A decision made by Celtic has been blasted as “baffling”.
The club have come under fire for what is a disappointing lack of support for the upcoming Tommy Gemmell statue in Craigneuk, which is a project being driven not by the club, but by the local community and North Lanarkshire Council.
The initiative, backed by the Tommy Gemmell Foundation, aims to honour one of the Lisbon Lions and one of Scottish football’s most iconic defenders, the only Scot ever to score in two European Cup finals.
Despite that legacy, Celtic have not contributed financially to the statue.
It only costs £90k to erect, not a penny for a cub with £77m in the bank. They didn’t even have to pay the full costs, just a donation.
World snooker champion John Higgins, himself a proud son of Lanarkshire, has been involved in helping raise funds.
After a win at the UK Snooker Championships in York, he made a point of expressing his disappointment at Celtic’s stance.
“I’ve got a couple people coming down in support and got a couple of people who I’ve done some charity work for — I’ve got them all expenses paid to come down, use my passes and take them behind the scenes and stuff. They’re raising a good bit of money for charity. It’s great to do things like that.
“This is for one of the Lisbon Lions. The Tommy Gemmell foundation, trying to get the statue erected in my hometown in Craigneuk.
“We’ve been running charity days and the funds are put in place and we’ll have a Lisbon Lions memorial up very soon which is great.
“You’d think the clubs would do more. People like the Lisbon Lions were so iconic for the club and every Celtic fan, so you’d think the club would be doing these things.
“It’s baffling really that it’s left up to people to raise money themselves to honour one of their best ever sons.”
Think you hate our Board just now? Watch this 🤢 pic.twitter.com/xNM8MmKMHP
— GrandAuldTeam 💚 (@Celtic67Champs) November 30, 2025
This felt like a rare, easy opportunity for the board to earn goodwill at a time when relations between fans and the hierarchy are at rock bottom. Instead, the silence from the club has only added to the frustration.
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5 responses
Hands up if you think our Board are capable of doing anything worthy of praise…So let me have a look….Nah …No hands up that I can see…Usual rules apply….NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE.
I think what you really mean is, “let’s see if we can make something else up to call out the board on”
Do you want the board to fun all the pyrotechnics for the idiots who keep breaking the laws on matchdays too maybe? After all, they are ending up at the Celtic end!
How about the cost of the abusive banners, aimed at personally insulting the top men on the board who have made our board and club the best in the country? Should the fund those too?
The childish red cards on display that has the rest of the country laughing at how infantile you all have become? After all, that cardstock in the kids corner in the craft store is quite expensive these days! The least the board can do is fund the kids for this! No?
Oh wait! I know what we could have them pay for in full! How about replacement nappies and dummies for the wee crybabies who just don’t seem to get it yet?
No-one who is a REAL Celtic supporter CARES about the kids anymore!
It’s time they grew up now!
They had their moment in the limelight, made their motion, put them forward, LOST their votes by VAST majorities, so that means it’s time to move along and pull up those big people pants!
It even means it’s time to stop looking for anything and everything you can blame on the best board in British football.
^^^^oxygen thief
Still spouting garbage I see, it’s about one of our greatest ever players, Tommy Gemmell, a Lisbon Lion, it’s not about you and your nonsense, at least have a smidgen of respect. Does the truth hurt you so much?.
What’s a”cub”?….