Chris Sutton has branded supporters attending a Celtic Trust protest tomorrow as moronic.
The former Celtic striker is a columnist for the Daily Record and the Daily Mail.
It seems that one banner put up by someone unknown among a dozen or so outside of Celtic Park has given Sutton ammunition to hit out at the Celtic support at large and ignore the chronic mis-management of the club since August 2018 when the hierarchy decided that they knew better than the manager that had delivered six out of six domestic trophies and two Champions League campaigns.
The failure to bring in a defender to allow Dedryk Boyata to be sold- a player that was worthless 18 months earlier that had played for the World Cup semi-finalists- and the John McGinn saga were the beginnings of the current unrest.
When a makeshift team lost out to AEK Athens with a central defence of Jack Hendry and Kris Ajer it wasn’t difficult to see the problems brewing, when Youssouf Mulumbu arrived in McGinn’s position the club was only a Marian Shved away from losing a manager far more talented than the Chief Executive.
Rodgers was far from perfect, Eboue Kouassi and Marvin Compper failed badly but as Accountants know the bottom line is the bottom line and the former Liverpool boss delivered success, profits and executive bonuses. Since Rodgers left in February Celtic’s income is on course to return to the levels of Ronny Deila and 2015, the signs are that an incredible sales campaign will be required for 2021/22 Season Tickets.
There are a multitude of issues to alarm Celtic fans but rather than look at them Sutton and his paymasters at the Daily Record prefer to zoom in on one banner and use it to tar the Celtic support in general.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the Shoot the Board stuff the other day. I had to Google it to make sure it wasn’t a fake picture.
When you add in the violent protests after Ross County, the bus chasing in the wake of St Johnstone, and now a protest even before a match kicks off, it just makes these fans look moronic.
Look, I don’t have a problem with them being vocal or being critical. We’ve all been critical of Celtic this season – and rightly so.
It’s fine to take issue with the manager and to question the board. But none of those guys deserve the level of abuse that’s been dished out.
The banner highlighted was pathetic, stupid and a distraction, condemned by 90% plus of Celtic fans online with only a few nut-cases making light of it.
On Sunday an orderly protest is being arranged by the Celtic Trust. No fans have been inside the ground since March, Monday’s AGM will take part without any shareholders present.
Despite taking money from 50,000 plus supporters in the form of Season Tickets communication from the club has been minimal, there has been no hint of the ‘added value’ mentioned in the 2020 Season Ticket renewal campaign.
Two weeks ago a source close to Dermot Desmond discussed a ‘bunch of fans with an enormous sense of entitlement’ to the Daily Record, a newspaper warmly welcomed at Celtic Park, in June Peter Lawwell spoke to Keith Jackson who quoted the source close to Desmond.
It is convenient for Sutton and others to focus on one banner, there are far, far bigger issues at Celtic that the fans aren’t whitewashing away.