GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MARCH 08: Rangers fans march towards Ibrox Stadium before a Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Quarter-Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Stadium, on March 08, 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Well, just when you think this club could not amaze you anymore, it goes and does it. I have been very critical of Celtic all day today for some of the decisions it has taken. I have already lined up pieces for tomorrow which will be even more critical.
But tonight, the club has gone and surprised the hell out of me by doing something absolutely right. Something absolutely on the nose. Something none of us can object to.
Stephen McGowan has broken the story – and a whiney, bitter, furious statement out of Ibrox has confirmed it – that Celtic are going to deny their club an allocation of tickets for the coming match at Celtic Park.
The reason is simple enough. Celtic asked the Ibrox club to assure them that no tickets would be sold to the violent lunatics of the Union Brats. The Ibrox club, which does not want to tackle these people in any serious way, said it wanted to deal with fans on an individual basis and sanction only those it can prove have broken the rules, something made a little bit difficult as most of them were wearing their gimp masks at the time.
That, of course, is an unacceptable suggestion.
For once, Celtic have behaved in a manner that befits a club of our stature. They have told the Ibrox club, “Fine, then you are getting no tickets at all.” Because it is manifestly unsafe to have these people inside our house.
It is bad enough that we have to go there and put up with their bigotry, their hatred and their violence. But to import that to Celtic Park? To allow that under our own roof?
That would be another act of self-harm. This club has now very firmly said that this is where it draws the line.
This is an act of self-harm it will not engage in. This is where it will no longer pretend that the Ibrox supporters are not a security and safety risk to our stadium, our fans, our players and our officials.
Other than bringing the Green Brigade home, this is one of the smartest, and most genuinely worthy of support, actions Celtic have taken in a long time.
I don’t think there is a single one of us who has not been highly critical of this club’s silence on this matter up until now. If we were justified in criticising Celtic then, we are perfectly justified in praising the club now.
It has earned that praise. This is what we all called for. This is what we all knew had to happen. We are so unused to seeing this club act in its own interests in this fashion that it is genuinely surprising.
But it is welcome, and I can only congratulate those at Celtic who took the decision.
As we have discussed on this site, on the podcast and elsewhere, that match could be the day we end their title challenge. I am not saying it is the day we will win the title. I am saying it is the day we could defeat them and almost guarantee that it will not be their name engraved on the trophy.
Those are powder-keg circumstances.
Those are circumstances in which I would not want those people in our ground. Not just the Union Brats, although they are the worst of them and the most likely to react with aggression and violence, but that support as a whole.
There will be allegations that we have attempted to swing the title race with this action; indeed that appears to be the central, frothing suggestion at the heart of their deranged, moon-howling statement.
And it is of course absolute nonsense, although containing a rich irony; it is their own conduct, as a club, which has brought us to this place.
We have not forbidden their club from bringing any fans to the ground. We have told their club that we want one specific group excluded. Their failure to do that is why we are here. Considering the behaviour of that particular group during the Scottish Cup game, that is not an unreasonable request.
The context matters here.
Their past behaviour is the all-encompassing fact that changes this discussion.
What happened that day was not extraordinary in every respect. A small number of fans being on the pitch to congratulate their players and celebrate a triumph is something that happens all over football all the time.
But a counter pitch invasion to attack those supporters is an ugly and unusual set of circumstances. It rightly made headlines everywhere across Europe. Only in Scotland was that central fact relegated almost to an afterthought.
Yet every rational person knows that was the difference. That was the exceptional event and Celtic are quite right to treat that as the central issue.
The club are quite right to treat those fans as a clear and present danger to the safety of our players, officials and supporters. It is entirely correct to say that while the Ibrox club tolerates that sort of behaviour from its own fans, while it indulges those supporters instead of sanctioning them, we will not have them in our house.
No doubt people will cry foul.
They will scream their little heads off, not just among the Ibrox support and in further demented, tub-thumping communiques from the club itself, but in the media and elsewhere. This matter looks like it will end up in front of an SFA or SPFL committee. They may have to decide whether to sanction our club for it.
Our club should accept whatever sanction they impose, short of a sporting one.
If it is a fine, we should pay it and say we will continue to pay it indefinitely until they get their house in order over there.
The reaction to events at Ibrox has been a gross failure on multiple levels. No failure has been graver than that of the SFA itself. They watched what we all watched and then failed to act in any meaningful way.
Celtic have taken criticism for not speaking up clearly enough.
Today, that is over.
Today, the club has acted in such a manner that nobody can accuse it of doing nothing on this issue. The only reason Celtic have had to do this is because nobody else will confront this problem.
So let whoever wants to wail and complain do so.
Let the media brand this unfair or describe it as some act of aggression. Let them spin it whatever way they want.
They, too, are grossly unfit for purpose.
The hacks have spent all the time from then until now pretending that what we watched happen is not what actually happened. They have spent the whole time between then and now playing down the seriousness of the most serious incident.
So, they don’t get to moralise on this one today or ever.
The governing bodies may want to step in now, at last. They are way too late. They may now want to sanction us. Let them try. They will only expose how hypocritical they are.
Congratulations to the people at Celtic who have taken this decision. It is the right decision, for the right reasons.
At a time when many of us have very negative feelings towards those who run our club, they have acted properly here. They have acted in our defence.
