Green Brigade Statement

The Green Brigade has today released a statement on Celtic's move to close their section of the stadium for two competitive matches, which is breathtakingly selfish and arrogant in equal measure.

I reproduce the statement in its entirety with comments below.

Following the club statement on Friday, we take this opportunity to accept full responsibility for both the pyrotechnics display to celebrate the achievements of the Lisbon Lions at the Hearts match in May and our ‘Brendan’s Undefeated Army’ tifo during the match against Linfield on Wednesday evening.

That's brilliant lads, well done. But you should have just stopped right there because that was all that needed to be said.


While we are disappointed to hear of the impending two match ban that we face, we know that in the sanitised world of Scottish football the actions of an Ultra group like ours may have consequences for our members.

Yes, and the consequence of your Hearts and Linfield displays is a two match closure of your section. You should consider yourselves fortunate that's all it is.


We do however completely oppose collective punishment and a blanket ban on all fans in our block is disproportionate and unjust therefore we call on the board to revise this decision. 

It's a bit late now to think about the other people who share the shiny new standing section Celtic provided for you. The time to think about consequences was before Wednesday evening.


As a group we are defined by our style of support and our politics, both of which the club are happy to benefit from when it suits their agenda. Almost a year ago, after much immediate criticism, we brought worldwide adulation on the club for our show of solidarity with the people of Palestine and the subsequent charity fundraising which was endorsed by the Celtic support.

I don't care what your "style of support" is. If it breaks the stadium rules, there is no place for it at Celtic Park. I've no sympathy for you if you get banned because you can't behave yourselves.

As for your politics, again, I don't care what your politics are. Celtic is a football club, not the sporting wing of the Green Brigade, and your political posturing is tiresome in the extreme.

We're actually getting to the crux of the matter here because your support for Celtic seems to be secondary to the promotion of your pet political causes, as evidence by the Palestinian display last season.

Your fundraising efforts for Palestinian causes were all very commendable, but you could have done that any time you liked. Instead, you dragged Celtic into trouble with UEFA (again) and then used the resultant publicity to push your "charitable" efforts, which really was a quite shameless exploitation of the plight of the Palestinian people to divert flak from yourselves over the bother you had caused for Celtic.

What isn’t common knowledge is if it had not been for this incredible response, we would have faced the same punishment as we currently face.

Yes. As I said, your fundraising efforts for Palestine really dug you out of a hole last season and you milked it for all it was worth.


In light of this, and of the condemnation of banners and songs from Wednesday, we refuse to allow a discredited and corrupt organisation like UEFA or a board which has welcomed war criminals and Tory Lords to dictate our moral compass.

Spare me the pitiful attempts to smear UEFA and the Celtic board, it's all so much piss and wind. UEFA has rules governing its competitions which Celtic and everyone else involved has to abide by. You know that as well as anyone but repeatedly choose to cross the line anyway. If you want to play at being edgy, rebellious "Ultras," be prepared for the consequences and don't cry about it.

UEFA aren't going to change their rules because a crowd of playtime protestors want to show how Ultra they are. They'll just keep punishing Celtic until we're looking at stand closures, or even the entire stadium closed because you selfishly refuse to follow the rules.
 

Our decision to mark the achievements of 1967 by using pyrotechnics was not taken lightly. We took the required steps to ensure that this was carried out as safely as possible and in the knowledge that we as a group may face potential consequences as a result of it.

So once again, in the full knowledge that pyrotechnics are banned from the stadium, you decided to bring them along anyway, no doubt accompanied by your fully qualified pyrotechnic engineers to ensure no one suffered breathing difficulties or serious burns. Cheers for that. I wouldn't have felt the achievements of 1967 had been marked sufficiently if you lot hadn't brought fireworks into that match.

We believe the scenes that day and the response from the Celtic support proved it to be worthwhile. We have engaged in regular dialogue with the club over this matter throughout the summer and believed to be reaching an amicable outcome, however it seems as if events outside of our control on Wednesday have impacted upon the decision which has now been reached.

No, I'm sorry, the scenes that day don't make it all worthwhile. Pyrotechnics are banned from the stadium for good reason and the fact you managed to get a few dramatic photos of guys in masks holding aloft fireworks doesn't make it all okay.

 

The Green Brigade exists to support Celtic in a positive manner and we believe that this current confrontation is unnecessary and avoidable.

