The Celtic Fans Collective has criticised Dermot Desmond’s “priorities” after the Scottish champions withdrew recognition of the group following a protest against the major shareholder at the Alfred Dunhill Links golf tournament in St Andrews.
Tennis balls with pictures of the 76-year-old’s face scored out were thrown on to the 15th green at the pro-am competition on Saturday, with images showing Desmond later having to be escorted off the course by security.
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Celtic said in a statement they will “indefinitely ban” anyone “established to be involved in planning, facilitating or participating” in the protest.
Now the fans group has responded by describing Desmond as “notoriously thin-skinned” and claiming his comments about it were “a disgraceful mischaracterisation of our organisation”.
“This tells Celtic supporters everything they need to know about Dermot Desmond and his priorities,” it stated.
“He appears furious that ordinary working-class fans have dared to air their grievances in the safe, elitist world of golf, embarrassing him in front of the network of people whose opinions he appears to value far more than those of Celtic supporters.”
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Celtic had condemned “in the strongest terms” the incident, which they said was “discussed and planned in advance”.
“This was a premeditated action,” their statement said. “Accordingly, the club will no longer recognise the Celtic Fans Collective as a representative body speaking on behalf of Celtic supporters and will cease all engagement with the collective.”
Earlier in the day, the group released a statement, along with footage and images of the incident.
It read: “Dermot Desmond has essentially been allowed to run Celtic Football Club whilst using his wealth to hide from supporters and accountability. Fans took the chance today to send a message that this arrangement cannot continue.”
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Desmond is the largest individual shareholder of the Scottish Premiership club but has been criticised in recent seasons for the club’s lack of progress in Europe and underwhelming transfer business.
In the wake of Brendan Rodgers’ resignation at the beginning of last season, Desmond blamed the former manager for much of the problems that marred the beginning of the 2025-26 campaign.
Then at Celtic’s November annual meeting, which had to be abandoned due to fan unrest, Desmond’s son, Ross, read out a statement on his behalf.
He began by defending his father, a “lifelong and passionate” Celtic supporter, and vowed that the board would not be “bullied by aggressive and irrational” criticism.
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The Irishman defended then chairman Peter Lawwell and chief executive Michael Nicholson, claiming attempts to “dehumanise and vilify them are shameful”.
Desmond went on to criticise a section of fans over a recent incident that led to the Green Brigade ultras group being banned and added: “Those people are bullies.”
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