Celtic’s League Cup Triumph Has Plunged Ibrox Into Turmoil And Civil War.

The news today that the Ibrox club prevented the Union Bears from unfurling a banner which they and Police Scotland deemed “offensive” is the latest manifestation of an unholy war which is raging across the city and has been since the cup final defeat at our hands.

The Ibrox fan group responded to this by withdrawing their support from the team for today’s game. It’s believed that they protested outside. They are getting good at the old protesting bit.

It was not terribly unusual to see their ire focussed on broadcasters, journalists and the SFA.

Now it is directed four-square at their own club. Beautiful.

It wasn’t that long ago that the whole club was in a warm and happy place.

The team was not playing particularly well, I grant you, and there were serious concerns about the summer. But they believed they’d win the cup and that it would spin us in the direction of crisis.

When we won it shocked them to the core.

The ease of the victory only made them feel worse. They started to talk about the gap, something they hadn’t done in ages. Then their manager brought up the tricky issue of finance, and with people inside the club now confirming what we’ve spent a while writing the balloon went up. Protests and banners ever since, and even winning isn’t fixing it.

What a time for the club and fans to be at war. Can you even imagine how insane it will all go if we win the Scottish Cup and thus complete the treble? Morelos is in the departure lounge, leaving for free. Kent will probably leave with him. They may retain the services of Ryan Jack and Arfield; we have the beating of these guys already and we know it.

What’s more, Ibrox fans aren’t totally stupid, and they know it as well.

It’s incredible how destructive to their morale that one defeat has been, and it was not made any better when their “investor” released his bizarre, preening video interview in the aftermath of the game, praising everyone at Ibrox even as the fans were getting ready to revolt. It was supposed to fall in the aftermath of a triumph and mock Celtic.

Instead it sounded a lot like trolling their own fans. It slapped down Club 1872.

It praised Ross Wilson. It bigged up the “strategy” behind the Australia fiasco.

All points of contention.

Then, when the Union Bears put up their “standards” banner, The Mooch actually – unbelievably – picked a fight with them over it although they’d claimed it wasn’t directed at him!

Now the same fan organisation is at the centre of this controversy today, and what a sight it is to see. They are all at each other’s throats over there, at exactly the time when you want the whole club focussed.

Major changes in the squad are coming – forced on them, not part of any grand plan as The Mooch wants folk to believe – and that’s more uncertainty.

But the one thing that is clear is this; they need to sell out their season tickets and so the last thing they need to be doing is fighting a two-front war with the fans.

Only a club in total disarray could behave like this.

Only the most entitled fans in world football could provoke this battle at this moment in time.

It’s jelly and ice cream time again.

Sit back and enjoy the show.