Celtic fans unveiled a series of banners before today’s match against Ross County to express their frustration at the way the club is heading.
Last Sunday’s Scottish Cup defeat to Sevco at Hampden was the final blow for many supporters with banners reading ‘LAWELL AND DESMOND’S LEGACY’, followed underneath by ‘EMPTY JERSEYS’, ‘EMPTY HEARTS’, ‘EMPTY DREAMS’ and ‘EMPTY STANDS’.
When the match kicked off another set of banners read: ‘FROM BOARDROOM TO DRESSINGROOM’, ‘YOU’VE EMBARRASSED YOURSELF’, ‘THE CELTIC JERSEY HAS SHRUNK’ and ‘TO FIT INFERIOR PLAYERS’.
There was a hushed atmosphere around the ground with no songs of music coming from Section 111, home of The Green Brigade and the focus for the protest banner.
Couldn’t have put it better myself! #Celtic #greenbrigade pic.twitter.com/TRDdHHJW16
— Nicky Flynn (@nickyflynn__) April 24, 2016
Ronny Deila’s announcement that he will leave at the end of the season has done little to lift the mood of the support with the boardroom rather than the dug-out the focus for fan anger.
Despite being on the verge of a fifth consecutive title there was little appetite to party as Deila made three changes from the starting XI at Hampden.
The injured duo of Dedryck Boyata and Stefan Johansen were both posted missing with Gary Mackay-Steven also making way with Eric Sviatchenko, Tom Rogic and Colin Kazim Richards introduced to the side.
Speaking before the match Deila said: “ “We’re not going to change everything we do. We’re going to keep on. We have won a lot of football games and we hadn’t lost since February before last weekend.
“Everybody will see out the season and we will not do any evaluation of it until after the season and we’ll take it at that time.
“This game is going to be very important now. We want to bounce back from the disappointment we had at the weekend because that was a very big blow for everybody and I can see that in the eyes of the players.
“So that’s what we want to see on the pitch on Sunday – wanting to get that bounce back in a very strong way and put pressure on everybody else to win this league.”
UPDATE: The match finished 1-1 with Leigh Griffiths scoring the Celtic goal.
