Collective Boycott call brings Brian Wilson to the table | OneFootball

The Celtic Fans Collective met on Tuesday evening following the closure of the January transfer window. After a two hour debate it was agreed that there would be a call for a boycott of this Saturday’s Scottish Cup match against Dundee at Celtic Park.

It was noted by the Collective that they had reached out to Brian Wilson who made a call for unity when he was announced as the interim successor to Peter Lawwell as Celtic Chairman.  On Tuesday night the meeting was told that the Collective had offered Wilson three suitable dates for a meeting but no response had been forthcoming from him.

Michael Nicholson and Brian Wilson. Auchinleck Talbot v Celtic, Scottish Cup 4th Round, Rugby Park. Sunday 18 January 2026. Photo Vagelis Georgariou ( The Celtic Star)

That changed this evening with Brian Wilson sitting down with Gerry McCulloch for an interview designed to avoid the threat of a boycott with promises of meetings with supporters organisations. All of the supporters organisations such as The Celtic Supporters Association (CSA), the Affiliation of Registered Celtic Supporters Clubs (ARCSC), the Association of Irish Celtic Supporters Clubs (AICSC) and others have reached out to the club in recent weeks requesting meeting with no forthcoming.

Brian Wilson did NOT specifically mention where his plan is to deal with the CSA. AICSC and the Affiliation separately or whether he plans to meet with the wider body of Celtic supporters, namely the Celtic Fans Collective of which all of the above organisations are members.

As things stand we know that he has reached out to some if not all supporters groups listed above.

Also in the Collective are hundreds of individual supporters clubs plus the ultra groups, The Green Brigade and Bhoys Celtic plus the vast majority of the Celtic fan media including The Celtic Star.

After a month of silence from Celtic it now looks like there are going to be discussions, whether meaning of not remains to be seem. Wilson did talk about wanting a ‘full stadium’ again and that doesn’t happen unless all seats are occupied to fill it and its the ongoing indefinite ban of the Green Brigade that, as a matter of fact, prevents a full stadium result to be delivered.

Our Dear Green Place tifo by the Green Brigade, September 2024. Photo IMAGO

Lifting that ban is non-negotiable and that is as good a place as any for the interim Chairman to start. Yes, there has to be conversations about following the rules and as we suggested on The Celtic Star yesterday, the clever thing for Celtic to do is to delegate this to the Celtic Fans Collective to effectively control its own members.

The censorship ban on the Celtic fan media is a disgrace but as we stated yesterday it is much less significant than supporters – of all ages – paying their season tickets only to be denied access to the stadium – because an incident happened that has already been dealt with by the courts.

The Celtic Women’s team has suffered disproportionately because of the club’s unbelievably petty decision to widen the ban to the women’s game. Our coverage has effectively stopped and at the weekend both The Celtic Star and the Cynic applied to theRangers (who are usually much better to deal with than Celtic have ever been) but were denied access to the Sky Sports Cup semi-final which Celtic lost on penalties after a 3-3 draw. Why did theRangers decide to withdraw access to Cynic Women and The Celtic Star, the two outlets that have covered the women’s game more thoroughly than the rest of the Scottish media put together?

Amy Gallacher in action for Celtic FC Women against theRangers in the Sky Sports Cup semi-final, Sunday 3 February 2025. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

Maybe it’s me who is the cynic on this one. The result was ZERO coverage but we actually have around 70 really good photographs from the match that had no coverage to go alongside on The Celtic Star.  Meanwhile Claire at Cynic Women (no coverage of mens team just Celtic FC Women) posted an emotional statement this week basically stating that she’s having to stop after five years of sold coverage because of the bans.

If Celtic are going to be a modern club in the modern world they need to have a functioning women’s team and to grow that they need to have the engagement of the Celtic support. It was through sites like The Celtic Star and Cynic Women – and also through the support of The Green Brigade – that Celtic Park achieved a record breaking attendance for the women’s game in Scotland at Celtic Park and had double the size of theRangers support in the 2023 Women’s Scottish Cup Final (see pic below).

Celtic FC Women 2-0 theRangers. Women’s Scottish Cup Final, 2023 at Hampden Park. Photo The Celtic Star

Two weeks ago Celtic were playing an SWPL match which they won 1-0 and you could watch on the BBC Sports website, where the number of views were shown. The highest it reached was 72. The attendance at the game looked even less than that for a Celtic team being starved of the coverage it needs to grow. No media conferences for that team now because the regulars are banned and the MSM only attend when it suits.

Many times I’ve done media conferences with the Celtic FC Women manager as the ONLY journalist turning up. Claire has been in that position too.

03.01.2026 Celtic v theRangers, Scottish Premiership. Brian Wilson, Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay. Photo Kenny Ramsay IMAGO / News Licensing

Mr Wilson should arrange to meet the Celtic fan media sites who were on the rota and to the best of my knowledge were all abiding by the club’s rules, acting professionally and giving the club no problems whatsoever until THEY themselves pulled the rug from under the carpet shortly after the Celtic Fans Collective was formed.

Brian Wilson referred back to his earlier interview with McCulloch when he was announced as Interim Chairman. He said: “When I did that interview I spoke about unity and I spoke specifically about unity within the stadium.

“I don’t expect the issues to go away suddenly but what I did ask for was to get unity behind the team. Let’s sort these issues. I am in no way dismissing them or marginalising them. We want to engage with them.

“But short term it is imperative to support the team and it’s up to each individual to make a decision on whether a boycott insider or outside of the stadium helps that.

Celtic Directors Chris McKay and Brian Wilson. St Mirren v Celtic, 23 November 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

“What I can say is that I do accept there hasn’t been enough engagement as I would have liked over the past month for a range of reasons, but mainly because of the focus of the transfer window.

“What I can say is that we have reached out to all fan groups and we hope these meetings will take place over the next week. There is no reluctance on my part to engage and I hope that can be put that into practise soon.

“Unity in the ground is one thing. We won’t agree on everything to do with these issues but we can talk about them. But don’t let it distract from what’s going on inside the stadium. That’s all I’m asking for.

“What I want to see is a full Celtic Park with a great atmosphere and everyone getting behind the team.”

Here’s Brian Wilson’s interview with Celtic TV. Have a listen…

Just £10 with £1 donation to Marie Curie included. Order now at celticstarbooks.com/shop

More Stories / Latest News

Collective Boycott call brings Brian Wilson to the table

Feb 5 2026, 21:16

“They have built momentum based on these cheating decisions,” Jambo view

Feb 5 2026, 18:34

Aberdeen v Celtic re-scheduled for Wednesday 4th March, live on Sky Sports

Feb 5 2026, 17:11