How Green Brigade beat the ban, Celtic Board’s deceitful silence | OneFootball

Would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the Celtic Boardroom at half-time yesterday afternoon as the Celtic PLC directors played the blame game regarding what they thought was a dastardly plan to ban on the Green Brigade from attending the match against Kilmarnock at Celtic Park…

Johnny Kenny opens the scoring. Celtic v Kilmarnock, Scottish Premiership Celtic Park, 9 November 2025. Photo Mark Runnacles IMAGO /Shutterstock

An impromptu creation of a Ticket Exchange Scheme – just like the one any competent board would have implemented several years ago themselves – was quietly created via the Celtic Fans Collective to provide tickets to those supporters affected by Celtic’s collective punishment of the Green Brigade for an alleged and disputed incident in the recent match against Falkirk.

We have covered all positions on that over the weekend including the view from Celtic and also the Green Brigade. While the facts are disputed what we saw with our own eyes yesterday was the Green Brigade in situ despite Celtic’s six game ban supposedly starting yesterday.

Last night the Ultras group released a statement which explains how they were able to, rather easily it seems, beat the Celtic PLC Board’s ban. They stated:

“Thank you to all of the Celtic supporters clubs, groups and individual fans who kindly gave the Green Brigade tickets for today’s match. This is another demonstration of unity from the Celtic support, rallying around fans who have been mistreated by a Celtic board clearly feeling the pressure and desperately trying to quell dissent.

“We appreciate that some fans stayed away from today’s match in light of the decision to ban the Green Brigade. We encourage all fans to attend matches as normal while our ban continues, to keep supporting the team and to keep up the pressure on the Celtic board.”

And if that ban on the Green Brigade was somehow indirectly related to their front row participation in the Celtic Fans Collective’s campaign against The Celtic PLC Board then you also have to wonder why the club decided to hold a minute of silence at Celtic Park yesterday for Remembrance Day when they absolutely knew what would happen.

When this fixture is away from home, as it (rather suspiciously) usually is, the home team gets to decide how this annual event is handled, whether to have a minute’s silence or applause. Celtic would normally opt for applause when it’s a home game and would expect the majority to join in but the dissenters would also make their own position clear with boos and jeers.

Celtic players observe a one minute silence for Remembrance Day Celtic v Kilmarnock, Scottish Premiership Celtic Park, 9 November 2025. Photo Mark Runnacles IMAGO /Shutterstock

However you have to wonder why this year Celtic opted for a silence?  The majority – myself included – respected yesterday’s silence remembering their own family and indeed the wider Celtic family, including many former players, who fought and paid the ultimate price.  But yesterday the majority weren’t the target of what looks like a quite cynical decision by the club to create the opportunity for sections of the Celtic support to ’embarrass’ the club and in doing so turn the wider support against them. And to hell with the cost.

The boos and jeers were heard alright, amplified in the absence of applause. A crass moment manufactured from the CelticPLC  Board for their own selfish ends.

For years I would wear I and a large percentage of the  Celtic supporters would wear a poppy, it was uncontroversial and it was the right thing to do. However it has been turned into a sectarian symbol starting in Northern Ireland and spread over to Scotland and increasingly across Britain.

James McLean, the Irish footballer from Derry who has played most of his football in England, annually is subjected to sectarian and racist abuse because he refuses to wear a poppy. Yesterday I couldn’t spot a poppy anywhere in and around the ground.

The fight against fascism was above securing freedom, freedom for instance to wear a poppy or to choose not to. That is gone with poppy fascism and now for instance if someone appears on television without a poppy there are always consequences.  Celtic has a sizeable Irish support and is a club founded by the Irish community living in Glasgow. Our last manager and our current interim manager are Irish as are our principal shareholder, our centre half and our centre forward.

Many of those tickets given to the Green Brigade yesterday will have come from Irish supporters who probably couldn’t make a 4pm kick-off on a Sunday due to ferry times, work on Monday etc, that’s something that happened because of the Board’s own failings in the summer that resulted in the Champions League embarrassment against Kairat Almaty.

Yesterday the Celtic Board chose the worst possible option and one that flames the hatred towards our club which in turn endangers our supporters. Tensions don’t need to be raised any higher on the sectarian front for Celtic supporters who are well used to the abusive reactions received at all grounds across Scotland.

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter, signed copies by Danny McGrain available from celticstarbooks.com

Don’t miss the chance to purchase the late, great Celtic historian David Potter’s final book. All remaining copies have been signed by the legendary Celtic captain  Danny McGrain PLUS you’ll also receive a FREE copy of David Potter’s Willie Fernie biography – Putting on the Style, and you’ll only be charged for postage on one book.  Order from Celtic Star Books HERE.

Celtic in the Eighties and Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style both by David Potter. Photo The Celtic Star

Danny McGrain signing copies of Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Photo: Celtic Star Books

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