GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - APRIL 11: Celtic fans in the Green Brigade section unveil a banner at full time which reads 'Celtic board - unfit for purpose' during a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and St Mirren at Celtic Park, on April 11, 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
There is a historical parallel for what Celtic have just done to the Green Brigade, and it is not a flattering one.
In 1649, after the English Civil War had been won, Cromwell and the grandees of the New Model Army finally turned on the Levellers. The Levellers had been part of the radical energy which had driven the army forward.
They had helped create the pressure, the momentum, the sense that history itself was shifting. They were useful while there was still a war to win and a kingdom to break.
But once victory had been secured, once the immediate danger had passed, their demands became inconvenient. Their principles became troublesome. Their presence became a problem. So, Cromwell dealt with them.
At Burford, the leaders of the mutiny were executed. The movement’s power base inside the army was smashed. This is the historic pattern.
Use the radicals when you need their fire. Crush them when the fire is no longer required. It is underhanded. It is cruel. It is vindictive.
And once you do it, nobody ever trusts you to act in good faith again.
The Celtic board allowed the Green Brigade back into Celtic Park for the title run-in. They allowed the atmosphere back. They allowed the noise back. They allowed the colour, the anger, the defiance and the energy back into the stadium when the team desperately needed it. Everyone saw what happened.
Celtic Park changed. The players felt it. Martin O’Neill felt it. The supporters felt it. The whole stadium felt alive again in a way it had not for months.
The return of that section helped reconnect the team and the support at the precise moment when the season could still have gone either way.
Then the season ended. The trophies were safe. The double was won. The immediate crisis, as far as the board was concerned, had passed.
And now, suddenly, two of the most prominent members of the Green Brigade have been told they cannot renew their season tickets pending a disciplinary process over something which allegedly happened before the peace was made.
Before the return. Before the unity. Before Celtic needed them.
That is not just stupid. That is obscene.
It feels cynical because it is almost impossible to view it any other way. If this incident was so serious, why were those individuals allowed back in with everyone else? If this matter was unresolved, why was it not dealt with before the return?
If it was important enough to deny season-ticket renewals, why was it allowed to sit there until the very moment the club no longer needed unity?
That is the question. That is the whole thing.
Because this does not look like discipline. It looks like delayed punishment. It looks like people inside Celtic Park waiting until the job was done before returning to old habits. It looks like the board used the atmosphere, used the unity, used the Green Brigade’s presence in the ground, and then once the double was secured, went straight back to war.
That is why this burns trust to ash. There are some things you do not come back from easily. This is one of them.
The board can talk about processes all it likes. It can talk about safety, procedures, investigations, compliance and whatever other dead corporate language it wants to hide behind. But football supporters understand timing. They understand intent. They understand when something smells wrong.
This smells wrong. It smells vindictive. It smells cowardly. It smells like a club that learned absolutely nothing from the last six months.
The sheer stupidity of it is almost breathtaking. Celtic have just come through one of the most volatile seasons in recent memory. The board has been under pressure from every direction. The relationship between club and support has been stretched almost to breaking point. The Green Brigade ban helped turn Celtic Park into a morgue for months, and everyone with eyes could see that.
Then came the run-in. Then came the return. Then came the noise. Then came the title. Then came the cup and the double.
Any intelligent board would have looked at that and thought: this is the start of the repair job. This is the moment to build something. This is the moment to take a breath, lower the temperature and recognise that the club is stronger when the stands and pitch are pulling in the same direction.
But not this board. This board appears to have looked at that fragile peace and thought: right, now where did we leave that hammer?
That is how thick they are. That is how devoid of understanding they are. They have mistaken authority for wisdom. They have mistaken control for leadership. They have mistaken the power to punish for the ability to govern.
Those are not the same things.
