GREEN BRIGADE BANS: ANOTHER NEEDLESS OWN GOAL FROM THE CELTIC BOARD
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 23 minutes ago
- 3 min read
I didn’t think I’d open my first blog of the close season with a quote from Napoleon (or it might have been Sun Tzu depending on which source you trust) but here we go:
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is in the middle of making a mistake.”
Wise words to be sure, but what do you do when the exact opposite is happening?
How do you intervene when a supposed ally is making yet another careless, self-destructive and completely unnecessary basic error?
Because that reality is here, brought into sharp focus today by an angry, frustrated, but also completely reasonable statement from The Green Brigade. The incompetence (or is it petty malevolence?) of The Celtic Board has been thrust back into the spotlight once again.
Green Brigade Season Ticket Denial is Just Plain Wrong, Regardless of What You Think of the Group
By the time you read this, the deadline for Celtic season ticket holders to renew for next season will have passed. I am, of course, working on the assumption that Celtic won’t have extended the deadline.
Rumors swirling online this morning, from sources that I tend to trust, estimate that the number of season ticket holders yet to confirm their places for next season remains, comfortably, in five figures.
My running bet with some of my ACSOM comrades that Celtic will announce another new strip before they announce the next manager remains, very much, in play.
Some cynics believe that the club don’t want to face the managerial situation until after The Celtic Board have safely banked next season’s ticket money.
The job should be Martin O’Neill’s if he wants it, and the indications are that he does.
However, Robbie Keane remains a popular pick with the bookies, though certainly not with vast swathes of the Celtic support (myself included). Craig Bellamy and Roberto Martinez are also names that have been thrown around, but with nothing really substantive or recent in terms of updates.
So, to put it bluntly, the Celtic board should be doing all they can to keep fans and fan media onside ahead of what will, no doubt, be a chaotic summer ahead, regardless of who ends up as our next manager.
That is why the confirmation this morning that two members of the Green Brigade have been refused the chance to renew their season tickets, pending an investigation by the club into alleged misconduct from almost 9 months ago, seems nothing short of petty, vindictive and childish.
Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay (our CEO and CFO) have been posted missing for the past 6 months, as interim chairman Brian Wilson has assumed the role of managing damage control for the board. That is, he sometimes has, when he isn’t busy writing inane newspaper columns or getting into slanging matches with the Scottish Government.
However, if the Green Brigade’s statement this afternoon is to be believed, and I have no reason not to believe it, or absentee CEO and CFO are out to “settle old scores” with Celtic’s head of security Mark Hargreaves playing the proverbial “piggy in the middle”.
An excerpt from the Green Brigade’s statement reads as follows:
"In principle, we welcome fair and transparent processes in instances where reasonable grievances and evidence exists.
"However, this is merely another cynical and vindictive exercise.
"It serves as a stark reminder that while the Celtic hierarchy remains unchanged and individuals like Michael Nicholson, Chris McKay and Mark Hargreaves retain influence at the club, there will be no sustained unity.
I think the legendary author Mark Twain said it best.
“Sometimes it is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt!”
I cannot think of a better quote to sum up Celtic’s triumvirate of the talentless.
So, to The Celtic Board I say: “Your move.” Either present your evidence against these two prominent, and highly respected voices of opposition to your rule, or give them their season books back and apologize.
We are watching. Winning the double was a tremendous achievement. But it was one that Martin O’Neill, Shaun Maloney, the players and the backroom staff achieved in spite of the actions of the Celtic Board not because of them.
Fans will not tolerate this needless aggravation for much longer. Need I remind Nicholson, Hargreaves and McKay that, despite their wishes to the contrary, Scotland remains a free democracy, where innocent until proven guilty is a fundamental part of the law that underpins our society.
You’ve had 9 months to conduct your little “internal investigation”. If you haven’t got a strong enough case against these two Celtic fans now, then you never will.