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Celtic Diary Tuesday April 7: It’s A Mystery

Despite some of the worst behaviour seen off the pitch at a football match in many years, the media are strangely silent when it comes to condemnation of those involved.

 

In the past, we’ve seen headlines such as “shame game ” which have led to political interference with football, and all sorts of articles suggesting ways to punish perpetrators, and speculating as to the causes.

 

Unfortuantely, since the guilt lies entirely within the remit of the “rangers ” football club, no one can suggest that closing catholic schools is the answer, and therefore the media is completely out of ideas to solve the problem.

 

The injury to a Celtic physio was the result of several missiles thrown towards the Celtic players.

 

 

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You’ll notice from this picture others trying to avoid what can only be described as a shower of objects thrown towards them. It’s surprising only one person was injured.

 

At half time, broken glass found it’s way into the goalmouth that would be occupied by Joe Hart, who would have been well within his rights to refuse to continue the game, but hey..it’s the old firm..it’s a special atmosphere and makes for great tv….

 

Some are claiming that a fan stood on a bottle and threw the broken bits onto the park.

 

I’m having trouble with this theory. Try standing on a bottle to break it, especially a brown beer bottle…though it could have been buckfast.

 

Even if you succeed the glass will not crumple underfoot, it will end up anywhere in a fifty foot radius, which means that whoever was nearby would certainly have not only noticed it but had a bit of a moan about glass flying around.

 

As for throwing the bits what is a considerable distance ….try that as well. You won’t cover the distance that seems to have been covered by these fragments.

 

It’s more likely that a bottle was thrown and crashed off the crossbar, shattering over a fairly large area, which would explain why so many bits were found by so many people.

 

Unless , of course, one of the groundstaff put it there at half time. An unlikely theory, but almost certainly the one that the SMSM would consider had the incident happened in front of the Lisbon Lions stand, for instance.

 

 

Missiles were also launched towards Portuguese winger Jota when he tried to take a corner kick. Again , no one is highlighting this.

 

No one is demanding an investigation into the levels of security at Ibrox that allowed those who cleane the place up after a game to collect a number of glass bottles that didn’t find their way onto the pitch…

 

 

 

 

The Herald covered it, even mentioning that the bottles were found in the “Rangers End “, which is a bizarre way to describe all but 700 seats out of nearly 50,000, and interestingly, no one on their staff would put their name to the story…

 

Several glass bottles found in Rangers end in aftermath of Celtic clash

By Herald & Times Sport  
Still a little nervous, the reporter went on….

SEVERAL glass bottles were recovered following yesterday’s Old Firm derby at Ibrox between Rangers and Celtic

It’s believed that the shocking number of drinks bottles were spotted in a Rangers home section of the stadium.

 

It’s believed ?

 

or further on….

 

A mixture of Buckfast and Vodka half-bottles could be seen lined up on a an advertising wall, as it appears fans situated in the Rangers section managed to sneak in the alcohol.  

 

It appears ?

 

Reminiscent of Chris MacLaughlin ( BBC Scotland ) reporting that “Celtic say ” a staff member has been hurt.

 

 

Although the Herald covered it, they were carteful not to actually state the facts, only to admit , seemingly reluctantly, that incidents had taken place.

 

 

Of course, the media did hold their breath for a moment when fat funster Ally McCoist gave ange Postecoglou a hug, dreaming up all sorts of headlines that could further attach blame to Neil Lennon for starting a ruckus in a previous and well documented shame game…….

 

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but no one has mentioned this as chubs behaved himself on this occasion, although he sort of let himself down post match….

 

 

 

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But you won’t see this reported anywhere else either.

 

 

Far and away the most serious incident took place in Rutherglen, where a busload of Rangers supporters attacked the Vogue public house, and left a Celtic supporter needing medical attention for a bleed on the brain.

 

No one, to my knowledge has been arrested, and the front pages, the radio and the television seem to have decided not to use their considerable influence to seek out the guilty parties with the attention such a serious incident demands.

 

The police haven’t made any appeals for information, although I may have missed that, though even if they have and I’ve missed it, it’s not a particularly enthusiastic appeal, is it ?

