GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - JANUARY 02: A general stadium view before a William Hill Premiership match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Stadium, on January 02, 2025, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
As I said last night, Celtic have yet to release a statement on the events of Sunday. After the confirmation that Ibrox fans will get tickets for Parkhead they probably shouldn’t bother. We’ve seen enough.
There will be a lot of internal discussion at Celtic Park about what happens next and about what lessons the club can draw from what unfolded, although quite how we are supposed to implement the lesson that Celtic should not win a game at Ibrox in case it provokes the home support is another matter entirely.
However, whatever lessons Celtic Park draws and whatever discussions take place there will pale beside the reckoning that now has to take place across the city.
Nothing sums that up better than the response of the Ibrox fan groups in their communiqués last night.
To be blunt, I thought most of what was in those statements was absolutely deranged.
The Fans Assembly statement was part moon-howling nonsense that failed to acknowledge a single issue on their own side.
By contrast, the Collective statement from Celtic supporters focused on specific policing issues and on the practical realities of the situation. That is how a serious organisation responds to something like this.
The Ibrox fan communications hovered somewhere on the edge of bigotry and madness.
Even worse than the official statements from their fan bodies was the response from the Union Bears themselves.
Through social media they issued an appeal asking supporters to buy their latest merchandise in order to raise money for legal costs for members arrested over the weekend.
The merchandise in question features a graphic of someone kicking a Celtic supporter in the face.
If you are one of the American investors involved with that club, or one of the people trying to make that investment profitable one day, this is the moment when reality dawns.
If you want my honest opinion, their money is gone.
It is never coming back.
Nobody with even a modicum of sense who conducted even the most basic due diligence would want to go near that club in the future if this is the culture that continues to thrive inside its stadium.
Nevertheless, the problem now belongs to them.
It does not matter how much the media attempt to soften this story. It does not matter how much they try to obscure what happened, throw up smokescreens or shift the spotlight somewhere else.
Everyone inside Ibrox who holds a position of responsibility knows the truth.
All of this would have been avoided if their supporters had simply left the stadium at the end of the game.
As I said on the podcast, on social media and in yesterday’s article, they have grown this monster themselves.
This is the fan culture they have fed and watered for years.
It is a culture that trades on hatred. It is a culture that raises money not for displays or tifos but for legal defence funds for members arrested for their behaviour.
The merchandise they are now selling tells you everything you need to know about where this is heading.
There is not the slightest hint of shame in any of it.
Their only regret appears to be that they did not manage to reach more Celtic supporters and do more damage.
If the board at Ibrox is content to host an organisation with that mentality in its stands then that is their decision.
There may be quicker ways to destroy the reputation of a football club, but none immediately come to mind.
While Celtic may be discussing the headlines around our club this week, those conversations are nothing compared to the ones that must now be happening inside Ibrox.
Those discussions will be severe and they will matter enormously to the future of that club.
The supporters who mobbed up on Sunday will not stop there.
Those same supporters will travel to European matches. They will travel across Scotland. Wherever they go, they will bring negative attention with them.
Every incident drags the reputation of that club lower. Every headline chips away at the value of the investment that sits behind it.
If the Scottish Government is serious about tackling racist and sectarian singing then that creates an even larger problem.
Removing a handful of masked individuals from one section of the stadium will not solve that. That issue runs far deeper.
It will require something far more serious than a simple spring cleaning.
There will be people at Celtic concerned about the negative headlines that involve our club. If the board spent more time building bridges with supporter groups instead of constantly clashing with them, things might look very different today.
Nevertheless, the reality remains.
Celtic is not the club facing the fundamental problem here.
Any honest inquest into what happened on Sunday will inevitably land more heavily at Ibrox than it will at Celtic Park. There is an ugliness within that fan culture which their own club now has the responsibility to confront.
Based on the statements released last night, that will be a Herculean task.
However, nobody forced those investors to buy that club.
They bought it willingly. They bought it with its history, its baggage and its problems.
If they are only now discovering what they actually purchased then that is their own hard luck. Their due diligence should have been better.
If they knew all of this and chose not to care, then the consequences are simply the price of that decision. Those chickens have well and truly come home to roost.
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No club should be pandering to entitled, narcissistic elements that consider themselves above the law and threatens the safety and ability of others to enjoy football matches. Thankfully, one club has realised this and is trying to address such issues.
Money men care about nothing but money. That club is a potential cash cow to be milked. It’s ripe for the picking. A clueless thick gullible fanbase ‘Aye Ready’ to part with their cash. You know what they say, a fool and his money are soon parted.
A detailed letter of complaint to the American owners, about Sundays behaviour, would produce better results than an article complaining about them in a Celtic blog. Then again, maybe not. The Americans will know fine well what they’ve bought into. Dollar signs rule.
I think it goes further than football. If this isn’t the moment when the civic authorities in Scotland wake up and realise that this lot are potentially a far-right militia in waiting, then it might soon be arriving at the point of no return. This deranged mob cannot be trusted to keep their focus solely on fitba’ and while Farage and Lowe aren’t credible in Scotland, a far-right demagogue who appeals to some elements in Scotland eventually will emerge, and this lot will be right behind him (or indeed her, although probably not). They might be mildly amusing when they are still running around wearing Smurf masks. It will be a lot less funny when they are marching around as ‘the blue shirts’…..
James if previous reports is to be believed Cavanagh is a Catholic from Chicago and that fat greedy vermin listened to his fans for 120mins singing about killing Catholics and the Pope not to mention their filthy song book calling us pedos, so fuck him they deserve each other and i hope his rotten lowlife scummy club go under again
Given the level of investment to purchase the business you would expect a decent amount of due-diligence was done and the Onion Bears and the damage they will cause will have been factored in to the equation.
These are Money Men, same as DD, PL etc. They don’t give a a damn unless and until
It affects the bottom line……
James, their own fans have commented on the lack of finger pointing at their own support.
No fuckin wonder every opposition fan sings KEEP THE BOARD when they rock up to play Celtic…
And still Wilson, Lucan and Sly turn up week in week out without a hint of irony…
Aye well – Denial is a cruel illness I guess !
Captain Swing @ 12.07pm…
Interesting point…
They largely got away with Sunday and it’ll embolden them even more than ever…
Coming to a place near us soon could be a ‘Scottish’ (Ha Ha) UDA…
They’d probably call themselves BDAS (Brit Defenders Assosiation Scotland) !
They’d become the “British Defence Staunch Men” or ‘BDSM’ for short, which certainly aligns with the blue gimp masks!!!
But that’s kinda my point – we shouldn’t laugh at them too much, it was the ‘delije’ of Red Star Belgrade which morphed into a paramilitary during the Balkan wars …. They are a problem requiring to be managed.
The Huns show what a horrible lot they are once again, then a lot of hot air from Police, Media and Politicians, two cheeks of the same arse claptrap is wheeled out, repeat,repeat,repeat. Our Board gather no facts or evidence of incidents over the past 10 years, and beyond, where staff have been assaulted, supporters attacked, players hit by objects. Police don’t only allow but actually escort Union Bear Ultras to games, whilst kettling Celtic supporters, searching them and holding them for the duration of the game..
Sick and tired of the whole dangerous pantomime that will never change unless there’s a miracle, and our Board grow a pair one day.
Celtic fans started this but there’s no excuse for the behaviour of both sets of thugs stop being so biased and except your part in this
Peterpan1 – How The fuck did do you deduce that Celtic supporters “started this” !