Celtic chairman Ian Bankier has told a section of the Parkhead support that they are “dragging the club into the gutter” with their persistence in singing inappropriate songs.
Responding to a question posed by shareholder Danny James Brady at the club’s AGM yesterday afternoon, Bankier and chief executive Peter Lawwell were unambiguous as they urged the support to consider the best interests and perception of the club.
Celtic supporter Brady had urged the board to hold fellow fans to account for offensive songs, citing that the ‘orange bastard’ chant directed to Hearts manager Craig Levein and Rangers manager Steven Gerrard were shameful and an embarrassment to Celtic.
“No-one on this platform has any time for this sort of thing; it takes us to the gutter every time,” said Bankier. “We will take this and do what we can, if not to stop it then at the very least reduce it. But other fans also need to make their disapproval clear. We would like to see this discussed at our next Fans’ Forum, when the Green Brigade will be represented.”
And Lawwell praised Brady for his courage in raising the topic.
“It’s brave of you to raise it,” he said. “ The club and our supporters have a great reputation worldwide and it’s a very small minority who behave like this.”
Celtic have been sanctioned repeatedly by UEFA for illicit banners and the use of flares with the club also fearing at one stage it could have been forced to play with a partial stadium closure after a supporter tried to aim a kick at PSG’s Kylian Mbappe in the Champions League last season.
“We have had consistently sanctioned by UEFA for that behaviour, which has deteriorated recently back to the days which were unacceptable,” said Lawwell.
“It doesn’t represent who we are and it gives our opponents, if you like – our enemies – a reason to categorise Celtic along with everyone else. And we’re not like everyone else; we’re better and different.”
Meanwhile, Lawwell has reiterated that there will be funds made available in January to invest in the playing squad.
“We don’t sit every month when the bank statement comes in and say ‘how good are we, we’ve got X in the bank?” he said. “We’re a football club. The purpose of having the money in the bank is to reinvest it back into the club and we’ll do that for the right players.”
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