 

 

What we saw on Sunday was yet another instance of supporters of one football club behaving in such a way that demands severe punishment, something that will demonstrate to them that their long history of bad behaviour will no longer be appeased.

 

Talk of strict liability, that is , holding the club, company or both responsible for the actions of their support, has been pushed to one side, and presumably that’s because the stricken Glasgow giants haven;t got the money to ride out any major loss of income due to fines or stand closures, and having done so much to keep an entity in business over there, the establishment is unlikely to do anything that might undo all their good work….

 

UEFA, on the other hand, have closed stands at Ibrox, often for far less than events like those on Sunday, which were witnessed by representatives of Sporting Braga, who will play at Ibrox in the Europa League fairly soon, and must surely be considering demanding assurances on the safety of their players, staff and support.

 

Indeed, with the game being shown around the world, it’s surprising that the media haven’t moved en masse to try to highlight these problems in order to preserve the image of our game, even if it;s just for advertisers and sponsors.

 

Which were noticeably absent at ibrox, by the way….

 

 

In fact, the archway used at the beginning of the game as an entrance has been disposed of….. (Record )

 

Rangers ‘Old Firm’ archway used during the derby clash with Celtic has been snapped in the Ibrox bins.

Both teams walked out from the tunnel and under the blue ‘Old Firm’ branded arch before kick-off between the bitter foes. 

 

 

The Old Firm brand took it’s place on the advertising boards around the ground, and no one wants to know why ?

 

The loss of revenue alone runs into tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, and it’s hard to believe that boards this game weren’t booked up weeks in advance.

 

At what point did the club/company decide to go with the old firm brand , and why ?

 

It makes no sense to spurn thousands of pounds to put something on a board that doesn’t even solely belong to them.

 

 

Unless they knew that there would be trouble, and they wanted the world to associate it with the old firm, and not with ” rangers “.

 

 

A clever piece of branding that shares the blame between two clubs rather than just one.

 

With the Champions league money now almost certainly out of reach for them next season, they need to have something to sell, something to at least partially make up for the loss of that income stream.

 

 

The old Firm it is then.

 

 

And our board will do the square root of fuck all, yet again, to remove themselves from this association with a club/company that once again, in the eyes of the world, have disgraced themselves with behaviour that is fast becoming the norm for them.

 

And allowing those outside the Glasgow bubble to believe that Celtic and “rangers ” are two sides of the same coin.

 

We’re being painted as a part of something that thrives on hatred , bigotry and violence.

 

And still, our board remains silent.

 

Then again, would anyone report it if they did say something ?

 

Somehow I get the feeling they’d be accused of stirring up trouble.

 

But that doesn’t matter.

 

what needs to be said must be said, and what needs to be done, must be done.

 

Celtic need to publicly state that they want no part of this old firm nonsense, and follow that up with outright condemnation of the security at Ibrox on Sunday.

 

Appeasement hasn’t worked, so now it’s time for a different way of thinking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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BJF
1 year ago

Good piece today Ralph. Nothing can dilute the sweet of Sunday mind. Ange snd his squad are immense.

BJF
1 year ago

Oops sweetness

Monti
1 year ago

Great article for a change & clearly well thought through & delivered ( can’t have been Ralph then ) excellent account of what was a completely disgusting day ( result aside ) sadly expected though.
Not one single ticket should be given to that vermin for the next game at Celtic Park or indeed the foreseeable future.

P S Where are the SFA & SPFL today? Not a word, yet if Celtic get an offside goal or heaven forbid a corner, you can’t shut them up.

Dziekanowski's nightclub child
1 year ago
Reply to  Monti

The clear and we’ll thought through diary came from a computer in the Stoke area which is allegedly owned by a man. Just reporting this momentous occasion like a Scottish sports hack

Thru and thru
1 year ago
Reply to  Monti

I agree. Not one ticket. We shouldn’t have accepted the 700 either.

Monti
1 year ago
Reply to  Thru and thru

Agreed mate

The Cha
1 year ago
Reply to  Thru and thru

Yes we should.

I’m sure the vast majority of the 700 who were there thoroughly enjoyed themselves and will remember the day.

Similarly, for future games, anyone who doesn’t want to go is fully entitled to make that decision for themselves but don’t make it for others, plenty of whom will want to go no matter what.