A serious leadership group would understand that trust, once broken, is difficult to rebuild and this doesn’t just break trust; it takes a flamethrower to it and then pisses on what’s left. A clever leadership group would understand that you do not invite people back, benefit from their return, praise unity, enjoy the atmosphere, win the trophies, and then reach back into the pre-peace file to restart the conflict. It is rancid.
The Green Brigade are not perfect. Nobody says they are. No supporter group is. There have been incidents, arguments and flashpoints. There have been moments when criticism was legitimate. But that is not what this is about.
This is about the club’s behaviour. This is about whether Celtic dealt honestly with supporters. This is about whether the peace was real, or whether it was merely a tactical pause because the board knew it needed the atmosphere back for the final stretch of the season. That is what supporters will now ask.
And they will be right to ask it.
Because if this was always sitting there, if this disciplinary process was always waiting in the drawer, if the club always intended to move against these individuals once the season was over, then the return was not a reconciliation.
It was a transaction. Worse than that, it was a trap.
Come back. Sing. Lift the team. Help save the season. Help create the atmosphere. Help carry us through the run-in. Then, once we are done with you, we will deal with you.
That is the message people will take from this, and once that message takes root, good luck digging it out of people’s heads. This one will stick because this one reeks. This one says that these people cannot behave honourably or fairly.
This is the kind of act which poisons everything. It makes every future conversation harder. It makes every future compromise suspect. It makes every hand extended by the club look like bait. Because if supporters cannot trust the board when it gives its word, they cannot trust the board’s motives at all. That is why this is so dangerous.
Not because two individuals have been targeted, although that matters. Not because the Green Brigade are angry, although they plainly are. Not because another statement has been issued or another dispute has opened.
It is dangerous because it confirms the worst suspicions people already had. That the board does not seek peace with supporters. It seeks compliance.
It does not want unity. It wants submission.
It does not want an engaged support. It wants a managed audience.
That is not Celtic. That is not what this club is supposed to be.
Celtic is not a product to be consumed quietly by people who clap when instructed and sit down when ordered. Celtic is a living thing. It is noise, argument, politics, anger, love, dissent, colour, memory and fire.
The Green Brigade understand that better than the people sitting in the boardroom. That is why the board resents them.
Because they cannot control them. Because they cannot absorb them. Because they cannot turn them into polite background music for the corporate lounges.
And yet, when the team needed a lift, when the stadium needed life, when the title race was slipping towards chaos, the board knew exactly where that energy was.
They knew what they had banned. They knew what they needed back. Then, once the danger had passed, they went back to type. That is what makes this so contemptible. It is not just an act of bad faith. It is an act of astonishing stupidity.
At a time when Celtic need unity for a huge summer, the board has chosen division. At a time when the club needs trust, the board has chosen to act in a way that makes trusting them impossible.
We cannot take their word for it on anything anymore. Even when they seem to be offering a conciliatory hand you’ll be waiting for the other emerging with the dagger. You cannot negotiate with people like that because there’s no good faith case to be made for them after something like this.
At a time when supporters needed evidence that lessons had been learned, the board has provided proof that nothing has changed.
This is how you turn a difficult relationship into an irreparable one. This is how you make every future appeal to unity sound hollow. This is how you teach people that cooperation with this board is weakness. And that is a disaster.
The board may think it has dealt with two supporters.
It has not. It has sent a message to thousands. Do not trust a thing we do or a word we say because we may weaponise it against you.
That is a disgrace. It is also idiotic.
This is petty, destructive, short-sighted nonsense from people who have once again shown that they understand nothing about the emotional life of the club they claim to serve.
Trust was already damaged. Now it is burned away to nothing, and the people who did this should not be surprised when the smoke reaches their own windows.
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What have they done, these two individuals?
Why won’t the board come out and tell everyone?
Put it to the fans and at least let everyone know what is going on.
Otherwise this just look like underhand deceitful shit from the board
The boards treachery know no bounds, and while I am not surprised by it any more, I am sort of glad that they are showing their true colours, if for nothing else to remind the support, after our glorious end to the season, that they cannot be trusted under any circumstances and that we still need to take them to task at every opportunity until we get rid of the incompetent bastards.
