Martin O'Neill's verdict on Celtic board might 'really upset' punters amid surging fan anger as success reminder issued
Peter Lawwell quit his role as non-executive chairman at Parkhead amid ongoing anger directed at the board by large sections of the Hoops' support
Martin O'Neill has issued a reminder to fed-up Celtic fans over the success the under-fire Hoops board has achieved over the decades amid escalating tension.
During his successful interim spell in charge, the Irishman witnessed supporters’ anger boil over first-hand at the club’s AGM with a number of shareholders protesting against the hierarchy before chairman Peter Lawwell called a halt to proceedings. The dispute rumbled on with the Celtic Fan Collective demanding answers to questions that were not put to senior officials.
Since then, Lawwell has left his role at Parkhead while protests have continued - including ahead of Sunday’s encounter with Aberdeen as head coach Wilfried Nancy secured his first success at the fifth time of asking. However, there were plenty of empty seats inside the stadium throughout the 3-1 win.
Asked by present Jim White on talkSPORT if Nancy's first victory could be a step towards quelling some fan frustration, the 73-year-old commented: “Big win. Big, big win.
“Really important. When you aren’t winning football matches, it doesn’t matter what club you are at; the pressure mounts on you. And this was an enormous win, to get a couple of late goals as well. They deserved to win the game.
“But Aberdeen, with ten men, that would have been, if they had held on for a draw, it would have been pretty poor news. But they deserved to win, and they got the late goals, and well done to them.”
Pressed on the latest action by the Celtic Fan Collective before Sunday’s clash with the Dons. O'Neill stated: "I was at an AGM some weeks ago that descended into chaos, really, and that's really unfortunate because Celtic Football Club has been unified for a long, long time, maybe since Jock Stein's days and maybe before that.
"There was an intimidation at Celtic Park, because the crowd forced that, and this discourse between board and supporters will have to end at some stage. This might really upset a lot of Celtic fans in this sense that there has been great success over the last 20-odd years, 38 trophies.
“Sometimes you can have a dip, it happens and it happened to Celtic before then. In the 90s, I think they won maybe three trophies in 10 years or whatever the case may be. Celtic will come again but Celtic will come more quickly, if there is a sort of a spirit there, a togetherness, and that has got to come."
White then shifted the conversation towards the abuse detailed by Lawwell after he announced he was leaving Celtic Park.
O'Neill went on: “You can be frustrated as a football fan, you can, but please, taking it out in the manner in which they’ve done, as Peter mentions, the abuse is ‘intolerable’, and it is strong. When it gets to your family, listen, you’ve got to stop, you’ve got to really, really stop and think about this here.”