Celtic Supporters Thread (contains GB chat)

Apart from the big games,the stadium was shocking for atmosphere for a few seasons before they had their section.And despite the attempts of a few unorganised groups dotted around the stadium,and the singing after the 6th goal,the atmosphere was * yesterday.

 

I know it was bad yesterday but i'm saying a few weeks or so it would pick up. I think the atmosphere will always reflect what's going on on the pitch, so if they players look up for it the fans will be. The atmosphere was bad when we had Strachans back 4 just passing it to each other constantly.

 

I think it would be catastrophic for the atmosphere,initially and in the long run,if we lost the Green Brigade.They've revolutionised the way people (especially the kids) want to support the team.Loads of wee guys where I sit dress exactly like them and take the same sort of flags,the stickers are EVERYWHERE,they obviously love the GB and I think they'd feel something was lost tbh if there was no more ultras section.I would too,Celtic Park has the potential to have one of the better atmospheres in any league if they'd just expand the section and allow those in who want to to apply for it and support their team the way the GB do.The Pigs and the Club seem to be intent on destroying the group though,sadly...and we might end up losing them altogether...every single Celtic fan should stand up for them!

 

Whats going on here

 

the way i see it these HM fascist pigs are terrorising our fellow supporters,fans should make a commitment to resist these state sponsored Huns by what ever means possible ... or will the croppies continue to lie down..?

 

Towards the end of 2012, the Green Brigade announced a two-match boycott of Celtic Park due to the continued police harassment of our members. We hoped to highlight the extent of our ill-treatment and perhaps force the police into a re-think regarding their bully boy tactics. Sadly the harassment has actually worsened since then, leading up to the events of yesterday which left the group with little choice but to leave the stadium before kick-off.

It has reached the stage where our very existence is under serious threat as fans will not continue to pay £500+ to be treated like criminals.

After the disappointment of Tuesday night, we had made it our intention to thank the team for their efforts and once again back them to the hilt. However, it was clear that the police, and indeed club officials, were not going to allow this to happen.

Even before we had even got near Celtic Park, the police had tracked us down at the CSA on London Road. They took our merchandise off of people who had recently purchased it and questioned the staff as to why our members were allowed in the building.

As we approached the stadium and began to enter, some members were told that they were to leave as they had received a football banning order. No warning or explanation was given. Others were greeted by a message at the turnstile after swiping their card that read "suspended for one game." Again, without any warning or explanation as to why this was the case. These ‘’bans’’ were at the behest of the club and not the police, for reasons still unknown.

We were then approached by a Celtic steward who advised us to be wary when entering the section, as he was advised by Strathclyde Police that they intended to arrest some of our members, and that they were in possession of a 'wanted' list with names and pictures of the unfortunate fans who were to be singled out. It was at this point that we decided that we were putting our own members at risk by entering the stadium. As we made our way to the exits, one Focus officer, Tommy McCrindle, was grinning from ear to ear, goading the group into a reaction that fortunately he never got.

It would seem that the police and indeed the club have upped the ante even further in recent weeks. The facts are;

- We are now 10 members down since the turn of the year.

- We have had two members arrested and charged over the 'zombie' banner that was unfurled at the Norwich friendly. One of those members was arrested at a busy airport in front of family on arrival from holiday.

- The first of those charged had his first court appearance last week. This was laughed out of court but not before the stress and inconvenience of telling family members, taking time off work and missing big matches.

- Numerous members' have been harassed at their homes in recent weeks, another clear tactic of intimidation.

This is all done under the say-so of Strathclyde Police' FoCus unit. Celtic supporters have the same police officers following them week in, week out. This allows them to become familiar with the names and faces of our fans. It would appear that they use this familiarity to try to intimidate us even further. Simple things like name-dropping partner's names or family members' names has become an all too common theme. It's all part of the bullying nature of this unit. The aforementioned McCrindle actually has on his social networking site that his job description is "full-time Fume-a-pest & termite control." McCrindle was also in the midst of controversy following the Juventus game, as three members were arrested to be charged with a minor breach of the peace which quickly became offensive behaviour at the football, leading to banning orders being made a part of said members bail conditions. McCrindle even went as far as to attempt to pressure the Procurator Fiscal in to ensuring that one of the accused would not even be granted bail. The sad thing is that it's our money that pays this man's wages, whilst also affording this unit countless ‘’working holidays’’ to places like Amsterdam, Barcelona and Moscow.

