73,000 likes- Mesut Ozil shares Green Brigade Palestine video on Twitter
Soccer Football - Champions League - Group E - Celtic v Atletico Madrid - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - October 25, 2023 Celtic fans wave flags in support of Palestine amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
As the Celtic board panic and fret over another UEFA fine a video of the Green Brigade’s support for Palestine has been shared to Mesut Ozil’s 26.4m Twitter followers.
In the corporate world that sort of exposure is priceless, in comparison Celtic have just 957,000 followers on Twitter. Dave Murray used to spend £10 of his Bank of Scotland overdraft to every fiver from Celtic, for every tweet from the hoops there are potentially 27 times more people viewing his content.
At lunchtime on Wednesday Celtic pleaded with fans not to bring flags, banners or symbols of the Middle East War to their Champions League tie.
TNT Sport kept crowd coverage to a minimum but social media has far greater reach with video clips from fans inside the stadium reaching every corner of the globe.
People of Palestine – you’ll never walk alone ????? Respect to the fans of @CelticFC ? #JummahMubarak #YNWApic.twitter.com/Elltg398dW
— Mesut Özil (@M10) October 27, 2023
When it comes to reach not many can match Ozil, born in industrial Gelsenkirchen to Turkish parents he was a World Cup winner in 2014, playing at club level for Schalke 04, Werder Bremen, Real Madrid and Arsenal onto a homecoming of sorts with Fenerbahce.
While Celtic and the Scottish media work themselves into a frenzy over some national flags the messages from the Green Brigade has generated an overwhelming positive reaction worldwide.