How dare the Ibrox fans claim their hatred is just “fan culture.”

Yesterday, in a statement that made me want to piss myself laughing, the Union Bears claimed that Celtic’s decision to ban them is an attack on “fan culture.”

Well, no. It is an attack on racism, bigotry and violent ned culture. You have to be mad to see it as anything else. I’m going to say this plainly, because sometimes plain speaking is the only thing that cuts through the noise: calling this an “attack on fan culture” is not just wrong. It is wilfully dishonest. It may even be the proof that they are delusional.

I hear the outrage, the grievance and the predictable crying from the Union Bears, and I can’t help but shake my head. I’ve seen this script before. We all have. The moment an accusing finger is pointed, it suddenly becomes persecution!

Think of the entitlement it takes to see the world like this.

This is not an assault on fan identity. It’s the consequences of over-indulging a superiority complex that makes me honestly mad.

I wrote some weeks ago about the way my inbox filled with hatred because I was silly enough to put my email address on YouTube. I’m not from Glasgow, so I am not exposed to them the way most of you are, but I have watched footage of raging Ibrox fans smash up Manchester. I watched the disgusting way they fought police and even each other in George Square when they won the Covid title. This is who they are, and as such nobody should have the least bit of sympathy for them.

I’m not buying their spin. Not for a second.

Because what exactly is this “fan culture” they’re defending? I’ll tell you what it isn’t. It isn’t passion. It isn’t loyalty. It isn’t the raw emotional heartbeat of football that I love. The songs, the colour, the flags, the noise, the sense of belonging that makes the game what it is. That is real fan culture. That is worth protecting.

What we’re talking about here is something else entirely. Something ugly. Something I have only recently come to understand, and it makes me angry.

I look at it, and my instinct, that sharp stubborn voice in me that calls things as they are, tells me straight: this is not culture as I recognise it.

It is bigotry. Aggression. Poison thrown out of their stands like it is part of the show.

I don’t want to see these things. I love Scotland. I love Glasgow. On my YouTube channel in the last few weeks, I have hoped for Scotland becoming an independent country once more. Glasgow is the place I feel drawn to more than anywhere in the world. These people desecrate Scotland. What kind of culture preaches hate?

Celtic’s decision did not come out of nowhere. If it was up to me, none of their fans would be in the ground. The line has been crossed over and over again. What is a club supposed to do? Ignore it? Excuse it? Dress it up as “banter” and hope it magically disappears?

No. Enough is enough. Celtic have said exactly that in this case, and I support it fully. I refuse to accept that racism, sectarianism or violent behaviour should be wrapped in the language of “fan culture” as if it is something noble.

I have seen fan culture at my beloved Celtic Park. Two years ago, I spent Hogmanay in Graces, prior to attending my first ever home game. The warmth and generosity of the people there is what I think fan culture is all about.

The Union Bears are not being singled out for singing too loudly or waving too many flags. They are being banned because repeated behaviour has crossed into something uglier. Something no club, especially one with Celtic’s history and identity, should tolerate.

And here’s the part that really gets me: they are the ones who are outraged! The sheer audacity of it! To engage in that behaviour, to build that reputation, and then when the door is finally shut on them, to cry foul and claim victimhood! It is staggering.

It is the kind of upside-down logic that makes you wonder whether people are genuinely operating on the same frequency as we all are. I suspect not based on some of what I’ve seen of them. (A video of some of them discussing Scottish independence, from back in 2014 is one of the most mental things I’ve ever seen).

Because it is easier, isn’t it? Easier to shout about injustice than to look inward. Easier to call it an “attack” than to admit fault. Easier to cling to this idea of “fan culture” than to confront what that culture has become in certain corners.

And the truth is this: Celtic Park, Paradise, has every right to set its standards. Every right to say what is and is not acceptable within its walls. That is not subjecting them to oppression. It is refusing to let them subject us to their hate.

Celtic have drawn a clear line, and I respect that. Because if you let this kind of behaviour slide under the banner of “fan culture,” then where does it end? What becomes acceptable next? What else is excused under that umbrella?

I want passion without poison. I’ve written about what this rivalry could be without hatred. One day I hope to see it come about. That would be fan culture. Real fan culture.

So, when I hear the complaints, the outrage and the claims of injustice, I don’t feel sympathy. I feel contempt for them. Because choices were made. Lines were crossed. Reality has now caught up with them.

My ginger witch instinct is that this is about time. I only wish that Scottish society itself stood up to these people because they are an embarrassment to the country.

So, the Union Bears and the wider Ibrox support can greet as much as they like. They’ve crossed the line time and time again. Now that fan group is banned from Celtic Park for this fixture, and if I had my way it would be for a lot longer.

If I had my way they’d never set foot in my beloved Paradise again.

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