The Size Of UEFA’s Fines Won’t Bother The Celtic Hierarchy, But The Fact Of Them Will.

Celtic have been fined by UEFA again. For two offences; banners and pyro.

The banners I am happy to leave aside. UEFA’s hypocrisy over their “no politics” stance now extends to banning entire countries from being represented in their club competitions, and showing solidarity with Ukraine, whilst laudable, should leave them pretty red in the face when they pontificate to others about this stuff.

We know that their “apolitical” stance is a joke.

Not that some inside Celtic will see it that way. For some on the board, the general feeling must sometimes be, “why don’t these guys just bloody well behave?” When that’s your general sentiment you aren’t dealing any longer with adults but unruly children who simply won’t learn discipline. That’s a problem that can have long term effects.

It’s like at the weekend, and the extended choruses of “If you hate the Royal family clap your hands.” I don’t think I need to state my views on that matter, having covered the subject in exhaustive detail whilst the events of that ghastly week of “mourning” were ongoing, but is this a new part of the repertoire now? For what purpose?

Hey, people know it, okay? Our fans don’t like the monarchy. Job done. But as far as I’m concerned the monarchy is an utter irrelevance to me now I no longer have to stomach all that claptrap on TV. As long as political support for this backward, outdated relic exists it’s a thing we have to live with, like rats. But out of sight out of mind.

You could exhaust yourself if you all you did was hate people.

I couldn’t give a toss about the Royal family; they aren’t even background noise.

When I watch Celtic it would be fair to say they are one of the furthest things from my mind.

Even the foodbank appeal is tainted by this utter nonsense. Since when is feeding people a protest against the crown? This is moronic, whatever way you dress it up. It’s being arsey just for the sake of it.

Pyro is a more immediate, and much more serious, issue and the club is long past the point of being sick, fed up with that.

It is dangerous and it is illegal.

It doesn’t simply imperil the club at UEFA but the licensing bodies right here at home have their eyes on Celtic Park and if they decide that this represents a public safety threat, they will close part of the ground if not the entire thing, and anyone who thinks that’s a bluff or empty threat better guess again.

Let me spell out for these “no pyro no party” clowns what should be readily apparent, okay?

Someone has already been injured by this stuff, and very recently.

That person could probably sue Celtic and also the council health and safety executive.

Because this matter has been raised to them before now, and it was their job to press Celtic and Celtic’s job to enforce enough security measures that getting that stuff into the ground was impossible.

Do these people really think that Celtic will run that gauntlet of risk indefinitely?

Or that Glasgow City Council will?

These guys will clamp down on the folks doing this, in a big, big way, long before ground closures need to even be considered.

These folks are picking a fight that they cannot win, a fight with their own club.

I cannot fathom the utter stupidity of that.

Celtic cannot simply ignore this. UEFA will have made that clear, but the health and safety executive on the council has already done so and it’s already resulted in the standing section being shut, voluntarily by Celtic.

And that will happen again, and it will be a long-term closure, if the club believes that bigger problems at UEFA and at the council will be heading their way if they don’t.

It’s not even going to come to being ordered to do it, Celtic will do it without that being necessary and they’ll do it in the face of outrage from a lot of our own fans.

But they will be right to do it, and they’ll have the full support of many of us when they do.

Because this can’t go on.

Pyrotechnics have to be removed from our stands before something truly dreadful, something we can’t come back from, happens and if a section of our support is insistent on bringing them in regardless, the club will have to ask itself if they should be removed instead.