Celtic Diary Friday November 8

Celtic have released a statement about the trouble that happened in Amsterdam this week;

CELTIC Football Club is currently investigating events in Amsterdam last night (Wednesday).

We have been informed that there are five individuals detained in Holland. We are not clear if they have any formal association with the Club, however, we will be liaising with the local authorities in Amsterdam, our own police and the British Consulate in order to fully understand events. We would stress that there is no excuse for any form of violent conduct.

In addition, we have received numerous complaints from Celtic supporters in relation to their treatment in Amsterdam, which we will also investigate fully.

There is no question that Celtic supporters have been subjected to a high degree of provocation. Last week, our supporters were the target of missiles being thrown from Ajax supporters at Celtic Park, a night where 300 seats were damaged within the stadium.

This was followed up by an organised attack on a group of Celtic supporters in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the night before the match. We have also received numerous individual reports of other attacks on our fans.

The Celtic travelling support has a magnificent reputation across Europe and our fans have visited major European cities over many years without incident. Once again the overwhelming majority of our supporters behaved impeccably. ”

Thats a pretty strong defence of the clubs support-much more so than we have seen in the past from the club. which, in turn , means that perhaps those supporters who were there should be listened to when they give there account of what happened.

From trawling the web, reading the stories of those who were there, and watching a few videos of events, then a number of things cannot be in any doubt.

Celtic supporters were attacked on Tuesday night.

Over zealous undercover police officers attacked Celtic supporters.

Celtic supporters retaliated. Police were injured. One by a particularly solid lamp-post which was clearly wearing the hoops.

A policeman who was viciously assaulting an already restrained Celtic supporter was beaten up by Celtic supporters. After a lamp post knocked him out.

I wasn’t there, but I have been abroad with Celtic, and a lot of drinking, a lot of singing, and a lot of unruly behaviour takes place. However, a lot of self policing among the support also takes place, and very rarely do things get out of hand.

So, what was different about Amsterdam ?

Around 12,000 fans are said to have travelled, meaning the vast majority were without tickets. That in itself isn’t really a problem, but can lead to some. Usually, those who don’t find a ticket will find a bar to watch in, and those who do will slip quietly into the home support, and try to remain undetected.

However, there were quite a few who got in to the Arena with home tickets, and one supporter, surreybhoy on KDS, took the Arena tour on thursday, discovered that a few had been ejected;

”   With regards to those travelling, predictably in such large numbers there were plenty of idiots around. Saying that, I think the Dutch were expecting something to happen which gave the place an air of inevitability trouble wise as the day went on. Even around lunch time we saw mounted police mobilising when there wasn’t really any trouble to speak of in the square. OTT police + football fans on the smash for two days means only one outcome.

We had time to do the ArenA tour today before the plane back and the girl taking us around said there were 800 Celtic fans ejected from the home end last night, which is a new record apparently. They expected Celtic fans to try that and it didn’t go down at all well with Ajax fans.

The girl also said she worked as a steward for the club both home and away. In Glasgow she was looking after the Ajax fans (which was the first time Ajax stewards had to wear bullet proof vests apparently), and last night they had laid on special security precautions for the away fans – more so than usual. On a positive note she said Parkhead was the best atmosphere she’s been in, just beating Dortmund.

During the game itself the away section was more or less dead. Very very strange for that kind of fixture away in Europe. I don’t know if it was down to those who got tickets, the team performance, or that most people had been on it for the last 24 hours and were suffering. Or a combination of all three. The girl doing the stadium tour couldn’t believe how quiet we were during the game. There was even a lad asleep in his seat for most of the second half which pretty much summed it up. ”

Another KDS poster, David Carney, added his thoughts;

On the flight out a few guys were already pissed but they calmed down when told they might be refused boarding to the flight. From there there was no issue.

The fans travelling from Schipol to Centraal Station were polite and well behaved from what I saw.

On the Tuesday night we went for a wander and there was no trouble at all in the early evening.

