'Not Celtic' - Martin O'Neill condemns Dermot Desmond Dunhill protest and responds to fan boycott

Desmond was participating in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the Old Course on Saturday when his round was interrupted by a group of individuals in balaclavas throwing tennis balls onto the 15th green.

The incident sparked a war of words with furious statements traded between the club and the Celtic Fan Collective - an umbrella organisation which claims to represent 23 supporter groups - with each side accusing the other of wrongdoing.

O'Neill is well accustomed to the ongoing tension between sections of the support and the Celtic board with a number of protests taking place following his return to the club last season amid concerns over the way it is being run.

"I came into this situation this time last year and it seems to be going back to that again," O'Neill said. "I don't agree at all with what happened up at St Andrews. I don't agree with that at all.

"I think that is not Celtic. I mean, we derided Rangers in the [Scottish Cup] game for wearing balaclavas and then suddenly we're doing it ourselves. This is not Celtic at all.

"There are forms of protest if that's the case. What I can say is that I'm no longer able or haven't been ever able to control a number of things. I can't control what supporters do and I can't control the media.

"I definitely can't do any of those. I've never been able to do that at all. So what I try and focus on as much as possible is trying to control what I think I'm able to and that is my relationship with the players and that's the important thing for me.

"I'm the manager. I mentioned next door that it was like a figurehead but I don't see that. I'm a spokesperson but I'm a spokesperson for the football club on the football field as much as possible."

O'Neill was speaking at a Celtic press conference shortly after ultras group, The Green Brigade, announced they would be boycotting home Europa League matches and all Scottish Cup matches for the remainder of the season unless concerns are addressed.

"I think it's a really sad situation if that's the case," he said. "Ian [Jamieson, Celtic communcations manager] has just mentioned it to me before I came in, what you've just said. I wasn't aware of that and it is sad but we went through it last season and what I will say is that when the club came together and it was really big.”

Referring back to the UEFA Cup final of 2003, O’Neill added: "The days of having 80,000 people in Seville without an arrest, that's Celtic to me. Or the final whistle going in the last match of the season where the crowd come onto the pitch in a euphoric state. Those are phenomenal memories which I'll never forget.

At the end of it all, it is a sad situation and I think if I have, as a football manager, to go through all of that again, I don't know. All I do know is that when the club were together towards the end of the season, I genuinely felt we were unbeatable."