Not another penny!
James are you surprised? Can I ask a qiestion? Did you renew your season ticket. This is important to readers, you have slaughtered this board time and again, did you do anything about it? If not, no real point complaining
Dan, ticket season renewal should not be part of the equation. By all means harm this board in any way you can, but harming both the club and yourself is not the answer. The fight against the board goes on from season ticket holders and non season ticket holders alike, a collective unity with one common enemy….the board, not the club.
season ticket…not the other way round….duh
Don’t agree Johnny, if they get the money they crave nothing will change. They don’t care about fan criticism, as long as the profits keep coming, they know fans will keep coming, there jobs are safe
anyone not renewing their ticket knew fine well that there were many others who’d take the opportunity to get a season ticket and that it would be very difficult to impossible for them to get themselves back into having their season tickets, far less in their preferred seats.
Migano, so what you suggest is nothing can be done, if many many thousands did not renew they would have been forced to extend the deadline. If we keep filling their coffers with money we can’t complain. They will now have their multi millions banked. They won’t give a shit about unrest, it doesn’t stop Nicholson’s £17k a week going into his account. If I was paid that, i wouldn’t give a shit about a few banners and chants, as that’s all we have got. The lower kit sales is small fry and won’t hurt them that much. Certainly not a patch on Season Ticket money. They will definitely continue this season now
You need solidarity and coordinated action for a ST boycott. Nobody wants rid of the board enough for this to happen. There was limited support for the boycott called for the Dundee scottish cup game, less than 40% support.
The not another penny campaign is a damp squid. I would guess that has around 40 per cent support also.
Did you give up your season card this year Dan? Did you have one? Just curious.
Yes my season ticket was not renewed by the deadline, i will now wait to see if this waiting list exists or it is bollocks, no good criticising a board but filling their coffers with cash. Celtic fans appear not to be willing to make sacrifices to get rid of the board so please stop moaning about how bad the club is run
This Board does not deserve us, it does not deserve the team and it does not deserve any respect.
and it does not even deserve to be in actual command of this club. And to further your Cromwell analogy, in those famous words directed at many an incompetent ” In the name of God, GO!”
If you give up your season ticket and someone else buys it, what damage have you done to a totally uncaring board?….None, but the season ticket you cherished for years has gone, and you will still be there when the duds on the board have finally gone.
“They have mistaken authority for wisdom. They have mistaken control for leadership. They have mistaken the power to punish for the ability to govern.” Not sure if they are your words but they are quite brilliant and sums up the board.
I wouldn’t imagine they have even discussed a new manager yet and are probably looking forward to the break.
I remember someone asking Ronnie Simpson how he manages to stay focused when the Lions had so much possession and he said he kicks every ball with Jinky and the rest. The board, rather than get excited about what could be, just sleep their way through the season with no thought on how they can help improve things.
I believe they are as much football fans as William is an Aston Villa fan.
I haven’t trusted those in charge for years. We shit on our most successful manager of all time, we have had a controlled decline from them. I feel they deliberately tried to throw the league to protect their “old firm” brand and only let the GB back in when they thought the damage was done. F#ck every single one of them
100% John A which means they’ll double down next season…Martin O’Neil ruined their plans ..that board are treacherous scum..we re in for another rough ride nxt season
Well done the Celtic ladies clinching a Celtic Scottish Cup double…..10 men won the Cup.
And another sickener for the huns.
I remember after one women’s “Glasgow Derby” a Celtic player came out and said the ref always cheats for “Rangers”(liquidated). It was so refreshing but she probably never played for the team again once the board heard.
Oops….10 women won the Cup.
The Celtic Board are a two faced group of ratbags, who just don’t get Celtic supporters. We hate deceitful Barstewards and that’s just what they are.
