In an appearance at the Scottish Parliament yesterday, Police Scotland chief constable Jo Farrell criticised Celtic and Newco for not publicly condemning fan behaviour at Ibrox on Sunday. If a statement comes, it will hopefully contain more than Ms Farrell is expecting.
Police Scotland screwed up parking arrangements, leaving insufficient space for Celtic fans and forcing many into Helen St, where one was brutally attacked, leading to three arrests. Parking arrangements for 7,500 visiting fans were well established and should not have been changed without sufficient alternatives.
Blame for violent attacks lie with violent attackers, but Police Scotland built the stage for this one. The safety of football fans matters and Police Scotland should be more cognisant of this when changing the flow of rival fans to and from the ground.
Complaining about a lack of statements is just kicking up dust to prevent a proper analysis of Police Scotland’s day. Despite a heavy and expensive presence at the main entrances, they lost control. Law abiding fans (the vast majority) deserve better policing. Today’s news on a very serious disfunction within the police does nothing to suggest there is appropriate leadership or accountability within the body.
Where is the statement apologising for Police Scotland’s inadequate performance? Instead, we got an intemperate response, prohibiting future large away fan followings, and they will no doubt tax the game more by insisting on higher overtime shift numbers.
Glasgow is apparently the only city in the world where the police cannot control a stadium. No wonder the shops are security-tagging butter.
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Deflect, deflect, deflect
Happy St. Mura McFeredach Day!
Petition:
One Celtic. Back our Board, Manager, Players and Charity.
https://c.org/kC24nkswRn
Ave Ave
When will fans be treated with the same kind of respect one can expect when entering other sports stadiums? Would love to see any of the board members having to experience what the Aways fans go through.
Thursday 12th
Fr Toner was in tonight, and brought me in some religious magazines.
My weight is 58.75 kgs. They did not take a blood sample because they want to incorporate other tests with it. So the doctor says they’ll do it next week.
Physically I have felt very tired today, between dinner time and later afternoon. I know I’m getting physically weaker. It is only to be expected. But I’m okay. I’m still getting the papers all right, but there’s nothing heartening in them. But again I expect that also and therefore I must depend entirely upon my own heart and resolve, which I will do.
I received three notes from the comrades in Armagh, God bless them again.
I heard of today’s announcement that Frank Hughes will be joining me on hunger-strike on Sunday. I have the greatest respect, admiration and confidence in Frank and I know that I am not alone. How could I ever be with comrades like those around me, in Armagh and outside.
I’ve been thinking of the comrades in Portlaoise, the visiting facilities there are inhuman. No doubt that hell-hole will also eventually explode in due time. I hope not, but Haughey’s compassion for the prisoners down there is no different from that of the Brits towards prisoners in the North and in English gaols.
I have come to understand, and with each passing day I understand increasingly more and in the most sad way, that awful fate and torture endured to the very bitter end by Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan. Perhaps, — indeed yes! — I am more fortunate because those poor comrades were without comrades or a friendly face. They had not even the final consolation of dying in their own land. Irishmen alone and at the unmerciful ugly hands of a vindictive heartless enemy. Dear God, but I am so lucky in comparison.
I have poems in my mind, mediocre no doubt, poems of hunger strike and MacSwiney, and everything that this hunger-strike has stirred up in my heart and in my mind, but the weariness is slowly creeping in, and my heart is willing but my body wants to be lazy, so I have decided to mass all my energy and thoughts into consolidating my resistance.
That is most important. Nothing else seems to matter except that lingering constant reminding thought, ‘Never give up’. No matter how bad, how black, how painful, how heart-breaking, ‘Never give up’, ‘Never despair’, ‘Never lose hope’. Let them bastards laugh at you all they want, let them grin and jibe, allow them to persist in their humiliation, brutality, deprivations, vindictiveness, petty harassments, let them laugh now, because all of that is no longer important or worth a response.
I am making my last response to the whole vicious inhuman atrocity they call H-Block. But, unlike their laughs and jibes, our laughter will be the joy of victory and the joy of the people, our revenge will be the liberation of all and the final defeat of the oppressors of our aged nation.
