Celtic Park Without Away Fans Stripped Wednesday Of Its Poison, Not Its Atmosphere.

In the run up to the game on Wednesday night, I was not surprised that many outlets decided to go into over-drive with the criticism of Celtic for “not doing the right thing” and allowing away fans into the stadium.

Apparently, it detracts from the atmosphere.

To me, and to everyone who was in the ground, that view is even dafter in the aftermath of the game than it was before it, when it was already pretty stupid.

The atmosphere the other night was absolutely electric and made for a truly amazing game.

We didn’t need their supporters to enjoy the occasion; indeed, the whole event was better off without the bile that would have been obvious with even a few hundred of them in attendance. I don’t get, and have never gotten, the media’s horrible snow-blindness when it comes to talking up the “atmosphere” at these games; it is the promotion of hatred.

Celtic fans have long pushed away the “Old Firm” tag.

We want nothing whatsoever to do with the concept, and especially since we’re dealing now with a NewCo and the phrase only lends legitimacy to the Survival and Victim lies.

But a big part of it is that we utterly refuse to be associated with the hatred and bile that flows from their club and this poisonous idea that we are “one side” of some two headed coin.

No matter what we do to attempt to distance ourselves from this toxic concept, Ibrox pulls us tighter and the media assumes their point of view on it.

Our club would not have banned their supporters from Celtic Park without good cause, but now that we’re in this place a lot of us would prefer it if we never went back.

How anyone can have sat inside Parkhead the other night and thought that there was something missing I will never be able to comprehend, because to me it was a perfect evening.

I mean what better way to celebrate a derby win than amongst friends?

The Celtic Family, gathered together as one, and basically turning the entire match into one big party?

No broken seats. No songs about child abuse. No sectarian or racist hatred pouring out of the away end.

Just Celtic supporters, together, paying tribute to a phenomenal display.

We know the “atmosphere” will be very different at Ibrox, but if we play like that and blow them away as comprehensively as we did on Wednesday night, the only sounds after a while will be that plastic whump as seats starts to empty, and many, many stomping feet. And the booing of their own team, of course.

At this juncture, I don’t care if their fans are ever back at Celtic Park again.

That was incredible the other night, an occasion which did not need them at all.