“We had to take action” – Lawwell issues update on Green Brigade

Peter Lawwell issued an update on the Green Brigade at Celtic’s AGM on Wednesday, suggesting the club had to respond to the “small minority.”

According to the Daily Record, Lawwell was asked by a shareholder about the behaviour of the Green Brigade after Celtic decided to ban them from attending Thursday’s clash with Rennes.

And the CEO responded by suggesting the club “had to take action.”

A small minority are a challenge in terms of safety and protecting club’s reputation. Societal issues manifest themselves through football. We built the standing section for safety. The Green Brigade provide youth, colour and passion but the concern is they don’t believe they are doing anything wrong.

They are breaking the law. We have closed 14 rows because of this. When you see certain banners and hear certain songs my heart sinks. It allows our enemies to put us in with our rivals. We are not the same, we are different. We had to take action to avoid stricter sanctions from UEFA.

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The news has dominated many a conversation this week ahead of the Rennes tie, in what will no doubt be an unusual atmosphere without the Green Brigade in attendance.

And it is a shame that this action has been taken during such a positive run of form for the club and given how members of the Green Brigade were standing up to facist behaviour from Lazio supporters.

Perhaps the best thing to do is both sides have a discussion about the best thing to do moving forwards to resolve the issue.