When you – Paul – write… ‘Law abiding fans (the vast majority) deserve better policing.’
How many/what percentage of those law abiding fans were singing The Billy Boys song?
Or other ditties contravening Sect 38 of the Criminal Justice Act 2010 (for threatening or abusive behaviour) ?
What number were huckled and prosecuted ?
Law abiding? The law – domestically and internationally – is an ass !
CharlieDickens CSC
The union bears will get tickets for Celtic Park before some of our fans. The Club are quick to condemn our own but go mute when staff are attacked. Go mute when fans are endangered by incompetent police.
Is there any situation which would see our CEO make a public statement ?
DD loves the rangers. Good for business.
When outgoing chairmen turn their resignation announcement into an attack on the Celtic support, we make it easy for outsiders to do so.
When the club itself has spent months harming the reputation of the support to deflect from their own performance, we shouldn’t be surprised when others do so.
The Celtic board have gave Police Scotland the template.
Give ‘em enough rope!
The most shocking incident this past Sunday was a Celtic employee being physically attacked on the pitch. In the past, there have been assaults involving missiles being thrown, but this was a full GBH in front of a worldwide audience.
Celtic FC should have immediately condemned this attack and publicly demanded assurances from all relevant authorities that their employees can go to work without fear of physical harm. The fact that the club has not even commented on this incident to date is truly bizarre.
SIONNAIGH & AIPPLE
Thank you for posting the diaries daily 👏
HH
I Took the time to read Bobby Sands Diary today , having lived through that extremely dark time in Ireland it brought a shiver to me to realise he had a little over three weeks to life the 5th of May is a date never to be forgotten ……..thanks sionnaigh
Good afternoon all from the Brazen Head.
No hun in Paradise ever again.
I’ve not heard anyone from a so called neutral perspective say that the Celtic fans were mostly innocent when it came to any violence on Sunday.
Plenty of people who weren’t at the game and only saw the edited after match news highlights have had their say.
They really hate us , they are too frightened or too bigoted to tell the truth.
Any statement we make will be ridiculed by the likes of English and his cronies .
The ex Glenbuck coach who on Sunday attacked our coach is married to a police officer.
It was dangerous policing
Inside and outside the ground.
A mess made up by the second.
HH
Robinson departs St.Mirren for Aberdeen
https://x.com/i/status/2032046609312174232
HH
The Police increasingly behave like a large business corporation; progressively seeking greater scale, resources and influence, yet serially averse to accountability.
The stock response process is:
Deny it happened.
If it did happen, it was someone else.
If it was us, we didn’t know.
If we knew, we cannot recall.
If we remember, there are more important things to worry about. Look over there!
If finally nailed, lessons will not be learned. Heads will not roll. Change will not happen.
Time was that the Police were accountable to the local authority, who were in turn accountable to the community. That’s no longer the case in Scotland where the Police report to the Scottish Government.
The sense is that the public interest and the Police’s interests are no longer mutually inclusive.
It doesn’t help now that the press is so diminished, reduced to chasing clicks not stories.
I don’t know where we go from here, but it’s unlikely to be a satisfactory place.
None of which should be read as condoning or excusing recent lawlessness. In the football domain, and particularly here at Celtic, there have always been folk who simply don’t give a f#*< for authority. There was a certain stoicism in it at times.
What I see now is a load of folk who expect the rest of us to give a f#*< about them. They're on the take. We're to give them our seats, pay for their damage, carry their reputation, settle their fines.
If you're looking in, you can f#*< right off.
I said at the time when the stuff inside Ibrox happened that the Police had failed either in planning or execution , likely both, standing idly bye as disorder happens is not Policing, sitting on horseback in a side alley is not Policing they the Police had no intention to deal with the disorder instead relying on CCTv and intelligence to arrest some at 6am in the weeks after. They need to be held to account. No wonder people are dying being left in fields, not found, left to die 3 days after an incident ,even though it was reported but not investigated properly,
Good stuff TBB.
