Ibrox’s £1 million repair bill is extortion. Celtic needs to ban these Peepul.

Tonight, as we prepare for tomorrow’s game, and in light of the SFA statement on people behaving in a hysterical fashion, we have two reports in the mainstream media which, again, come from an anti-Celtic angle.

Not one. Two.

The first is a complete misrepresentation of what Alistair Johnston said about the red card screaming that came out of Ibrox and elsewhere after the game at Celtic Park a week ago.

Today, the SFA’s KMI panel passed judgement on that incident and unanimously rejected the idea that it was a red card. It was not a red card. Anyone who has looked at it for more than two minutes, with a neutral eye, knows it was not a red card.

It is not even a surprise that the KMI panel, which gets plenty wrong, actually reached that conclusion and did so unanimously. Yet, at the same time, the Record is trying to state that Johnston admitted in his press conference today that it should have been a red card.

He did nothing of the sort.

In fact, if you read Johnston’s comments properly, he was pretty clear that he thought it was a yellow card, if it was a foul at all. He made the point that, some years back, no one would even have considered it a foul. It is only because of changes in how these things are now interpreted that it has become a bookable offence to win the ball in that way.

He did say that, in the modern game, he was probably lucky not to get a red card. That is not the same as saying he believes he should have had one.

There is a world of difference between those two things.

Johnston was not saying, “I deserved to be sent off.” He was saying that, in the hysterical age in which we now live, with every incident slowed down, frozen, analysed, exaggerated and turned into content, he accepts that a red card could have been shown and that he was probably lucky to escape it. That only reads as an “admission” that he deserved one if you exclude almost every other thing he said about the incident. Which, of course, a lot of the headlines seem very happy to do.

Apart from the attempt to make Johnston’s words mean something they plainly did not mean, we also have the Daily Record again writing tonight that the Ibrox club is demanding £1 million in compensation from Celtic for damage to their stadium.

Now, I knew they would have to find a way to raise money from somewhere, having finished third in the league and no longer having Champions League football to dream about. But £1 million? I suggest they go looking for that money somewhere else. This club of ours should pay that only when the cash is prised out of our cold, dead fingers.

Celtic’s position appears to be that the long-standing SPFL arrangements between the clubs, and the wider regulatory framework around these issues, limit what can be claimed. Ibrox, naturally, appears to be clinging to the fact that this was an SFA competition and that the SFA rulebook does not provide the same clarity.

That is another example of the SFA rulebook having more holes in it than Swiss cheese.

Nevertheless, the matter is now in front of the SFA, which will adjudicate on how much Celtic should actually have to pay.

I would be surprised if it was substantially more than one tenth of what Ibrox claims it is entitled to, because surely the SFA is going to insist on an independent survey which itemises the damage and tells everyone what the real costs actually were.

That £1 million figure sounds less like a repair bill and more like an invoice written in anger. It looks like a number produced by a club still raging about the result and trying to turn its grievance into a financial demand.

This is the level we are dealing with here.

We are dealing with a news outlet that takes what looks very much like a strategic media leak from Ibrox and turns it into another anti-Celtic story. We are also dealing with the Ibrox club itself, and its continuing attempt to screw advantage out of any situation it can.

It cannot deal fairly, justly or reasonably with Celtic in any way, shape or form. More than anything else, this proves that it is time this whole farce came to an end. It is time our club took the only action now available to it.

What we are dealing with here is an Ibrox club which, for whatever reason, has decided that it will engage our club with hostility at all times, in all circumstances, in all eventualities, and in all matters great and small.

For us to pretend that this is a normal state of affairs would be mad. For us to pretend that this is something we should simply absorb and ignore does not stand up either. It is time our club drew the only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from this.

There should not even be the pretence that relations between these clubs are good.

I have little doubt that there was more than £50,000 worth of damage done to Celtic Park when their fans visited our ground. Yet if there is a cap, or if the governing bodies decide there is a practical ceiling on what can be recovered, then the Ibrox club will pay that with sneering smiles on their faces while trying to make us responsible for the cash shortfall created by their own January spending and their lack of Champions League income.

When you are dealing with a club like this, and people like this, it is foolish in the extreme to pretend that they will ever deal with you in good faith. It is foolish to pretend that they will ever act responsibly or reasonably in their relationship with Celtic.

Since we know there is a thuggish, violent element among their supporters, one which is not above pitch invasions and extreme disorder, we should take this opportunity to ban them completely and accept that this will become a reciprocal situation. So be it.

We are dealing with people who are not prepared to be reasonable. We are dealing with people who will try to screw us at every opportunity, for any advantage they think they can obtain. We are dealing with supporters who have proved dangerous. This is the moment to tell them they are no longer welcome.

Yes, that means accepting that the derby and the nature of the derby has changed forever. Yes, we will get media criticism for it. But we are going to get media criticism for everything we do anyway. We seem to be getting media criticism now because we will not pay the £1 million extortion demand they have pushed across the table.

So, I say suck it up and pay the real price.

Tell them they are not getting back into our stadium unless they are willing to negotiate in good faith. Tell them that until they get their own hooligan element under control, this will remain the state of play far, far into the future.

If there comes a time when a board at that club wants to talk seriously about allocations and changes to allocations, then fine. If there comes a time when it wants to talk seriously about a reset in relations, then fine. If it deals properly with its own in-house ned element, then of course there are grounds to revisit any decision we make.

Of course, there are circumstances under which we might one day say again, “Yes, you are welcome in our house.”

But until then, why are we pretending otherwise? Why are we pretending that we trust these people? Why are we pretending that we respect these people? Why are we pretending that they respect us?

Their behaviour is abhorrent. Their conduct is farcical. They are leaving us no choice.

They are now threatening to withhold Scottish Cup money that we are due. When another club in the league starts behaving like that, you need to act in your own interests and do what has to be done.

We all know what has to be done.

Yes, it will disenfranchise some of our own supporters. I do not dismiss that lightly. There are Celtic fans who travel to those games and who will hate losing that opportunity. But we cannot keep allowing this stuff.

Whatever decision the SFA comes to, and whatever it says we should pay this time, this should be the last time.

Enough is enough.

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