Newco fans climbed over the wall of the Sandy Jardine Stand to celebrate what they thought was the opening goal on Sunday. It was ill-advised, but not aggressive. The same was true when Celtic fans climbed over to celebrate the win. This copycat behaviour happened at Motherwell in 2023, when the home side scored a late equaliser, then Celtic scored an even-later winner.
With two incursions in the bank and Celtic fans on their pitch, were Newco ultras just going to turn and go home? Of course not. It looked like adrenaline-fuelled cosplaying adolescents. Unfortunately, this can never happen without the violently-inclined getting involved. They attach to marginal transgressors for cover.
The media and politicians can spare me their hand-wringing. They love it. They live for it. It gives the media audience. Finding news is hard work, this story was a gift for hard working news journos. Politicians are platformed to give a censorious lecture with commitments to act tough. The late Alex Salmond pitifully grabbed the spotlight in 2011. It is just an opportunity for politicians, the same again next week would suit them fine. It beats explaining their own performance on healthcare, education, the judicial system, social care and management of our towns and cities.
As for the good of Scottish football? The worst thing that can happen to Scottish football is that it becomes irrelevant. Today, the product looks like it has the edgiest game in the world. Scottish football could not afford all the media coverage it got for free this week.
There were two groups of fans at the game on Sunday. One who went to see a game of football, one who wanted to stick it to the man. One of the latter group walked out of the Broomloan Road Stand beside me, “I broke a seat!”, he yelled, waving his trophy above his head. He was not as young as you would hope.
The problem is not the adolescents. It is not football fans, or even ultras. It is people. When there are no personal consequences, some people take advantage. Even when there are consequences, some are too daft to consider them.
Police deserve a rocket up their backsides. In a previous era, Strathclyde Police patrolled pitch side. Now, Police Scotland sit back and let £13/hour stewards ‘police’ crowds. To gain entry to the Broomloan Stand, fans had to filter through multiple lines of police and two ticket inspection challenges (one by police, one by stewards). That fans without tickets found another route into the ground means that police strategy, despite being on the heavy side to normal fans, was a failure. Police are paid very well for these events and if they do a poor job, are able to demand they are paid more next time. They are negatively incentivised and have yet to be held to account. The Police Scotland – Scottish Government – Licensing Board cartel is quite an outfit.
The lad who walked out of the Broomloan carrying a piece of blue plastic above his head didn’t look like someone who had a lot of trophies in his life. That’s the takeaway from Sunday. What you see as chaos is someone else’s sense of achievement.
This is not a football problem, shops now put packets of butter in tagged containers because society has a Live Without Consequences underbelly. But it’s violent edge is almost always a male problem. Fixing that is one for the ages.
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Setting Free The Bears
Can I point out that a 750g pack of Lurpak spreadable is now £6.50
No wonder it’s in tagged containers.
‘But it’s violent edge is almost always a male problem’
Tell that to Roxi Bear (Bear Bare Bum)
great post from p67
Happy Wednesday eve all.
6 and a half quid for Lurpak? Sheesh.
Great article
When CQN is good, it’s untouchable
Butter…..spread the word.
B2B- If he’s in charge of security, he must have an input/ duty of care, to Celtic fans who buy tickets both home and away
We deserve butter…
No buts ….. it’s got to be butter .
As for the fitba : No buts …. it’s got to be better .
Seems Central Station closed for the rest of the week,at least…
The Police will never admit they are wrong or failed look at Hillsborough for confirmation if that’s needed, they are well paid yet the policy seems to be stand back then pick up what’s lying on the streets and stands, they also over rely on cctv which won’t identify the Spidermen, they failed along with Sevco and stewarding.
How ticketless people got near a door to burst through it needs explaining graffiti about dead people is the lowest of the low.
Brilliant stuff Paul.
Respect.
“Your actions have consequences”
(Not a vote grabber)
Beaton again?!? You couldn’t make it up. Somebody’s at it.
There is ‘F’ in BUTTER.
No ‘F’. oops.
Alternative butters are available, Danpak anyone ?
HH
Happy St. John Ogilvie Day!
Petition:
One Celtic. Back our Board, Manager, Players and Charity.
https://c.org/kC24nkswRn
Ave Ave
Tomorrow we will bury my amazing grandmother at the young age of only 104! Her death has reminded me of a moment on here in 2013 when the great Sean Fallon (who was a year younger) passed away and a member from Sligo (cant mind his name) said he knew Sean and even remembered his dad!! I found this amazing until when I thought back,I remember my greatgrandmother quite well as she passed as recently as 1986!! Im 56 and hope Ive inherited their genes!!!
Bada @ 12:24pm and earlier- thank you.
I here you and I agree.
How much empowerment Mark Hargreaves has to influence security operations at Ibrox?
I genuinely don’t know.
I suspect – with no specific intel – he and his peers at R2ngers will review and give the nod to security plans before the game…
… then formally review the outcome (carnage) after.
None of which makes you or your pal feel any better admittedly.
