On Sunday, I entered the Janefield St tunnel from the east at 11:38 (Google tracking to the minute), and reached my turnstile (T22), which is a few meters beyond the gates. The gates were open at this time, approximately 15 minutes before kick-off. The tunnel was busy but orderly and there was no crushing.
Reports suggest the gates were closed 10 minutes before kick-off. Fans continued to walk towards their turnstile, not knowing the gates ahead were closed. This caused crushing and distress, as fans were boxed in.
There was a slightly higher footfall in the tunnel than previous games against Newco, or others. 6,000 extra Celtic fans were situated at the east of the stadium than were there during previous games against Newco. Some of them approached the stadium from the west. The police stopped Celtic fans walking west-to-east along London Road, leaving the Janfield St tunnel as the only available route.
This scenario is reminiscent of what happened at the Hillsborough Disaster. Fans entered the Leppings Lane terrace through a tunnel, unaware that ahead was a solid wall of people. Fans walking through the tunnel had no way of knowing they were trapping people in front of them. There was no escape to the side and police refused to open gates at the pitch side of the terrace. 96 people died.
No significant crushing injuries happened on Sunday probably because the police realised the consequence of closing the gates and opened them again within minutes, and the crowd remained calm. Those trapped in the tunnel were lucky.
Tunnels are not inherently dangerous but become so when badly controlled. It is permissible to block people from entering them, but it is negligent to create a blockage in a tunnel that becomes a crush-point, stopping people passing through, or leaving.
I was at a serious incident on Janefield St in 1985, when four mounted police created panic by charging through the back of a crowd leaving a Celtic-Rangers game. That evening I witnessed a bottle fly out of the Rangers end and hit an officer on the head, causing him to collapse. Then, after the game, I saw a Celtic fan throw an object at a mounted police officer, striking him on the face.
I am sure the subsequent charge through the crowd was some sort of indiscriminate retribution for the latter incident, on a day the police suffered at least two casualties. The subsequent investigation and findings completely contradicted what I saw.
Before Sunday’s game serious mistakes were made. Clear acknowledgment must be made this time.
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they HATE celtic fans.
PAUL67
I think,as WEEFRA has suggested,this requires the HSE to investigate.
I have no faith in any internal Police Scotland,Celtic FC,or Scottish Gov inquiry.
First thing everyone involved did on Sunday was deny and deflect. Well,they can GTF with their denial and deflection. My two sisters were involved in that. As were many others.
A cover up will absolutely NOT do
@ HEN1RIK on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2018 1:22 PM
“ I wonder who the former referees are who are on this panel?
I’m sure Ally would be demanding to know if Sevco were on the receiving end.
The explanation for the McGregor decision is simple, it’s because (a) he’s a sevco player and (b) it’s against Celtic. Plain and simple.
These assaults (against our players) have just been legalised and won’t stop anytime soon.
I’m not really keen on statements, but either we make a fuss or just do a Mowbray and take it on the chin. How did that work out?
Will the Players union not make a complaint about players being assaulted and no action taken? Of course hoim and Naismith are in Scotland squad with manager who admits cheating for years to win titiles
Who would win in a fight between a petulant kick and a kick?
I would not trust the Police to come up with anything that shows them in a bad light or somehow incompetent , I agree with calls for this to be a HSE led investigation.
This in a service that described the alleged attacks on a Priest as minor until it took of on Social media with Politicians involved,it then became a Hate Crime, hardly minor , I wonder what has happened to the copper who made the initial assessment of the event?
We better hit the nail on the head here with a statement or formal complaint or there is a dangerous precedent that we are allowing to be created.
Asked if he would have had any complaints had he ( Macgregor ) been sent off, Gerrard said: “No. I wouldn’t.
“He’s lashed out. Of course I will speak to him about it.
“Look, I’m honest, I’ll tell you what I see. I’m not going to sit here and do otherwise.
“If something’s blatant, it’s blatant.
Gerrard will be as surprised as us at the review panel by the sounds of it.
I personally thought the above quote from SG would’ve gave the panel no wriggle room , how silly of me.
HH
Three Match Package
£24 for a European night at Celtic Park, excellent value IMO
Europa CSC
BSR
Since you’re so keen on your choons,here’s one for you.
BSR is the captain of our ship,of our ship
Figure out the rest of the words,join the dots,paint a pretty picture. I CGAF.