Re yer point “It doesn’t help now that the press is so diminished, reduced to chasing clicks not stories.”
The meeja created its own irrelevance; cowing to corporate interests, fawning over corrupt politicians, ignoring malfeasance lest if affect ad budgets and bowing to hidden pressure groups. Fourth estate? Fuggem !
DDN’s LowKey takes a ruthlessly searching inventory of the UK’s meeja types:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6I8-yIP-VU
Maybe our head of security could make a statement
On 81 mins, Sterling cynically hacks Mvuka and mysteriously avoids a second booking.
On 83 Hatate gets in a tussle w Naderi and cynically fouls the German third tierer and instantly gets a card.
HmmmmmRSC
It could explain that we’re not giving them any tickets for the next game at Celtic Park because of their repeated hooligan behaviour; it doesn’t even need to mention their songbook
Timmy 7 @ 12.57
That was qiite funny. Well done.
Ave Ave
Many Celtic supporters calling for statements, from members of the Celtic board(s).
If their statements are anything like their performance, I think not.
Last 2 statements I can remember ( i could be wrong) came from PL and DD’ son, Ross.
Remember how well thought out they were.
Be careful what you wish for.
VALE BHOY on 12TH MARCH 2026 1:13 PM
Many Celtic supporters calling for statements, from members of the Celtic board(s).
If their statements are anything like their performance, I think not.
Last 2 statements I can remember ( i could be wrong) came from PL and DD’ son, Ross.
Remember how well thought out they were.
Be careful what you wish for.
——————
You are right, of course. The current board feel nothing but contempt for our supporters. Were there to give them money and we should do that whilst keeping our mouths shut
Timmy7
👍
The fans caused the problem and you can argue all day as to which ones were to blame. However, I agree that the police had a job to do and perhaps that wasn’t done well enough. It seems to be a law enforcement trend across the country and I’m sure it’s nothing to do with the gender of nearly 50% of chief constables.
Non Football Post Alert
https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/feb/20/a-war-foretold-cia-mi6-putin-ukraine-plans-russia
Warning: Quite a long read.
But brilliantly done, IMHO.
There’s a glimmer of hope for journalism yet
That could be seen (by some) as woman racism.. . .. .
An Dún on 12th March 2026 12:13 pm
The union bears will get tickets for Celtic Park before some of our fans. The Club are quick to condemn our own but go mute when staff are attacked. Go mute when fans are endangered by incompetent police.
Is there any situation which would see our CEO make a public statement ?
____
He’s in an Iranian bunker. Quite staggering, the levels of his invisibility, which seems even worse since Wilson became interim chairman. I actually think he’s chucked it and will be off after the season. Police OT rates to soar, reminds me of the miners’ strikes.
I saw the Police Scotland holyrood playful q&a.
The calibre of the individuals Chief Constable and right hand man was poor. It was the keystone cops and its is no wonder Scottish Policing has been on the decline for years similar to all key KPIs of government ( education, health, life expectancy, GDP…. Including Scotland as drugs death capital of Europe).
What we seen from start to finish was incompetence and should see the chief Constable removed.
RFC 2012 have also to address their accountabilities in the shambles of Sunday including attacking players and staff gain. Celtic need to call it out the repeated attacks and closed doors punishment would happen in most/all European countries. Celtic need to consider escalating to UEFA if SFA continue to cover up for their brothers.
On our own fans we I wouldn’t be too hard as doubling up at turnstiles has been around for ever. Am pretty sure in the shambolic kettling to enter the bigot some fans with tickets also made it in via the disabled entrance.
I remember the same thing happening at Easter Road when thousands extra turned up ( think Joe Miller had signed). As we arrived at Easter Road late the game wasn’t all ticket and Celtic fans were already walking away. We managed to get in and tic won. Many crashed the main stand and Police did zilch. It can happen and it is down to poor organisation and policing.
Now we have the news UB will have access to Celtic Park —- if the Celtic Board have voted to accept this then they are all cowards and need to be removed. No fans of the Ibrox Club should be allowed back into Celtic park until they apologise for the fans attacking Celtic staff and players. Possibly it has been done privately to the individuals but needs to be made public.