About 11.20pm we were in a pub called the Old Sailor. There were no Celtic casuals and no badly drunk people or neds in there, it was groups of Celtic fans having a drink, doing the usual, chatting to the other people in the pub and it was a quiet vibe. I went out for a cigarette and about 20 guys dressed in black with Dutch accents wandered towards the pub along the canal from Centraal. They hovered abut for 5 minutes chatting in Dutch and then came into the pub. It got crowded but it was not intimidating, people were tired so we left and walked back to the hotel. Next day I found out the Celtic supporters in the Old Sailor, some of them at least, got done by Ajax casuals. Probably the same guys all dressed in black or their cohorts. As we heard it next day, Celtic fans had been in the Old Sailor and had been interviewed for Dutch TV, so maybe those Ajax casuals saw an easy target, because there were only normal Celtic supporters in the place and they were mixing fine with the Dutch. It was a liberty.

Overall, on the Tuesday, there were a few casualties from the drink and some boisterous behaviour but come on, it’s Amsterdam and people are there for a bevvy but at no time did I see any Celtic supporters antagonising any Ajax fans. People behaved the same as normal and take from that what you will, we’re not always angels but we’re not troublemakers.

On the Wednesday in the morning the vibe was good but as it got to afternoon there were loads of non-Scots or Irish with no colours on walking about the area between Centraal and the Damtrak. Loads of the Baseball cap black jacket mob and growls.

By this point, yesterday afternoon, people had heard about what had happened in the Old Sailor pub the night before and also about possibly someone getting hit with an axe on the outskirts of town. We were also warned not to travel on the Metro to the game because Ajax casuals had been waiting for Milan supporters on the Metro at last game they played each other and there was bother.

We were in a nice hotel and supporters were being bussed out early evening and in two minutes the baseball cap and black jacket crew appeared and skelped an innocent bus driver who was getting ready to ferry the first Celtic fans to the game, then we started to hear about bother further down towards Dam square and at that point most people basically said that if Ajax casuals thought they were going to take liberties with people then our supporters would have to stand up for themselves. We were in another couple of bars with normal Ajax fans swapping tops and jokes etc so it was not some kind of riot scene or aggressive Celtic fans looking for trouble, from what we saw, but there was a general feeling of ‘we’re not going to let people take liberties with us’ because innocent people had been attacked the night before.

From there we saw no trouble other than a bit of bottle throwing and a couple of riot vans, we got back from the game and still didn’t see anything and I only saw some of the videos etc this morning.

So all in it was not some riot scene across the City. There were a couple of isolated incidents as I heard it because the police did not do enough to protect the support at various stages on the Tuesday and Wednesday and then a plain clothes copper took a liberty with a Celtic fan who was being restrained and kicked him in the face. I think he then gt a bit of a kicking if it is the same guy.

Post match we mixed with Ajax fans and locals and there were no issues.

Today the Dutch guy who runs one of the Irish bars put up a notice to apologise to Celtic fans for what happened, stating that in twenty years we had never gone there to cause trouble and I think that’s the crux of it. Not enough was done to stop it early when it was clearly coming from the Ajax side and because of that, where big groups of Celtic fans were gathered, they reacted and is that right or wrong, eff knows if you weren’t there.

Going on an away trip with Celtic does sometimes give you a bit of a shock because many go mad for the drink and you might be there for a couple of days with people not eating or sleeping right and just drinking so it is an eye-opener. We’re no angels but we’re also not troublemakers and maybe last night showed we’re not shampooebags. In the face of intense provocation people reacted but they didn’t go looking for it. ”

There is also this from the huddleboard

Yesterday, 18:10

god67  pissing over the scum since 1888 Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 14,540

Re: Sky reporting mass brawl wi 10 polis hospitalised not long home and that was a wild one. Dunno exactly what kicked it off but when a handful of wee wanks with a mob mentality throwing bottles the coppers were always gonna charge in. was a cracking atmosphere outside the pub on the corner all day then 6 cunts all dressed in black ran down alleyway and then about 30 fans ran after them and all hell broke loose. Dunno what it was about someone said they wer nicking banners from square but the young lads who were steaming and kept coming round the corner throwing bottles at the coppers done noone any favours nearly hitting fans aswell as coppers. was inevitable the cops were gonna charge and it was the boys outside the pub who had been there all day who took the worst of it weird all the undercover cops dressed as hooligans about too not surprised a few got a sore face they didn’t look or act like coppers very strange

Now, it does seem that one or two tims reacted, but only to provocation. 

All of which seems to be backed up by this

It also seems that the police were wired for trouble. This report from the BBC;

Amsterdam Police say an attack by a group of Celtic fans ahead of the Champions League game against Ajax has left eight officers injured.

