Celtic fan chief sparks row over chants

A Celtic supporters’ chief has sparked fury after she defended the singing of IRA songs by fans.

Jeanette Findlay, chair of the Celtic Trust, said that chants about terrorists had a historical basis.

But the club distanced itself from her comments, saying they were “totally unrepresentative of the Celtic support”.

The row erupted after Dr Findlay spoke on BBC Radio 5 Live’s breakfast programme yesterday.

She said: “The club was founded to help the poor of the Irish immigrants to Scotland.

“Many of the supporters are descendants of these people.

“They may take a particular view of history, what happened in Ireland, which is different to many other people. So I don’t call those pro-terrorist songs.”

She said that the chants were “songs from a war of independence going back over a hundred years”.

She also said: “I think what history tells us is that it’s actually facile to say that politics and sport will ever be separated.

“Throughout history, sports events are used often as a means of expressing political views, political identity.”

She also said that her organisation opposed the appointment of John Reid as Celtic chairman because of the former British minister’s role during the war in Iraq.

Her comments came on the day that the latest football anti-bigotry initiative was launched at Hampden.

First Minister Alex Salmond yesterday teamed up with the 12 Scottish Premier League clubs to launch Kick-Out Bigotry, which aims to tackle the issue.

Celtic said they were extremely disappointed at Dr Findlay’s comments.

A club spokesman said: “These comments are totally unrepresentative of the Celtic support.

“There are around 27,500 Celtic shareholders, we believe that Ms Findlay claims to speak for only around 200 of these – a very, very small minority – as yesterday’s 99.1% vote in favour of Dr Reid’s appointment as chairman clearly underlines.

“We are sure, given the nature of her comments, she is presenting her own opinion and not that of the Celtic Trust.

“We are delighted with the way in which our fans currently support the team.”

During the interview, fans bombarded the show with messages distancing themselves from Dr Findlay’s comments.

Dr Findlay is a lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of Glasgow and co-director of the Glasgow University Football Research Centre.

The Celtic Trust is a supporters’ trust and was established to represent the interests of small shareholders and supporters at Celtic.

Other groups reiterated their support for anti-sectarian initiatives.

Jim Divers, of Celtic Supporters Association, said the association opposed any offensive add-ons to chants.

He told the Evening Times newspaper: “We will continue to support the club’s many on-going anti-sectarianism initiatives, which are backed by the vast majority of supporters.”

A Scottish government spokeswoman said of Dr Findlay’s comments: “Her repugnant views have no place in a modern, forward-thinking Scotland.

“The people of Scotland have had enough of bigotry.

“We have been working together with the football clubs to lead the way in tackling sectarianism.”