Personally I wouldn’t allow them back into at all and would prefer we take a position of no games at Ibrox until safety of players and staff can be guaranteed. I would happily forfeit the points to RFC 2012 until this guarantee is given in writing with necessary repercussions included.
I for one am glad that Celtic FC are taking time before releasing any statement in relation to the chaos before and after the game @ Ibrox, on Sunday. For one Celtic will be able to take account of the various and variant utterances over same, including by the Super in charge of Operations on the day, and the ill thought out contribution by the Chief Constable of the SNP created Police Scotland yesterday, neither of which accepted any degree of resonsibility for their part, any awareness of what they got wrong, or inspire any confidence that they will do the job they are paid to do better at any time in the future. Of course there are some on here and in the self styled ‘Collective’, who have sought to use the failings of others, to further their own hate filled agenda towards our Celtic supporting Board members, or towards those with no legal or authoritive role or responsibility for the oversight of Sunday’s match, but for which they somehow hold accountable for the actions or inactions of others, ergo RFC, GCC, the SFA and Police Scotland. Not the bedfellows any bona fide Celtic supporter or credible Celtic grouping would ever hope or want to ally with.
And So it Goes
Perhaps the club hasn’t said anything because it’s very hard to do so. If our supporters’ only misdemeanour had been to enter the field at the end of the game, the club could easily say – this was spontaneous celebration after a dramatic victory, with fans hugging their heroes and taking selfies. Our fans were then attacked by angry home fans wearing masks, throwing flares and assaulting our staff. On top of that, policing and stewarding were very poor all day. An open and shut case of innocent Celtic fans and guilty Sevco fans, with their club and the police implicated).
But some of our fans did three other things – enter the stadium forcibly, without tickets (there is footage), wreck seats (there are pictures) and, most perniciously, spray-paint messages mocking the death of football fans in a crush (I can barely believe I’m typing this last one about ‘Celtic fans’). [I wonder what our friends in Liverpool think about this, after so many joint Hillsborough events between the two clubs – not to mention Kenny Dalglish.]
Any statement by the club along the lines of paragraph 1 that does not account for the 3 misdemeanours in paragraph 2 would look at best unbalanced and possibly ridiculous.
Any statement that did refer to these three factors would simply draw attention to them again, would fuel the reputational damage to our club for another week and would confirm to a lot of neutrals (including people I work with who hate the huns as much as we do) that we are the second cheek of the same…. A conclusion which atrocity celebration has helped cement, whether we like it or not.
Not for the first time a few bams in our support have damaged the club and on this occasion removed from us the chance to challenge with maximum force the behaviour of Sevco fans, the Ibrox club and the failures of the police. Apart from stealing a few pieces of broken blue plastic our clowns have also stolen our chance to assert the moral high ground.
This might explain why the club is maintaining an awkward and probably furious silence.
Obviously the hun fans can’t be that bad as we remove tickets from our own supporters to make way for them. 😡
Why would any sane person or PLC compromise safety and welcome undesirables into our home.
It’s completely unacceptable and we have repeatedly stated that on here with irrefutable evidence.
We don’t need any statement, just common sense action.
HH.
I’m all for a new policy of home fans only at derby games, but if we bring this in for the last game they will scream unfairness. We had fans at our last league game there but they would have none at their last league game at CP. To avoid allegations of unfairness, which they and their media stooges would use to taint our title (if, God willing, we win it), I think we need to let them in one last time.
Greenpinata.
We get offered a seat elsewhere Gp.iast time one of my tickets moved to 6 rows behind Wilfred Nancy!
I would rather it be all Celtic fans once the dust settles Gp.
Common sense is out the window in dealing wi them .
HH
Celtic Mac – we all know if/when Celtic put out a statement the folk shouting loudest for it will be the first to condemn it for being inadequate.
These people have now reached a point where they’ll blame Celtic when their lottery numbers don’t come up on the weekend.
Bhoys Town, bunnet doffed.