You're dead right it is. All you had to do was not bring in pyrotechnics or banners associating our manager with IRA snipers to taunt supporters of a Unionist background from Belfast who were visiting our ground for a football match.

If you didn't insist on continually flouting the rules every other spectator has to abide by, this wouldn't have happened.

If you want to support Celtic in a positive manner, stop deliberately getting the club in bother with UEFA just so you can exercise your "rights," to turn the stadium into your personal political playground.


We welcome Peter Lawwell’s call for dialogue as we have been waiting on his availability for some time. One of our first talking points will be the unnecessary and unsafe policing operation carried out during Wednesday night’s match, which we believe must be the source of one of UEFA’s charges (blocked stairwells) and could only have been designed to antagonise fans in the area. As the evidence below proves, it is bizarre and shameful that the club have not only blamed the fans for this charge but have cited it as a reason for the ban.

I'm going to hold fire on this one for now. I don't know who was blocking the stairway, but I find it hard to believe the club would include the blocking of stairways as a reason for the ban if fans had nothing to do with it.


Other pertinent issues to be addressed are the club’s response to the biggest cheating scandal to shame Scottish sport; the insulting of the Celtic support over the Linfield away debacle and negligence of the safety of those they knew would travel; and the silence over the racial and sectarian hatred directed at our player of the year and manager. Typically, the club are quick to bite the hand that feeds them yet reluctant to unite against common detractions.

Yes these issues have to be addressed, but they are really nothing to do with your antics on Wednesday evening. You're like a motorist caught speeding here and protesting that the traffic officer didn't catch a guy who was speeding on the same stretch of road last week.


We have built a positive relationship with the Celtic SLO however we are concerned that his position is nearly untenable due to the manner in which he is continually undermined by Celtic security staff. The SLO is required to ”collaborate with the security officer on safety and security-related matters” however has been deliberately excluded from discussions of this nature which is in breach of the UEFA SLO Guidelines, as per article 35.

Whether the Celtic security staff consult with the SLO or not has no bearing on your persistent flouting of the rules. You're really just lashing out in all directions now because it's just sooooo unfair!


His exclusion is a deliberate tactic adopted by the police and Celtic security to facilitate the targeting of our members.

Why are your members being targeted? Because you continually and openly flout safety regulations and refuse to accept any restrictions on your "style of support?"

Maybe if you behaved yourselves for a while there'd be no need to "target" you.


For over 10 years now the Green Brigade has withstood attacks from Police Scotland and sadly this will always continue.

You pride yourselves on being an "Ultra" group, so what do you expect? By your own admission, you're not just a group of football fans who like to sing and dance for 90 minutes. You're edgy. You're in-your-face political lefties. You're bad boys. So spare me the wounded innocence over your "persecution," by the police.


This also will not be our first ban or forced absence from Celtic Park. The Green Brigade has not only survived through the years but we have thrived – we are currently as large and strong as we have ever been. We can assure all that we will be back in Celtic Park soon enough and that we will never allow our style nor our politics to ever be diluted.”

So what's in Celtic's best interests is not important to you. As long as you get to play at Ultras and let off pyrotechnics and wave pathetic political banners, you don't care what the consequences for Celtic and your fellow fans are.

It's maybe time you considered whether you are the main show or the support act.




Every time I mention the Green Brigade, I highlight the positives because there are many. The atmosphere they create in the ground, the wonderful creativity and execution of so many of their displays does so much to make the matchday experience at Celtic Park so good.

They also do a lot of fundraising for charity, especially the foodbank collections.

But all that cannot be weighed against the negatives to excuse the problems they are increasingly bringing to the club. Al Capone ran soup kitchens for the homeless in Chicago, but he was still a cold-blooded murderer.

Now as if it needs to be said, I'm not comparing the Green Brigade to Al Capone or any other rogues over the years who have done a lot of work for charidee, but the point remains, it doesn't excuse or make okay, their persistent flouting of safety and other rules leading to Celtic being punished for their actions.

Celtic have asked them repeatedly to conform to safety rules and regulations. They have been asked repeatedly to stop damaging the interests of the club they profess to love. Their statement today sticks two fingers up to that.

They have in effect said they will continue to do whatever the hell they like and the consequences be damned.

Well in that case, there is only one possible outcome to the impasse they have created.