There is a considerable irony in the civil unrest that has enveloped Celtic since last Wednesday evening.

It has been conveniently overlooked that the man depicted in the banners at the centre of this row, the man to whom the tifo display was in homage to, is the very man who would distance himself with considerable alacrity from its message, entirely unsubtle in its undertones and connotations.

It called to mind the anger of Neil Lennon one day when the Green Brigade’s conduct – a “f**k UEFA” banner was held in reference to a fine - overshadowed a fine performance by Celtic away to Udinese. "If I was in a room with these guys right now what I would say to them would not be for public consumption.”

Brendan Rodgers, in conversations both public and private, has been at pains to offer diplomacy in any conversation about the nature of sectarian tensions and divides in Glasgow. Amidst the offence that has been caused by last week’s display, no-one will have been more annoyed than Rodgers himself.

In the statement that emerged from the club on Friday evening, it was Rodgers who urged the solipsistic Green Brigade to wake up. Given their retort that came afterwards, one can only assume it fell on deaf ears.

Interestingly, in a long-winded statement from the self-proclaimed ultras that emerged on Saturday, there was not a single mention of Rodgers and his reaction to the nonsense.

There is further irony, too.

Slag Peter Lawwell if you will, take the pot shots at the board but the truth of the matter is this; without the way the club has been run in the last decade and the financial management of it, Brendan Rodgers would not be in the Celtic dug-out.

Rodgers could well command vastly higher salaries outwith Celtic Park. At another club he could oversee a transfer budget that Celtic will never come close to matching, but that does not mean that he comes cheap.

Celtic made Rodgers the highest paid manager in their history. The boat was pushed out in order to bring the former Liverpool manager to the club for one reason and one reason only – to elevate Celtic to a higher level, to get the club back on the map in Champions League and European football.

How galling, then, that as a team is put on the park that provides evidence that this may well be achievable ambition, that there are a minority hellbent on forcing attention away from the football, football that has been in keeping with the best traditions of Celtic over the last 12 months.

The Green Brigade tend to keep their best party pieces for the European nights, when all eyes converge on Celtic Park. UEFA’s eyes miss nothing, not even a misplaced logo on a warm-up bib. Again, criticise the corrupt nature of the organisation to your hearts content but if you want in the Champions League, you want a cut of the cake, then it’s their ball.

The list of misdemeanours over recent seasons stands at 12 calls to UEFA and a sum of just under £150k being lost in their coffers. Peanuts, maybe, but what is far more costly is the damage that has been done to the club’s reputation in the meantime.

Long before the birth of the GB, Celtic took 80,000 supporters to Seville. A photograph still stands inside Celtic Park of FIFA presenting the club with a Fair Play award on the back of the good behaviour given the volume of fans within the city that week. The erosion of that reputation is difficult to quantify and difficult to understand; if the ultras love the club more than anyone else, where is the sense in damaging it?

There is no support of any club who attract considerable following that is squeaky clean. There is nothing drearily revelatory in the news that there are some who latch onto Celtic as a vehicle in which to proclaim their IRA sympathies.

What is often celebrated by Celtic supporters is the all-encompassing nature of the club. Open to all is the message that has come officially and unofficially, with supporters insistent that the only colour that matters is green.

In a week, then, that Celtic revealed they had sold out all season tickets for this season, more than 52,000, it stands to reason then there are people then of various denominations within the ground, people from all walks of life with differing political, social and cultural outlooks.

There is an immature self-indulgence about a minority - less than 1,000 who purport to speak for 60,000 - who persist in declaring themselves the keeper of the club’s soul.

Time to grow up and , as Rodgers urged, wake up.