Has Martin O’Neill crossed a line with criticism of the Celtic support?

Martin O’Neill thinks that anyone involved in throwing balls onto the pitch against Stuttgart needs their head examined.

The hoops boss repeated that phrase in interviews with TNT Sports and in his general post-match media conference.

O’Neill ought to know better. Before criticising fans he should be examining the heads of a few very well paid employees of Celtic.

Since his first match as interim manager of Celtic against Falkirk on October 29 the club have been handicapping itself.

One boisterous corner of the stadium has been covered in tarpaulin with the knock on effect obvious to all.

Celtic love to trade off the fabled ‘atmosphere under the lights on European nights’.

Roma, Utrecht and Stuttgart fans have exposed that myth. It is as realistic as the18,000 strong Waiting List ready to snap up a Season Ticket as soon as it is offered.

O’NEILL SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE

Corporate Celtic has suffocated the life out of the club.

O’Neill has had two hands tied behind his back and it’s not from those pesky anti-establishment fans.

The club has suspended the Season Tickets of over 200 fans because four of them are facing charges of Breach of the Peace. Or is because two of them upset Mark Hargreaves, the former top cop while attending the AGM in November?

In the transfer market six players were signed during the January transfer window. All on loan or short term contracts. Two played against Stuttgart.

Celtic made a £14m transfer profit last summer. At the end of December the bank balance had £67m sitting in it.

If O’Neill wants to sound off he might want to speak to the following free-loaders first of all

MICHAEL NICHOLSON

The £17,000 a week CEO who has been on mute for four and a half years other than two interviews to explain the brilliance of Wilfried Nancy to Celtic fans. The number one candidate according to Nicholson. That is why O’Neill was waved off at the start of December. Inferior to the French guy at Columbus Crew.

Nicholson also has the appointments of Mark Lawwell and Paul Tisdale on his .CV alongside Nancy.

Having ‘the leading sports lawyer’ exposed to a series of questions caused Chairman Lawwell to abandon the AGM after less than an hour. What would Jock Stein have thought of Nicholson drawing the annual wage of a Lisbon Lion every week. For over four years, almost 250 weeks.

BRIAN WILSON

Sometimes known as Unity inside Celtic Park, the 77-year-old is every inch the politician. Worse than that a Labour politician, of the same generation that inflicted Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson on the population.

Three times Wilson has called for unity since January 5. This morning the club and fans are further apart than ever.

On February 5 Chairman Wilson claimed that talks were planned with supporter groups. On March 11 he called off and rescheduled a meeting with the Collective to allow Executives to attend.

Empty suit Kevin McQuillan attended the meeting, head of Marketing and Media. The meeting achieved nothing.

Tomorrow Wilson will grace the pages of The Scotsman with another attack on the Scottish Government. Not the smartest move for a Celtic Chairman to make.

MARK HARGREAVES

The summer transfer window was bad, in among the new starts was Head of Safety and Security Hargreaves, fresh from Police Scotland.

The delicate truce with fans, especially the Green Brigade has been demolished. Some might think deliberately. Like the board the answer is either incompetence of sabotage.

Hargreaves was in Nyon at the end of January for the Europa League draw. Apparently he is currently on annual leave.

It seems to have become very personal over the Green Brigade suspension. Meanwhile the team continues to suffer.

IAIN JAMIESON

Celtic’s third rate Communications Manager. The man that thinks 600,000 copies of the Daily Record are sold every day across Scotland.

Jamieson has been at Celtic since O’Neill’s first stint at the club. He is not a Celtic fan, he has nothing but contempt for the Celtic support. Rumour has it that Hearts are his wee team.

Before media conferences Jamieson briefs O’Neill on what to expect, and how to answer. Often he sits alongside the Celtic manager.

On Wednesday O’Neill told the media that talks to bring the fans back to Celtic Park had made progress! Oh no they haven’t. The contempt of Wilson has widened the disconnect.

O’Neill was duped about the talks to get the fans back supporting the team as they once did. Absolutely not the case. Was O’Neill duped by a no-mark?

There are far more important issues for O’Neill to deal with. His choice of goalkeeper for starters.

Heading towards his 74th birthday O’Neill doesn’t need to go round questioning some of the big salaries at Celtic Park.

He should know that the fans are givers. Nicholson, Wilson, Hargreaves and Jamieson are on a lengthy list of takers.

Which partly explains the football club with an interim manager, an interim Chairman, no Head of Football Operations, a scouting operation 25 years out of date and looking on from afar at Bodo Glimt. And telling themselves that making up the numbers in the Europa League is a success story.