BONNER: SAY SORRYTOFANS
contracted the virus in Scotland and several prominent figures, including John Kennedy, Gavin Strachan and Scott Brown, have defended the decision to travel at the height of the pandemic.
Supporter anger had already been stoked by pictures showing players and boss Neil Lennon appearing to drink lager while relaxing at the hotel pool.
Former keeper Bonner, who spent almost two decades at Parkhead, was angered by the trip and wants to see Lawwell front up to the fallout.
He told Go Radio: “I was shocked (that the trip went ahead). If I had the opportunity and somebody to talk to inside Celtic I would’ve phoned up and been really angry.
“As somebody who played for the club for a long time but also supports the club, to a point where obviously working in the media you have to see what’s on the pitch from a neutral stance.
“You still have feelings for the club you played 17 years for. Very much so.
“I’m also a shareholder at the club, albeit very small. But all of those people – the fans, shareholders – they have a right to hear from the club and from Peter Lawwell.
“There’s no harm saying, at this point, he doesn’t have to say from a protocol point of view they got it wrong, because they’ll argue they did everything right.
“But from a perception point of view, going out there in the current climate even though they had planned it in November. Things change, there’s things changing on a daily and weekly basis.
“Sometimes you’ve got to come out and say: ‘We’ve got this wrong. From a perception point of view, it was wrong and we apologise to our fans.’
“He (Lawwell) doesn’t have to apologise to anybody else but to his fans and all those people I’ve mentioned. ’We’ll learn from it and we’ll move on’ – I would like to hear that because it would go somewhere to at least saying they’re thinking about what they’re doing.
“But when you don’t hear anything, that’s difficult for the fans.
“Anybody within the board, whoever’s the spokesman from a leadership point of view, should be coming out and saying, ‘Listen guys, we’ve got this wrong and we’ll admit we didn’t read it properly. We got it wrong from that perspective.’
“It’s not about whether you did protocols right, it’s about the current climate when people can’t leave their houses, they’re struggling, people are in hospitals.
“Celtic fans are all over the place, in the NHS, they’re working hard, under pressure.”