Channel 4 Programme

Because we’re the biggest club and had the most high profile stories with regards to child abuse in Scotland and whether people like it or not we’ve handled it appallingly and left room for people to take the lead while we’ve sat and kept quiet instead of looking after the victims and supporting them going after the perpetrators.

If you think this is simply him trying to get praise from the Huns after him going after them with their EBT’s then you need genuine help.

All that matters in this case is the victims. Fans on all sides turning into a * for tat are a disgrace and need to realise there’s more to life than football.

Type of * who spends their lives on the internet obsessing over their rivals.

 

If you look into Scotland from the outside you would think that child abuse was the sole preserve of The Catholic Church and Celtic FC.

For those who are screaming the loudest make no doubt about the motivation behind this, and it is not motivated about justice for the victims of these sick twisted perverted crimes.

So far, every single accused perpetrator of these vile crimes, who used their position as coaches at Celtic Boys Club, have been jailed and have felt the force of the law.

The same can’t be said of some of the other names that have been outed across Scottish and UK football as a whole.

Nobody at Celtic the club today has had anything to do with those who were officials at the boys club when these crimes took place, however the name of our club is associated with these horrific life changing crimes and we should be front and centre regards victim support and rehabilitation.

If that means compensation then we would do well to be dealing with this now save for a very public long drawn out mud slinging moral high ground * for tat slug fest taking place.

No matter what Celtic do, the backward bigoted trash that majority populate this country will never be appeased. They care not a jot for the victims. They are animals but they will scream and shout about justice, but what they really want is to see Celtic financially crippled with multi million pound law suits and the withdrawal of sponsorships. That in itself is almost as vile as the original crimes. Imagine being so twisted as to use the life changing psychological damage of innocent victims to further your hate of Celtic. These people need to catch a grip and realise that child abuse was rife at Rangers youth levels for starters. Jim Torbett is a Rangers supporter and lurked there first.
Neely & Dunn abused there too. People in glass houses and all that.

No pictures of Ibrox in the headlines about child abuse ever appear.

Why?

Have they “been punished enough”?

Celtic need to face this down and take care of it legally and privately and when we have done this, in whatever manner that takes, we must remind the sensationalist media of their duty to the feelings of the victims and their right to privacy.

Sadly this will never go away. I was there in the early 80’s. Nobody said it outright but the dressing room was full of innuendo and when I look back and think how odd some of the comments were amongst some very young boys.

The poor souls who were abused whilst chasing their dreams under the influence of depraved sick pervert bullies should be the only consideration.

 

Exactly this.

 

Could not have put it any better myself , well done , word perfect post .

 

Torbett , mccaffert ,Cullen ,strachen , Carney and king . They all have two things in common . They were all beasts , perverts and scum of the earth .
The other thing they have in common . Not one of them could produce a pay slip from Celtic , we didn't employ them . Another thing they have in common all 6 are convicted or in the process of being so .

Neely , Watson , dunn , Chalmers . All beasts , perverts and scum of the earth . But never mentioned , Chalmers strung himself up under investigation , put down to a love split , aye right . Dunn died before they got him etc ,etc . But the all had their perversions and one other thing in common . They were employed by rangers .

Way back in the day, circa 1969 . I went to a * school .
1500 pupils and one hoops fan ,me . I got punched a lot . There was a guy in my class , won't say his name , that's up to him .
But he was an absolutely fantastic football player . Head and shoulders above the rest of us . Anyhoo he was signed by rangers on an s form . He played a few games over a few months ,then all of sudden he gave it up .

Back then, 50 years ago , we had never heard of paedophiles or perverts . These words just weren't used . We used poof
We asked him one day why he gave it up . Were you not good enough .
His answer . I'm good enough but they're all * poofs .
Make of that what you will .

 

Is there much of an appetite for justice? I get the impression that lawyers like Patrick McGuire are only interested in milking a cash cow.

I have already said this, but it is worth repeating: we, the current custodians of the club, are innocent; we have nothing to apologise for, and we have nothing to be ashamed of.

There is no justice whatsoever to be found in the Club, and thus, ultimately, innocent Celtic supporters, making financial reparations to victims (which make no sense whatsoever, given the nature of the crimes).

In an ideal world, we would work with the victims to achieve justice, but, unfortunately, in a world consumed by greed, we have to guard ourselves against legal action - sometimes that will seem cold and unsympathetic, but our hands are tied.

 

I just wish the club had done more to assist the victims and spoke up. Not for any legal reasons, it was just the right thing to do

 

But this country like to make it a catholic and celtic issue ,that is the problem and showng our club as a lead to this programme does nothing to resolve a false portrayal , if your gonna get this into the open like it should be, then it should be done in a balanced way and not using our club to fit a narrative .

 

The problem is our club have become more business than family , how many businesses dole out cash unless they have to ,also lawyers would be instructing the club in matters , as many have said , being more on the front foot and dealing with this also is akin to accepting that our club were responsible for these horrors happening .

 

Our hands are only tied if we want them to be.

The fact we can’t even seem to give a straight apology to the victims doesn’t sit right with me.

 

I actually admire Thompson as a journalist so I'll be interested to see this "new evidence" he claiming. Also its source.

But this was always going to happen. The longer the club appeared to be ignoring it the more noisy it would become.

I fully expect our club to be ready to defend its supporters and not allow it to become an issue to depraved point scoring.

Either way, once its finally all dealt with after the internal investigation and subsequent action, we can put it behind us and get back to the football.

