THE Celtic Trust and the Green Brigade yesterday issued a joint statement criticising the Parkhead club for their handling of the controversy over the potential Linfield Champions League qualifier.

The Scottish champions will not have any supporters at the first leg of the second round match against their Northern Ireland counterparts at Windsor Park in Belfast next month if Linfield defeat La Fiorita of San Marino in their next two matches.

The Glasgow club have decided they will not take any tickets for the game, which will be moved from Wednesday, July 12, to 5pm on July 14 due to safety concerns, after liaising with the local authorities.

Brendan Rodgers, the Celtic manager who hails from Northern Ireland, yesterday admitted that he can appreciate the concerns of the police given the difficulties they have maintaining order during the July 12 celebrations. Rodgers said: “I understand the issues around it.”

However, the decision has not gone down well with many Celtic supporters and the Celtic Trust and the Green Brigade have both urged the club to consider reversing the decision and fans to buy tickets independently if they fail to do so.

The joint Celtic Trust and Green Brigade statement read: “The vague statement released by the board late on Friday afternoon did not contain any clear explanation of this decision – a decision made with no consultation at all with fan organisations, groups or regular European away travellers.

“The statement noted ‘safety concerns’ but it is our understanding that the PSNI does not object to Celtic fans travelling and, indeed, Linfield has publicly encouraged the board to accept our allocation and stated they are ‘more than happy’ for Celtic fans to attend the match.

“We believe that the board is more concerned with protecting the brand than the welfare of the fans or the success of our team.

“It is a very sad and strange turn of events when the custodians of our own club do not want the world famous Celtic support backing the team in a ‘crucial’ away match yet the home club welcomes us with open arms.

“We call on the board to reconsider their decision, and should they fail to do so, for Linfield to sell tickets directly to Celtic supporters.

“Our away support has significant experience of dealing directly with host clubs in the distribution of domestic away match tickets and doing so again for the match in Belfast should be a straightforward process.

“This should be done in a fair, responsible and transparent manner and would avoid the scenario of ticketless Celtic fans accessing the home end, which may, in itself, lead to genuine safety concerns. Football without fans is nothing.”