Bankier: You drag club into the gutter

CELTIC chairman Ian Bankier has told a section of the Parkhead support that they are “dragging the club into the gutter” with their persistence in singing inappropriate songs.

Responding to a question posed by shareholder Danny James Brady at the club’s AGM yesterday, Bankier and chief executive Peter Lawwell were unambiguous as they urged the support to consider the best interests of the club.

Celtic supporter Brady had urged the board to hold fellow fans to account for offensive songs, citing that the “orange b ****** ” chant directed to Hearts manager Craig Levein and Rangers manager Steven Gerrard were an embarrassment.

“No-one on this platform has any time for this sort of thing; it takes us to the gutter every time,” said Bankier. “We will take this and do what we can, if not to stop it then at the very least reduce it. But other fans also need to make their disapproval clear. We would like to see this discussed at our next fans’ forum, when the Green Brigade will be represented.”

And Lawwell praised Brady for his courage in raising the topic.

“It’s brave of you to raise it,” he said. “The club and our supporters have a great reputation worldwide and it’s a very small minority who behave like this.

“We have had consistently sanctioned by Uefa for that behaviour, which has deteriorated recently back to the days which were unacceptable,” said Lawwell.

“It doesn’t represent who we are and it gives our opponents – if you like, our enemies – a reason to categorise Celtic along with everyone else. And we’re not like everyone else; we’re better and different.”