Green Brigade call out Celtic board for hardline Hibs tifo stance as 2 reasons issued for ultras roadblock
The fan group have vented online after their banner for the clash with David Gray's men was turned down
The Green Brigade have claimed Celtic chiefs have "refused" meetings with them as the club upheld a ban on tifos from the ultras.
The fan group made headlines earlier this season with a 'Show Israel the Red Card' display during the Champions League showdown with Bayern Munich.
They also produced a controversial tribute to convicted IRA killer Brendan 'Bik' McFarlane before a match against Aberdeen.
And going into the clash with Hibs on Saturday, they have revealed that an attempt to display a banner has been knocked back by the Premiership champions' powerbrokers.
The group posted to X "Unfortunately, the club has refused tomorrow's NCC tifo.
"This is a continued sanction due to the Green Brigade's 'Red Card' and Bik McFarlane tifos.
"Despite repeated attempts, the club has refused to meet with the Green Brigade since November 2023."
A Celtic email shared by the group read: "Unfortunately, following the club's review of events and relevant processes from earlier this season, which has concluded that there have been serious breaches of the Banner Protocol by the group, the club does not approve the request to set up and display a tifo at tomorrow's match.
"The club therefore requests that the group does not bring any tifo or other banners to the stadium for the match, as access will not be provided at any time prior to or during the match.
"The club also requests that the group complies with club regulations and protocols, and safety and competition regulations, at the match, including the prohibition on the use of any pyrotechnics.
"The club remains open to scheduling a meeting to discuss these matters at a future time."
UEFA did not take action against the Hoops for the banner displayed while on European duty while the tribute to McFarlane sparked a police probe.
Follow Record Sport on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-the minute breaking news, video and audio on the SPFL, the Scotland national team and beyond.
You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers and Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season.
We're also WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
17 minutes ago
- Scotsman
One transfer every Premiership club must make this summer including Hearts and Hibs
The Jambos have Claudio Braga and Daniel Arzani in their sights as they look to equip new head coach Derek McInnes with the tools to make a charge for the Premiership's third spot. Hibs will have something to say about that though after claiming that spot in the 24/25 campaign. They too will have designs on improving their squad, with Europa League qualifiers ahead. Looking at both clubs and their rivals, we take a look at a position every club could do with signing over the course of the transfer window. Each side will have their own ideas on where is necessary to strengthen but on the face of it, here are our picks for where looks most likely.
Daily Record
42 minutes ago
- Daily Record
I was the last Rangers takeover manager but it doesn't need to end for Russell Martin like it did for me
A new boss and a new regime in charge at Ibrox sounds familiar and no wonder because this is what happened 10 years ago A new boss and a new regime in charge at Ibrox, sounds familiar right? For today's Rangers faithful, the arrival of Russell Martin, Andrew Cavenagh and the San Francisco 49ers offers at the very least hope for a brighter future. Unfortunately for Stuart McCall, events 10 years ago this summer only provide bitter regrets. A legend of the club's nine-in-a-row thrill ride, McCall didn't hesitate to accept when offered his chance of a return to Govan. The call came in March 2015, just six days after Dave King, Paul Murray and John Gilligan had swept up the Marble Staircase to boot out the Mike Ashley-backed gang masquerading as the Rangers board. The former Motherwell boss agreed to take charge of the team for the final three months of the season and attempt to salvage a faltering promotion push from the Championship. Bit by bit, the Yorkshire-born but fiercely proud Scot got a team that had fallen so far below recognised standards at Ibrox that it was sitting third in the second tier, a massive 22 points behind eventual winners Hearts, going again. A disgruntled fan base were won over but in the end, the rot that had set in during the years of mismanagement that preceded King's takeover proved too deep-rooted to weed out. That was made clear during a humiliating play-off final defeat to Motherwell in which a team McCall had been in charge of only six months earlier ran riot over two legs. Now 60, McCall doesn't regret accepting the role of caretaker boss, only the way it ended as his hopes of landing the opportunity Martin now has to reshape a broken squad were crushed. 'It's been 10 years, wow,' said McCall as he sat down with Record Sport to look back on his brief stint in the Ibrox hotseat. 'I don't know if I can remember last week never mind 10 years ago! 'The first contact I came when I was actually travelling up on the train. 'I'd left Motherwell and was out of work. I wasn't actively looking to get back in. 'I'd had a good four years at Motherwell and was probably going to wait until the end of the summer and then start having a little look about. 'When the call came, I didn't recognise the number, it was an American one. Turns out it was Richard Gough. He says, 'You know Dave King's just taken over Rangers. They're looking for a manager and want to know if you'd be interested?' 