Its totally naivety to think that anything will be done about the Huns if Celtic fans stay away.

Celtic fans are entitled to watch our team play and making that as safe as possible is the issue not capitulating to the mob.

Thru and thru
1 year ago
Reply to  The Cha

So are you happy with the mob calling the shots? Making it as safe as possible! It’ll never be safe in there, even with the full allocation it was never safe.

The Cha
1 year ago
Reply to  Thru and thru

The players and manager were appreciative of the fans being there and providing unwavering support.

I don’t get Celtic fans who want to make a difficult task for our team far harder.

Anyone who doesn’t want to go doesn’t need to but those that do are valued by the manager and team.

highseastim
1 year ago
Reply to  Monti

I emailed strongly but politely to the SPFL yesterday regarding the hullabaloo on Sunday, and also STV news regarding their disgraceful reporting of the mayhem!!
Funny how none of them seem to have noticed that missiles were thrown from each of the four stands in Ibrox!!

Monti
1 year ago
Reply to  highseastim

highseastim, we will be getting told it was us who threw the bottle.

Tommy McQuillan
1 year ago
Reply to  Monti

Monti I’ve actually read on Twitter that a sevco fan said he saw a Celtic supporter throw the bottle that ended up in Big Joe’s penalty area in the second half. He was deadly serious as well, now what a throw that would’ve been from the Broomloan end to the Copland Road penalty area, surely though it would’ve been easier to hit the Broomloan penalty area plus why would a Celtic supporter want to potentially hurt our own keeper. That’s the mentality of these though, I’ve seen brighter blackouts ffs and our insipid media and press remain staunch and silent just like they always have and always will. There’s not even been an apology over our physio Danny having to get stitches in a head wound, much less condemnation of a support who are becoming more militant by the day. What are the stewards and Police Scotland doing even attending these games if all they do is sit back and watch, why aren’t they identifying the culprits and arresting them? Their support believe they’re above the law and they’re right if they’re not being held accountable then they’re pretty much untouchable. I don’t think even if they were given prison time for what they’re up to that it would deter them, like their Irish racism and sectarian bile they’d wear it like a badge of honour. The misguided notion that it’s only a small minority was proved a lie when Ramsey scored on Sunday as the Billy Boys was blaring out all around the stadium and not even a mention of it post match in the studio nor in the smsm in general. The only people who have an appetite for change in their support are turned on and vilified by their own supporters, there are some decent Rangers supporters who want this nefarious brand following their club out but until the club itself demands change instead of pandering to the worst elements of their support then nothing will change. The governing bodies are the same and to a point Celtic are culpable too by insisting we need them to survive or our game will die. If, as I suspect, they are liquidated again then we have to insist on FFP or they’ll repeat the same patterns over again by living outside their means. Since their inception in 2012 they’ve learnt nothing from Rangers 1872/2012 (deceased) and copied everything that killed the old club is probably going to kill this one too. They left 276 creditors behind the last time and they can’t be allowed to disregard the creditors the owe money too again, if that was Celtic do you think they’d have signed a five way agreement? Not a chance of it they’d have drove a stake through our heart and saw us off for good.

John A
1 year ago

Are you sure Ally McCoist wasn’t talking about our board when he said cowards and shitebags?

Mcklintop
1 year ago

Not surprised by the scenes at Ipox and not surprised by the media reaction either. It’s always the same. Whenever it’s that mob that are in the spotlight “allegedly” does a lot of heavy lifting. The desperation of 2nd rangers to cling to the old firm brand is embarassing. But we do need to emphasize in the next game at Celtic Park that we are not half of anything. I would love it if we keep the arch theme going for that game. How about a lovely arch as the team walk out with the legend “NOT THE OLD FIRM”.

Does the board have big enough b0ll0cks to do it. Oh the zombie rage would be magnificent and what a signal to send to the millions watching.

Steven
1 year ago
Reply to  Mcklintop

Even better: the ONE CLUB SINCE 1888 on an arch, beamed around the world!! The huns would go full nuclear!!

