If Celtic’s statement on Tuesday night was designed to steady the ship ahead of Friday’s AGM, the Green Brigade’s response on Wednesday has done the opposite…
Green Brigade update in relation to the SAG meeting tomorrow and proposed closure of the Standing Section. pic.twitter.com/4qDRFMFUO4
— North Curve Celtic (@NCCeltic) November 19, 2025
The club’s message, released just days before the most contentious AGM in years, framed the upcoming Safety Advisory Group meeting as a matter of pure safety and compliance. But the Green Brigade’s counter-statement has thrown a fresh spotlight on what is increasingly viewed as a political manoeuvre dressed up in the language of risk management.
The ultras group, already at the centre of a six-game ban that many supporters see as collective punishment without due process, now believe the SAG meeting may lead to something far more severe, a full or partial closure of the entire standing section for the rest of the season. And they believe the club is using the SAG to launder a pre-decided outcome.
In their own words –
“Over the previous days, we learned that a meeting between Celtic FC and the Safety Advisory Group would take place on Thursday 20 November. It was suggested to us that Celtic FC would use this meeting to legitimise further sanctions against the Green Brigade, and other Celtic supporters, with a potential full or part closure of the Standing Section for the remainder of the season.”
According to the Green Brigade, they attempted to ensure supporters had a voice in that room. Their request was rejected.
“Yesterday, we wrote to Celtic FC to express our dismay at their relentless and cynical pursuit against our group and other Celtic supporters. We requested that fan representation be granted at tomorrow’s meeting which is permissible as per the terms of reference of the SAG. This request has been rejected without explanation.”
It’s a fierce accusation, and one that lands at a moment when trust between supporters and the club has all but evaporated.
The Green Brigade again challenge the club’s recent communications, particularly Celtic’s choice to state criminal allegations as proven.
“We remain deeply concerned at the language and tone in which Celtic FC refers to our group, particularly continually stating criminal allegations as fact with no due process (we vehemently deny these allegations.)”
That line — “without due process” — is quickly becoming the defining fault line in this entire dispute.
The club insists safety obligations require swift, decisive action. Supporters insist basic fairness requires evidence, dialogue, and proportionality. Right now, neither side is willing to accept the other’s framework.
The Green Brigade go further, suggesting the SAG meeting is merely a rubber-stamp exercise.
“We are frustrated that there has been no willingness, at any point, to consider supporter feedback and evidence. This, together with the sequence of events, the people involved and their histories, and the context of fan protest against the Celtic board, leaves us expecting a pre-determined outcome from tomorrow’s meeting.”
This cuts directly to the suspicion many supporters now hold, that the Green Brigade ban, and now potentially wider sanctions, are being driven less by safety concerns and more by the political context surrounding the club.
Perhaps the most explosive part of the statement is the claim that Celtic have threatened wider sanctions on the entire standing section if the ban is not respected.
“Celtic FC has twice inferred to us that a failure to respect the current unfair suspension will result in more Celtic fans (within the Standing Section) being punished. This is unfair emotional blackmail and an example of them extending an already unfair collective punishment practice.”
If true, this places Celtic in a very uncomfortable light. Punishing individuals? Supporters understand that. Punishing an entire stand — hundreds of innocent supporters — because some refused to accept guilt without process? That is something entirely different.
The Green Brigade’s final paragraphs land with the weight of accumulated years of mistrust.
“We have requested that Celtic FC meet with us to discuss this issue constructively to reach an amicable solution. The Club has ignored this request. The safety of the stadium operation, including the Standing Section, is reliant on compliant supporters and we have always been engaged on this. We remain willing and ready to engage should Celtic FC be ready to do so.”
This is critical. The group are openly stating they have attempted to talk, as they have throughout this process. They are openly stating Celtic have not responded, and they are openly stating that this silence is worsening the situation.
This is in contrast to Celtic’s own narrative that the Green Brigade “refuse to comply.”
The SAG meeting will decide more than just operational matters. If further sanctions emerge — particularly on the standing section as a whole — Celtic will insist they came from an independent body. The Green Brigade will insist the club engineered it. Supporters will decide who they believe.
At an AGM already shaping up to be the most hostile in two decades, Celtic look like a board trying to manage public perceptions before shareholders enter the room. The timing has not gone unnoticed. The Trust have accused the club of distraction tactics. The Collective have been hammering the board’s lack of accountability. The North Curve have openly blamed Dermot Desmond for the ban.
Support is mobilised. Shareholders are prepared. Every NED is under scrutiny. And the dominant shareholder himself is now the subject of organised fan pressure.
This is the most politically volatile Celtic AGM in years.
A sudden pivot to a “safety crisis” — conveniently centred on a group already demonised by some — would neatly narrow the focus of questioning. It would allow the board to frame the day’s agenda around supporter behaviour rather than corporate governance, direction of travel, or performance.
If this is the club’s strategy, it is as transparent as it is cynical. If the club intended to break the momentum of the Celtic Fans Collective, they have instead energised it. If they hoped the Green Brigade ban would divide supporters, the opposite has happened. If they thought the timing of statements and sanctions would quieten dissent before the AGM, the noise has only grown louder. And if they believed they could run Celtic in the shadows indefinitely, they are now discovering what happens when supporters organise, unify, and refuse to be distracted.
Today’s SAG meeting matters. Friday’s AGM matters even more. But what matters most is that trust is all but gone, and once lost, it is rarely recovered.
Niall J
NO CELTIC MERCH THIS XMAS FOR MY GRANDKIDS, ONLY REPUBLIC AND SCOTLAND MERCH HAIL HAIL
SUPPORT THE TEAM NOT THE REGIME H H