The report into the near tragic crush at the Janefield underpass was finally published and the conclusions were pretty much what they thought they would be.

Oddly enough, I found a copy of the report,  but its reads differently to the softer summaries in the media

Which, of course, in itself leads to the obsfucation that certainly I had been expecting.

This is not to blame the media, they can only report what they have been told, but they perhaps could ask a few more questions.

Although , as we have seen, thats not something they do very often.

Those who were present have said what happened.

Yet it appears that initial fears of a vague “mistakes were made and lessons have been learned ” conclusion have been realised.

For the sake of simplicity, lets look at how the Record summarised the report.

Independent report into Celtic Park crush pinpoints factors behind incident.

An independent report ? Paid for by the club that is ultimately responsible for the safety of their support ?

Independent ?

The full report is here..

Independent_Review_of_Crowd_Congestion_Incident_at_Celtic_Park_020918-SUMMARY_CONCLUSIONS_AND_RECOMMENDATIONS-27.3.19

With professionally drafted and edited reports such as this, it’s important to read and digest it thoroughly.

Not just the Janet and John bit at the end.

One particular passage stood out for me, as it exonerates virtually everybody..and makes me suspicious as to the real purpose of the report, which appears to be exactly that..

Some of the contingency measures that were implemented, such as closed cordons formed by Stewards and Police Officers, individually, did not appear to be wholly effective in their objectives at the outset. The review has identified that this was, in part, because the Stewards and Police Officers were not obviously visible to supporters due to the significant crowd density. Limited communication from the Stewards and Police Officers to supporters was also considered to be a factor. However, once the combination of contingency actions, including closed cordons; safety announcements made over the public address system; and removal of segregation lines to the south of the stadium had been appropriately aligned through co-ordinated joint agency working under the direction of the Celtic Safety Officer, the situation was resolved quickly and 98% of supporters managed to successfully gain entry to the stadium prior to kick-off. 

Whereas several witnesses have claimed that the police and stewards were at a loss to deal with the situation, the reality-according to the report-is that they were so efficient that no one noticed them sorting everything out.

Once again, my ghast is flabbered.

Oh, and this bit, which seems to praise those who made an arse of things for dealing with it …

These dynamic decisions, made by those who were in command and using their detailed knowledge of the stadium environs and management arrangements that were in place that day, are recognised as being particularly important factors in achieving an efficient resolution to the incident. These intervention actions included switching turnstiles to manual over-ride and the redeployment of Stewards in order to remove physical segregation barriers and turnstile queue lanes formed of barriers. These actions would not have been obvious to those supporters who were involved in the congestion and were identified by Fairhurst as being critical to the successful and efficient management of the overall incident. The contingency plan to restore full control of crowd movements was implemented under the direction of the Celtic Safety Officer immediately (at 11.39am) upon him receiving confirmation from Stewards located in the North Stand underpass that movement had stopped. A similar confirmation was also communicated (and recorded at 11.40am) to the Stadium Control Room by mounted Police Officers positioned at the North West corner of the stadium. Until that point, all efforts were being focussed towards maintaining movement through the underpass.

These bits stand out , as they are quite remarkable in themselves.

You see, they were coping perfectly well, and we just didn’t notice it.

I suppose thats what happens when you’re trying not be be trampled on by a few thousand football supporters crammed into an enclosed area.

I’ll have a look at it in more detail later, and would ask you to do the same.

Then we can have a thought provoking and mature discussion on the subject.

The fixture is repeated on Sunday, and there are arrangements in place to prevent a repeat of the incident.

Surprisingly however, it will be the same police force and the set of stewards in charge of safety.

Neil Lennon will have his platers up for the game on Sunday.

Not that he should need to, largely because of the good grace shown by “rangers “, who, admittedly , were celbrating their first ever league win over Celtic, and in fact, their first ever competitive win against a side with such a long and illustrious history.

Then again, it is fair to say that Celtic are the biggest and most successful side they have faced in their short history, so perhaps its understandable that they overdid the victory parade.

However, Celtic did have an off day, and Lennon , along with Scott Brown, will be sure to have their danders up for the rematch.

Brown said of the relationship between the two men..

“It’s been great having Neil Lennon back, he’s been great for us and he’s happy to be back here, he loves it. The passion he has for Celtic is incredible. He’s fantastic and believes in us and his own ability to run this club.” 

All of which shows that the job may be his in the long run, although the Record did mention that there had been a fair bit of money placed on Rafael Benitez to be named as his successor..

Where do these people get their information ?

Bookies have slashed odds on Rafa Benitez becoming Celtic’s next permanent boss.

The Newcastle manager faces an uncertain future at St James’ Park and punters have placed a flurry of bets on him becoming Brendan Rodgers’ permanent successor.

Neil Lennon took interim charge following Rodgers’ sudden departure to Leicester City and he remains the 10/11 favourite.

But, according to Ladbrokes, all bets between Tuesday and Wednesday morning have been placed on Benitez.

This follows revelations on the respected Celtic fanzine Etims.net by the attractive and intelligent  …ah wait…I added that bit

Elsewhere, it seems alex McLeish is about to lose his job as Scotland manager, citing illness, stress and a complete fucking lack of ability.

Still, that’ll be the tax bill sorted. Which one is tempted to think that as he was unable to get  job anywhere else that was sort of the whole point when he was appointed to the post by his old chum Alan MacRae, who should really be sacked alongside him.

It’s Friday, and that means we are announcing the Etims

Knob of the Week 

Remember this guy ?

He’s David Cameron, former Prime Minister and the man who thought it would be a good idea to ask the public if they wanted to leave the european union.

This piss poor attempt to solve a deep rift in his own party instead turned  spread that rift among the general population, with the EU being firmly placed by the media as the whipping boy for everything thats wrong with everybody’s life,

Perhaps he should have thought of that before he unleashed this particular demon.

David Cameron, this weeks Etims

Knob of the Week 

The Diary has been somewhat erratic this week due to work and other factors, and so we go back to Wednesday for the last caption competition..