Celtic was entirely right to impose harsh measures on tomorrow’s visiting fans.

Last week, when the SPFL gave its decision on the Celtic-Ibrox ticket standoff, I said it was not in Celtic’s interests to take the Ibrox club’s word for it that the Union Brats would be denied entry into our ground.

This came amidst media claims that it would be an easy ban to get around.

I wrote an article setting out a number of conditions I thought Celtic would ask for, and impose on them, before this fixture was allowed to proceed with Ibrox fans in attendance.

I got a number of emails from Ibrox supporters telling me I was talking rubbish, that Celtic would not do it and that their club would never agree to it.

Imagine my surprise, or complete lack of it, when Celtic imposed almost every one of those conditions on the Ibrox side and they accepted them, as I knew full well they would have to.

So, Ibrox nutters, spare me the outrage. If you thought your club was going to stand tall, beat its chest and hand us nothing more than a sheet of paper with some names on it, you were even dumber than I already thought you were.

That was never going to happen.

Your club lost this one. It did not have to like it, but it was always going to have to live with it. Celtic had already won the central argument because Celtic had framed this issue around security and safety. Once that became the basis of the dispute, Celtic was able to set the rules, regulations and conditions as it saw fit.

I knew the club would insist on the harshest possible version of that.

Ibrox fans will not be permitted to enter the ground wearing face coverings. That means every face can be filmed and documented as they enter the stadium. They have to arrive early, as per the security instructions. There will be searches.

Pyrotechnic detection dogs will be deployed. Drums and megaphones are banned. Flag poles and canes are banned. Reinforced gloves are banned. Flags have to meet size conditions and will be subject to search.

In other words, the whole performance has been stripped back.

They may still try to smuggle some of the usual nonsense in. They may still try to make their wee statement. They may still think there is some clever way around it. But if they do, I am fairly sure Celtic will sanction the Ibrox club in response. The next game between these two sides is at Celtic Park as well.

This is a comprehensive beating handed out by our club to theirs. We did it because we were in a position to do it, but also because from the start we said this was about safety and security. We said we were not going to compromise on either.

That is why the SPFL decision mattered so much.

By explicitly making this about safety and security, Celtic has also made reciprocity difficult. If Ibrox wants to manufacture reasons not to allow the Green Brigade into their ground, for example, it will have to do that in a way that does not trigger sanctions against its own club or expose the sheer bad faith behind it.

That way, other clubs around the country will treat this for what it is: a unique set of circumstances in the aftermath of a unique incident.

Maybe this all quiets down before the start of next season. Maybe the lesson is learned. Maybe everybody involved realises that the grown-ups are now watching.

But if Ibrox wants to push its luck, this will go on and on. It will start with the next game between the two sides.

I wrote earlier about the culture of the Ibrox club, and there is a little more I want to say on that later. At the centre of that culture is delusion, as much as hate.

They always believe they are just one insult away from unleashing the big guns on all of their enemies and rivals, even while telling themselves that those same enemies and rivals are too powerful and too entrenched ever to shift.

I know a lot of them believed their club would stand up to Celtic and issue legal threats.

Legal threats about what, exactly? Who knows?

But they didn’t. Because they couldn’t.

Now every one of their fans who walks into that ground knows they are going to have to behave. There will be a police presence. The game will be heavily stewarded. Anyone who tries to get in wearing a mask will be told they are not getting in, all the better to identify them if anything happens.

That is the key point here.

If you have seen the images released in connection with Police Scotland’s investigation into the disorder at the last game, you will have noticed a large number of Celtic fans whose apparent offence seems to be having been on the pitch.

That looks like an awfully large and complex investigation if that is where the focus is going to sit, and it is probably not the best use of taxpayers’ money if the real issue gets lost in the shuffle.

Because the real violence, the organised violence, was carried out by people whose identities are harder to establish because they were allowed into the ground wearing masks. They were allowed in the stands wearing masks. They eventually ended up on the pitch wearing those same masks.

That made the job harder. It will not be so difficult this time.

If any of them invade the pitch at Celtic Park, the police will find their work much easier. If any of them indulge in racist behaviour, violence, object-throwing, pyrotechnics or anything else, the police will find their work much easier. If they want to squeal about attacks on fan culture, they can squeal as much as their little hearts desire.

This is not fan culture being cracked down on.

It is Ned culture.

And if nobody else will crack down on it, Celtic has every right to do so inside Celtic Park.

All that remains now is to make the rest of the day as miserable as possible for the Ibrox away support by beating them on the pitch.

But it is no surprise that Celtic inflicted a little ritual humiliation on them off it. They invited it. Once we had the opportunity, we were never going to pass it up.

We said this was about safety and security. That is how we treated it.

Job well done.

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