The Green Brigade

Article by Jim Payne

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Last week I mentioned that Celtic is a club to which various non football matters frequently attach themselves. I said I would discuss these as they arose and as the last week of Celtic's season was a fairly quiet one I shall address one of the ongoing sideshows.

Before I do though I would though like to congratulate Fraser Forster on his selection for England's World Club squad. I don't imagine I'll now want England to win but I am glad the big man has been recognised.

And also, more importantly, I would like to pass on my condolences to the family of Wee Oscar Knox - a five year old Glengormley boy who passed away following a three year battle with Neuroblastoma. His brave struggle with this particularly virulent form of cancer endeared him to the Celtic support and, latterly, the followers of other fans in Scotland and Ireland RIP Wee Man.

A lot of people dislike Celtic . There is no point in denying it. Fans of other clubs are envious of their success and resent that - as with other big clubs - they draw a substantial chunk of their support from towns and cities which have their own perfectly good clubs. Only a liar would deny that Celtic is also hated by many because, perhaps uniquely on the British mainland, their support is predominantly ( if now only nominally) Catholic.

And yet those who support the club are often the subject of admiring comments from those who play against Celtic and although the Celtic support has a far from perfect record in terms of past behaviour they don't have a bad reputation for causing mayhem. The atmosphere at Celtic Park is renowned rather more than the exploits of the teams which play their home matches at it. Celtic fans are passionate like no other.

Of course this isn't wholly true and ten years or so ago it was even less true. By the time Martin O'Neill's tenure as manager was drawing to its end the atmosphere at Celtic Park for matches against Scottish teams other than Rangers was usually pretty moribund. Even though Gordon Strachan's first season was a success and the play often rather enjoyable the atmosphere further declined. Celtic was hardly unique in this type of decline as the novelty of the shiny, new all seated stadia gave way to a realisation that the old terraces were a lot more vibrant than the new arenas. At Celtic nothing had replaced the rowdy, partisan, frequently coarse, sometimes offensive but invariably passionate terracing known as the Jungle. Something was needed to prevent Celtic Park becoming Britain's biggest open air public library.

That something was the Green Brigade which formed in 2006. At first they were a fringe grouping that didn't make much difference but by season 2009-10 they were a significant presence at Celtic games. They sang songs , banged drums, moved from side to side ( which enraged the police and stewards) and though the games in that season were often dire as Celtic struggled under Tony Mowbray you had to admit that if you wanted a Saturday afternoon nap then Celtic Park was not the place for it.

When Neil Lennon replaced Mowbray the Green Brigade became more prominent as the new manager sought to 'bring the thunder' back to Celtic Park. The Green Brigade - with their anti -Fascist, pro-Palestine and Basque separatist flags, as well as a sprinkling of some older Irish rebel songs, wouldn't have intimidated a Sunday school picnic but they made some racket and a lot of people joined in with them. Celtic Park rocked. A bit.

A lot of people didn't like them though and not just the usual people who would have prefer it if Celtic was neither seen nor heard. A substantial proportion of the support saw the Brigade as being interlopers, a breed apart in much the same way as the all together more sinister 'Celtic Casuals' had been sporadically since the mid 80s. I thought they were good fun mostly but sometimes also fairly naughty boys.

The Green Brigade was at it's best a lot of fun. The pyrotechnic displays were hardly a patch on those of Istanbul - although they irritated many and were regarded as something akin to the Visigoths on a bad day in the local media- and sometimes their banner displays misjudged the mood of many in the support especially immediately before the game with Milan last November. But they made all but the most po-faced smile with their chants and banners at the height of Rangers descent into liquidation, their tifo display set the tone perfectly for what was to prove Celtic's happiest night in years against Barca in November 2012 whilst their organisation of a huge collection of food for a local food bank - at the same time as the club was trying to get rid of them- was admirable and hardly evidence that they were the kind of menace to society that it was held to be in the Scottish media, the police or the Celtic hierarchy.

The Green Brigade's downfall was in part self inflicted. Their displays did not always play well with their older fellow supporters and at times these displays gave an impression that they thought they were above the rest of us as well as the team . But their greatest fault - self acknowledged- was an inability to self police. A banner that insulted UEFA was displayed in Udine ( for which Celtic was fined), misbehaviour on Boxing Day 2012 at Dens Park Dundee and similar scenes with added vandalism at Fir Park, Motherwell just under a year later were seized on by a sanctimonious local press as evidence of the evils of the Brigade. Nobody arrested in connection with these incidents turned out to be a member of the Brigade but that didn't seem to matter. Many who had liked the Brigade and who sympathised with the harassment they were subjected to inside and near to Celtic Park by now considered them an embarrassment. It didn't matter that the members of the Green Brigade were -in my personal experience at least- bright , knowledgeable and mad keen Celts. The mud stuck - especially after that Motherwell match.

Since then the Green Brigade has appeared to have been in the huff and have frequently missed games. When they do turn up they still make a lot of noise but they have now relocated themselves to a section of the stadium near to where the away support sits. They seem marginalised and rarely galvanise the support the way they did as recently as 6 months ago.

Celtic has announced plans for a 'safe seating' section at Celtic Park and that may lead to a more sustained improvement in the vitality of Celtic matches. Whether the Green Brigade will participate ( or be allowed to) seems open to debate. I suspect that as presently constituted the Brigade has had its day and despite their myriad flaws I shall miss their attempt to bring something vibrant, even a bit cosmopolitan in their aping of the styles of the Ultras of mainland Europe. At times they could be a monumental pain-in-the-bum. But when they were good....They were blinking marvellous.

@Jimbo67

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