Fuming Celtic release stinging Dermot Desmond protest statement after St Andrews drama

Desmond was playing golf as part of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship when his round was interrupted on the 15th green by protesters throwing tennis balls with head shots of the 76-year-old at him.

The Irishman was escorted off the course and a police presence was called upon to deal with the latest protest against the billionaire Celtic Park tycoon.

And now the club have officially commented on the incident, laying the finger of blame at the Celtic Fans Collective and saying that a line has been crossed.

The full statement from Celtic read: “Celtic Football Club condemns in the strongest terms the deliberate disruption which took place today at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews.

“This was a premeditated action. The Club is aware that it was discussed and planned in advance at a meeting of the Celtic Fans Collective committee. Minutes of that meeting record a proposal specifically to disrupt the event at St Andrews using tennis balls and banners, coordination with supporters intending to attend, and an agreement that Collective funds would be used towards materials for the protest.

“Following today’s incident, the Celtic Fans Collective published footage of the disruption on its own social media account together with a statement supporting the action and the message it was intended to convey.

“Celtic Football Club has never sought to prevent supporters from expressing criticism of the Club, its Board or its shareholders. Supporters are entitled to disagree with decisions, to make their views known and to protest peacefully. What occurred at St Andrews represents a significant and unacceptable escalation.

“A group purporting to act in the interests of Celtic supporters deliberately took a dispute concerning Celtic Football Club beyond Celtic Park and beyond football, to the home of golf, and disrupted an internationally recognised sporting event involving participants, organisers and spectators who have no involvement whatsoever in that dispute.

“In doing so, those responsible have sought to attach the name of Celtic and its supporters to their conduct on a public and international stage.

“Celtic’s reputation has been built over generations, and our supporters have earned a worldwide reputation for the extraordinary passion, loyalty and commitment with which they support their Club. That reputation was built over many decades by generations of Celtic supporters.

“Those responsible have brought shame upon the name of Celtic Football Club and upon a reputation which generations of Celtic supporters have spent more than a century building.

“Over the past year, however, the conduct of the Green Brigade and those operating through the Celtic Fans Collective has increasingly threatened to undermine that hard-earned reputation.

“Repeated acts of disruption and escalation, culminating in today’s pre-planned disruption of an entirely unrelated sporting event, risk creating an image of Celtic supporters which is wholly unrepresentative of the overwhelming majority of those who follow the Club.

‘The Club will not be intimidated or coerced’

“The reputation of Celtic supporters belongs to the entire Celtic family. It does not belong to any self-appointed group, and no such group is entitled to diminish it in pursuit of its own agenda.

“The Club no longer accepts that the Celtic Fans Collective can credibly claim to represent the wider Celtic support. Those responsible for today’s events certainly do not speak for the many thousands of Celtic supporters who express their views passionately, peacefully and responsibly.

“The Club will not be intimidated or coerced by organised acts of disruption. Nor will decisions concerning the stewardship of Celtic Football Club be dictated by those prepared continually to escalate their behaviour in an attempt to exert pressure upon the Club, its employees, directors, shareholders or others associated with Celtic. There is a line between protest and deliberate disruption. Today that line was crossed.

“The Club has repeatedly sought engagement with supporter groups and, where restrictions have previously been imposed, has sought to provide a route by which relationships could be rebuilt on the basis of responsible conduct.

“Most recently, the Club met representatives of the Celtic Fans Collective in good faith in an effort to engage constructively with the concerns they wished to raise.

“It is therefore particularly regrettable that, while the Club was continuing to engage in good faith, the Collective was planning and authorising further organised disruption. This follows the pattern of events surrounding the Stuttgart fixture earlier this year, when constructive engagement was similarly accompanied by plans for disruptive action.

“Today represents a further and more serious escalation. This time, the disruption was taken entirely outside Celtic and outside football, intruding upon an unrelated sporting event and targeting an individual while participating in that event in a private capacity.

“The conduct of the past year, culminating in today’s events, has demonstrated that the basis for constructive engagement has been fundamentally undermined.

“Accordingly, the Club will no longer recognise the Celtic Fans Collective as a representative body speaking on behalf of Celtic supporters and will cease all engagement with the Collective with immediate effect.

“The Club is examining today’s events. Any individuals or groups who are established to be involved in planning, facilitating or participating in this action will be banned indefinitely from Celtic Park.

“No supporter requires the permission of Celtic Football Club to disagree with its Board. But equally, no supporter group has an entitlement to repeatedly disrupt events, intimidate individuals or seek to coerce the Club and then claim to do so on behalf of the Celtic support.

“Celtic will continue to listen to and engage with supporters who wish to make their voices heard constructively and responsibly. There are many established channels through which supporters can do so, and today’s decision does not diminish the Club’s commitment to meaningful supporter engagement. But engagement requires responsibility. The Club will protect its employees, directors, shareholders and supporters.

“The reputation of Celtic Football Club is non negotiable.”