Well done to the Daily Record for revealing that SFA referee, Eddie Smith, was the policeman who reported Celtic fans to Uefa for singing offensive songs against Rennes last month. Smith was one of the referees who declined to make his services available as referees went on strike last season while Celtic took-on the SFA amid accusations of lies, bullying, sectarian behaviour and cover-ups among referees at the association. He is no longer on the Grade 1 list.
Following the strike the SFA Head of Referee Administration was removed from his post and referee, Dougie MacDonald, who was accused of lying to Celtic manager, Neil Lennon, resigned, prompting then-Celtic chairman, Dr John Reid, to say the club felt vindicated in raising their concerns.
Vindicated, no doubt, but with more than a few feeling bitter towards the club.
While the Daily Record can reflect on some good work today, bizarrely, the Scotsman newspaper accused Celtic fans of sectarian chanting at the Rennes game, something even police-gossip, Eddie Smith, didn’t accuse them of.
Why stop at accusations of sectarian behaviour? If the Scotsman are going to be ridiculous, why not accused Celtic fans of genocide and treason? Better still, just say lots of them have funny names, go to strange schools but will never ascent to the British throne.
Celtic have 123-years of non-sectarian history, it is downright offensive to suggest otherwise.
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Oh no, there’s two them.
Kenny Scott…erstwhile Head of Security at Ibrokes…impartial (not)
of
http://www.internationalsportssecurityconference.com/presenters/kenny-scott.php
Kenny Scott is Managing Director of Sports Safety Solutions Ltd, a company formed by him in early 2009 in response to an increasing demand for his services in relation to issues associated with safety and security management in football. Currently his principal client is UEFA for whom he is engaged on a number of projects, including,
Provision of consultancy services regarding the organisation of safety and security in the lead up to the UEFA EURO 2012 tournament in Poland and Ukraine. In this regard he has been instrumental in the development and delivery of training programmes for police and stewards in both countries in recent months.
Liaison with the European Union Think Tank on Football Policing on behalf of UEFA Stadia and Security Unit, including planning for the delivery of a wide ranging joint work programme between both parties in respect of safety and security issues.
Appointment as UEFA Security Officer for the UEFA Champions’ League Final 2011 in London. This follows on from similar appointments at other recent UEFA Finals in Madrid, Istanbul and Moscow.
In 2007 he retired after a 30 year police career in Glasgow during which he carried out the role of Police Commander for a ten year period at both Celtic and Rangers Football Clubs. During this period Kenny was also involved in academic research related to policing around major tournaments, notably EURO 2000 in Belgium and the Netherlands and EURO 2004 in Portugal. This research led by Dutch behavioural scientists led to major changes in the Police Cooperation Handbook published by the EU.He has been used by UEFA as a security officer at high risk matches across Europe since 2006. His work in this field has taken him to Italy, Spain, Norway, Croatia, Turkey, Slovakia, Serbia, Holland, Poland and during EURO 2008 to Switzerland and Austria.At present his involvement with the European Union continues as he is engaged as a consultant in a major project aimed at establishing a pan-European police training programme funded by the European Commission and jointly supported by UEFA.
2010 Never Again
Pay your taxes. Your Queen demands it!
Jingle Jackson done amazing work in uncovering who was the polis that done it !!!
Does Mr Scott actually work directly for UEFA … Was he the official match UEFA delegate ?
or is it just high echelon whataboutery ?
Hail Hail
Craiginho
You’re deluded if you think its only 3 songs that offend them.
A couple of years ago a Celtic pub on Glasgow’s Gallowgate was painted with green and white hoops as part of interior and exterior refurbishment.
Within a matter of weeks the owner was contacted by Glasgow City Council and instructed to change the decor or risk having his licence revoked.
When he asked why extreme action was necessary he was told that it had come about as a result of a complaint from a member of the public.
It transpired that the member of the public was a woman traveling on a corporation bus had the misfortune to be held up in traffic outside the said hostelry.
It’s us they find offensive.
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo: 14 November, 2011 at 13:00
“Jingle Jackson done amazing work in uncovering who was the polis that done it !!!”
He’s still hurting after his recent ban from Poundland.
On Monday 2nd October 1972 an article appeared in the Scotsman newspaper entitled “Celtic flag decision puts pressure on Ibrox” and told of how Celtic had removed the Irish tricolour in a bid to defuse sectarian tension and had agreed to keep it down for that (7 in a row) year hoping for a reciprocal move from Rangers—the signing of RCs.
Rangers did respond in 1989………. 17-years later when Uefa were set to punish them for discriminatory employment practices.
Now I don’t think we should sing songs about the IRA at Celtic Park as they are controversial and cause offence to many of our supporters.
