Amidst a week when the club has been rocked, I felt no surprise at all when the Ibrox ultras last night tried to steal the headlines and shame The Green Brigade.
As per usual, nobody at their club is capable of an original thought.
The Green Brigade had been banned from following Celtic, so Ibrox’s own loutish fan group had to put on a show of force.
It was their little act of one-upmanship. It was also an act of profound stupidity. With Celtic having acted, the pressure is now on their club to get its house in order and that would have been true whatever they did last night.
Instead of keeping a low profile they wanted that act of defiance, that demonstration of their own supposed strength.
At Dundee last night, the Ibrox ultras gave us a clear demonstration of what it means to be truly stupid, truly unable to read the room, truly unable to comprehend that Celtic’s decision to ban The Green Brigade has changed everything, utterly.
The statement from Dundee was damning, not just on the flares and smoke but on the general behaviour of football fans across Scotland, including “sectarian songs”.
There is going to be a summit of the league, the SFA, the police and the Scottish Government for the flares, but Dundee has made it clear everything should be on the table.
We edge ever closer to some form of Strict Liability, and here’s the thing; with The Green Brigade sidelined and the Bhoys apparently begging for some of the same, the question automatically arises: what would Celtic have to fear from Strict Liability now?
I don’t support it and I never have, but there is a clear pattern here in the stands involving ned culture and the spread of “ultras”.
You only have to look at the Green Brigade’s latest communique to see what the nature of ultra culture is; “we obey only the rules we want to.”
Yet even when it was clear that Celtic had created a real problem, other clubs rushed to copy our “success.”
Now that we’ve admitted that it was a failed experiment, how long before other clubs realise the same? What will it take before they recognise what we’ve come to late in the day?
But those problems are far worse at Ibrox than at other clubs.
Even more so than Celtic, they are in thrall to their ultra fans and are bending over backwards for them at every turn.
With Ibrox’s long and established habit of making excuses for the disgusting behaviour of its supporters these guys, even more than The Green Brigade, probably think of themselves as the living, breathing expression of the club … and considering the arrogance, ego and latent bigotry of the club itself that can only end in disaster. They got a taste of it last night.
The question now is how much longer Scottish football will tolerate this sort of behaviour in the stands?
Flares and smoke bombs, intimidation of ground-staff and stewards, pitch incursions … I mean this is not limited to two clubs in Glasgow far less one.
Aberdeen and Hearts have already had to condemn their own fans this season and we’re only eleven league games in.
I think the club across the city is in real trouble here.
The Celtic crisis has evolved behind the scenes to an extent, with many of the sins of The Green Brigade happening “off-screen” as it were, away from the rest of the world’s gaze. But the incidents at Dens last night were so public, so incredibly worrying, that they are impossible to ignore.
Hey, they wanted attention.
With The Green Brigade off the field, they wanted to show that they are the big boys in Scottish football now … what utter idiots to do that, what fools, what complete morons to so fundamentally misunderstand the situation.
They dug their own grave last night, and they made their clubs situation incredibly difficult and these arrogant yobos don’t even understand it.
Oh ,you mean the ‘away ‘ fans as every outlet in Scawlin called them today ?
Just like the two george square riots nothing will happen
What exactly did the Celtic Bhoys do that was in any way wrong ? In danger of becoming an apologist for our corrupt Tory board James……thought you were better than that.
Don’t know if I’ve missed something but how are the Bhoys apparently begging to be dealt with the same as the Green Brigade?
James, please, please, please let the penny drop. This is Scotland, is the press run evenly? Is VAR run evenly? Is the referee’s run evenly? Then why would you think strict liability would be? Disastrous for Celtic, 12 years of cheating wasn’t punished, countless trophies were stolen and the thief still has the proceeds of crime and even brags about it.
Agree wholeheartedly with what should be done but reading the MSM on this they are creaming themselves over the onion bears showing last night added to the green brigade ban ….you cudnt hear the keyboards at the sun record herald et al for the blaring o the sash last night …if they can bottle physios n pepper Joe harts pen area with broken Buckie bottles then I’m sure hee fkin haw will happen re last night ….their swagger needs turned bk into a stagger asap ….
Not sure that the midden’s board will have the same initiative as ours were eventually and finally, I hope though I’m not sure about that either. Given they’ve not been put under any real pressure before in their 11yr history by governing bodies to stop the sectarianism, bigotry and racism that bounds out from their stands game after game, considered by media, radio and press alike as bouncing with and creating a magnificent atmosphere then I won’t hold my breath.
They’ve paid it lip service in words while Slippy was there but never walked the talk. Personally I sincerely doubt that they will do anything ordered by the SFA or SPFL, government and laws. Unlike our club’s board and very much like their own supporters it’s my strong belief that their board is in tune with their fans’ sentiments. HH
Shameful it took another club like Dundee tae mention the blatant sectarian anti-pope singin, clear last night, clear when they played Sparta and yet as always, the media
CHOOSE tae ignore it. Their double standards are a disgrace.
Don’t like the way you are going, clearly working to an agenda that is the result of another shady Celtic board deal. Like the messages you show, hide the criticism.
An agenda? If you think that then fuck off. Simple.
Green brigade deserve the ban ,supporting animals that kidnapped kids and beheaded some of them ,is not the type of people that deserve to grace the best supported club in Scotland,Celtic football club don,t need these people ,at Govan a stadium full of animals is the NORMAL thing and always have the club making excuses for them without ANY action. Also normal practice , the old club that died and the new SEVCO all the same animals . Will never change
Kevin The GB support the people of Palestine not Hamas Palestinians have been victims of a genocide of Israel for a very long time
Also Therangers play at Ibrox not Govan 2 different places I’m saying this till I’m stamping my feet in quiet rage
I come from Govan and it’s annoying to say the least
The GB do make a lot of mistakes – that’s true and something they would admit but they certainly do a whole lot of good things in the name of Celtic
Wee question, James. I always like to split my posts into paragraphs. Lately, however, despite doing this, my posts have appeared without paragraphs. Any idea why this is happening?
Hail Hail.
Haha mate that’s a terrible thing about this system, the comments section does that and I can’t figure out why.