Chris Sutton has warned that something needs to change at Celtic, insisting ongoing protests are now harming the team rather than helping force improvement.
The former striker has never shied away from criticising those in charge, doing so repeatedly long before the season reached its current tipping point.
Sutton believes the warning signs have been obvious for some time, pointing to what he sees as a clear regression over the past year.
When Celtic faced Stuttgart on Thursday, it was almost a year to the day that Celtic were seconds away from taking Bayern Munich to extra time at the Alianz.
Speaking after Thursday night’s Europa League clash, Sutton said supporters are fully entitled to their anger, but questioned whether the manner of protest is now counterproductive.
Writing in the Record, he explained:
“The supporters have every right to be angry given the massive regression over the past 12 months.
“I’m not blindly believing in my old manager.
“Yet I understand his frustration the other night. He will have tried to motivate the team to get off to a solid start against Stuttgart – but then the players had to hang around for five minutes while the balls were removed from the pitch.
“It took the atmosphere out of the ground and it would have been totally deflating for those out there.”
The delayed kick-off, caused by objects being thrown onto the pitch from the stands, became another flashpoint in the ongoing standoff between sections of the support and Celtic.
While Sutton understands the reasons behind the anger, he believes moments like that risk undermining the very cause supporters are fighting for.
With decisive fixtures still to come domestically and in Europe, Sutton’s message was clear. Protest may be justified, but if it drains energy from the stadium and disrupts the team, it risks doing more damage than good. Hopefully, Celtic can be the ones to put a halt to the protests and start acting like a modern club.
The protests conned the fans out of a European tie at Celtic Park, the bouncy balls we’re a mockery to the work O’Niell has put in to getting us back in contention.
And then booing Schmeichel sends the wrong message as well. The Green Brigade should be banned indefinitely.
Communist traitors and Muslim radical sympathisers. We’re a Catholic team. And we don’t want their followers.
We’ll take our club and country back at the next election.