Celtic fans will take criticism when we need to, but we will not accept hypocrisy.

Earlier today, I posted my piece on the latest stupid behaviour by a small section of our support that just cannot get a grip of itself. But I said that something infuriated me about the story, and it’s the fact that the media has chosen to cover it in the manner in which they have. I think it’s absolutely appalling.

Now, just for the record, I’m not complaining that the story is being covered. These people are in the news business.

And whether we like it or not, and whether we can stomach it or not, this is a news story. The media isn’t at fault here. The media is only highlighting the people who are at fault. I’m not blaming the media for the situation that we’re in. We’re in this situation because a group of our own supporters cannot behave.

But we’re not the only fans who have problem elements in their support, and our problem element is a much smaller issue than what exists at some other clubs. My complaint about the coverage we’re getting right now is the complete absence of the coverage the club across the city should be getting for their ongoing problem—whether UEFA highlights it or not.

It’s the selective nature of media reporting in this country that pisses me off. Their fans sang non-stop sectarian bile in Manchester, and it was commented on by a handful of people. The mainstream media as a whole—including many of those who are highlighting the pyro at the Villa game—absolutely ignored it.

You have the clown car club of right-wing media slamming our club because fans sang songs about the royal family.

Well, so what? Isn’t that better than “up to their knees in Fenian blood”? One song is about parasitic leeches—the country’s biggest benefit claimants, something the right-wing media gets awfully engaged about when those claimants live in bedsits, but aren’t quite so ready to condemn when they live in castles. The other song is an anthem of ethnic cleansing. You tell me which is worse.

And whilst we’re on the subject, our fans demonstrate against that stuff. We speak out about some of the horrors in the wider world. The Ibrox fan base would inflict those horrors if they thought they could get away with it, although they seem to get away with everything else. They are the worst fans on this island bar none.

You know, there’s going to come a time when our media has to get real about this stuff. There’s going to come a time when our press corps has to take this stuff more seriously. It has to happen. It’s highlighted over and over again by some of us, by people like Spiers, by people like James Dornan.

Eventually, you would think the dam is going to break. And Celtic could be doing a little bit to help, but they don’t. The last time Celtic took a proactive stance on what they were doing over there was with the Famine Song, when John Reid leveraged every single bit of political clout he had to make damn sure that song was being discussed in the parliaments of both Westminster and Holyrood.

Our board is supposed to have all this high-flying muscle, but it’s never used for anything like this. And in the meantime, the Irish Catholics of Scotland are subjected to this day in, day out, and nobody takes a moral stand on it. And that’s what’s necessary here—a moral stand. The upper echelons of our society are filled to the rafters with cowards. Absolute base cowards. Because no one speaks up for us.

It’s incredible to me that the power dynamic is so skewed. The Catholics—and the Irish Catholics in particular—have no real voice when they’re being abused week in, week out. But much of the right-wing media chooses to protect a family of freeloaders in a country where we’re supposed to be citizens, not subjects. It is embarrassing. The only thing weirder than right-wing morality is their sycophancy.

The Scottish media is far, far worse. The Scottish mainstream sporting press has to be the most cowardly in the whole world. They know what goes on here. They know because they see it and they hear it every single week.

And what infuriates me is not that the media is reporting the news—it’s the gleeful tone in some of the reports, the salivating that some of them are doing over it. The “Big Bad Celtic fans” have been at it again. The “Big Bad Celtic fans” are in trouble again.

If we weren’t going to be investigated and we weren’t going to be sanctioned, they’d make damn sure that we were. They’d report it themselves if they had to. And we know this because they’ve done it before.

I remember way back when the first Ibrox club was sanctioned for sectarian singing. The attitude of most of the media was, “Well, when is Celtic being investigated?” They have no shame. They never did.

And that’s why I’ll take the criticism—but only up to a point.

Beyond that, these people are just stinking hypocrites.

Photo by Roddy Scott/SNS Group via Getty Images