THE row between Celtic’s board and some organisations representing the club’s fans took a dramatic new twist when director Ian Livingston released details of anti-Semitic abuse he suffered online.
Fans organisations had called for Lord Livingston to step down from the board after he voted for the Conservative government’s tax credit cuts in the House of Lords. When Celtic chairman Ian Bankier attacked the “criminally racist” slurs on Livingston, the organisations called for him to consider his position, too.
Yesterday, Livingston posted on a fans’ website, revealing details of the abuse and defending his action in the Lords. He wrote: “I hope you don’t mind me posting this. As the person about whom a number of abusive comments were made, I thought you might be interested in a couple of the racist ones so you can perhaps see why the chairman was upset about them. Michael Higgins: ‘Get this Ashkenazi *** out of our club and take that other fake Jew prick Biton with him. This is typical of their sort, infiltrating and destroying every country and establishment from within’. Or someone under the name Ross Grant saying ‘He’s a Jew what do you expect’.”
Livingston added: “Many others were simply abusive, not, I assume, anything to do with my religion but rather because I had a different political view.
Actually I wasn’t in agreement with the nature of the tax credit cuts but believed that this motion was not something the unelected House of Lords should do, so voted against it.
“No doubt some will disagree but you might consider the nature of expressing your view and whether abuse is also in line with your view of Celtic’s ethos. I have always believed Celtic fans are the best in the world and a few racist postings on social media will not change that.”
The Affiliation of Registered Celtic Supporters’ Clubs, Celtic Trust and the Green Brigade condemned any abuse of Livingston, but rejected Bankier’s claim of it being “criminally racist”, and called on Bankier to “consider his position as chairman”.
Celtic replied with a strongly worded statement: “Ian made his position absolutely clear on Friday when he thanked, praised and commended Celtic supporters and shareholders and clarified that he had not branded our supporters as some had suggested.
“Ian was simply referring to those individuals that the Trust in their statement have also condemned, so we seem to be in agreement. We are surprised and disappointed that a public statement has been made without any dialogue on the matter with the club but, as always, we will be happy to meet any of our fans’ groups to discuss.”
Bankier said: “I have not branded our supporters racist and it is outrageous to suggest I would ever do that. I was only referring to a small number of specific comments which have been made on social media, which I believe are unacceptable, and I know Celtic supporters would agree with me.”
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