'Obviously I said of course. So I got a call the next day from John Gilligan asking if I could meet him in Glasgow. 'They told me the situation at the club at that time and told me Walter, Goughy and John Brown had all put my name forward. 'My thinking was that it'd be silly not to go and have a crack at it. 'It was only ever pitched to me as a short-term thing until the end of the season. A contract for four months. 'Listen, I'd seen what had gone on at Rangers. I knew what I was walking into. 'Any way I could help the club, I was willing to do that. It didn't matter if they said to me it was for two weeks, two months, whatever. 'I don't even think we talked about money or anything with John Gilligan. It was just about, 'can you come and help?. 'And the answer was '100%, of course'. 'I didn't give it a second thought. I just wanted to try to help the club. 'I'd seen what was happening. 'I'd never have ever gone anywhere near the club if it was still in the hands of the previous owners. I used to speak with Coisty, so I knew what had been going on behind the scenes. 'But it was a new start with Dave King, John Gilligan and Paul Murray in charge at that time. 'There was still a shock walking into the club and finding the state it was in. The biggest of which was the environment. It was the lowest morale I'd ever known at a football club. Even the likes of Jimmy Bell. He could be doom and gloom at the best of times. But he was so flat. 'Ian Durrant, Gordon Durie and big Jim Stewart were still on the backroom staff but the morale around the place was so low. 'So going in, it was just a case of let's see what we can do in these few months. 'There's no doubt, though, that there was a massive disconnect between the fans and the players. Maybe not the club, because as a fan, you'll always support your club no matter what happens. 'There was a chance to change the mood, though, because the new owners had come in. But you still needed to produce an upturn on the park as well as off it. 'There was obviously a celebration when Mike Ashley departed the club. 'But that's when you realise how much work there needs to be done. 'Listen, the day I got the call to take the job, the team had drawn with Cowdenbeath. That's where they were at at that time. 'So there was a total breakdown in positivity throughout the football club. Coisty had left. Kenny McDowall had gone in next but he doing it reluctantly. 'So that opened the door for me. 'We hit the ground running, with a brilliant one-all home draw at Livingston! 'And then an even better f***ing 2-2 home draw with Alloa! Again that showed where we were. 'But things changed. The next game we went to Hibs. In there three previous league games that season, Rangers had shipped a total of nine goals against them. 'But we changed the system, went with wing-backs and got a 2-0 win. 'I remember the players going over to give the fans a clap at the final whistle and getting a huge ovation. 'There hadn't been much to celebrate that year but that seemed to be a little bit of a turning point. 'With the fans behind the team, we built some momentum. We beat Hearts at home 2-1 and went into the play-offs in decent form. 'We got past Queen of the South and Hibs and I just remember walking out for the final against Motherwell and the place was bouncing. 'The first game I had in charge, the crowd was something like 28,000. 'But the last three games in the play-offs were full houses. So we'd got the support back onside.' That showdown with Well pitted McCall against a Fir Park squad he'd helped construct. With Rangers working their way back up through the lower leagues, it was expected that Aberdeen would provide the challenge to Celtic's league ambitions in the top flight. Yet it was McCall's Steelmen, built on the flimsiest of budgets, that stood strongest to finish as runners up two years running in both 2013 and 2014. But a frustrating start to the season after saw McCall quit. Well limped home second bottom under Ian Baraclough - setting the Fir Park side on a collision course with their former boss and his new Ibrox charges. 'It was bittersweet for me because I was going to against lads that had given me everything when I was at Motherwell,' said McCall. 'It had been one of the most successful periods Motherwell had ever had, getting to Champions League, getting to Europe all the time, finishing best of the rest three times on the bounce. 'There were lads like Keith Lasley and Stevie Hammell who I'd worked with for a long time. It was either going to be us or them. 'And I knew what the consequences would have been for Motherwell if they'd gone down.' As it turned out, it was McCall's fate that was sealed on an awful night at Ibrox which saw Well stun a packed Ibrox by winning the first leg 3-1. 'The key that night was getting the first goal at Ibrox - then you'd have seen the place really erupt,' said McCall. 'Motherwell had barely been in our box but from nowhere they scored just before the half hour mark. 'I don't regret one thing about my time at Rangers - other than 15 minutes of football either side of half-time. 'When you talk about sliding doors, it was 15 minutes that really wrecked the chance of me ever being the permanent manager. 'I'd never given that prospect a thought. 'But looking back that 15 minutes where we lost the three goals just sort of summed up the season, really. The first was a breakaway, the second a free header and the third another breakaway. 'The club's luck was rotten. I mean, typically Lee Erwin scored the opener after I'd given him his debut. 'Stephen McManus scored the second. I was the one who brought him to the club. And then Lionel Ainsworth, who I'd signed on 1200 quid, scores a rocket just after half time for the third. 