 

I dont think any one of us feels nothing but justice for the victims and utter revulsion for the perpetrators . It,s not just a football problem , over the years/decades reports suggest its happened in all sports and activities involving children , athletics , gymnastics , swimming , youth clubs and any gathering of children , but dont forget the devious * didn't join anything proclaiming they were paedophiles , no they were sleekit * worming their way in , gaining confidencies , earning respect while terrifying their victims .
Where celtic fell down was to turn away when it surfaced " nowt to do with us , they dont work for us " , those responsible were the dirty * and those that looked away .. equally in my opinion . Hopefully those people are named and shamed, and celtic do the right thing by the victims !! .

As for that shower over there , their faux outrage , their day will come along with other institutions when the scale and truth outs . Take no lectures from them .

 

I posted in the other thread this morning, before his "trailer" today. Waited a week to drip feed another piece of media that offers nothing. Again, if he had anything NEW or groundbreaking, he would have released it by now. He has went down the road of sensationalism and trying to favour affection from the blue half of the city.

Celtic have continued to help in all investigations and at no time have the authorities made any indication that this is not the case. As an employer, it is not illegal to employ abusers - no matter how morally wrong we may feel about it. So any attempt at the club being held accountable is merely point scoring in my opinion. The club has, once individuals have been found guilty, made statements that addresses the issue and has been open about the link between the club and the boys club and the fact that some individuals have also been employed at Celtic. This does not make Celtic the bad guys. No employer can be held accountable for that. Since the news was broken in the 90's Celtic have taken (reactive?) steps to combat this issue and has been at the forefront of progression in the matter. I do not ever believe Celtic can take responsibility for the actions of others, and from a legal stand point I can't imagine they will ever come out and do so. Mistakes were made in the past in regards to not having the correct procedures in place to help prevent these incidents - this does not mean that Celtic was actively taking a role or allowing it to happen. We have done everything we can, although I do believe many of us will feel we should always do more. But the fact of the matter is, that in a time in the past, these things were not scrutinised enough and the procedures at those times clearly failed.
This here, for me, is the only thing that can be laid at the feet of the club, that procedures were not in place properly at the time during the 70s, 80s, 90s.

But we can not respectively go back and punish things that at those times were not wrong - the procedures I mean, clearly the abuse was wrong.


This entire thing is a point scoring exercise at this stage. The club will not and can not be held accountable - unless there is clear evidence to suggest that the club actually had a policy in place - which clearly is not going to be the case. And if it was, and if there is evidence, then every single person in the media or society that claims to know of such things should be ashamed and taking a long hard look at themselves.
So for me, this, whatever it is, that Alex Thomson is drip feeding for likes on the internet is a low and scummy way of making a mark in his profession and overall says more about him than anything else.




Again, for the avoidance of any doubt and in case I did not make it clear or blabbed my way in a circle, I do not condone, I will never condone, I detest and I want ANYONE who has been involved - actively or not - in any sort of abuse on a child to be prosecuted and dealt with. The club however can not, and will not take that sort of responsibility. Anyone demanding they should needs to drop the point scoring and get a better outlook on life.

 

These were disgusting times and make no bones about it almost every club and every sport would have been affected by some sort of abuse, Celtic should release their own investigations and let us all see what they have been doing about it, just hope this does not bring it all back and affect the victims

 

No.

 

I'll be interested to see what comes of the programme. Victims should recieve justice.

However, holding celtic as an entity responsible isn't giving justice. Is there even anyone at the club still there from these times?

The people responsible are the perpetrators, im sure the other side of the city will be rubbing there hands together at this. That says more about them than us.

All i care about is jailing every sick peado, celtic, rangers hearts don't care about clubs.

I hope we learnt lessons of this and have a robust safeguarding plan for all youth playing under the celtic brand ( im sure we do)

 

The million dollar question is when big jock kicked out torbbet in 1977 who allowed him back 5 years later and who did the hiring and firing for the boys club back then .

 

Not just dishing out cash Joe, I'd have liked to see some empathy and support. For me accepting or refuting responsibility is secondary, we should have helped.

 

Reckon Sky will make a big deal out of this.

 

Yasssssssss

 

In light of recent speculation and to seek to avoid any confusion, the Club wishes to confirm its position regarding the historic abuse that took place at Celtic Football Club and Celtic Boys’ Club. Celtic Football Club is appalled by any form of historic abuse and has great sympathy for those who suffered abuse and for their families. The Club is very sorry that these events took place. The abuse of young people is an abhorrent crime. Unfortunately it has affected many areas of society.

With regard to the allegations regarding historic abuse at Celtic Boys’ Club (which, so far as we have been made aware, relate to the period prior to 1997), although Celtic Football Club is a separate organisation, we take these extremely seriously because of the historic contacts between the two organisations. Police investigations were given support, so as to seek to ensure that those individuals who abused young people were brought to justice.

The Club has been at the leading edge in Scottish football of putting welfare and safeguarding protections in place for our young people and continues to work with Scottish football to make it a safe place for young people.

These are very sensitive matters. There are ongoing legal proceedings which prevent us from discussing any case in any detail. It would not be appropriate for the Club to comment in the media about any individuals or events.

In summary, these are historic issues, which the Club is dealing with in a responsible manner and in conjunction with its advisers. The Club reiterates its sincere sympathy, regret and sorrow for those affected. As we have said repeatedly, the Club will stand by its responsibilities, respecting the due process of law.