Stephen McGowan makes feelings clear after Celtic release late-night statement

Stephen McGowan believes Celtic made a major public-relations mistake with their lengthy response to the protest involving Dermot Desmond at St Andrews.

Celtic’s principal shareholder was targeted with tennis balls while taking part in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Saturday. The Celtic Fans Collective later released footage of the incident and criticised Desmond, claiming that supporters had been unable to get the answers they wanted from the club.

The protest initially appeared to be fading from the headlines as Saturday evening went on. However, Celtic unexpectedly released an 867-word statement on their official website shortly after 10pm.

The club strongly condemned the protest, stating that it had brought embarrassment upon Celtic. It also announced that its relationship with the Fans Collective had ended and warned that supporters found to have organised, assisted with or taken part in the incident could receive indefinite stadium bans.

Rather than putting the controversy to bed, the statement gave the dispute fresh momentum and kept the issue at the centre of Celtic discussions throughout the weekend.

Speaking on Graham Spiers’ Press Box podcast, McGowan suggested that the protest reflected the growing frustration among sections of the Celtic support who believe previous efforts to push for change at the club have failed.

The journalist also argued that the protest itself might not have generated such a significant reaction had Celtic chosen not to respond so strongly.

In his view, the incident was relatively brief and could have disappeared from the news cycle fairly quickly. Instead, Celtic’s late-night statement provided the Celtic Fans Collective with another opportunity to make its case and generated additional sympathy for the supporters involved.

McGowan therefore believes the club’s decision to issue such a lengthy response ultimately worked against it from a public-relations perspective.

The original protest itself was short-lived. No one was injured, Desmond was able to finish his round of golf and the tournament continued without disruption.

By Saturday afternoon, however, footage of the incident had already spread across social media and sparked plenty of debate.

Celtic’s subsequent statement brought the controversy back into focus, with the Fans Collective later responding by accusing the club of misrepresenting its position and criticising the timing and nature of the response.

Despite the protest lasting only a short time, the disagreement between the supporters’ group and Celtic has continued to dominate discussion around the club several days later.