When the Green Brigade were first banned in November, following the now-infamous “incidents” at the Falkirk home game, I said on A Celtic State of Mind that I didn’t think they’d be back.
Not because the situation was unclear, but because it was.
Although the men in grey suits were still in the process of exposing their full contempt for fans, I had seen enough to understand the egos involved would not tolerate those orchestrating the campaign calling for accountability and their jobs.
This has been a season of slanderous statements, full of provable untruths, distortions, deceit, arrogance, contempt and hypocrisy.
The Rodgers Statement: A Masterclass in Deflection
Dermot Desmond’s character assassination of Brendan Rodgers, done via official channels, was a cowardly and blisteringly vindictive attack on a man who twice managed the club, and who contributed far more to Celtic’s success than the absent landlord ever has.
Cowardly because he used official club channels, thereby indemnifying himself individually from any potential legal action, whilst also making sure that Rodgers would have to be seen to be suing his childhood club to protect his reputation.
That 27th October statement included legendary diamonds of hypocrisy, utter nonsense, projection and a lack of self-awareness so profound and deep, that when it’s not in use I think he must store it in the Mariana Trench.
- “What has failed recently was not due to our structure or model, but to one individual’s desire for self-preservation at the expense of others.”
- “Every pound generated by the club is reinvested towards those goals and the continuous improvement of Celtic Football Club.”
- “Celtic is greater than any one person. Our focus now is on restoring harmony, strengthening the squad…”
Now my friends, please stop that! This isn’t a laughing matter.
The Myth of Structure
Let’s address the first claim: that failure was not due to “structure or model.”
That would be more convincing if such things actually existed.
We don’t have anything that would be recognised as a structure or model in a modern, world class (another belter) elite club. We never have had, that’s the problem.
They think a manager (who may or may not have any knowledge of recruitment, or a proven track record of success) recruiting players is acceptable. But there’s also no defined budget.
He might ask for players he wants, then the CEO applies the limit set by the principal shareholder and rejects them, or he tries to pacify the manager and create an illusion of support. We either do a version of the ‘slow no’ dance and/or we end up with other clubs literally laughing at us in public as we make derisory offers.
Just look at one example of how they gave the manager their ‘full support’ in this absolutely vital January window. The manager confirms two decent quality wing targets, but somehow we end up with a competition winner in Mvuka. And it wasn’t a competition to find footballers.
The club have actually had to use an agent as a ‘consultant’ because nobody wants to deal with our CEO & CFO, Celtic’s Laurel & Hardy duo, only to then have them go back on an agreed deal, because the cigar chomping, champagne quaffing boss in Barbados, thinks everyone else is a mug punter and it’s a great wheeze to try and embarrass them with disrespectful and laughable offers.
That’s our structure, usually with a chief scout or such like in the background. It’s a tin pot, two men and a dog approach to a multi billion pound market infested by sharks, and fished in by serious outfits with fully staffed departments of highly qualified individuals, deploying cutting edge technology. Many of those clubs are our peers such as Club Brugge.
Our principal shareholder became a billionaire by dealing in distressed assets. Fair play to him for all his success. I wouldn’t say though, that he’s blessed with transferable skills when it comes to these sorts of negotiations.
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Tin Pot Operations in a Billion-Pound Game
Recently, thanks to becoming a golfing buddy of Desmond’s after a chance meeting at a wedding we were blessed with Paul Tisdale, the self-styled ‘football doctor’, who had no relevant experience at this level.
Appointed head of football operations with a CV that would have struggled to get him an equivalent role at a second tier English side, he was given a vital position overseeing recruitment.
Competing with the multi million pound Jamestown Analytics of Tony Bloom, we had this Excel spreadsheet imposter, cobbling names together using his proprietary (stop laughing) software.
The Curious Case of the Cash Mountain
Then there’s the claim that “every pound generated by the club is reinvested.”
All season we have been sitting on a cash mountain hovering between £70-80 million pounds. The reasons for which are unjustifiable.
A contingency fund is sensible. A war chest that never goes to war is something else entirely.
That money comes from supporters. It should reflect ambition on the pitch—not just caution in the boardroom.
“Restoring Harmony”
Lastly, I doubt there’s a Celtic supporter who hasn’t had a grim laugh at the utterly oblivious last line. Celtic is greater than any one person, says our absolute monarch. Honestly, it beggars’ belief.
“Our focus now is on restoring harmony, strengthening the squad…”
Well, strengthening the squad was another abject failure wasn’t it? Because we have no structure as I pointed out above, the interim manager and his staff were left in a state of absolute panic as they were expected to source and recruit players who would improve the squad. This is a months long process for any club who do actually have a structure, and they had a few weeks to do it from a standing start, with zero groundwork having been laid and no information available from the desk of the not so dearly departed Tisdale.
Leaving that to the side for the moment, lets focus on restoring harmony. Less than a month after this, the club banned the Green brigade. Would you classify that as harmonious?
The Green Brigade and the Atmosphere Void
Celebrating their 20yr anniversary, the Green Brigade have become a pillar of the Celtic Park experience.
Polarising they may be, but they are central to creating the atmosphere, and if you don’t appreciate just how central, you’ve not had the pre ban and post ban experience.
Without them, Celtic Park has gone from a cauldron to a cathedral.
The SAG Smokescreen
Many believe the Falkirk game incidents were simply the pretext to get rid of those who were prominent in decrying the dysfunctional board and a head of security with a personal agenda.
We have recently learned from a GB member who was there, that Hargreaves did not appreciate being cornered at the AGM in a heated exchange
The Supporters Update of 18th November contained the hilarious line ‘Any suggestion that this matter is motivated by the Club’s reaction to wider fan protests is completely misleading and disingenuous.’
That’s what some might call an ‘alternative truth.’
It has been made clear by their subsequent treatment of the Green Brigade and other members of the standing section, that this continued ban is personal, petty and vindictive.
The collective punishment element of it may also be the most outrageous treatment of supporters in the club’s history.
A Question of Credibility
The Safety Advisory Group is being used as a shield to perpetuate this fit of pique. Small men causing massive damage.
They will not allow any fan representation at these SAG meetings, they will not release the minutes of these SAG meetings, and they are quite literally deceiving the fans with the lie that this is a joint decision they are taking with the SAG.
This lie has been totally exposed by The Rangers. They completely defied the SAG’s request to ban the Onion Bears after their most recent spot of rioting. They did so without delay or equivocation.
At best the board are involved in some Trumpian truth twisting. At worst, their contempt for the fans has caused them to believe we’re all gullible fools.
We see you!
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