I have no idea why you and your pals have turned on me and a few others in the last year or so,and I really don’t care. A decade on here,comes to naught.
The police will deny any responsibility and lie at every turn. Don’t be surprised if all video footage is lost.
and celtic will help them
blame it on Green brigade!!!
No retrospective action? What a fkn joke.
Celtic need to make comment about this.
It’s been going on for a long time, but definitely more prevalent since that b****** Levein made his comments about Scott Brown.
Lafferty was another who left his stud marks on one of our players on Sunday and f*** all is said or done.
I genuinely hope we start dishing it out now.
I also genuinely hope that in our next match Hearts, someone, anyone, snaps Naismith’s leg in as many places as they possibly can with a single tackle.
It’s got to ridiculous levels. Absolutely fuming at this. Enough is enough. Time to meet these tactics we are now subjected to in kind.
B*******s
to mr lawell and celtic plc get up of your fat holes and do somthing , or are you part of the problem
DANSO_1888 on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2018 1:42 PM
I fear we are already part of the problem.
We are neither flexing our muscles in the transfer market to ensure Sevco never catch us nor are we vocal about all the cheating going on, in the authorities’ attempts to get Sevco back competing.
We are mute, apathetic and, fundamentally, failing our supporters.
i am sick saying this but scottish football is a sick sectaraian pit and that one of its biggest clubs needs to call its fa out on such issues today is really pathetic and sad
Having been involved in a crush at Wembley in 1979 I know what mounting fear feels like.
Never again has been my mantra in crowded areas.
It would seem from reading that a cause if not the major cause was the decision to close the gates.
Who took it and why?
Was that decision relayed to police and stewards?
When plans were drawn up what kind of crowd control advice was sought?
Where pressure areas identified?
Somebody got it wrong and there can be no more cover ups or the game will collapse totally under their weight.
On McGregor. Does an opponent have to be carried off and be replaced for a petulant kick to be deemed a red card?
It’s not like a ball to hand in the penalty box when it is not deliberate.
A kick at an opponent is deliberate and the punishment should not be determined by whether it hurt the friggin target!
Celtic must seek clarification from SFA and publish the response for the rest of Scottish football to waken up to the dangers of this ridicolous interpretation of the rules taking root.
Bzzzz
I notice the serial agitator is at it again.
Hands up if you can spot it
Chris Sutton.
The SFA have nowhere to go with this. Basically advocating players to kick out when they like…. What sort of example does it send out to young footballers around the country??? This is appalling…. https://twitter.com/gazzarinho1/status/1036954765522030592
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.
Forget the ” surprised ” and the Rory Bremner quips , this has to be called out.
Maradominic – no, the police charge happened after objects were thrown at the police. I was about ten feet away from the horses that were on the right as we made our way down Janefield St away from the ground. One horse got hit on the side by an orange, then coins started being thrown towards them (between ten and twenty in all, I’d guess). I didn’t see any hitting the police.
At that point they lined up in the middle with two horses from the other side and cantered through the crowd. It was criminal.
This is a stab in the dark but would Ajer be able to accuse McGregor of assault and go through the courts? If he isn’t going to be protected by the SFA then what other recourse does he have? Not a legal mind so apologies if this is a stupid idea!
I said on Sunday that if McGregor is not cited for the kick on Ajer then the game in Scotland is corrupt;
It’s official the game in Scotland is corrupt
Three former match officials were consulted but did not reach a unanimous agreement to take the matter forward.
All three of the ex-category one referees must arrive at the same decision for a notice to be raised.
name the 3 MIB involved see no evil , hear no evil , speak no evil or cheat, cheat & cheat
The reasons for the decision not to take retrospective action need to be made public. What reasons can there be to justify this decision?
It was a kick
It was deliberate
It’s available from several angles
What on earth have they seen, not seen, or know that we don’t, to reach this conclusion?
The SFA need to be reported to FIFA ,for not applying The Laws of the Game, they have invented the grey area ‘excessive force ‘ , to give them wiggle room , to let their own off, and ban everyone else, when it suits them.
celtic plc , there is a perfect solution from bada bing now go to it
I havent written about the situation I found myself in on Sunday , to be honest I have been too angry about the Celtic statement , which was ill thought out and produced a narrative which I thought was more akin to something from the sfa . Whoever told them that the Police and Stewards dealt with the situation quickly obviously wasnt there .
My Experience
I use the lifts at turnstiles 40-41 so no access along London Road from Velodrome.