The clash between supporters and police came in the centre of the Dutch city before kick-off at Amsterdam Arena.

“There were 15 arrests, mostly Celtic supporters,” said a police statement.

“At the end of the afternoon, a large group of Celtic supporters attacked police officers in plain clothes. Eight were injured and one left unconscious.”

Celtic had earlier issued a warning to their fans to be “extra vigilant” in Amsterdam following an attack on their supporters on Tuesday.

Police said the majority of those arrested in the latest incident were Celtic fans, although it is believed that supporters from other clubs were also involved.

“Bottles and sticks were used in the attack, which came out of nowhere,” they said of the fighting in Dam Square.

Police said a few officers “had broken noses and needed stitches above their eyebrows and on their lips”.

Celtic lost the match 1-0 and face an uphill battle to reach the knockout stages of the competition.

In Tuesday’s incident, a group of visiting supporters in the Dutch capital were involved in a violent incident in a city-centre bar.

Celtic subsequently told fans to “only stick to advised areas for safety reasons”.

Some 12,000 Celtic fans were expected to be in Amsterdam for the Group H match.

A club statement, issued on Wednesday, added: “Celtic Football Club is urging all supporters in Amsterdam for tonight’s Uefa Champions League tie with Ajax to be extra vigilant following an unprovoked attack on Celtic fans last night.

“The attack in the city centre by an element of the Ajax support resulted in a number of arrests.

“Celtic are urging all supporters to be extra vigilant in the city centre and at the Amsterdam Arena.”

Celtic beat Ajax 2-1 last month and Uefa opened disciplinary proceedings against the Dutch club after some of their supporters clashed with police and stewards and damaged seats at Parkhead.

Note that the “police were attacked ” -no mention by the dutch police of provocation.

And finally, from Reuters;

Eight police officers needed hospital treatment and more than 15 football fans were arrested following violent clashes before Wednesday’s Champions League match between Celtic and Ajax in Amsterdam.
A spokesman for Amsterdam police said a large crowd of Celtic supporters turned on a group of plainclothes police officers in Dam Square, the city’s historic heart shortly before 6pm local time, about three hours before kick-off in a match won 1-0 by Ajax.
“The officers took quite a beating,” said the spokesman Rob van der Veen. “One of the officers was unconscious, another had his nose broken.”
Earlier in the day, the mayor of Amsterdam issued an emergency order allowing the police to remove people they judged to be a threat to public order.
Dutch media reported that fans attacked the police with thrown bottles and sticks. The news portal nu.nl reported that fans of the Belgian club Anderlecht and followers of Germany’s St Pauli were also in the city.
Large numbers of Dinamo Zagreb fans are also in Amsterdam before Thursday’s Europa League match against PSV Eindhoven.

This one was largely missed by most.

The Mayor actually gave the police carte blanche to deal with “potential troublemakers. ”

And off they went to do so.

Questions need to be asked of the Scottish police who were there. They would have been assisting and advising their Dutch counterparts.  What did they do to assist ?  What advice was offered ? How did they help visiting fans to stay safe ?

It looks like there was an inevitability to these incidents, especially when you factor in the arrrival of Dinamo Zagreb fans, especially if you add the trouble when Milan visited the city.

As usual, someone somewhere has made an arse of it. Thankfully, this time , the club has decided to defend its fans.

And what of the lamp post, an innocent hero in all this ?

Well, it seems okay today

for those who haven’t seen the videos, here’s the story , in pictures;

The guy in the biege jacket is an undercover policeman, and a young Celtic fan has asked him for directions to the toilet.

He is chased by Celtic supporters, who think his reply to the young mans query is somewhat impolite, perhaps even rude.

He finds his progress impeded by a moving tram

And impeded again by a lamp post which isn’t moving . At all.

The full video is here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fL-Po4M0Xu4 -which might not work, so you might have to head to you tube.

Elsewhere, somewhat predictably, the Record has launched into an enthusiastic campaign to smear the Celtic fans who travelled.

Which surprises no-one.

Special mention must go to Keith Jackson on Radio Scotland though, who said Amsterdam was like Manchester.

Sort of I suppose. In that he has got a blinkered and completely inaccurate view of both.

Jock Stein was lifting the Coronation Cup in yesterdays picture, as pointed out by John woods.

Today, heres another walk down memory lane.

Whats happening here ?