
That is the reality of the people currently running Celtic. Which brings us back to those season ticket renewal forms.
Because when they land on the doormat, supporters are going to have to make a decision.
Not just about money. Not just about football. But about whether this is still a version of Celtic they can live with.
Because Celtic, under this leadership, is being stripped of the things that made it what it is. The sense of community. The sense of belonging. Any idea that this is something shared between the club and the people who support it.
These people have made it abundantly clear that they see this as their club, not ours. There is no “our” in the way they think.
And the treatment of the Green Brigade should serve as a lesson to every single supporter about how far they are willing to go to shape Celtic in their own image. Whatever you think of the GB themselves, you have to wonder how many people will tolerate the club brazenly lying to fans on that issue and others.
I suspect that, for many, that is going to be more than they can stomach.
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J have a quick question to throw out there. What are all the other shareholders saying on the way the club is currently being treated by DD & Co?
If they’re on board with EVERYTHING that’s going on then we are in a very sorry state.
James, you wrote: “There is a lot of noise around the club about Robbie Keane.”
But all the noise this morning is on Craig Bellamy. In various sources.
Your article assumes that a majority of Celtic fans would be incensed at the removal of the Green Brigade which is probably not the case. A lot of fans who come to see a game of football are not interested in the politics of the GB and are probably of the opinion that they brought this on themselves. All they have been asked to do is the same as thousands of season ticket holders and abide by the T&C’s. Now I applaud the great charity work that they do, that’s a given, but at the end of the day they are Celtic fans and, as such, they’re no different to the thousands of others who abide by the T&C’s, so what makes them think that they deserve special treatment? Turn up, support your team, end of, it’s not difficult is it?
Surely you arent that naive to think its alleged behaviour from the GB that is causing them to be barred from the board?
Ask yourself, do you think they would be barred if they had been singing songs praising how fantastic the board are?
Its obvious that the behaviour line is bullshit.
I respect your opinion just not you. .
After everything thats happened, the disrepect to the wider support according to you everything is gonna be fine as long as we obey the tc ? Your mental! Away back to cqn
Broony. You really are the ideal fan the board of fascists are looking for. Clueless nd naive.
Celtic FC, founded by Brother Walfrid has been an Irish/Scottish institution from day one and has evolved into the Scottish/Irish institution that it is now. Out whole culture and ethos has been based on the Irish connection, it has always been a part of what we are all about and celebrated as such. The SFA attempted to take the Irish flag down in the 50’s when it flew proudly over Celtic Park, it didn’t work, in fact they have done their very best to to thwart us at every turn. Now we have traitors on our board playing into their hands and giving them a sneering satisfaction while the rotten blue vigilante vermin at Ibrox run riot and get away with it.
I am certain that the large majority of our fans support the Green Brigade, for they are our sons and daughters, our Ghirls and Bhoys, they are the fruit of our loins, their very being manufactured and shaped by their Irish and Celtic heritage. They are very much an important part of the Celtic support as they keep alive out values and our unending fight against the establishment that loathes us.
It is the duty of every one of us to support the Green Brigade no matter what it takes, for our very existence is being eroded by those arseholes on the board. We didn’t suffer the slings and arrows from the past to meekly accept what is happening right now. We all know it is a travesty of justice and we should be fighting for the Green Brigade with every fibre of our body.
Ignore the snow flakes, we need to stand up and be counted.
I don’t have a season ticket, I have a dodgy knee and I am no longer fit enough to go to the games, but if I did have I would be prepared to give it up under the present circumstances.
I firmly believe that the Collective should take decisive action just now, with the firm support of all of their members, by threatening the board with a mass season ticket boycott. No one should renew their ST’s until the Green Brigade has been reinstated. Let this ultimatum sink in and see just how far they are prepared to go in the brinksmanship stakes, all the way probably knowing those reprobates.
They called a boycott for a cup game and got 40% support at best. What makes you think they would get anywhere near that for a ST boycott.
Let the fans be heard…one fan one vote. Not a few mouthpieces in a bar pretending they have a mandate to speak for everyone.
For what its worth , for next season a night or day in front of the telly at a pub or club or make up your own wee club for the season and aw chip in purchase a vpn and away you go.
The rest of the season in front of a fire, telly , yer pals, pies n bevvy. NOT A PENNY MORE
They simply will never give in – Well then neither will I with merchandise purchases…
If only, If only, If only – We had Mr Andrew Cavenagh…
The next shite he dumps in a toilet will have gain far more respect from me than Micheal Fuckin Nicholson ever will !