After the last boycott, Peter Lawwell and Neil Lennon publicly expressed their desire to meet with us to iron out any issues we may have. We decided that this was something which we should try to use, so contacted them via a private email about this almost immediately. Sadly, they were 'too busy' but would contact us when they were ready. We're still waiting on them getting back to us about that particular email, although we did receive one prior to the Juventus game with an agenda that in no way mentioned any of the concerns that we outlined. We advised that we weren't prepared to discuss anything any further with them until our initial request was granted. We are still no further forward with that and as a result, any relationship with the club has completely disintegrated. Since this relationship has broken down the ticket office has become entirely uncooperative with us whilst the chief steward with whom we had a good working relationship with has been moved post.

We have never met with Neil Lennon before but have had numerous dealings with Lawwell in recent years. At almost every meeting, he has made promises that were never kept so this is nothing new. He met our members to discuss the fall-out over the "Let's go to War banner" that depicted Lennon setting fire to Ibrox and had "Huns FC" written on the stadium. This led to charges and court cases which lasted 18 months for 3 of our members. We had met with Lawwell to discuss this and to see if he could lend his support to the case. Lawwell advised us that he thought the charge was 'a joke' and it was his opinion that the term 'huns' was in no way offensive. Furthermore, he went onto say he'd be happy for the club to defend us in court. We were clearly delighted with this. However, when our lawyer contacted him about this a few weeks down the line, Lawwell denied all knowledge of the meeting and refused to comment any further. As if that wasn't bad enough, a senior member of Celtic security, David Brannan, was used as a prosecution witness.

We have heard in the last couple of weeks of meetings involving Lawwell and other Celtic fan groups. At these meetings, Lawwell has made no secret of the fact that he intends to see the end of the group sooner rather than later. He was quoted as saying that he would "give them enough rope to hang themselves." We were told that Lawwell used CCTV footage of the section to pinpoint who he felt the ringleaders were and picked out a member as someone who 'had to go'. We have also been informed that other fans groups may have attended similar meetings with Peter Lawwell and if this were the case, we would find it extremely disheartening that we were not informed of the club’s intentions by other Celtic fans. At this stage however Celtic’s agenda seems clear – They are intent on finishing the group off.

Our decision not to attend yesterday’s match was not something that we had planned. We simply felt that it was a decision that had to be made purely to protect our own members and those within 111. It has now gotten to the stage whereby members of our group live in constant fear of the police showing up at their homes or workplace with a trumped up charge, or to be told that they are banned from football matches as they approach the gates of 111. Now, more than ever, the continued support of the rest of the Celtic fans is appreciated immensely. We cannot stress enough that if things do not change for the better, the group will be unable to continue to attend matches to support the club that we all love.

 

Complete joke

 

still no mention as to why they set off bangers before the juventus game under the big banner which is banned, maybe thats why people were suspended.

 

The way the club is treating our supporters is * shameful.

 

* liewell complete * of a human!!!

 

Pretty disgraceful IF all of that above is true including some of the more speculative points in the statement. I'm gonna be going to Glasgow uni next year hopefully and my dream is to get me and my missus season tickets at CP, but I would genuinely be somewhat put off shedding out that sort of money knowing sections of our fan base, who keep the ground alive on most matchdays, are being treated like this.

Also if they do succeed in running the GB out of the ground, who are they gonna target next? There will he another group that then gets put in the spot light and this bollocks will just continue.

 

This isn't good, we need to support them!

 

I thought the random bang in the middle of YNWA was quite cool.

 

I won't be paying anymore money to the club away days for me. Unless this * gets sorted

 

so you wont be going to any more home games now ??

 

Nope. Not to be treated like * week in week out not giving liewell anymore of my money

 

Need to get a petition for the fans in support of the GB and send it to PL.

 

Did the big bang scare you?

 

Anybody else sad to see what a police state the UK has become. Shameful.

 

its the * rules m8 , you cant moan about treatment they get if they dont respect the rules