Monti
1 year ago

Mike, if you are out there, I hope you enjoyed Sunday old friend.

charlie
1 year ago
Reply to  Monti

monti a think mikey and a lotta good tims go on heertae hav a laughbut iff ye canny hiv dsaid laugh causey moderation it gets oan yer tits ///anyway COYBIG GOD BLESS BIG ANGE

1 year ago

Well said Ralph.

vincent mcsherry
1 year ago

re. the bottle throwing etc. dont be surprised if Police Scotland, football authorities, rangers fc do nothing.

James
1 year ago

Celtic are the embarrassment not saying anything and happy to be tied to them

Cartvale88
1 year ago

Great read Ralphie, but in this crass wee country it is always a minority at the Crumbledome. The running thread from the fifties, the Rangers/Sevco morons as they pillage their way through Europe, it was a Nottingham newspaper that first used the term ‘Huns’ in the sixties after their visit. Wherever you see issues on pitches cities in Scotland they are always there. Look at the pitch invasions and battles, destroying the city centre. But the Government, media and Police And others seem fearful of that mob. Look at the desperate coverage of Dundee fans fighting, but no mention of Rutherglen.
Unfortunately a tiny minority of ours think it is funny or as some call it a prank to imitate the knuckledraggers which allows the paper, the Billy Boys Club to jump on these stories and exaggerate them. The shame is that people have lost their lives/murdered, have been severely injured as they rampage. The suits at Parkhead come out of this with the permeating smell of diarrohea, they seem to justify, instead of walking away. Their link to the OF, bus useage and general media stance stinks, even the Sydney Cup was shocking in that they thought the OF would have been a good image, fortunately the clowns walked away to another day in court
Financially there day has arrived and they will have to drastically cut their cloth to survive
Anyways it was a beautiful Sunday

Woof Charlie
1 year ago

Widely reported that Sturgeon slammed ‘Rangers’ fans when she didn’t. She specifically used OF in order to avoid doing so. Poor.

The Cha
1 year ago
Reply to  Woof Charlie

Yep, same with police, media and no doubt SFA/SPFL when they can bother to say anything.

Monti
1 year ago

The Celtic support need to start mobilising itself to force the club to ditch this ‘ old firm ‘ pish.

Cesar
1 year ago

A good read with some very valid points on media’s double standards and the ineffectiveness of Celtic to distance itself from the toxic OF brand. Even if Celtic do not use OF terminology we still get dragged in by those who use it as a stick because they are afraid to call out what happens over in Govan. When Tiger Woods image was tarnished the likes on Nike etc dropped him like a stone. Here Celtic are totally in the clear but you wouldn’t know it watching football shows or reading articles. Will it take Adidas, Dafabet or Magners to say we are going elsewhere before someone at Celtic sees the big picture? Get Sky, STV and the BBC into Celtic Park and publicly tear up any rights to OF brand and send a real message that we stand alone. HH

SteveNaive
1 year ago

“A permanent embarrassment and an occasional disgrace “

R.St.Parsley
1 year ago
Reply to  SteveNaive

A permanent disgrace and an occasional embarrassment

The Cha
1 year ago
Reply to  R.St.Parsley

delete last 4 words.

Jinkylarrson
1 year ago

Please please please Celtic Board refuse to play the cup tie against these animals. For the Safety of our players. That will force the mainstream to do something!

The Cha
1 year ago
Reply to  Jinkylarrson

Absolutely not.

Smash them on the pitch and pressurise authorities off it to address Hunnish behaviour.

SFTB
1 year ago

There is no surprise at the over use of the O** F*** logo and merchandise on Sunday. It will form part of the case for the defence when they have to mount a defence in court when sued by the Sydney Tournament organisers. They want us to believe that the term is as widespread as it was on Sunday. The O** F*** logo is owned jointly and seperately by our Board and theirs. As far as I can see, we choose not to use the term that we have half-ownership of and they do choose to use it and, on Sunday chose to overuse it.

The Celtic Board have let us down on so many issues but I cannot see what they could effectively do here. They cannot stop the Ibrox club from using what they half own. If they gave up 50% control, it would not stop the media and the Ibrox club from using it. If they publicly draw attention to their wish not to use it, they will be ridiculed by the media who continue to want to use it and can’t be stopped and they will be disbelieved by the majority of Scottish football supporters. If they point out that our fans were not responsible for Sunday’s violence, we will be faced with having to account for all the pre-match vandalism at Ibrox, which was organised, and to highlight all instances of where our fans have let ourselves down and where we threw bottles, albeit plastic ones, at Barrie McKay of Hearts recently. It will not matter that there is no equivalence between our offences; the media needs it to be so.