'We managed to make one back but we knew going to Fir Park for the second leg, we've got to get the first goal. But that second game obviously was another nightmare.' If the Ibrox opener had been bad, what followed in Lanarkshire was even worse. Cammy Bell's howler allowed Marvin Johnson to increase Well's advantage. A 6-1 aggregate route was then completed by further goals from Ainsworth and John Sutton before Rangers defender Bilel Mohsni sparked chaos at the final whistle as he cracked Erwin with a right hook. The Tunisian later had to be restrained after attempting to rush off the Gers team bus to invite Erwin for another square go in the car park. McCall missed most of those crazy scenes - but recognised immediately that his chances of landing the job permanently were gone. 'When I came back to the club, I never thought about it for getting the job permanently for second,' he said. 'I promise you, I just went in there looking to do my best every day and win every game … and whatever came about, came about. 'Deep down, I think there'd have been a really, really strong chance I would have been given it had we got promoted because it wasn't as though I was a rookie 'I'd done well in SPL with Motherwell. We didn't have a top six budget at Motherwell but finished second, second and third. 'Obviously, the gaffer - Walter - had put me forward as did John Brown. It was an honour for me to have those guys think that I could go in and do the job. 'But obviously, the only regret I've got is the 15-minute spell.' In the end, it was Mark Warburton who was handed the task of reconstructing a new-look squad that summer. This year, it will be Martin performing a similar overhaul, only this time the former MK Dons, Swansea and Southampton gaffer will have a £20million transfer kitty to spend. The huge cash injection from the club's new American owners will have to be spent wisely if it's to make any impact on the huge lead Celtic currently hold of their rivals. But McCall said: 'I'm excited about it 'it's nice just to get a bit of positive news because the supporters have been through it in the last few seasons. 'When the club won the title under Steven Gerrard, everyone thought, 'That'll be the platform to go on and be successful and to build'. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. 'I watched almost every Rangers game this season gone and it's been a tough watch. 'But like the summer after I left, this might be an opportunity to clear things out and start again. 'Looking in, the recruitment in the last couple of years has not helped. It's been really poor. 'When when you're recruiting for Rangers, you're not recruiting just good players. First and foremost, it has to be guys who can go through the shit and come out the other side. 'If you're signing for Rangers, you should be a decent player. You're expected to be in the top two teams in that league so you're expected to win most games. 'But when push comes to shove and you need to go to Aberdeen and win, it ain't about being a good player. It's more than that. It's about being a strong character. 'You can win 20, 30 odd games a season in Glasgow but if you don't finish top, it doesn't matter. So, that's why it's about recruitment.'
BBC News
42 minutes ago
- BBC News
Why are Chelsea in the Club World Cup, but not Liverpool?
Chelsea and Manchester City are the two English teams in the 2025 Club World Cup, with Premier League champions Liverpool not Chelsea and City secured their places by winning the Champions League between 2021 and from Europe were given 12 of the 32 places at this summer's were intended for the Champions League winners in the qualifying period - from 2020-2021 to 2023-24 - and eight to the next best teams in the Real won two Champions Leagues in the four-year qualifying period, the nine best 'non-winners' were awarded Club World Cup two teams from each nation are allowed to qualify - unless more won each continent's equivalent Champions League during the qualifying Chelsea and City both won the Champions League in the qualifying period, they have taken England's two teams not to win the Champions League between 2021 and 2024, Liverpool were the fifth-best performing tea across Bull Salzburg - the 15th best team not to win the Champions League - were the lowest-ranked side to be granted a spot in the Club World RB Leipzig, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and AC Milan all finished higher than Salzburg, but all come from countries from which two sides had already qualified. Which teams from Europe have qualified and how? Chelsea (England) - 2021 Champions League winnersReal Madrid (Spain) - 2022 and 2024 Champions League winnersManchester City (England) - 2023 Champions League winnersBayern Munich (Germany) - Best non-Champions League winnersParis St-Germain (France) - Second best non-Champions League winnersBorussia Dortmund (Germany) - Third best non-Champions League winnersInter Milan (Italy) - Fourth best non-Champions League winnersPorto (Portugal) - Fifth best non-Champions League winners*Atletico Madrid (Spain) - Sixth best non-Champions League winners*Benfica (Portugal) - Seventh best non-Champions League winners*Juventus (Italy) - Eighth best non-Champions League winners*Red Bull Salzburg - (Austria) Ninth best non-Champions League winners**denotes where other teams finished higher but were ineligible to qualifyThis article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team. What is Ask Me Anything? Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio. More questions answered... Why are Russia still playing international football despite ban?How many footballers have been knighted?What does the new Premier League ball look like?What is the Women's Champions Cup?
