The Celtic board has denied ever branding supporters as entitled.
Since protests magnified after the Betfred Cup defeat from Ross County that phrase has become a favourite in the media to use against Celtic fans.
That has struck a raw nerve among Celtic supporters who know and appreciate that every match and trophy has to be won by ability and hard graft on the pitch. The backstory of the support certainly isn’t one of entitlement and has never been an attitude present with the paying customers at Celtic Park.
The phrase entitled was first used by a source close to Dermot Desmond as he spoke to Keith Jackson last week with the rift between fans and the club hierarchy growing by the result and indeed by the day.
Since it first saw the light of day Celtic have been hammered by AC Milan and snatched a draw at home to St Johnstone to avoid a fifth successive home defeat, results that the Celtic board seem to find quite acceptable on the back of 10 previous matches that produced just two wins.
Quoting a source close to Dermot Desmond in the aftermath of the Ross County defeat Jackson relayed to Daily Record readers:
Dermot Desmond is simply not the kind of man who will be dictated to by a hate mob – if anything what went on after the game on Sunday has strengthened his resolve to give Neil another chance to turn things around.
It’s obviously been a terrible run of results for the manager but last Friday, despite the Europa League defeat against Sparta Prague, Dermot was absolutely unequivocal in his support for Neil. Yes, the defeat to Ross County was a bad one but the reaction to it was even more unacceptable as far as Dermot is concerned.
Neil knows he can’t go on losing games indefinitely but he will also not be thrown to the wolves just because of the demands of a bunch of fans with an enormous sense of entitlement.
Monday night’s Celtic statement claimed:
The response of the support to the challenges that we all face together has been magnificent. It is therefore important to make clear that the Board has never, as it has been inaccurately reported, referred to any Celtic supporter as ‘entitled’.
If the board wish to re-engage with the support and build bridges they could take the Daily Record to task over the quotes from a source close to Desmond. The Record has been invited onto every Zoom conference call since publishing their quotes.
Later on the day of publication, December 1 Celtic released a statement with Lawwell urging the fans to show unity in the face of adversity. Effectively echoing the quotes of Jackson’s source on backing for Lennon with the added dig about ‘fans with an enormous sense of entitlement’.