GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - JANUARY 29: Celtic Interim Chairman Brian Wilson during a UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD8 match between Celtic and FC Utrecht at Celtic Park, on January 29, 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
After a month long pile-on Celtic Chairman Brian Wilson has fired back at the media hysteria that marked Celtic’s SPFL title win.
Sky Sports and BBC Scotland led the way following the 2-1 win away to Motherwell. Prompted by a disgusting claim from Derek McInnes.
Celtic said absolutely nothing as they rolled out the red carpet to Sky and the BBC.
Kris Boyd almost imploded as he viewed the Sam Nicholson handball from the Sky Studio at Tynecastle.
Veteran peace campaigner Pat Nevin claimed that two or three Celtic fans punched Lawrence Shankland. Nevin was on BBC 5 Live and World Service.
BBC Scotland nodded along through Tom English, Kenny Macintyre, Andy Halliday, Ryan Stevenson and Allan Preston.
Hearts shareholder Tony Bloom told TalkSPORT that one or two of his players were attacked at Celtic Park. Jim White failed to ask for names or details.
Keith Jackson of the Daily Record got five days out of his ‘missing minutes’ theory before the SFA were shamed into releasing the match audio.
Other than Martin O’Neill calling out White when he used the phrase tainted title there has been no push-back from Celtic.
Now with the World Cup providing a new media focus Wilson has taken time off from attacking the Scottish Government to speak to Gerry McCulloch.
https://youtu.be/f5qLU-KY5vE
WILSON AND HIS WOBBLING DEFENCE
We took a conscious decision in the immediate aftermath of the season, and the Hearts game in particular, not to join in exchanges of words with anyone.
We were celebrating winning a Double and we were not going to get bogged down in what actually was an absurd series of debates about issues which didn’t really exist, and one by one they’ve been chalked off.
It was all rubbish and yet people who should have known better, or people with axes to grind who couldn’t quite conceal them, made this into a running narrative until it ran out of steam.
And at the end of the day, what matters is we won a Double. We won it in great style. And none of these issues that were turned into great mountains of artificial controversy held any water whatsoever.
Wearing a polo shirt and a jacket from the eighties, Wilson looked like he had been dragged off his allotment for the interview.
He again spoke of the exciting plans to appoint a Fan Engagement Officer while pleading for unity. Except for the two Green Brigade members who weren’t allowed to renew their Season Tickets.
Wilson writes a weekly and weakly column for The Scotsman criticising the SNP. The Edinburgh based publisher has still to come to terms with Celtic’s title win.
There was no mention of which coaches will assist Martin O’Neill. Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham have turned down the contracts offered.
While not a fan of this Board, they were in a “no win” situation after the Hearts game.
If they had come out after the game and said no player was attacked and later footage came to light that someone had been struck the pile on would have been even worse……. and gone on even longer.
All media and online footage had to be gone through before anything could be said by the club.
While emotions were high on the day your ire should be directed to those who went on to the park in the first place who allowed the media to create and run with that narrative for so long. Those same people also deprived the vast majority in the stadium from celebrating at the full time whistle.
What gives people the right to think they can go on to a park is beyond me and that goes for fans of any club..
Editor: No one should have been on the pitch.
By the Sunday morning it was clear no-one had been attacked/punched/assaulted. On Monday Hearts heard the audio from the SFA. Celtic could have killed all the hysteria with a 100 word statement or two minute video from their £17,000 a week CEO.
As with every issue except hounding their own fans Celtic opted to do and say nothing. Why come out now three weeks later as the World Cup takes centre stage?
I disagree, we should never make a statement based on probability, and in my opinion it was not clear, even by the Tuesday, that no Hearts player had been struck.
Cameras seemed to be focused on Shankland and a couple of other players but there was another five or six players unaccounted for in the crowd. Who could say what had happened to them during the pitch invasion. I don’t believe by Sunday anyone could.
Perhaps the club would be better placed referencing the altercation that is rumoured to have taken place in the tunnel after the match where it supposedly kick off between the players and instigated by a certain Hearts player.
Apparently that is common knowledge among the media and referees yet nothing has been said.
Why did the old Labour and by dint of being Labour Butchers Apron loving man in a non executive role come out and do this meek defence…
While a younger CEO continues to wage thieve £17,000 per week from the club…
And another well paid no doubt ‘Media man’ RIP The Scummy’s to bits about this !
“We took a conscious decision… not to join in exchanges of words with anyone…”
I suppose by default then, that Nicholson can make cost savings by making the Celtic media team redundant ?
No need to try and manage / interact with the media – or to protect the club / brand?
The Board could have issued a non-committal, holding statement after the Hearts game,
if only to communicate that the Board was painfully aware of the frustrations of the Celtic support?
But then again, the Board doesn’t give a monkey’s about the support…
Spot on Bob.?
Get back into cold storage
The cryogenicists and archaeologists at the allotment deserve a pat on the back for getting him out of the ground early that morning and thawing him out in time for the interview. He looked a bit confused as to whether he was being interviewed by David Frost or Jack Frost. The fossilised clothes he was wearing would need to be carbon dated to give an accurate time period, probably the late Jurassic.
He spoke of appointing a Fan Engagement Officer like it was a dating service. He has sided with The Green Brigade because he thinks they’ll be able to pour cold water on his plants and SNP members. The man is as useless as a pair of eunuch’s testicles and heard less from than Anne Frank’s drum kit. Someone with lockjaw, rigor mortis and cognitive impairment could do a better job than him, he ignores the serious internal issues while. going for the easy targets and claiming a handsome salary for doing nout. He should be criticising the inner workings at Celtic Park first and implementing changes at the top. He and all the other executives are just hibernating dead weights.