Willie Haughey gives his support to The Green Brigade

In among the range of emotions for Bertie Auld yesterday there was a message which even the Celtic board of directors won’t have failed to grasp.

Ian Bankier, Michael Nicholson and the rest of the suits sat at the front of St Mary’s as the life and times of Bertie Auld were recalled with humour and tears of emotion.

Willie Haughey was one of those that paid tribute to the recently departed Lion, the Glasgow businessman has been a surrogate father/brother/friend to all of the Lions as they moved into their latter years needing support of various forms.

Haughey and the late Auld could mix at any time among the Celtic support with that feeling and rapport evident at Hampden last Sunday.

Some might not have approved of the pyro but that is the currency of the younger, boisterous element of the support, a spirit Auld identified more with than the suits, accountants, executives and those that can’t identify beyond the spreadsheet or Profit and Loss account.

Relations between the hierarchy and Green Brigade could diplomatically be described as edgy, if there are any signs of leadership inside Celtic they should take Haughey’s words on board or better still invite him back on board to reconnect with the customers without whom there most certainly is no five-star executive trips to Germany, Hungary and Spain.