Celtic’s North Curve have called a meeting tonight of all the fan groups that rallied round their open letter to the Celtic Board.
The group, which includes the Green Brigade, have provided leadership at a time when Celtic fans needed it most.
Perhaps the most maligned group of Celtic fans in recent times, the North Curve have played a blinder thus far, outflanking Celtic’s salaried media team of thirty hearty souls.
And while the clubs dreadful summer transfer window and lack of direction are rightly motivations for fans, it’s worth remembering that the ultras groups have highlighted the dreadful treatment fans receive from the club.
The Green Brigade have survived repeated attempts to drive them out the stadium altogether over the past twenty years.
Perhaps the biggest threat they faced was the truly shocking Offensive Behaviour at Football Act back in 2012 when the Scottish government, Police Scotland and the judiciary came together to try to shut the Green Brigade up once and for all.
Doors were kicked in during dawn raids by Police Scotland, numerous court appearances were scheduled on the other side of the country and fans were kettled on the Gallowgate trying to walk to Celtic Park.
It’s not much fun when the full power of the state is coming after you.
Faced with those sort of odds there was only ever going to be one winner of course – the bhoys in the Olive coloured hooded jackets got the act repealed and Bernard Higgins had to call off the hounds and look for alternative employment.
What sort of employer would even consider hiring that man?
Which brings us to the current Celtic board.
They are now faced with opposition from a truly unprecedented number of Celtic fans, from the three major supporter organisations to hundreds of individual supporters clubs and almost the entirety of the club’s fan media.
Saturdays disastrous attempts at PR and deflection have only increased the support for the North Curve open letter.
This initiative has been driven entirely by Celtic fans who will now decide what the next steps are to force change at our club.
That it has come to this is entirely due to the sheer intransigence of the powers that be at Celtic Park.
It has been years in the making of course but the start of this season has highlighted all the major failings.
All was looking good at the start of the summer.
Celtic will never have more money in the bank and never have an easier route to qualify for the Champions League. And all on the back of last seasons title win and the clubs best ever showing in the Champions League format.
For the fans however there was the annual chipping away at the value of the season ticket and the further erosion of the “fan experience” at Celtic Park.
Season ticket prices went up of course but they didn’t cover the pre season friendly against Newcastle, the cup tie against Falkirk or the qualifier for the Champions League.
The Falkirk tie revealed the clubs response to the increased demand from fans for safe standing – huge metal barriers in place and waves of police and stewards to turn the entire north curve area into a high security detention zone.
I asked a steward that night why he was preventing me from walking down the concourse to meet a friend and was told: “you got an email last night”.
That’s the attitude towards fans, enforced by stewards and police but it comes from the very top of the club.
‘The Celtic End’ proposal for increased safe standing has been on the table for more than two years. It has been ignored by the club, just like when Police Scotland kettled innocent fans, again.
But still we hoped the club would deliver the quality players the manager and club captain asked for.
They didn’t arrive in time for the Kairat Almaty tie and the Champions League was gone. Then came transfer deadline day and the realisation that the club were just as dismissive of the views of Brendan Rodgers and Callum McGregor as they are of the fans.
And now here we are, Celtic fans united like never before to demand the change that is needed to stop the rot, on the pitch and in the stands.
One quote from the minutes of the Supporters Association meeting with the club stands out.
“Fan survey had 50,000 responses. Format not accessible, so second agency engaged to reformat data.”
They can’t even put the data from the fan survey they conducted into a readable format. Hardly world class it it Michael?
The next day the club statement said: “The Club takes Celtic supporters’ views extremely seriously”.
Enough is enough.
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Irrespective of the condescending and insulting content of this statement, 350+ Celtic fan entities representing tens of thousands of Celtic fans around the world have signed an open letter with 7 explicit questions – these questions, and those asking them, have been ignored. https://t.co/WXnpgU5js4
— North Curve Celtic (@NCCeltic) September 6, 2025