Our bus only arrived at 11:50 and we had to park at velodrome so arrived at entrance to tunnel 12:10pm still being directed towards tunnel, no_one police or stewards were stopping additional fans approaching the area.
After only a few yards I realised we were in trouble…………..
I asked a steward where we should go ?reply ………none . Did however scream at man who shouted what he should do ” I’m dealing with this lady” No you werent and didnt . i Turned then to another person and told them to stop screaming at her . Still no reply to me . Made way towards end of tunnel area , approached a Policeman he was talking through his earpiece. I asked him where did he want us to go , we were being told where we couldnt go but not where we could go, his reply was
“I dont know! , people were panicking and a F+++ING mounted police woman is accusing someone of touching ………HER HORSE
Made our way to first turnstile around the corner (think its 5) Steward said we could enter only if our tickets were for upper level Entered and had to climb 4 flights
When we got into stadium asked Steward where to go for area 412….. sent the wrong way … reached dead end A steward told us to go back . Arrived back to original steward who was surrouned by people that she had misdirected and another Steward was trying to help HER (NO PROBLEM WITH THAT SHE WAS CLEARLY OVERWHELMED)Male steward proceeded to tell me to” not worry it’ll be fine ” I told him that was easy for him to say game was already started and we were at the opposite end of the ground not knowing if we could get through to our section.
Proceeded along concourse where I had to stop frequently .
My daughter asked another steward if there was any way we could get a wheelchair as i was struggling…………….none available.
Eventually got to our seats………… managed to miss the first 15 mins and ruin the next 15 minutes for the bhoys around me who kept asking if I wanted medics .
So my thoughts for Paul 67 and the Celtic statement , ask the people who were there before you throw out a statement that is littered with inacuracies
Great result
HH
absolutely scandalous decision and not for the first time , something has to change or we will become a laughing stock of a club/team that accept any crap from the powers at be, time to stand up and be counted .
How can anyone give an opinion on intent unless you are a mind reader absolute cheats charter all clubs need to say no more,they are the ones who accept this rigged system, Stubbs has already lost his job as he was someone who spoke out, Clarke’s player has been banned for something that looked much less, Collum the common factor in Sunday’s and the Kilmarnock incident, that wee shit is protected.
someone at our club at the highest level has to get onto this urgently as a matter of priority , this injustice is criminal and must be addressed by us pronto, if the guilty party can appeal why can’t we.
Paul67 et al
I mentioned last night that the CFCSLO put a message on the CFC website (Sept 1st 2018), that access to the Lisbon Lions Stand would be impacted by changes to usual arrangements. Celtic FC therefore were involved in the process, were part of it. I start from the point of view that PoliceScotland cannot be trusted to guarantee the safety of Celtic supporters. Repeat, PoliceScotland cannot be trusted. If, as seems to be the case, to direct or redirect 7000 supporters via a restricted access route is nothing short of criminal. The Match Commander should be summarily sacked and any employee of Celtic Football Club involved in said decisions peremptorily dismissed.
Celtic fans in SHOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! new discovery
The Scottish game is corrupt.
Rangers in Liquidation but still somehow getting a good thrashing from Celtic CSC
Next game young Kristofer should just ” kick out ” at the referee and Brendan at the fourth official – lets just see then how unanimous the decisions would be.
Celtic need to call this out.
BSR.,
Nail on the head.Umpteen full houses at Celtic Park,and not a whiff of danger regards crowd control.I have been saying since the Hun announcement about tickets,that we should not let our fans anywhere near that hell hole.The thing is,true or false,,King made the statement,that in the last few years the scum were demanding our allocation cut.King informed them this was not possible as Police Scotland would not allow it,for safety,and security reasons.What has changed?
If PL does not take action regards our fans going there,he needs dragged in amongs them for the day.We witnessed an attempted field invasion on Sunday by the scum,but Police Scotland trumpeting “no arrests.”as if they did a great job.God only knows what our fans will face there in December.
In an honest society the even the corrupt sfa would not have the audacity to come to this conclusion.
They may be blatantly corrupt but it is with the tacit approval of the country and mssm that they know it will be accepted.
Floundering sevco have been dependent on him to maintain their record of only one defeat in 13 matches.
I’m sure a few ibrox season ticket holders in positions know this and helped advance the ludicrous verdict.
A banana republic would be embarrassed to be called Scotland.