The time has come, again, for Celtic to act on the pyromaniacs in our support.

Earlier tonight, I wrote a piece, due for publication tomorrow, about the Ibrox fans and how their club has had a lucky escape over their use of pyro in the game against Lyon. But as I was putting that together, I couldn’t help but reflect on what might be coming our way for our own pyro-related issues, especially considering what happened in Dortmund.

Tonight, we got the news.

Celtic has been fined £20,000, along with a one-match away fan ban, suspended for two years. Let me be blunt: I don’t think we’ll make it through those two years without triggering that ban. I suspect we’ll breach the terms of this probation before this European campaign even concludes.

While I’ve been critical of the Ibrox club for their stance on these matters, I don’t believe our club can or will remain silent on our own issue.

We are repeat offenders.

In tomorrow’s article, I’ll address the situation at Ibrox, but I also acknowledge our own section of morons. This has now resulted in a heavier sanction for us than they received. As much as I stand by everything written for that piece, I must address what’s happened with our club first.

Let’s be clear: we haven’t dodged the bullet—we’ve been hit.

The consequences have just been deferred.

I use “deferred” deliberately because I don’t believe they’ll be avoided entirely.

We’re likely to face that away fan ban, and it may even get to the point where we lose a stand in our home stadium.

I’ve called for the Ibrox club to do more, and their silence on the incident from that night is unacceptable.

What happened there was far more serious than what occurred with our fans in Dortmund. They launched a firework at the pitch—there’s no more dangerous use of pyro than that. And yet, they were fined less than we just were.

But, as I said at the top of the piece, we’re repeat offenders.

We’re going to wind up in serious trouble if a certain element of our support doesn’t cease and desist.

The club must now take this matter even more seriously, perhaps even sanctioning our own fans as a result.

We can’t afford to ignore this problem or wait until something more serious occurs before acting.

Our club has been proactive on this, which is why I don’t level the same criticism at us as I do at Ibrox.

Celtic has already banned fans for pyro-related issues and other offences.

We haven’t hidden behind weak statements—we’ve tackled this head-on. We’ve put people on notice, and now UEFA has done the same.

There’s a section of our support that doesn’t want to listen to what the club says.

This is in stark contrast to the situation at Ibrox, where I’m not convinced they’ve even tried that hard to get a grip on it. We have tried, and we’ll keep trying. But I’m concerned there’s a group within our fanbase that refuses to listen, no matter what the club says.

I was in Dortmund, sitting just above the Green Brigade section.

They were in the ground two hours before kick-off—so was I.

Security was tight; the Celtic SLO had warned fans that rucksacks and bags wouldn’t be allowed. When I arrived at the gate, I was told I couldn’t take in my mobile phone’s portable charger. I had to go around and drop it off at one of the designated booths.

So how did our fans manage to smuggle in fireworks and pyrotechnics?

The Green Brigade had organised a tifo and got in early to set it up.

I can only conclude they brought the pyro in at the same time.

I could be wrong, but I know that similar things have happened at Celtic Park.

Dortmund’s Yellow Wall was electrifying that night. They created an atmosphere that was exceptional—and they did it without a single firework or pyro display.

The idea that pyrotechnics are essential to creating a buzz is nonsense. There’s a part of our fanbase that just likes playing with fireworks. That’s the bottom line, and they don’t care if it costs the club or endangers fellow fans.

The threat to Celtic’s travelling support in Europe is real.

It’s selfishness on a spectacular level, and I can tell you now that Celtic won’t wait for the consequences to escalate before they act.

At this point, the club would probably welcome an away fan ban because the alternative could be the closure of a stand at home.

And we won’t wait for that before acting decisively.

The people who do this are operating under a serious miscalculation—that they are somehow bigger than the club itself, that they’re irreplaceable.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

They are tolerated as long as their contributions outweigh the cost of their behaviour. But let me tell you, if the alternative to losing them is closing a stand, taking a major revenue hit, or damaging the club’s reputation, Celtic will act.

They’ll find out just how precarious their place in the stadium really is.

Most supporters appreciate the atmosphere they help create—but that doesn’t mean they have unquestioning support for everything they do.

Like the club, most fans tolerate them because, on balance, they bring more than they cost us.

But when that equation shifts, the mood of the fanbase will change along with it—and we’re very close to that point.

In my article on Ibrox, I’ve accused their club of failing to stand up to the extreme element of their fanbase.

I don’t need to accuse Celtic of that because we’ve taken action before, and I know we’re prepared to do so again.

Any move by the club in this regard will have my full support, just as it has in the past. Because this is a line that no one should be allowed to cross. I want this behaviour gone from our grounds—it’s dangerous, it’s stupid, and it puts both our supporters and our club at risk.

That makes it unacceptable to anyone who cares about Celtic.

I’ll be watching keenly to see what happens in the next week or so, but I’m confident of one thing: our club, unlike the one at Ibrox, won’t settle for a mealy-mouthed statement. They’ll see the bigger picture and take the necessary action.