There are so many issues that the Celtic Board need to comment on- last year’s disaster, the disastrous Howe pursuit, and all events around 2012, but I cannot see this as a winnable battle.

P.S. Strict Liability is as daft an idea as the OBaF Act and we should not be promoting it. It will be aimed disproportionately at us and we should not be encouraging it.

The Cha
1 year ago
Reply to  SFTB

Strict Liability isn’t the problem, its who’s determining it and do they have the bottle (pun intended) to avoid the ‘both sideism’ that would render it pointless.

SFTB
1 year ago
Reply to  The Cha

It always has been seen as “one’s as bad as the other” and a West of Scotland issue. Most of Scotland gives itself a bye on sectarianism, whatever that is, and bigotry. That mindset has not gone away or reduced. Strict Liability would see us damaged every bit as much as them- opposition fans would ensure it was so. Singing Republican songs will see the same deduction of points as glassing someone. After our experience with OBaF Act it is madness to expect fairness from Strict Liability,. The SNP are asking for it so they can settle old scores from the defeat of OBaF.

Effarr
1 year ago

Celtic should generously donate the full Old Firm brand rights to them
free of charge (they wouldnt pay anyway) and tell them that they are free to weld-joint it beside their name on their front gates.

Tell them that it became extinct when their previous, shambolic institution died and wont be requiring it anymore.

Let it be known that they agree with all the new Old Firm lark and that they, and they alone, are now THE (thee) Old Firm.

The Cha
1 year ago

re Celtic Physio being attacked by a bottle.

This happened at half-time in the tunnel area and not at the end of the game when the team were celebrating with the fans and were attacked by ‘walking away’ Huns.

It came from the Main stand ie the posh seats and not the cheap ones that house the Onion Bears and other knuckle draggers.

Celtic players, management team and fans were attacked from all 4 stands and not just 1 or 2 isolated incidents that the press in their Hun ‘damage limitation’ mode would have you believe.

Funkyy
1 year ago

Can’t find any fault with what you said Ralph.Now anyone can understand how so many decent, ordinary German folk swallowed the Nazi propaganda that was fed to them daily. Our so-called free independent press/media could teach the Nazis a thing or two. They ignore clear facts, they omit relevant details, they pander to the Ibrox club and its uneducated minions. Only “feel good” articles are allowed to be printed/spoken about *rangers….every time the fat Columbian’s wean burps there’s another “adorable” photo in the Daily Pravda of him and his missus. Yet they totally blanked the follow-up story after his wife had to set a private detective on his tail when she suspected he was at it with other women. Now it’s all glossed over.
But ANY bad Celtic story they can find is printed, analyzed, dissected and repeated for days. Some people say they’re afraid to offend the *rangers board and the *rangers fans. I believe it’s because they share the same bigoted beliefs that they have. As you say, they use “It is believed that..it is said that…it appears that..” rather than expose the facts to the light of day which is supposed to be the basic responsibility of a free press.

Funkyy
1 year ago
Reply to  Funkyy

And it’s Tuesday 5th April Ralphie lol

Woof Charlie
1 year ago
Reply to  Funkyy

Journalists parrot the 4th estate and the freedom of the press routinely but they are mostly graduate lap dancers with a lap top, who will drop their ethical knickers to the highest bidder. Sports journalists are journalists who can’t write. So they take it up the Arsenal for anyone.

TGM
1 year ago

How can you write a blog when ye don’t even know whit day it is, Ralph?

Hint …

It’s no even the 7th of April yet …

TGM
1 year ago

Defeat by Celtic in Sunday’s derby has left the Ibrox side needing favours to retain their league title, while another Old Firm meeting in the last four of the Scottish Cup looms next Sunday.’

The BBC giving a big and happily blatant shout out to their ludge brothers in the black ro make sure their much beloved Queen’s Eleven gets at least a Scottish Cup, if not the league itself.

And with Madden & Dallas in charge, it’ll likely work too.

Btw, does anyone ever remember refs being named 10 days in advance for games?

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