In a week when, to be frank, I don’t want to give those running Celtic credit for a single thing, they have at least stuck to their guns on an issue of enormous importance to this club; they have formally told Ibrox that their fans will get no tickets for the derby, and for an unspecified period Ibrox has been pursuing this with the governing bodies.
Today, the governing bodies agreed with Ibrox that they should get tickets, but, as Celtic is doubtless well aware, there’s no provision in the regulations to do a damn thing about it now that we’ve decided not to offer them any. Ibrox’s foot stamping over this is actually quite amusing, and I’ll write about that later on tonight.
But as I wrote last month, it is their club, and its demonstration of utter disdain for the rules and regulations which do exist which gave Celtic the clear impression that we could openly flaunt the rules and get away with it. They have only themselves to blame.
Celtic has now officially, willingly, broken SPFL regulations, and we’ve done so not only because we know that there will be no consequences for doing it but because this situation has become untenable.
The association can whinge as it likes. Ibrox can cry and wail and its board can chuck their toys out of the pram. They have treated us with contempt and jeopardised the safety of our supporters, and the governing bodies did nothing to stop them. They have done this with the willing connivance of a media which cannot be trusted to report on this matter accurately or fairly.
There will be plenty of moaning from those amongst the hacks who have, at every stage, twisted this story to the shape of their own choosing.
Even some ex-Celts in the punditry business will jump on this as another reason to accuse us of helping keep this controversy going. We will read plenty more of this garbage about how we should be “the bigger man” here and give their club a free pass even as it pisses on us from a great height.
There will even be some preposterous claims that we’ve taken this decision to give us some narrow advantage in an ever tightening title race, although this decision was obviously made months ago before that was even an issue and was so well known about that the Celtic sites were discussing its implications with full confidence.
And we should ignore every single bit of the media’s narrative on this as a result, because it’s got no merit whatsoever.
Even when this threatened the safety of our fans some in the press still wanted to write lies about this being some sort of pissing contest; they refused to take this seriously, or properly apportion blame to it from the very first day that Ibrox cut our allocation and they were forced to confront our automatic response to that.
Our board has not gotten much right lately, but on this issue, they continue to handle their business in the correct manner.
Ibrox would do better to quit blubbing and confront the consequences of its own actions, because it’s those actions, not Celtic’s, which have brought us here.
Obviously this is a developing story, and I’ll probably have more on it later.
Openly flout the rules, I think you meant.
Absolutely !
It’s the only positive thing they’ve done recently. If they backed down from that they should’ve buried their heads.
Is it just me? Or has this season been set up as GIYU to Green Brigade? Rodgers for getting pelters for leaving mid-season. And big Ped fior having to step down. Maybe they’ve come together and said “we’ll show them who’s in charge” HH
Berry of the DR (ye can feel the rage) leadin the charge. Puttin forward vigorously the ibrox case. Tho somehow, disnae give a mention as tae WHY Celtic are doin it, or the lack of safety measures provided by ibrox tae our support, who are sittin ducks tae all sorts of missiles in that corner. Strange how that part gets a pass.
Celtic have made one mistake during this fan expulsion exercise.
The League & Sfa should have been challenged when The Rangers started this whole nonsence.
However it’s an issue created by The Rangers, so the ibrox directors need to stop their bleating and reinstate the FULL ticket allocation to Celtic, This has to be done prior to Celtic responding in kind.
Lawell fails to challenge the hierarchy to often.
Lawell states that he never seen the 5 way agreement, my perception of that is Lawell is lying.
My understanding is Scottish football rules were broken with this agreement, by allowing The Rangers to form a team in the lower divisions, thus leapfrogging teams who should have gained legal entry into the 3rd division.
SPFL & SFA allowed the rules to be broken.
Lawell allowed & accepted their decision.
Lawell is Celtics biggest problem.
Don’t agree. Lawell is only Dermot Desmond’s puppet. So, the real problem is the majority shareholder who hasn’t attended an agm for years, and doesn’t give a flying fuck how his actions affect the real Celtic supporters.
We’ll be to blame & were Scared to have they’re fans inside ??? to help them ?? they cannot be trusted and I’ll buy a spare ticket with a CELTIC SCARF ?? ON THANK YOU ???????
I normally abuse the board but on this matter I’ll back them 100%.
The way the Celtic travelling support are treated by all the other Clubs, not just the huns, leads me to say that we should not accept tickets for any of their grounds until l they all realise just how financially hurtful that is to them, and they all come to their senses accordingly regarding the reduced allocations. We can live without their meagre numbers but they cannot survive without ours.