Incidents, Events & Controversies | About Celtic
Details
Ref: Proposed appointment by Celtic board to Celtic of top police officer Bernard Higgins
Date: 2021
Overview
In 2021 Assistant Chief Constable Bernard Higgins was reportedly sounded out for a role at Celtic wrt safety and control. This was very controversial and unacceptable across the support.
He was one of those at the top who enforced the abusive Offensive Behaviour at Football Act against regular football fans. . The legislation was flawed and its subsequent repeal highlighted the enormous amount of injustices that were transpiring. Many young Celtic fans were targetted and actually had their lives seriously affected by the abuse of power by certain authority enforcers such as the police.
Bernard Higgins was famously quoted as saying that the repeal of these draconian policing laws would lead to a “regression” of offensive behaviour when he was police chief. Clearly it never happened and was just nonsense. The Offensive Behaviour at Football Act (2010), was nothing but a campaign to target and marginalise certain groups in society with which the ordered establishment did not agree with. Who said we live in a democracy? It was targetting easy targets of young people often with an agenda.
Protests were strong at matches with banners and even tennis balls en masse being thrown onto the pitch at one match v Dundee to disrupt the start to highlight the campaign.
At the Celtic shareholders AGM, Celtic chairman Ian Bankier decided against issuing a simple unequivocal denial about the rumoured appointment of Bernard Higgins to a senior security role within the club. Basically Ian Bankier squirmed out of an answer and actually made things worse.
It was roundly booed and criticised, and the board scored a massive own goal. The Celtic board achieved something not done since mid nineties and that was to unite practically the entire support against them! Easily avoidable and really showed up the management at a time when the divisions between the board and supporter were vast.
The silence and inaction on this issue (publicly) was a disaster for everyone.
Belatedly, on 19th December 2021, on the league cup final day (Celtic v Hibs). Bernard Higgins has confirmed he won’t be joining Celtic. A spokesperson said: “To address recent speculation, I can confirm that I will not be joining Celtic FC when I retire from the police on 31 December 2021.”
Celtic’s PR team trying to bury this story by posting it on this day! Great news but still pathetic move and attempt by the board to try to bury it all.
Power to the people, but a lot of damage between the board hierarchy and the club’s supporters along the way.
Forums
Articles
Bernard Higgins: Over 100 Celtic fan groups protest ‘appointment’ of senior top police officer
By Martin Williams @Martin1Williams Senior News Reporter
vhttps://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19735717.bernard-higgins-100-celtic-fan-groups-protest-appointment-senior-top-police-officer/
OVER 100 Celtic fan groups from across the world have told the club board that they will not co-operate with the rumoured appoinment of former Police Scotland commander Bernard Higgins to a senior security role.
They have written to the club’s chief executive Michael Nicholson that they will “refuse to recognise or engage” with Mr Higgins if appointed, reports the Herald.
Higgins was heavily involved in setting up the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, which was introduced in 2012 in a bid to clampd down on sectarianism.
The Fans Against Criminalisation campaign group argued the legislation had eroded trust between supporters and police and had failed to tackle bigotry.
The FAC warned of a “genuine danger to civil liberties” and the continuous criminalising of the young over minor offences if the controversial law was not repealed.
Glasgow Times:
Mr Higgins, assistant chief constable, had defended the move saying a report of offensive behaviour need not lead to heavy-handed action.
The act, which applied only to football fans, was intended to deal with sectarian behaviour such as bigoted chanting at matches, in pubs or on public transport.
It also sought to prevent malicious communications that incited religious hatred on social media and the internet.
But on March 16 2018, the act was finally overturned by the Scottish Parliament almost exactly six years after it was introduced.
The overturning happened in the face of opposition of the government – one of the few times this has happened in the last 20 years of Scottish devolution.
Now in a letter to Mr Nicholson, the fans groups have stated: “We, the undersigned wish to state our objection to the rumoured appoitnment of Bernard Higgins as a member of Celtic FC’s security staff.
“In his role as assistant chief constable with Police Scotland and as the national strategic lead for football, Higgins has been responsible for the policing of football fans for almost a decade.
“In the period since he was appointed to this position, the policing of football matches has changed dramatically, with the introduction of intrusive surveillance, the widespread use of football banning orders and a determination to arrest fans on spurious charges.
“This has caused irreparable damage to the lives of many Celtic fans as well as to the relationship between the supporters and Higgins himself.
“It must be made known that we will refuse to recognise or engage with Higgins if he is appointed, as his history makes him an unsuitable candidate to be taksed with the responsibility and security of Celtic supporters.
“We ask you to address this issue and to reconsider such an appointment.”
Fans groups that have signed the letter have coming from across the world, including England, Romania, USA, New Zealand, even Russia.
Glasgow Times:
In 2016, Mr Higgins (above) said offensive behaviour was not just a problem for Celtic and Rangers.
“We’ve arrested people associated with 16 different clubs in Scotland,” he said.
“So it’s not exclusive to the Old Firm, it’s not exclusive to the top flight. That’s 16 clubs right the way through all divisions.”
In 2017, he warned that Scots football fans should expect police to act over support for terrorist organisations. He insisted his officers would not tolerate any offensive displays by the hardline supporters.
He reacted after the FAC campaign group were critical of him warning controversial Celtic fans group the Green Brigade to leave politics at the turnstiles or face being arrested.
Mr Higgins at the time was unrepentant over his stance saying: “Over the years I have policed many events where political views have been expressed. That is what we do in a democracy. There is a massive difference between expressing a political view or supporting a terrorist organisation.
“If FAC want to sit down with me I will happily explain my position and reasons for it, however I would reiterate that any person showing support for a terrorist organisation should expect my officers to act, and thereafter it will be a matter for the Scottish courts to decide.”