I am a shareholder, and support the Green Brigade. Was raised in the jungle, my family are Irish. My politics are those of Ireland, my heart is with Celtic. These terms and conditions that fans say everyone should abide by yes they are there for our safety I’m disabled did not like the piro’s but this was dealt with, as for standing in stairs I’m sure it’s a small breach but the use of metal barrier to hem in fans is also a breach of health and safety rules. We need there enthusiasm it transfers into the stadium and gives the team that extra bit of support, ask Joe Heart if he expected the support and thanks that came from the curve. Our home is experiencing a loss it’s like the heart has been ripped out. We a nothing but robots to this board pay up and shut up, if the GB had invaded the pitch with masks and weapons, I would expect them to be punished. This is collective punishment, and I’m pushing that statement why because what are the rules that were broken, people in glass houses should not throw shit around, the a majority are guilty of breaching some of the terms of season tickets. For Celtic FC to ban our bhoys in Green from the North Curve then shame on them if they don’t like being called out for the state of OUR CLUB then they know where the door is. Stand up for our supporters, call out the racist of ipox, because the silence of OUR CLUB is deafening. I’m sure there are certain so called celebrity fans that have broken T&C’s, wonder if a ban was given out.
??????
Get well soon.
Some are missing the point here. The GB are not currently banned because they haven’t abided by the T&Cs in the past.
They are not getting back because they refuse to accept the current T&Cs. They want to make their own T&Cs which means they want rid of coppers working for Celtic. They also want no cops in their section. They think they should be exempt from policing and able to run about their section as they please. Its never going to happen.
Also they are hiding all this from the wider support. They refuse to share the minutes of their meetings with the club with the rest of the fans. They think it is nothing to do with the ordinary Celtic fan yet they expect full backing.
The collective has been very generous with its support of the GB but only 40% backed the boycott for the game v Dundee. Far less will back a ST boycott for sure.
No solidarity in the support. We need between 5,000 to 10,000 STs unsold to get meaningful change. Not a chance that will happen.
I personally think we should go all in now to change the board and owners!
James – not sure what Martin was expecting to be negotiating to get for the GB. Are they expecting special treatment? To be given leeway that the rest of us don’t get? Some sort of veto on who the club can employ? (tantamount to unfair employment practices more at home over at Ibrox). What exactly is it that Martin finds unacceptable to the Green Brigade that the club are asking of them? A genuine question as I don’t know what the sticking points actually are. If the Green Brigade want broader support they are going to have to tell us what is being demanded of them.
Yes like some mentioned previously I’d like to know more about what the exact sticking points are on the proposed GB return before I can really have an informed opinion.
One opinion I’m confident in regards to it being mentioned in this article though is that to me Robbie Keane is the outstanding candidate, especially compared to those also being mentioned but is also an outstanding candidate in his own right.
A league winning manager in two different countries now and got Ferencvaros further in the Europa League than we managed to go.
In a way it sort of reminds me a little bit of Ange’s CV being a previous multiple league winning manager elsewhere. He is the right age, has the experience in managerial terms of winning title races that we talk about being important in the players. Yes he is more ‘local’ in terms of being Irish than a manager from further afield but that doesn’t automatically make it a lazy appointment, in fact if anything for me it’s another plus in terms of knowing the club and what he’s walking into.
The sticking point for me is he might see from the outside the unrest at the club currently and the probable board personnel changes this summer and might think now isn’t the right time to join us. If he did believe he is the man with the plan to take us forward though I’d be delighted with the appointment personally. I think it a shame that many would likely be so against it as to protest openly.
I know the reasons given why, personally from a football point of view I just want the best candidate for Celtics sake and would rather pick a candidate on sporting merit and achievement than the politics of countries or political links of clubs he’s previously worked at in the past. He’s not a politician and probably regrets now taking the job at maccabi and will be happy to be away from there I’d imagine. It is noted he was criticised within Israel for not endorsing the country’s actions, as he seems to have attempted, perhaps naively, to take an apolitical stance.
I personally wouldn’t demonise someone forevermore for taking the wrong job probably due to poor judgement and then probably feeling he by then had to stick with it and that he could remain sort of apolitical in the role.
It might be a moot point anyway as I see some reports of Tottenham Hotspur possibly being interested in him and once he moves to managing at the EPL level is probably out of our reach especially if successful at all at that level. He shows early signs of being an up and coming manager and could be on the trajectory to the top level and to my mind could have been a great fit for Celtic for maybe 3-5 years as part of that trajectory. Unfortunately for the reasons mentioned I don’t think it’ll happen and we’ll probably get the motherwell manager instead and just have to get behind him and hope for the best!