DESPITE OFFER OF TALKS, IT SEEMS THE CELTIC BOARD STILL HAVEN’T LEARNED A DAMN THING
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 30 minutes ago
- 4 min read
I spoke yesterday about the ongoing failure this season of the Celtic Board’s default conflict resolution formula of “ignore the problem until it goes away”.
Well, it seems they have now shifted to another strategy that may have worked for them in the past but, in my opinion, will not on this occasion.
That is the old cliché of “divide and conquer”.
After I, and indeed many others in the Celtic fan media sphere, yesterday challenged Brian Wilson to back up his 5 minutes of made-up anecdotes and political double-talk with actual, tangible actions, he actually did, for once, take action.
Unfortunately, that action was ill-advised, and supporters have already seen it for the facile, performative nonsense that it is.
Celtic Board Once Again Tries to Divide Supporters. Once Again, They Will Fail
The Green Brigade, according to their own statement released yesterday, have finally been invited for dialogue with Celtic directly.
However, in typical Celtic fashion, much like many of our failed transfer dealings in recent times, it seems the club don’t understand the proper channels to go through in order to have this dialogue.
The correct channel, is the one the one that has the backing to close to 500 different Celtic supporters groups, including The Green Brigade and several other groups that the club offered to “meet with in good faith” yesterday.
That channel is The Celtic Fans Collective.
Funnily enough, at the time of writing anyway, The Celtic Fans Collective has received no such invitation to meet with the club to try and resolve the numerous issues leading to the disconnect between fans and the Celtic Board.
To their credit, the Green Brigade quickly called this out in their own statement released last night.
The statement begins:
“Yesterday evening, the club finally relented on its position and accepted to meet with the Green Brigade. However, this was part of a series of separate meeting invites to various fan organizations which excluded the Celtic Fans Collective.”
The Green Brigade realize that the Celtic Fans Collective has been at the forefront of efforts to remove the completely unjustified ban placed on all members of the Green Brigade for reasons still unknown.
Those who think the Green Brigade are all about generating attention for themselves, may want to read the next part of their statement, and carefully reconsider that stance.
The Statement Continued: “The Green Brigade welcomes the opportunity for dialogue with the club however we believe that at this point it is in the wider interests of everyone concerned, supporters and club, that a meeting between the Celtic Fans Collective and club takes precedence.
“The Celtic Fans Collective is the broadest, most representative Celtic fan body. It has led an effective campaign for positive change which has delivered results. This includes the impending boycott and further protest actions which have clearly moved the club’s position.”
As I said yesterday, Brian Wilson’s hastily thrown together 5-minute script-reading on Thursday was clearly a reactionary move from the club, in response to the threat of a boycott.
None of the board’s renewed “appetite for dialogue” would have manifested this week had the Celtic Fans Collective not taken the decision to push for a boycott of tonight’s game.
Indeed, the Green Brigade directly refenced this in their statement. It continues:
“Collective action is working. The Celtic support is far stronger, and our mutual interests better protected, when we are united. We must not allow the club to revert to the old culture of managing individual fan organizations separately and quietly. We must insist on a new fan engagement culture built on trust, transparency, unity and cooperation.
“We encourage all supporters to maintain pressure on the Celtic board until words translate to actions. Tomorrow’s match is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate fan discontent and an effective boycott will help move our club closer to its supporters.”
As I said yesterday, not everyone is on board with the boycott idea. Indeed, perhaps the only thing I agreed with from Brian Wilson’s stage-managed spiel the other day was his point that it is, indeed, an individual choice to decide whether to take part in the boycott or not.
However, the boycott is now a side issue. Whether it happens tonight or not, it has already had the desired effect. The Celtic Board are rattled. However, it is crucial now more than ever that the various, diverse supporters groups that form the Collective maintain their current unity.
The offer of individual meetings is a starting point, but until the board accepts a meeting with the largest fan group currently actively protesting against them, such dialogue is pointless.
The old cloak and dagger approach will not work. Is the offer of dialogue genuine?
We’ll soon see.
If the Celtic Board are serious about sitting down and thrashing this out, then the Celtic Fans Collective must be allowed to fulfil the purpose it was created for: to be the unifying voice at the forefront of fans’ desire for meaningful change.