‘There was an intimidation at Celtic Park because the crowd forced that…’ Martin O’Neill pleads for peace to breakout between Parkhead board and fans

Martin O’Neill has pleaded with furious Celtic supporters to stop targeting the club’s board – claiming their actions have fuelled an atmosphere of ‘intimidation’ around the club.

Off-field protests and anger among fans have marred Celtic’s season, with the latest demonstration coming on Sunday prior to their 3-1 win over Aberdeen.

Peter Lawwell announced last week that he will step down as chairman at the end of the year, citing ‘intolerable abuse and threats’ against himself and his family as a key factor in his decision to walk away.

Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson also claimed that three club officials were assaulted after the League Cup Final defeat to St Mirren.

O’Neill, who served as interim manager prior to the arrival of Wilfried Nancy, noted how the club’s AGM descended into a farce and had to be abandoned a few weeks ago.

The Parkhead icon insists the time has come for some kind of truce to be drawn if the club are to emerge from the crisis which has engulfed much of their season.

There were more fan protests outside of Celtic Park on Sunday before the win over Aberdeen

Speaking on talkSPORT, O’Neill said: ‘I was at an AGM some weeks ago that descended into chaos, really, and that’s really unfortunate because Celtic Football Club has been unified for a long, long time, maybe since Jock Stein’s days and maybe before that.

‘There was an intimidation at Celtic Park, because the crowd forced that, and this discourse between board and supporters will have to end at some stage.

‘This might really upset a lot of Celtic fans in this sense that there has been great success over the last 20-odd years, 38 trophies.

‘Sometimes you can have a dip, it happens and it happened to Celtic before then. In the 90s, I think they won maybe three trophies in 10 years or whatever the case may be.

‘Celtic will come again but Celtic will come more quickly, if there is a sort of a spirit there, a togetherness, and that has got to come.’

The protests started back in the summer when Celtic were dumped out of the Champions League qualifiers by Kazakh minnows Kairat Almaty.

The failure to strengthen the playing squad led to a fractured relationship with Brendan Rodgers and the club’s board before he departed the club in late October.

At the Celtic AGM a few weeks ago, Lawwell told angry supporters and shareholders to ‘behave’ before the meeting was abandoned due to protests.

Peter Lawwell will step down as chairman before the New Year and he blamed some of the abuse he was receiving from sections of the Celtic support

On the abuse suffered by Lawwell, O’Neill continued: ‘You can be frustrated as a football fan, you can, but please, taking it out in the manner in which they’ve done, as Peter mentions, the abuse is ‘intolerable’, and it is strong.

‘When it gets to your family, listen, you’ve got to stop, you’ve got to really, really stop and think about this here.’

After four straight defeats, Nancy finally claimed his first victory as Celtic manager courtesy of a 3-1 win over Aberdeen on Sunday.

It eases some of the pressure that had built on the Frenchman even so early in his tenure, with games to come against Livingston, Motherwell and Rangers over the festive period.

‘Big win, big, big win,’ said O’Neill. ‘It’s really important. When you’re not winning football matches, it doesn’t matter what club you’re at, pressure mounts on you.

‘This was an enormous win, to get a couple of late goals as well. They deserved to win the game, but Aberdeen with 10 men, if they’d held on for a draw, that would have been pretty poor news.

‘But they deserved to win and they got the late goals – well done them.’