No Martin, this IS Celtic, and this is what Dermot Desmond has made Celtic…
The manager says it is not Celtic. The Green Brigade are boycotting European ties. Somebody has to say it - this is Celtic now, and it is on the board.
Eric Knott 
No Martin, this IS Celtic, and this is what Dermot Desmond has made Celtic…
Martin O’Neill has predictably taken the side of Dermot Desmond after the fan protest at St. Andrews.
Did that surprise anybody?
It certainly didn’t surprise us.
We said as much on the Trinity Tims during the week – that he would, but also that he should never have been put in this position.
And once again, the board has used him as a shield.
We knew they would do that too.
Here is what he said, as reported by the BBC:
“I don’t agree at all with what happened up at St Andrews. I don’t agree with that at all.
I mean, we derided Rangers [ultras] in the [last season’s Scottish Cup] game for wearing balaclavas and then suddenly we’re doing it ourselves. This is not Celtic at all.”
Fair enough, he is entitled to his opinion.
And let’s be honest, he was never going to say anything else.
He is the manager, Desmond pays his wages, and that is how he operates.
What I didn’t like was the Seville point, and the idea that THAT is Celtic and the way Celtic should be
Because here is what else he said:
“I can remember the days of having 80,000 people in Seville without an arrest, that’s Celtic to me.”
It’s a lovely memory, and nobody who was there will ever forget it.
I certainly won’t.
He also spoke about the crowd coming onto the pitch at the final whistle of the last game of the season.
Phenomenal memories, he called them, and he is dead right.
And who wouldn’t want that back?
But it isn’t Celtic as it stands today, and pretending otherwise doesn’t change that.
Seville was 23 years ago.
What we see now is the Celtic that Dermot Desmond has moulded and created in the 23 years since.
And whether Martin O’Neill likes it or not, this is Celtic, warts and all.
Not the Celtic of the mind, the one with 80,000 singing in Spain.
The real one.
This is the one that threatens its own supporters with an ‘indefinite ban’ for being ‘involved in planning, facilitating or participating’ in a stunt involving tennis balls.
The one that has decided it will no longer recognise the Celtic Fans Collective as a representative body.
The one that has the Green Brigade announcing a boycott of Scottish Cup matches and home European ties.
Let that sink in for a minute.
A boycott of European ties at Celtic Park.
It’s easy to say ‘this is not Celtic at all’ when you only look at the fans in the balaclavas
Notice that Martin O’Neill wants to talk about the fans.
He wants to talk about the balaclavas, and about how we derided the Ibrox side for doing the same.
He doesn’t want to talk about what drove them to it.
The Green Brigade, for the record, say their members had nothing to do with the stunt at St Andrews.
They still got the blame, and they still got the statement.
Of course he doesn’t, and I don’t blame him for that.
It isn’t his job to answer for the board’s mess.
But that is precisely the point.
Why is it that every time something goes wrong at this club, it is the manager who is sent out to explain it?
And why is it that Dermot Desmond, the man whose name is on every one of these decisions, is nowhere to be seen?
The absent meddling golfer was too busy on the fairways at St. Andrews to be bothered.
Until the tennis balls arrived, of course.
Then the statement came flying out of Celtic Park in no time at all.
Funny how that works, isn’t it?
Dermot Desmond is destroying Celtic, and Martin O’Neill himself admits we’ve been here before
Don’t just take my word for it.
Listen to what else the manager said.
“I came into this situation this time last year and it seems to be going back to that again.”
Read that again.
The manager himself is telling us this is a repeat.
He called the boycott “a really sad situation” and then added that we went through it last season.
Then again, that is exactly my point.
If it keeps coming round, it isn’t the fans who are the problem.
This is a club that lived through the 90’s.
We watched the Ibrox club of that era win nine in a row while the board of the day ran Celtic to the brink of collapse.
I never thought I would say it, but the mood among the support now feels every bit as bleak.
And it didn’t happen overnight.
It has been coming for years, one balance sheet decision at a time.
Net transfer profit before the title push.
Silence before communication.
Statements before conversations.
That is the Celtic we have, and the support is not blind to it.
I think we’re really going to find out what Celtic IS over the coming months
I wish I could tell you I was optimistic.
I’m not.
The Green Brigade is out.
The Celtic Fans Collective has been cut off.
The board is digging in and the support is hardening.
Nobody is backing down, and nobody looks like they will.
I genuinely think there is a distinct possibility that this is going to get pretty chaotic.
Martin O’Neill can tell us all day long that this is not Celtic.
He is wrong.
This is Celtic now.
The only question left is how long we’re prepared to let it stay that way…
Not much longer, if you ask me!
Key Takeaways
- Martin O’Neill sides with Dermot Desmond amidst fan protests, but the board uses him as a shield.
- O’Neill reminisces about past glories but fails to acknowledge the current state of Celtic, shaped by Desmond.
- The fans bear the brunt of blame for club issues, while Desmond remains absent from accountability.
- O’Neill warns that the situation mirrors past crises, indicating a recurring pattern detrimental to Celtic.
- The future looks bleak as tensions rise between the board and supporters, revealing the true nature of Celtic now.
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Does DD have dirt on MON Eric?.Because you would think at 74 you would say “Know what I’m out of here,do your worst”.Is it financial?if so MON must have made some right foolish decisions to be skint at his age.Whatever it is,it stinks.
On the subject of the balaclavas; The use of these by the Rangers supporters was clearly to avoid revealing their identity to police, as they engaged in criminal actions including personal assault and throwing of flares etc. into a crowd of people, endangering their safety.
Contrast that with the use of balaclavas by the Celtic supporters at St. Andrew’s: In this case they were used to avoid revealing their identity to the Board of Management at Celtic, as they protested against Dermot Desmond and the Board of Celtic F.C. in regard to their mismanagement of the club. They did it by throwing tennis balls onto the putting green at one of the holes. There was no intent to physically harm anyone. However, they were aware that being identified by the Board would probably mean punishment in the form of expulsion from attending Celtic matches in the future.
It’s really sad that there was a clear expectation of punishment for having the temerity to protest but a wisdom in protecting their right to protest and being able to continue supporting their team. People may agree or disagree with the action at St. Andrew’s but there is no reasonable excuse for expelling supporters for simply expressing their disapproval of how the club is being managed.
Conflating these two incidents as if they both had the same intent is utterly ludicrous. Martin O’Neil should know better.
There was a rumour not long ago that he was in serious debt through some company that is why he is the boards puppet sevco went out a bought players to cover every position and were laughed at now they are flying , see reo scored today for Burnley our lotare selling everyone to leave us threadbare but that’s fine by Martin.