CELTIC FANS COLLECTIVE “SILENT PROTEST” CLARIFIED WITH FRESH STATEMENT
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Sep 26
- 4 min read
It would be fair to say that reception to the latest protest initiative announced by The Celtic Fans Collective has been met with a mixed response online.
Natural concerns have been expressed, most notably by members of the press at Brendan Rodgers’ latest press conference today. Rodgers did his best to keep a diplomatic neutral stance on the issue. He commented that the atmosphere Celtic fans bring is “unique”. He went further and added that “it is the support that makes Celtic the club it is”.
Celtic Fans Collective Addresses Confusion Over Silent Protest Plan
The plan is for fans to remain silent for set periods of time over the next three home matches:
12 minutes tomorrow against Hibs,
29 minutes on October 2nd against Braga,
32 minutes on October 5th against Motherwell
Obvious questions have been raised about this approach:
What happens if Celtic score?
Is this a good idea as it may harm team morale?
What if I don’t want to be silent during the game?
Thankfully, the Celtic Fan Collective has issued a fresh statement to address these issues in the last couple of hours.
They address 7 key points that have emerged from feedback since the “3 match package of silent protests” was announced earlier today. The statement reads as follows.
What is a silent protest?
“In practice, a silent protest usually means there is no active or coordinated support. Celtic ultras have led a number of these in recent years which have proven to be effective, e.g. against the Offensive Behaviour at Football legislation (successful campaign) and the appointment of Bernard Higgins at Celtic (successful campaign).”
What will a silent protest achieve?
“A silent Celtic Park will be a stark reminder to the Board of the importance of Celtic fans. The silence, especially on a match day, will amplify our concerns to a broad audience. This will shine a spotlight on the Board and their failings.”
What if I don’t want to stay silent?
“Then don’t! The Celtic Fan Collective represents a broad spectrum of Celtic supporters. We appreciate some protest actions may not please all, but we also believe we have a broad consensus of support for the actions chosen to date. Ultimately individuals are free to act as they please and all should be respected. However, we appeal to all to consider the end goal of positive change and the importance of unity in achieving this.”
I would add, on a personal level, that this is probably the most important of the points highlighted in the CFC’s latest statement. Not everyone will be on board with this, or participate in it.
And that’s fine. For various reasons, not everyone observed the “12 minutes for the 12th man” protest at Kilmarnock last week. The Celtic Fan Collective has, from day one, recognized that the Celtic support is a broad church (or perhaps I should say chapel!).
As such, it’s to be expected that not everyone will be on board with this, and fans will not be ridiculed or abused for not participating in this planned protest.
The statement continued:
What if Celtic score a goal?
“Celebrate! A silent protest doesn’t mean we can’t react naturally and emotionally to the match. However, it does mean we are asking that there be no singing during the time period.”
So, yeah, don’t worry. When we score, and hopefully we score a few, cheer as much as you like. This does not violate the principles of the protest.
What about ‘back the team?’
“The upcoming silent protest time periods have been chosen so that there is a positive balance in favour of backing the team. While we all want to back the team for 90 mins, we must also use the tools and platforms at our disposal to send a strong message to the Board. When the protests end, we will vociferously back the team.”
Again, there’s no question that we all want to see Celtic succeed on the park, and our support plays a massive part in that. However, the feeling is that we need to draw attention to these issues and the Celtic board’s unwillingness to engage meaningfully with fans regarding the open letter they were served with several weeks ago.
What will happen next?
“We are planning a holistic and strategic campaign of future parts. There will be escalating silent protests at the coming home matches – unless we see some progress. Following that is an international break where the Celtic Fan Collective will evaluate its progress and next steps.”
This is perhaps the most pertinent point of all. All these protests, these actions against the board can end instantly, if the Celtic Board set aside their egos, their arrogance and actually talk openly and honestly with the fans about the issues we consider crucial to Celtic’s future growth and success.
The proverbial ball is, and indeed has always been in the Board’s court. They’ve just chosen to ignore it until now.