For my own part I feel these processes are often formulaic, academic and driven towards demonstrating risk mitigation and compliance on paper.
(The regulatory frameworks these types operate within are typically weak as p1ss, full of holes).
In this instance I’d like the top dogs to get into the trenches and come up with simple stuff like e.g.
“We need stronger netting covering a wider area”
“We need more, well equipped humans”
🤔🤔🤔
greengray1967
celebrate a life lived
amazing
But of a Kerrygold man myself 🤣🍀
I wasn’t there on Sunday but from what I saw, and what I have heard since, the arrangements in place for crowd control were poor; crushing on entry, for example. The police should maybe looking at how they managed the whole event.
Butter than all the rest……..
How ticketless people got near a door to burst through it needs explaining graffiti about dead people is the lowest of the low.
—
there were no cops up at the turnstiles when the first group burst the door open ( it may have been the only time). that was early and is why the turnstiles then stayed closed until about 12ish.
the cops were all down at that last police check – the stupidly narrow one, but that just caused a crush and allowed fans to push through, while others jumped the metal fence at the side into a small car park then over another metal fence towards the turnstiles.
maybe if the cops had actually policed the turnstiles instead of a congestion-causing funnell at that time then they might have stopped it
Great article Paul67. The sort of analysis you wont see anywhere else.
Paul 67,
A grown man bragging about breaking a seat and waving it above his head is quite funny but also very sad.
I bet nobody confronted him for being an absolute bawbag and embarrassing himself not to mention our club.
I hear talk about self policing but in reality it is bulls@it. Confrontation is inevitable in such circumstances and decent fans will be brought down to that level and tarred with the same brush.
A sad reflection on modern society.
However it’s only a seat and can be easily replaced as can the other damage.
The pitch invasion is no big deal. You have covered that comprehensively.
In fact if certain fans desire an arranged square go with each other in a field then let them get on with it. No problem with that. Use up the testosterone.
But the graffiti about dead fans is much more worrying.
We have fans with that mindset and that can never be acceptable or explained away.
HH.
the sick fans have always been there
they used to sing about bobby mckean
No “Honda Civic man@ today?
I thought I’d read that Police Scotland’s finest were more than happy with the way they handled all aspects of their operation on Sunday. Amazing they can conclude that less than 24hrs of match finihing. It smacks of getting their retaliation in first.
Also, our esteemed politicians grandstanding as per what Paul has said. What we saw on Sunday is what you and I have to put up with and hear about regularly on our streets and towns. Young and old aresholes acting without fear of consequence.
“Unfortunately, this can never happen without the violently-inclined getting involved. They attach to marginal transgressors for cover”
Yip.
So, a wee lesson for us all perhaps.
Be specific with your condemnation.
And collateral damage can be avoided.
( Say “No” to speed bumps )
Brexit was certainly an inflection point. On 5Live we had a beeline to the decision makers (in other words, the electorate). Some days, after two hours of fire and fury, I’d feel like ringing Gwyneth Paltrow and getting the name of a good wellness retreat. It was over that time I realised that whatever the person on the other side of the debate said, it was no more than white noise. And it could get bitterly personal and utterly vile very quickly. “People like you” was a phrase I heard a lot, from both sides.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1w5z1d447lo
B2B,
Thanks for her response.
Agree with your points.
Whether individuals will behave differently if there is less of a tolerance for these behaviours I’m not sure. 🤷🏼
But my main thought is – what does SAG mean? 🤗
Great blog Paul
Fancy a job heading Celtics coms ?
Thought not lol !
Let’s all do the huddle / Timmy 7
Totally agree with you ref policing and all aspects.
Got some inside intel from a retired public order cop who’s down here in Chile too. A bluenose but despite that a lovely guy! He told me the whole policing operation has been on the skids since the creation of Police Scotland. That the lead commander on Sunday was a Fifer who’d never policed a big game before and asked his colleagues what to do when the trouble started. Also said it was police policy now to include desk jockeys on the weekend rota, many of whom were in policing roles on Sunday and were regarded by their experienced public order colleagues of being as useless as our forward line!
One other big of goss he shared – a 55 year old man was arrested for attacking CalMac – and Cvancara jumped in and skelped the guy, hence the blood on his shirt when being interviewed.
Agree that good behaviour requires the right incentives to be in place.
On the game – still one of my favourite derby victories of all time.
Nordpak aldi 2.50 for 500g
The complete copy
T-t-tell me d-did sumdi die on Sunday?
I believe we heard the last squeal of hope as hope was crushed at Hundred pence park.
=======≈====
Nine people have been arrested over the disorder at the Scottish Cup quarter-final match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox on Sunday.
A 47-year-old man has been arrested and charged with assaults on a coach and player after fans invaded the pitch at the end of the game, while a 54-year-old man has been charged with assaulting a police officer.
Three other men, aged 20, 23 and 54 have been arrested and charged in connection with the serious assault of a man on Helen Street after the match.
All are due to appear in court at a later date..
HH