For a short period after the league title was won some Celtic fans began looking to the club to speak up and rebut the lies that were being widely told about us fans.
The false allegations of Hearts players being assaulted were so blatant and easily rebuffed that it would have been oh so easy for someone, anyone, at the club to speak up.
The lies from the pundits were available for all to listen to and then the evidence emerged that no such crimes had taken place on the Celtic Park pitch.
And for a brief moment some Celtic fans hoped that the club would defend us, for once.
One man who could have spoken up was Mark Hargreaves, the clubs head of security who was responsible for ensuring pitch invasions don’t happen.
But then reality hit home.
What was the club’s response to the reputation of us supporters being trashed by all and sundry? They tried to ban two Celtic fans from renewing their Season Tickets!
When the media and Hearts F.C. were piling on Celtic fans with lies about assaults the people in positions of power at our club chose not to defend us but to join in the attacks.
We shouldn’t have been surprised.
DISDAIN AND SILENCE- THE RECIPE OF THE CELTIC BOARD
After all the Celtic board have shown more distain towards Celtic fans than anyone in the media ever could.
Long before Tony Bloom was levelling false accusations of assault at Celtic fans, Michael Nicholson was leading the way.
This latest move by the club to ban two fans from renewing their Season Tickets provided the perfect bookend to a season of constant attacks on fans by the club.
It all started before the season even kicked off when the club imposed a three match suspended ban on the Green Brigade while they were preparing tifo tributes to John Clark and John Fallon.
As the season began it became clear to anyone who ventured near the north curve that something was definitely brewing. The ticket checks, the metal barriers, the aggressive attitude of the stewards.
And eventually, inevitably, the club got their way when one ticket check too many to use the toilet gave them the excuse they wanted to ban the Green Brigade.
The atmosphere in the stadium dipped to the point where Chris Sutton described the atmosphere on a European night as the worst he had experienced.
It wasn’t just the noise generated by the missing 250 ultras in the corner, it was the knock on effect it had on the whole stadium.
Bhoys Celtic continued to show up but didn’t display their flag or start any songs to show their support for their fellow banned ultras.
Elsewhere the stadium became understandably muted. The new stewarding policy of blanket suspicion was felt everywhere.
HOUNDING OF THE GREEN BRIGADE
The fact that 245 fans with zero suspicion hanging over them had their season tickets suspended was a sobering thought.
Imagine five mates went out for dinner and after the starter one gets thrown out for no good reason. Do the remaining four enjoy their main course?
That is how it felt while the Green Brigade were banned.
Every other fan knew their Season Ticket could be cancelled at any time because of something the club claimed the guy two rows behind you had done.
The bans were only lifted when it became clear the title challenge was in serious trouble and the team needed all the help it could get.
It’s hard to shake the belief that the Green Brigade would have remained locked out if the team had been cruising and the stadium remained noisy.
The January derby game will be remembered as one of the club’s darkest days in recent memory.
Welcoming in fans of The Rangers to sing anti-Irish racist bile for hours while banning innocent Celtic season ticket holders is a decision that should haunt Michael Nicholson and Mark Hargreaves for years to come.
But the early signs of a change in attitude from the club towards us fans are not good.
THE NICHOLSON AND HARGREAVES COMBO
The club have immediately returned to trying to ban supporters who were allowed to return for the title run in with the rest of the Green Brigade.
There are no signs of CEO Nicholson leaving and presumably that means his schoolyard chum Mark Hargreaves will remain also.
And as long as those people are still in positions of power at the club, the media and clubs like Hearts can tell as many lies as they want about us fans because nobody is going to speak up for us.
Celtic fans have stood tall, and alone, this past year.
And it looks very much like we are still on our own going forward, supporting the team while also fighting for the change desperately required at our club.
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3 Comments
by John A
Delberate sabotage, this was intentional. This transfer window will prove it too when we sell more than we spend, when the team is at its weakest for God knows how long.
by Plunge McNugget
Totally agree utterly disgrace that the board won’t stick up for us but they are not sticking up or protecting the club from corruption and cheating allegations media can say what they like about us without being challenged
by Valentines day Massacre
The spill out onto the pitch at winning the league title by some Celtic fans was a gift for the scheming board . Watching it all unfold had to be the best thing to happen all season for the board considering the ‘war’ between them and the ‘Green Brigade ‘ for most of the campaign …an unexpected windfall ! Watching and listening to the multitude of lies spewed out condemning Celtic fans with non events should at the very least have been questioned for evidence against the accusers by the board . Still they remained quiet completely at ease with all of the bad publicity ..attacks …false and fake news as the SMSM and beyond had a field day with their venom and lies towards Celtic FC . The perfect strategy fell nicely into place for the board …as if by magic !