THE Green Brigade have hit back at Celtic over their Parkhead lock-out claiming it’s a “cynical attempt” to silence dissenting voices against the board.
The Hoops ultras have been slapped with a six-game ban, starting with Kilmarnock on Sunday, after club chiefs’ patience with the group finally fizzled out.
It’s after Parkhead bosses released a statement on Friday, saying ultras prevented police arresting someone who had “assaulted a member of staff” during a match against Falkirk at the end of last month.
They added: “This large group verbally abused and assaulted the steward and police officers, one male and one female, in a confined space and at one point there was a risk of one of the officers being pulled to the ground and trampled in amongst the larger group.”
The club says because there had already been previous “safety and security related breaches” at games involving this section of support this meant the suspended ban was now in force.
However, in a statement late on Friday night the ultras fired back at the club, stressing any justification for the ban in their view was “disingenuous”.
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They also claimed that the safety and security issues highlighted by the club in July were fans “accessing other parts of the stadium without permission” to display Palestine flags.
The Green Brigade say that’s “fundamentally unfair and totally unprecedented” as part of lengthy response to the ban on Friday night.
They posted on X: “Following the Celtic Trust’s announcement this morning, Celtic FC has initiated a further attack on supporters by banning the Green Brigade for at least six matches.
“The ban encompasses three home and three away matches beginning with the Kilmarnock match on Sunday 9th November.
“We were informed of this ban at 17:46 on Friday 7th November which in of itself is unacceptable.
“The ban is an activation of the “suspended sentence” which was applied at the beginning of the season because fans “accessed other sections of the stadium without permission” to display Palestine flags.
“The “suspended sentence” and its activation are fundamentally unfair, out of step of any fair process and totally unprecedented.
“During a period of consistent and growing pressure against the Celtic board, this ban is nothing more than a cynical attempt to lock-out such sentiment and buy the Celtic board some relief.
“The justification for the ban is disingenuous, similar to previous bans.
“It is another example of the concerning relationship between Celtic FC and Police Scotland which stretches many years and has been well documented.
“It follows the appointment of Mark Hargreaves, former Chief Superintendent of Police Scotland and HM Assistant Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, to Head of Safety, Security and Operations at Celtic FC this summer.
“Since this appointment, the level of security around the Standing Section has dramatically increased including the placement of police officers on the concourse which was a break from a previous agreement that no police would be in the Standing Section or on its concourse.
“This agreement followed supporter feedback, particularly through the effective strategy of documenting police officers responsible for harassment on social media.
“We have consistently relayed concerns regarding this in person at a meeting (11/08/2025), in writing (28/08/2025) and to the SLO team at every home match this season. Our concerns have been ignored.
“This ban also follows the disappointing Fairhurst report which was unreasonably delayed, lacked conviction and has had zero follow-up from Celtic FC despite multiple commitments to do so, including at the meeting with the Celtic Fans Collective (06/10/2025).
“In case anyone has forgotten, the Fairhurst report related to the unlawful five hours detention of hundreds of Celtic fans on London Rd before the derby on 16th March 2025.
“To date, the Club has offered no condemnation of the police treatment of its supporters, which included young children.
“Once again, the Celtic board has chosen to side with Police Scotland in another instance of police harassment against its supporters – with zero effort nor care to consider supporter feedback.
“This includes disregarding a complaint raised to the SLO team following the incident in question.
“We categorically refute the allegations against our members and instead contest that Celtic FC and Police Scotland were both the architects and aggressors in this incident.
“Moreover, we believe that the Celtic board is using this incident to cynically lock-out anti-board sentiment and give themselves some much needed relief.
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“Finally, we encourage all Celtic supporters to continue to back the Celtic Fans Collective, to commit to the ‘Not Another Penny’ boycott and to sustain the pressure on the Celtic board for positive change at our football club.
“Your efforts are clearly working.”
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