It’s beyond belief that they can open old wounds like this, but this board is consistent in one thing, and that’s their attacks on there own fans. A shower of people who just have nothing in common with the supporters who they obviously see as gullible customers.
My God, the one thing the Ibrox mob have, that we don’t, is a board who appreciate their fans, and defend them, even when they’re obviously out of order.
Our Board look upon us as scum. Disgraceful.
Its a 2 way street micmac and both are wrong. The GB where going to vigorously renew their attack on the board, I’m sure you agree, but the board dealt the 1st blow. It looks like there will be no reconciliation and it will be a fight nobody can win but the team could end up being the ultimate loser.
To continue your 17th century Cromwellian analogy, this board sounds like Charles I who told the Duke of Hamilton to make concessions to the Covenanters: ‘Flatter them with what hopes you please, your chief end being now to win time … until I be ready to suppress them.’
As an aside, my father used to maintain that is exactly what Chamberlain’s “Peace in our Time ” declaration was about as we were not ready for war. If so he took a bullet for the nation as we bought time.
Britain handed Czechoslovakia to the fascists to show them to go east
The build up of the fascist and putting them into power was done by capitals for one reason only
To attack the only worker run state in history,the great USSR.
Although I’m not a great supporter of the GB, I’m disgusted at the singling out of 2 individuals with no explanation given about their supposed misdeeds. The silence from the Board is unacceptable and reminiscent of a “kangaroo court.” We MUST do something to hold this Board to account, we must NOT let them take our support for granted like they have been doing for years now.
Maybe some drastic action is required, such as an organised sit in at Celtic Park, or something similar to get the attention of this mob of miscreants! They have made our team a laughing stock in Europe, so it’s really more than time that we try to make them suffer! I know what I’m saying is a bit off the wall, but desperate times call for desperate measures, so any input or suggestions would be welcomed.
That’s one of their main fuckin failings….
C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-T-I-O-N
Brian ‘Unity’ Wilson ma arse…
Brian ‘Union (Jack)’ Wilson more like…
Lucan is just a fuckin ABYSMAL wage thief of the highest order…
It makes me sick to see Cavanagh and Gillespie so faithful to The Sevco Hun Hoards – even the thuggery lot…
But care they fuckin well do for sure !
A good article James and I agree with most of it. I’m not sure why anybody is surprised by this though. It was only a truce until the end of the season. The GB will also be renewing their attack on the board for sure.
Im not sure why you haven’t mentioned the allegations against the 2 guys James. Its fairly common knowledge anyway which neither side denies…just the interpretation is different.
Apparantly they threatened and tried to intimidate the cop who works for Celtic. I find it highly unlikely that a couple of guys from the GB could intimidate Hargreaves no matter what they did, but more likely the abuse he received irritated him.
The GB have been extremely stupid in the last year because unfortunately it is unacceptable to abuse somebody at their place of work. I know we think that shouting abuse swearing and intimidating is all part of football but in reality it is hard to defend.
Im guessing the board has compiled a big dossier on the GB and unlike the furore over the pitch invasion I’m guessing there is real evidence of abuse and intimidation at the Falkirk game and in this case.
The GB need to be very careful because there is a good chance their section will be closed for good.
Do you not wonder why the board is so quick to agree to put all the ultras in one place?
Just because the Ibrox board are backing their neds, doesn’t make it right.
The GB will need to learn very fast if they want to keep their season tickets because every one of them could be sold to somebody else.
Fantastic article!
Not
Another
Penny.
Here we go again.
The Green Brigade and Bhoys Celtic should join forces and boycot everything.
The rest of the support need to stand up and be counted.If this board are allowed to stay in place we are heading for a train crash.
Let’s be honest we performed heroics at the tail end of the season,but it could easily have went a different way.
Thank God the other 2 were poor.
I think we need to seriously unite and get this board out the building before there is no building left.
Let’s only hope.HH