Celtic Board and Fans: A Rift That Keeps Growing
Supporter anger towards the Celtic board is framed as a long-running breakdown in trust, with dialogue offered too late and in the wrong way. The call is for genuine accountability and respect.
The frustration here is not really about one flashpoint, it is about a long stretch of the Celtic board appearing distant from the people who back the club week in, week out. When supporters feel ignored, it is not just a bit of noise online, it turns into a proper breakdown in trust.
The core complaint is simple enough: repeated requests for meaningful dialogue were met with silence, and that silence has hardened into a rift. Once fans reach the point where they believe the board is not listening at all, it becomes far harder to put things back together.
The AGM moment that changed the mood
A key turning point in this account is the AGM, and the decision to let Ross Desmond publicly attack supporters. The feeling is that the board misread the room badly, thinking they could split the fanbase by putting the blame on the Green Brigade and expecting everyone else to fall into line.
Instead, it is described as having the opposite effect, bringing more people into open opposition and convincing a wider section of supporters that the current leadership is not fit for purpose. In other words, a moment that was meant to steady things only intensified the anger.
Papering over the cracks with football decisions
There is also a clear view that football appointments were used as a distraction rather than a solution. Bringing in a so-called progressive manager to play attractive football is portrayed as a way to shift the conversation back onto the pitch, while the discontent off it was left to simmer.
The argument is not that style of play does not matter, it does. It is that it cannot be used to ignore a deeper relationship problem between the board and the supporters.
Unity demanded, trust withheld
The return of Martin O’Neill is framed as another move driven by panic rather than football logic, an attempt to rescue a season and protect positions at the top. At the same time, the talk of “unity” is dismissed as hollow if supporters are still being banned under what are described as dubious charges.
That contradiction is at the heart of it: you cannot demand unity while treating sections of your own support as a problem to be managed.
Dialogue, but on whose terms?
Even when dialogue is finally offered, the criticism is that it is being handled in a way that suits the board. Meeting groups individually is seen as an attempt to fragment the support and control the narrative, rather than accept collective accountability.
The closing point is the one that tends to resonate at Celtic Park: the club was built by its people. Until supporters are treated as the lifeblood of Celtic rather than an inconvenience, this rift is not going away.
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