Last week Celtic chairman Ian Bankier offered Celtic fans no assurances over the rumoured appointment.
He was reluctant to give any concrete answers to the rumours.
Last month the Green Brigade announced a silent protest against the rumoured appointment for the match against Livingston.
Glasgow Times:
The fan group stated: “Higgins played a major part of the implementation of the much-hated Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act and passionately defended the legislation within the Scottish Parliament.
“Assistant Chief Constable Higgins’ remit involved strategic decisions on the policing of football across Scotland.
“His appointment would be no laughing matter, however. For hundreds of Celtic fans this would represent the ultimate insult.”
Nov 2021
Celtic’s sustained silence on Bernard Higgins issue is more damaging than quiet in the stands
https://www.celticway.co.uk/opinion/19781986.celtics-sustained-silence-bernard-higgins-issue-damaging-quiet-stands/
By Sean Martin @smarti51 Celtic writer
The purported appointment of Police Scotland assistant chief constable Bernard Higgins to a senior security role at Celtic has led to fan protests
The purported appointment of Police Scotland assistant chief constable Bernard Higgins to a senior security role at Celtic has led to fan protests
0 comment
PROTESTS are inconvenient.
That’s the thing about any mode of demonstration. Whether it’s a sit-in, a strike, a march or, yes, even a silent protest, it has to be at least somewhat problematic for people. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Now does that mean the latest demonstration against the purported appointment of Police Scotland assistant chief constable Bernard Higgins had to be a silent one? No, and it is understandable why some wouldn’t like it given the possible impact it can have on the players.
In the 1990s Back the team, sack the board was catchy and all that, but it fundamentally rang true as it meant those demonstrating could still voice support for the players on the pitch. That’s why most people are there, after all.
Celtic right-back Josip Juranovic said after the 1-0 win over Motherwell that the change in atmosphere was perceptible on the pitch. Of course it would be.
Celtic Way: Fans protest during the Aberdeen game, with a sit-in staged after the match tooFans protest during the Aberdeen game, with a sit-in staged after the match too
“We noticed it,” he said. “When we came in afterwards we were speaking about it and how we never really heard them singing. We were joking we should join the protest and sit on the pitch and drink coffee!
“It made a difference. When the fans sing it is the main thing here. We play for them and they cheer for us. When they cheer we play better so hopefully it will come back soon.”
However, silence is the method that a section of the support decided to go with to get their point across (points that, it should be noted, can be traced all the way back to a decade ago and the absurd Offensive Behaviour at Football Act). Those taking part in the latest protest asked for solidarity with it, not compulsory participation in it.
It is also important to remember that it wasn’t the first method of demonstration chosen either. Green Brigade banners have been a constant but there was also the tennis ball display at Dundee, the shorter silent protest against Livingston, the sit-in against Aberdeen and the open letter co-signed not just by fan groups such as the Celtic Trust and fan media outlets but by more than 250 supporters clubs from across the world too.
The latter move, in particular, served to underline that this is not, and never has been, only the Green Brigade’s fight. Just because that particular group is often the loudest – or, in Sunday’s case, one of the quietest – doesn’t make that any less true. It should not have been ignored.
WATCH: Do you agree with silent protests at Celtic? – video debate
It is, of course, absolutely fine to agree with the principle behind the protests but not with silence as the method of demonstration. But if you’re more concerned with some fans exercising their own right not to sing at a match than with understanding the reason why they feel forced into doing that in the first place then it could be argued that’s far closer to becoming part of the problem than it is to helping find a solution.
Because the inconvenient truth here is that far more worrying than the silence of some fans for a game or two is the silence from the club for a month or two.
A recurring question when discussing the Bernard Higgins situation on the Celtic Briefing this season has been ‘why would the board even give themselves this headache for a position plenty of people could presumably fill?’
The closest the hierarchy has come to addressing the issue was at the club’s AGM – where Ian Bankier, erm, refused to address it.
At this point you have to ask not just if it’s pig-headedness that’s leading the board to ignore these protests and the repeated requests for some semblance of discourse on the issue, but if it’s actually a fundamental lack of leadership at the club.
It seems Dominic McKay’s talk of Celtic having a more open dialogue with supporters has evacuated Parkhead along with the former CEO. And when placed alongside an issue such as the Higgins one, the club allowing some fan media outlets the chance to ask Ange Postecoglou a couple of questions every so often doesn’t really quite cut the mustard after all, does it?
The fan groups sent another strong message to the Celtic board today. Their continued silence is deafening. It is now time that they come to the table, meet with supporter groups and resolve this matter. One thing is clear – Bernard Higgins will never be welcome at @CelticFC 🚫👨🏻🦲 pic.twitter.com/ug2AXYSkNB
— FAC (@FACKilltheBill) December 12, 2021
It is hard to shake the feeling a club with true, comfortable-in-its-own-skin leadership would have acted by now to seek to douse the situation rather than continue to inflame it. They’d know that doing so would not be ‘bowing down to fan pressure’ but simply acknowledging the unique place supporters of a football club occupy in an otherwise wildly capital-driven arena. Plainly put, it didn’t need to reach this stage.
Yet still the prevailing feeling, given that this matter is dragging on through what has now entered the third month of protests against Higgins’ purported appointment, is one of alarm. What now?
So far every demonstration – not just the latest versions – has left only the sound of deafening silence in its wake and the only people it seems to have inconvenienced is the players and the fans themselves rather than the club as a board or a business.
The League Cup, the January window, the title race, Europe… a club at least ostensibly united to face all of those challenges would be, well, a lot more convenient.
For that to be possible a silence must end – but it doesn’t have to be the one from the stands.