But they are not illegal and banning the singing of them—by a few hundred at the most Celtic fans—should not be enforced on us from outsiders as some sort of trade-off for Rangers’ fans stopping their racist and bigoted singing by tens of thousands.
Like the 1972 gesture anything we do will not be reciprocal. They live for their bigotry which is celebrated outside football stadiums all year round at Orange Order marches.
Isn’t it funny how the police don’t find their football chants and their marches/parades offensive?
http://www.thecelticwiki.com/page/1972-09-30%3A+Celtic+1-0+Ayr+United%2C+League+Division+1
Steinreignedsupreme says:
14 November, 2011 at 13:02
his gag reflex must be in total agony
Hail Hail
Coorslad
we have £5 EW on it!
V
HH
Awe Naw
Looks as if his Ibrox involvement has been conveniently airbrushedout then
Craiginho says:
14 November, 2011 at 12:49
‘This isn’t the removal of the tricolour’
No , but you can understand why some people are offended that we chose to fly the flag that invariably draped the coffin at IRA funerals.
Shouldn’t we, in an effort not to offend, just remove the flag? After all what’s it got to do with football?
###########
‘or the Church of Scotland’s memo about the “Irish menace”
Funnily enough it was the influx of Irish Catholics, and the threat they posed to the superior Scottish race, that led to the SNP being founded. Make of that what you will.
Celtic offend them.
Give it the red card
It generated a sucking sound as I pulled it from my back,
SFA carved into the handle as it bounced on the tarmac,
My assailant dressed all in black fled running from the scene,
Lying on the pavement the brightest red card I had seen.
They took me to the hospital my blood ran down the ward,
A policeman came to speak to me, of his own accord,
He reached in for his notebook, out came a red card,
I hadn’t noticed him at first, it was the same retard.
A person who is stupid, obtuse, or ineffective in some way,
Sing your songs about the club and not the IRA,
Time has come to rally round and protect me from assault,
Because every wound from here on in, it will be your fault.
.
.
Christmas ’84 I was hoping for a grifter or a pair of dear diadoras. I got a blue snorkel! Santa was a rat that year.
Rangers insist trouble in Manchester caused by people with no history of following club
Last updated at 16:59 15 May 2008
Rangers believe the trouble in Manchester city centre which marred the UEFA Cup final involved many people with no known history of following the club.
Rampaging fans were described as a “disgrace” who could have jeopardised England’s bid to host the 2018 football World Cup, Gordon Brown warned today.
The Prime Minister condemned the supporters involved in violent clashes with police last night – and said public drinking laws would also be reviewed.
Hundreds of fans turned violent when a big screen showing the match in the city’s Piccadilly Gardens failed to work just before kick-off.
Fifteen officers were injured, as well as a police dog, and 42 arrests were made as hundreds of riot police and supporters fought running battles. One Zenit St Petersburg fan was stabbed but his injuries were not life-threatening.
Rangers chief executive Martin Bain returned to Glasgow today, and reflected on yesterday’s events.
“Unfortunately a screen went down in the centre of Manchester without maybe a separate feed coming in as back-up, and it has obviously been the catalyst for some incident,” Bain said.
“Those scenes obviously are dreadful and I’ve seen them myself and we have been informed … that those scenes were caused by supporters that don’t normally attach themselves to our support.
“Therefore we’re extremely disappointed and we’ll do everything we possibly can to help Manchester Police find out who those perpetrators are.”
Rangers security chief Kenny Scott insisted the club would “take the appropriate action” against trouble-causers.
“The club and the authorities, we have to identify anybody that was responsible for any of these acts of violence,” Scott said on Sky Sports News.
“The club will take the appropriate action. The difficulty is of course that many of these people will have no association with Rangers Football Club and that exacerbates our difficulties in dealing appropriately with the situation which occurred in Manchester last night.”
Scott stressed that plans to accommodate visiting supporters in Manchester city centre on the day of the game had been extensive.
“I don’t think there’s an awful lot more that could have been done,” he said.
“We saw yesterday afternoon great scenes in the city of Manchester.
“The city absorbed the numbers that were there, despite the fact they exceeded the numbers which were expected.
“But unfortunately the catalyst for the disorder last night was the breaking down of the screen and though by no means do we condone the behaviour of the supporters who became involved in violence, particularly when police officers were injured and we particularly abhor that type of brehaviour, we still have got to reflect back on the fact that in the stadium the atmosphere was fantastic.
“We had positive comments from UEFA about the sporting behaviour of our supporters.
“In the city centre, if there were 120,000 people or so in the city centre, 200 or so according to police estimates and the estimates of the city of Manchester authorities, let down this club.”
Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond called for a wide-ranging inquiry into the clashes, and denounced the behaviour of “a small minority of fans” as “completely unacceptable”.
