THE CELTIC BOARD: NOT SLOW TO CRITICIZE OUR OWN, BUT STILL SILENT ON IBROX THUGGERY
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 3 minutes ago
- 3 min read
I’ve written a couple of articles already today.
I've talked about the fallout from last week’s Glasgow Derby, the utter thuggery displayed by Scotland’s Shame in the home supporters’ section, and the media’s seeming indifference to it all.
A common response from my fellow Celtic fans has gone something like this: “When are the Celtic Board going to say something about this?”
Referring specifically to the case of Viljami Sinisalo, our young Finn received universal praise for the way he spoke at yesterday’s press conference.
However, many fans felt that it should be the job of our Chief Executive Michael Nicholson, and not our goalkeeper to call out dangerous misconduct from our opponents.
What Should The Celtic Board Do? What Can They Do?
The antipathy towards the Celtic Board hasn’t been helped by the announcement yesterday that they have banned the North Curve supporters’ collective from setting up a tifo for today’s match against Hibs, Celtic’s first home game since winning the title.
The North Curve Group in a statement confirmed that this was a penalizing measure from the Celtic Board for recent tifo displays which the board claims were “serious breaches of banner protocol”.
The attached letter from the Celtic Board gives no specifics on these protocol breaches. However, it seems the banner in question was “Show Israel the Red Card”.
Ironically, in light of the current situation in Gaza, more than 170 clubs across the globe adopted and mimicked this display in some fashion, as a show of solidarity with the people of Palestine.
I guess it’s not just the Union Bears who consider us “Rebel Scum”.
Incidentally, "rebel scum" is a line spoken by an Imperial officer in the Star Wars movie "Return of the Jedi".
Do you know what happened to the officer who uttered those words?
Mere seconds later, he and his entire team surrendered to "The Rebels".
Maybe it wasn't such an inappropriate tifo after all!
Anyway, the whole debacle, when taken in tandem with the Celtic Board’s silence on the numerous offenses committed against Celtic, our players and our supporters last weekend is nothing short of disgraceful.
Celtic’s PR team aren’t slow to get the message out there when they want to sell a new strip or try to market a pre-season friendly as some kind of “one off prestigious cup competition.”
Yet when our fans and players are the direct targets of violence and aggression, it’s silence.
This isn’t acceptable. I don’t exactly what the Celtic Board can do, but I have to say I agree with my fellow fans here. It shouldn’t fall on Viljami Sinisalo or indeed Brendan Rodgers to call this stuff out.
Celtic’s Board have a duty of care to the supporters.
We aren’t just fans; we are paying customers. It is the revenue provided by us, be it through tickets, shirts or other merchandise, that pays the salaries of those who occupy our boardroom.
We as fans and consumers need to see some return on that substantial investment. Our board need to do better.
They need to speak up for our interests, and defend us from those both in the media and on the terraces, who would seek to do us harm.
They can start by mending fences with our fan groups. You may not always agree with what The Green Brigade say, but unlike our fascist neighbors across The Clyde, we should always respect their right to say it.
Today should be a time of celebration for Celtic. The board have once again scored a completely unnecessary own goal.
