Collectively the Celtic Support Ended the Board’s Silence

The planned silent protest at tonight’s Europa League match against Sporting Braga at Celtic Park has been cancelled after the Celtic Board broke their own silence by reaching out to Celtic supporters groups COLLECTIVELY to organise a meeting that will take place next week. Here’s what happened…

Last night the Celtic Fans Collective posted this message updating the support on the latest developments.

“This evening, Celtic fan organisations received an invitation from Celtic FC to attend a meeting with the club on Monday 6th October to discuss ongoing concerns about the running of the club.

“In conjunction with the Celtic Fans Collective, supporter organisations have accepted this invitation. Celtic FC’s representatives will include Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay.

“We welcome the club’s decision to meet and engage directly on the issues raised. However, we remain under no illusions about the scale of change still required at board level.

“As a result of this development, the planned continuation of the ‘3-match silence’ has been postponed, in good faith, in the hope and expectation that supporters will now receive full and honest communication from the club.” 

“We thank every supporter who has stood behind this campaign and helped bring the Celtic board to the table. Without this unity, it would not have been possible. It highlights the strength and influence of a united Celtic support.

“The Celtic Fans Collective will continue its campaign irrespective of the outcome of this meeting, with the clear aim of securing meaningful, positive change for the betterment of Celtic Football Club and its supporters.”

Earlier it had emerged that Celtic had sent this message shown below to various supporters groups including the Celtic Supporters Association, the Affiliation of Registered Celtic Supporters Clubs, Association of Irish Celtic Supporters Clubs, Celtic Disabled Supporters Association,  CSCs from the North of Ireland, Bhoys Celtic , The Green Brigade and The Celtic Trust – saying that this invitation to the recognised representative supporters groups will allow the club to engage with a broad constituency of supporters as possible.

This actual version of the message for the club was leaked and appeared on some fan and social media accounts, causing some speculation that it was for real. Most fan media outlets, including The Celtic Star, were made aware of this via the What’s App group set up after the initial meeting at Gracie’s Bar in mid September to help coordinate the messages going out to the Celtic support, and collectively decided to wait until the Celtic Fans Collective formulated an appropriate response.

The Celtic Collective committee hastily organised a meeting to discuss the response which is quoted above and shown below and as a result the planned silent protest for this evening’s match  has been cancelled. This protest was not unanimously backed by supporters after witnessing the first instalment on Saturday in the opening stages of the goalless draw with Hibs in the Scottish Premiership.

Tonight on a big European night and with a longer planned protest this had the look of Celtic collectively – board and fans – shooting ourselves in the foot. But the late intervention from the Board has at least solved the most immediate problem and Celtic Park with be noisy from the start with any remaining tickets now likely to be snapped up today.

Yesterday at his media conference at Celtic Park ahead of tonight’s Europa League match against Sporting Braga,  Brendan Rodgers was asked about the planned (now cancelled) 29 minutes of silent protest.

The Celtic manager said: “I think our focus is pretty much on the performance on the pitch. That is the only thing that we can control. I really hope that the stadium is full, because that’s what Celtic is about for me. It’s an incredible club, and our history is based around our supporters and what they bring. So I understand frustrations, but I hope that we still have a full stadium here backing the team.”

Later in his media conference Brendan added:

“I think that obviously Celtic Park is renowned for its atmosphere and what it can do to the opponent. So it’s probably something, in all fairness, you would have to ask the other team.

“But I suppose my message is, probably for the longer term, is that hopefully both parties can sit down and respect the differences and find a solution so that we can all pull together again.

Because that’s what’s always key here for Celtic. Until that happens, I need to manage the team to maximise what we can get out of the team. And knowing that the team will be very focused on getting the results that the club want.”

The Celtic Star attended the media conference at Lennoxtown last Friday and had this exchange with the Celtic manager: Here’s how the exchange went…

The Celtic Star: Brendan, you talked about putting the summer behind us and moving forward, looking forward to the season. That’s what the supporters want to do as well. The only thing stopping that is communication with the club. We can’t understand why the club can’t come forward and speak to the supporters who put more money into the club every year than any of the sponsors behind you?

Brendan Rodgers: “I think that is something that I’m pretty sure the board and executive team are looking at in terms of ways to better communicate with supporters. I haven’t spoken to the guys today or yesterday, but I know that coming out of the window that was one of the key objectives, to engage more and speak more with supporters.

“I’m pretty sure in time that will be the case. In the modern life, the modern world, communication is absolutely vital. It can stabilise lots of things in life having that clarity and sometimes you have to be harsh, to be clear, but you’re better being harsh and communicating than not saying anything. So I think it’s definitely something the club are looking into, looking at how the comms aspect can improve relations because there’s absolutely no doubt that’s what supporters want. As the manager and executive board, we’re looking after the team and the club for you guys.”

The Celtic Star: On looking forward has there been anything discussed so far about changes that are going to be made for the January transfer window so that we can avoid similar dramas of the summer window?

Brendan Rodgers:  “I really hope so. At this moment in time, for me, the scouting team know exactly what we’re after and what we missed out on in the summer market. So again, a lot of work going on into that. It’s a smaller window, of course, so you have to be slick, you have to be prepared and ready and look to get the business done as early as we possibly can. So I’d be hopeful that we could learn from that and hopefully close that out better in the January window.

The Celtic Star: Anything on your new contract?

Brendan Rodgers: “Nothing as of yet, no.”

COLLECTIVELY the Celtic support has managed to bring the Celtic Board to the table and has delivered the communication with the club that has been lacking. Did you notice that Brendan used the word ‘harsh’ above? So maybe the meeting is going to be challenging but even that is better than the disrespectful silence from the boardroom that caused the understandable silence from the supporters in the opening period of the match against Hibs.

Many will be relieved that tonight’s silence is not now happening and hopeful that this can be the beginning of meaningful change at Celtic. We can now enjoy the match and ROAR the team on to hopefully a good victory.

COYBIG!

Collective action and unity has brought Celtic FC to the table pic.twitter.com/1D569L5L4t

— Celtic Fans Collective (@CFC_Collective) October 1, 2025

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