He was speaking at First Minister’s Questions where Labour leader Wendy Alexander called for an inquiry by Greater Manchester Police, Manchester City Council, Glasgow City Council, Strathclyde Police, and Rangers security.
Mr Salmond told MSPs: “The council have announced an inquiry this morning.
“I understand that initially at least it’s quite limited in its scope, looking in particular to the circumstances of the equipment breakdown.
” would think that the inquiry should be wider in its scope – there are a number of other aspects to inquire into.”
He went on: “Certainly we will give full co-operation on all the matters under our responsibility to such an inquiry.”
The match commander, Assistant Chief Constable Justine Curran, said the response of her officers was “appropriate”.
She said: “It was challenging and we were stretched. Our officers did come under a degree of violent attacks. I am happy we responded appropriately. We could not let those minor disturbances affect the day for everybody.
“I am satisfied our reaction was appropriate. I watched the scenes in Piccadilly Gardens from the control room. I saw officers chased down a street by a baying mob of around 200 people. We had to do something.”
The screen that failed was one of eight mounted in the city to accommodate more than 100,000 ticketless fans who travelled to Manchester.
Council leader Sir Richard Leese said the screen went blank 15 minutes before the 7.45pm kick-off but had been working throughout the day.
Around 11,000 fans were transported by shuttle bus to an alternative screen set up rapidly at the Velodrome near the City of Manchester of Stadium – but a group of supporters stayed and vented their fury at the police.
Sir Richard said: “We are clearly disappointed that a great night was soured by a number of small people.
“We had an unprecedented number of people come to Manchester, between 100,000 and 150,0000 people. It is the biggest movement of that size for an event of this nature.
“For most of the day and in most parts of the city we had a carnival atmosphere. Most people were good humoured who were a credit to their city.
“Whether it was the big screen going down or a problem with alcohol the behaviour of this small minority of yobs was not acceptable.
“If you are going to put the blame on anyone then it has to be on these people.”
A relaxed attitude to fans’ drinking in the street – normally outlawed – was adopted as supporters consumed alcohol from breakfast onwards.
Sir Richard added: “Do you really think we were going to stop 100,000-plus Glaswegians wanting to have a drink? It was not possible.
“Trying to enforce that would have created a public order problem.”
I would think that the first time anyone appeals a guilty verdict under this new legislation the whole thing will fall apart. It could take a long time but I cannot see how it could hold up under any kind of scrutiny.
Of course in the meantime it will be used to badger Celtic supporters collectively and individually.
mickbhoy1888 – well done for pointing out there is another side to the story. we as a support need to start admitting we still have problems with some songs. only then can we start moving on. i dont like hearing the ira stuff.
we need to be better at admitting we have a problem. i think rangers fans singing only improved when they admitted there was a problem. i mean you only hear wee bits of the famine song a few times every half now. guys are being arrested for singing it so i cant see how anyone can say the polis are biased. they are doing an impossible job mind.
Vmhan
there was music there in the Diore air,
like a language that we all could understand
:)
BSR
that one is Noel Gallagher-esque
Coorslad my erm money is on “Back in a Tic” surprised ye never spotted that yin :¬)
V
HH
Add some dignity – to your Brief.
Folks, the more I think of this the more I think we should ignore it and trust the club to handle things.
If there is an (understandably) hysterical response on this and other Celtic blogs we are playing into the MSM’s hands. They wanted us to react and, by God, we are doing so.
Let’s starve them of their enjoyment and follow up stories and concentrate on on-field affairs starting with gubbing Inverness on Saturday.
I could be wrong with this, but the club have asked for songs/chants with the PIRA to be outlawed, a very different ballgame to songs with IRA contained within them.
Uefa will not be wanting to open this can of worms, far too many people with brains who could destroy them.
This whole episode is down to the sectarian hate that emminates from the powers that be in scotland, and the people they hate are US.
The stopping of the add ons, the stopping of the words IRA will make not one iota of difference, not one.
bournesouprecipe: 14 November, 2011 at 13:07
Very tasteful – and cheaper than paying taxes…
novel wee thought if the celtic bhoys are going to get lifted singing our own song book and the orcs get off scott free why dont we sing the billy boys and derrys walls and see if any of our guys get lifted.Will only serve to proove were being victimised as celtic supporters. i know it sounds daft but these are strange times
Declan Is Neil Lennon 1888 says:
14 November, 2011 at 13:07
Hun a go go on here the day huh ?
I see the huns actually blame Kenny Scott for the Bucharest riots
PersonalpronounabuseisMEcsc
Hail Hail
Big Packie’s Accent says:
14 November, 2011 at 12:48
‘From the Mail online.