I thank them for it, as all of us should.
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For a long time I’ve been arguing that Glasgow derby’s should have the old full allocation restored but I’ve changed my mind. Maybe it’s better if there’s no away fans for these games (because it’s guaranteed the tribute act will reciprocate). The safety risks are pretty high and the full away allocation only really benefits the watching neutrals who like to laugh at the carnage it causes. Or get the big nets.
FK the media , let them have their tantrum, nobody cares, this is the same media that reported rangers liquidation, then after SEVCO were shat back into Scottish football pretended they were the same klub , they lost their respect and dignity after that , reporting to the klanbase that everyone else was wrong and SEVCO were the victims of a conspiracy in Scottish football.
Let them squeal, they have their half arsed lies to sell daily to the gullible and deluded.
Spot on ???
Sorry mate,don’t know why question marks are there,my apologies, you’re 100% correct
I would go easy on the congratulations James because as sure as night follows day this gutless, weak board will backtrack and the scum will be at Celtic Park come the 10th May.
I applaud the board for this decision, they may have stirred up a bit of a hornets nest in the media, but it will surely bring that whole shit show at Ibrox into perspective now and should cause further debate and conclusions, instead of the previous sweeping under the carpet tactics. Have our board finally grown a set of balls? I severely doubt that and I won’t be holding my breath waiting for them to follow that decision with another positive one.
Anyway, happy days and let’s hope the Bhoys on the pitch tomorrow will be just as positive and aggressive.
It’s only optics. Having just read the rules regarding away allocation the SPFL board will have the final say. Don’t let the board use this small detail to cloud any future judgement. The away allocation will be honoured in that their is no doubt I’m afraid.
I disagree, if Celtic say they cannot safely police or steward the union brats the SPFL cannot force them to back down on this. The police will also back Celtic here.
One thing that may happen is that Ibrox agrees to the conditions and the tickets go to other supporters. I personally think they should let none of them in.
We’ll see.
Tell the huns to get tae fuck
If any of those thug bastards get into Celtic Park they will trash the place and very likely cause a riot. And they what will the hun board, the police, the spfl do? Fuck all. They will do fuck all as they always do.
Time for these cunts to fuck right off
I’ve been saying this on here since the Ibrox game. It’s a no brainer. Celtic will have full support from the SAG and the police who will be breathing a sigh of relief, will back it fully. I believe Hargreaves instigated this decision but that’s his job!
It will mean the end of away allocations for the derbies for both sets of fans for the foreseeable, but at the moment its worth it and no away fans at these derbies is a godsend for the people of Glasgow.
If Sevco win the brats would storm the pitch/trackside and the board know this from their previous behavior,leaving them no choice but to either ensure the brats are kept out of CP or all Sevco fans are.
We are doing the Police’s,SFAs and medias job for them by banning the trouble-makers. And having the balls to do so when they won’t.
Well done to the Celtic board. Sevco could no doubt comply and the brats will get tickets anyway. I remember someone at the time on a Celtic pod mentioning how much trouble is caused by Sevco fans who are not smurf brats. Making an outright ban more sensible.
I agree volp. You are now understanding the whole point of a collective ban.
Banning the individuals found guilty never works.
A collective ban is the only way.
In this case. The ban should be all encompassing not just the brats. They should get zero allocation for the foreseeable.
Brats had disguises on whilst the Green Brigade didn’t which makes all the difference as you can’t identify which did it and which didn’t.
And another point ,the boards decision on banning the Green Brigade was a sackable offense but being consistent toward Ultras especially when you’ve banned your own collectively would look biased towards the brats if the board didn’t apply the same punishment.
So don’t go putting words into my mouth in future as I certainly didn’t back collective punishment for the Green Brigade but with the smurf brats it is a different situation.
Collective punishment is how it works volp. UEFA close whole sections as we seen against Feyenoord when 10,000 ultras were banned and section closed.
English teams were banned completely after the Liverpool game in Belgium again collective punishment.
Banning 1 or 2 fans you can actually identify is no deterrent.
Fair play to Celtic FC on this occasion.. they did the right thing – this decision came from Hargreaves I believe and there will be no comeback.
I think he should have gone further and said no away fans no matter what transpires.
I think there will be some sort of accommodation. The huns will be at the match. The problem is how can Celtic tell who is a bigoted brat thug and who is an ordinary bigoted thug. They are mostly the same, only some of them wear stupid masks and think they are tickets. The huns can agree not to issue the brats with tickets and then give them tickets anyway, or they can get them through supporters clubs. Even if they don’t give the beats tickets the result will be the same carnage. We should prepare for it and be ready to answer it.
Jock your 100% right mate ,do they have a sliding scale of minor biggots,average biggots,hard biggots,extreme biggots,and fuckin nut jobs! They deffinetly dont have no biggots!
I hope Falkirk have the same resolve when it comes to the last day of the season, even if there’s no title at stake for them.
Some quarters are now suggesting a points deduction for Celtic.
Can you smell the desperation?
I welcome the ban, don’t want that scum anywhere near our yard.
Big English twat up the golf club rabid hun and arsenal supporter stated that when they go to our ground they were gonna plaster a big union jack on our walls, that won’t happen now.
I really hope the huns and arsenal crash and burn so I can wind the bastard up .. hopefully he will fuck off and be English somewhere else ,, TWAT