The appalling events in the Middle East – and the Green Brigade banner on Saturday – have served to create a divide between the Celtic board and some supporters. A club statement has strongly criticised the sign, saying Celtic “disassociate themselves from them”, adding that “political messages and banners are not welcome at Celtic Park.”
In reality, this is just the latest occurrence in a long running argument; Celtic’s fans and Board have not been in agreement on the issue of politics and football for decades, if such accord ever existed.
With the incident in the middle East Celtics fans are expected to dissociate themselves from every form of disobedience to what has been the ethics of the club as the management would not hesitate to take disciplinary actions.
The most obvious modern divide – rarely discussed now – was Fergus McCann’s Bhoys against Bigotry campaign. Launched in 1996, these efforts tried to shift Celtic away from association with nationalist Irish politics.
The move was unpopular with many and helped foster the negative views that some supporters had towards Fergus McCann, even leading to him being booed when unfurling the 1998 League flag.
Like now, this was something which divided the support, and others associated with the club.
Tommy Burns was part of the campaign and once commented that he had “noticed a huge reduction in sectarian singing at Parkhead” but in later years said he was not comfortable with the scheme.
However McCann’s crusade was also not unique in Celtic history. At various other times, Celtic officials – including Jock Stein – have quarrelled with fans regarding songs, banners and other political actions. Celtic’s greatest manager – of course from a Protestant background – often criticised political chants and gestures.
After the Ibrox disaster he remarked: “This terrible tragedy must help to curb the bigotry and bitterness of Old Firm matches. When human life is at stake this kind of hatred seems sordid and little.”
He also used his programme notes to counter the actions of some Celtic supporters.
In 1974, Stein wrote that:
“In recent weeks we have had a revival of songs and chants which are offensive to all decent people attending football matches. Celtic Football Club have frequently condemned this intolerable behaviour and past warnings have had some effect, but only of a temporary nature.
It is now our intention to weed out the persistent culprits with the help of the police so that all decent Celtic supporters, as well as visitors and neutrals, can attend games at Celtic Park without embarrassment.”
The use of the programme to deliver warnings to Celtic supporters was a fairly common occurrence. It can be found in multiple programmes going back to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
In fact, divisions between the club and some supporters go back much further than this.
The famous Celtic ‘brake clubs’ (the earliest form of supporters’ club) often faced criticism over their songs, rowdiness and violence, actions which regularly ended up in the courts.
The present chief executive officer Michael Nicholson who is even a member of the European club Association and a non executive officer of the Scottish professional league would have would detaste more should his fans go against the rule.