Superintendent David Brand of the Football for Co-operation Unit for Scotland (FoCUS) took part in an online debate The Final Whistle Scottish Football Show and said: ‘There is no definition of what is a sectarian offence’.’
There’s a definition of what constitutes offences aggravated by religious prejudice, which amounts to the same thing.
gerryguk7 says:
14 November, 2011 at 12:34
Declan Is Neil Lennon 1888 says:
14 November, 2011 at 12:45
==============================
Do you two little Huns meet up after signing-on and tug each others’ winkies?
Run along to your pinny-wearing master and get your forelocks tugged for being big and brave and ‘infiltrating’ the Tims. You might get to beat a big drum next July, or even lick the Grandmaster’s dug clean.
Or maybe you’re testing the water here for a good football club to support when Her Majesty burieds the zombie-fest you follow-follow just now?
Jeez, looks like reprobate quarter-wit day today.
As for Eddie Smith – has anyone taken into consideration the other points of his report to the UEFA delegate?:
– Neil Lennon causing offence by walking on the cracks in the pavement when alighting from the team bus
– the wearing of a loud shirt in a built-up area by Thommo
– the ‘looking at me in a sly way’ by Cha Du Ri.
– the ‘tall swedish blondeness’ exhibited by Celtic coach Mjallby
– the ‘resemblance to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ of the Right Loyal Protestant Church of Scotland’ by Georgios Samaras
NOW is the tim for Lawell to earn his corn and set his legal attack dogs to work.
Ironically, there’s usually plenty of hun links to ‘offensive’ singing by the Hoops support which they obsessively post after trawling through match footage. but I’ve yet to see any from the rennes game.
Is this because it was imaginary? Is this becaue Eddie Smith cites ‘Twa wee boyes chantin’ hingmy aboot the ‘Ra an’ that roon the back o’ the bugrer van’ as ‘illicit political/sectarian singing’?
Scotland 2011. Mississippi 1963. Spot the difference.
Anyway back to work, after watching us all over the lunchtime news bulletins. Enjoy the afternoon with the pantomine-dame nuevo Hun contingent bhoys.
The tone of the next few hours:
‘We’re all concerned and convincing Celtic supporters’. Yeah, right, Lilly Savage.
Awe_naw,
I will not post an abusive response to your comment on my last post. I do not do business in that way. Suffice it to say that I lived & worked in London in the early 1970s and was in a permanent state of stress walking the streets, when car bombs were going off on a regular basis. The indiscriminate targeting of citizens of a cosmopolitan city by so called freedom fighters, was and is, inexcusable. So, I have zero sympathy for songs that glorify these people being sung at my football club. To make it very clear, I do not want it in any shape or form. This is the real “nonsense of the highest order”. Only IMO of course.
I was in Sevilla and was proud to be part of that great Celtic family. These “songs” sully the reputation that we polished there. They need to go ASAP.
HH Gerry
With all the new visitors on the site (truth16 is at the vanguard) it’s great to know that this website and our club are all inclusive.
The huns are deserting they’re own place….. as the hun come tumbling down…. they’re coming out from ibORCS and into this dear Green place, welcome mi amigos enter, become enlightened and you’re life will be the better for ditching all you’re sectarian hatred……. enjoy!
V
GerryBhoy,
I agree. The PIRA should have targeted the financial districts ability to do business much much earlier. That was always far more important than human life as far as any GB government is concerned.
Hail Hail
Declan…..
I’m sorry can you direct me to a link where someone has been arrested for singing the Famine Song at the football please.
It’s beginning to resemble Saturday’s FAC meeting on here today.
I am still somewhat perplexed with regards to the songs debate. What constitutes an offensive song and who is the arbiter of what is and what isn’t deemed offensive? Is any song that has any connotation to Irish Independence and the struggle to attain it deemed offensive? Or is it songs connected with PIRA / INLA only? Are songs in memory of IRA members from the early 1960 border campaign, Sean South for instance, deemed offensive? Is the Soldiers song deemed offensive? Remember that this song was sang in battle by what the British referred to as terrorists during the Easter Rising and subsequent War of independence. Should we stop singing the verse of the Fields of Athenry that refers to rebelling against the British Crown?
Perhaps we simply do what they and recent Celtic Boards have wanted to do and that is sanitise Celtic of all things Irish. That is apart from the forelock touching, begorrrah, white washed cottage & leprechauns image they want us to adopt.
GerryBhoy – well said. i agree with you
hail hail
I just wish the people who hate the IRA so much, would even try to dislike the brit army/establishment so much, medication time me thinks.
Coorslad- 2nd at 10/1 should have won,ploughed the last fence
Can someone tell me exactly what songs were song at the Rennes game.
I mean, I was there, but obviously feel asleep at some point as I have no idea what the ex-ref, polis or some of the nuggets on here thought they heard… HH