Martin O’Neill has revealed that there has been “some progress” in ongoing discussions between the Celtic board and fans who are banned. Whoever told him that certainly wasn’t being candid…
The Green Brigade remains barred from attending matches at Celtic Park, though the Collective met with Brian Wilson yesterday to try and resolve the situation. The Celtic Star will provide an update from the minutes taken at the meeting but it certainly feels like Martin has been misled by those running our football club.
It appears despite Martin O’Neill’s comments, that there has been no progress made and in fact yesterday’s meeting has now thrown up more questions than answers.
As things stand there will be no Green Brigade inside Celtic Park tonight and fan media continue to be banned, although for the first time we get to hear exactly why, and it’s another case of the collective punishment that the Celtic Board has disgracefully resorted to this season.
After the meeting Brian Wilson did reach out to the Green Brigade seeking another conversation on the phone so there is a slim chance of progress but no more than that. So much for unity.
So it is as you were. Exactly what the club needs heading into such an important period…
Speaking via Celtic’s official YouTube channel a clearly misled Martin O’Neill said: “I think there has been some discussions of which I wasn’t party to, but I think there’s been some progress made.”
“But as I’ve been saying, the sooner there is unity at Celtic Park, the better for all concerned. I have no doubt that the crowd behind the goal on Sunday contributed greatly to us fighting back. No question.”
“A full house here is something special. Every European night that I’ve had in the past was just full of special moments. Major sides were very, very concerned about coming here. The passion, the drive and the noise that’s made.”
“I remember the game against Liverpool in our UEFA run and John Robertson, my old friend, was standing beside me speaking to me. I couldn’t hear a word he was saying for the first 10 or 15 minutes, it was so, so loud. Little bits have been lost from that. That’s regrettable.”
O’Neill – who is set to oversee the 1,000th senior match of his managerial career in the Europa League tonight – has also hinted at a more open-minded approach regarding his future, suggesting he may be less certain about stepping away at the end of the season.
The Celtic boss said: “I really genuinely think that that’s too far in the future for me. You mentioned about the 1000 games. If you’d seen my early matches at Leicester City in late 95, early 96, you’d have got long odds on me doing 1000 games.”
“But it’s far too far in the future. It’s a long way away and how I feel today might be totally different in ten days time.”
“We’ve got a lot of games here and a lot of work to do. And if we fall by the wayside, which we could easily do, I don’t think we’d be having any sort of discussion.”
Conor Spence
Introducing The Celtic Star App and our new ad-free Premium Service...
Go ad-free on The Celtic Star, get a FREE trial period to try it out. Also download our new App – available for both Apple and Android – and get the best Celtic content on your phone without fighting through pop-up ads and being forced to watch videos.
Our new PREMIUM service comes with a free seven-day trial so you can look before you book. If you are happy to continue the price will be just 99p per month or £9.99 for the year. For that you get an AD-FREE SITE plus access to our premium content, and you’ll also help us make The Celtic Star even better and less reliant on advertising revenues, allowing us to be more focused on publishing the best Celtic features on the internet.
Click HERE to access your FREE trial. We think you’ll like it! We’re Obsessed with Celtic and we think you are too! Join us hand in hand...
In Scotland, season ticket holders have specific legal protections under both UK-wide consumer law and Scottish civil procedure. If a club suspends fans without providing reasons or a hearing, the following avenues for recourse apply:
1. Consumer Rights and Refunds
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, season ticket holders are entitled to services provided with “reasonable care and skill.”
Pro Rata Refunds: If a club prevents you from attending matches you have already paid for, you are generally entitled to a pro rata refund for those missed services.
Unfair Contract Terms: Terms that allow a club to cancel a ticket “without providing any reason” can be challenged as unfair. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has previously intervened in cases where sports fans were denied refunds for events they could not attend.
2. Scottish Legal Actions
You can take formal steps through the Scottish court system:
Simple Procedure: This is the Scottish version of “small claims.” If the value of the missed matches is under £5,000, you can raise a claim yourself via the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service to recover your money.
Interdict (Injunction): In some cases, fans have sought an “interdict” in the Sheriff Court to temporarily block a ban if it was issued without following the club’s own stated disciplinary procedures or “due process”.
Football Supporters’ Association
Football Supporters’ Association
+1
Each GB member could file a small claims against the club ,not only would it drag the clubs name through the courts but would also force them in open court to give reasons for the ban and all they have done to keep the ban in place
Interdict injunction ,,,,,seeing as the GB raised over £140,000 for pay the fine for Palestine , then a go fund me page from the support would be a help in this , serve the club a interdict injunction , you may lose but i wouldn’t put it past some utter hun sheriff to stick it to our club big time , times have come to force there hand in public , not in back room meetings where they pay lip service
And somewhere in all of this whoever is giving the instructions to keep the ban in place will have to be stand up in court and be the face of Celtic ,,,,do you think Desmond will do that