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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Had a look at mahe the madmans new blog Sentinel Celts it not a patch on CQN while it trys to steal it’s posters’ A gaggle of Paul67 haters & flouncers even ole Kev £49 being sensible
It looks so dated I was looking for the bin from Paul67 old blog from years ago
It looks like OPERATION STOP EIGHT has been moved into place.
Referees have been fully briefed.
Anyone breaking ranks or disobeying orders will find themselves up at Peterhead, Brechin or Dingwall on a cold winter day.
Lafferty, McGregor and anyone facing Celtic have Carter’s blanche.
Push, kick, hold, hack
Paranoid, moi? Only because I’ve seen it all before.
At least it wasn’t a unanimous decision..one non mason on the panel! What it he had kicked him in the head…who knows he may have been trying that…. NA d he was severely injured or died…still no Red card!
until someone is seriously injured they will never be banned or stop kicking punching, (against St.J) Stamping..not a mention from Sunday. Why not let them on with knives. just for their own protection!
MARADOMINIC,and,THCHWTECS,
Nearly total agreement with 1st page posts.THE HANDS,its not getting worse,its always been the same.Its only our periods of total dominance that have carried us through.The refereeing and SFA decisions in the past were every bit as bad.We have never had the toy dolls to make a stand.Its nothing new.
Is Maxwell not the guy that PL wanted in charge at the SFA?Think he was glowing in his opinion of him.
How is that working out Peter?
its bad/tough enough to get 1 of them to make a decision against them but to get 3 is is a impossibility.
THCHWTECS,AT 1.41,
Oh,FFS,can there be no debate about anything on here without you bringing up ,transfers,in fact anything to get a dig at Celtic.
To me,you are no better than a Hun.A shit stirrer.
God bless Paul McBride.
https://youtu.be/LBu6cMo95YE
Published in 2011.
Has anything changed ?
Only 1 team benefitted then & only 1 team is benefiting now.
Any sensible person can come to that conclusion that there’s one rule for Rangers and another for everyone else.
SSevco started the season with the narrative of suffering bias against the 6 year old club.
Coach who has presided over this vents about historical bias against SSevco though he only arrived here recently and had never related any previous knowledge of Scottish football.
MSSM reinforce that view.
Cue the SFA rescinding correct decisions.
SSevco ramp up the narrative when above happens to bolster the view original rulings were biased.
MSSM further the narrative by reinforcing the lie.
A cynic like me might think there’s a concerted strategy in place.
Afternoon,
When will the Celtic supporting players in our squad realise the SFA are not fit for purpose and decline any call up to the national team.
I hope McGregor gets a taste of his own medicine next time he plays, somebody do him.
So Celtic Football Club:
A lot of unhappy folk( some who were hurt and others escaping danger ) need answers to,I would expect,to a lot of questions.Dont play the ostrich………ACTION IS NEEDED!!
If we boycott away cup games and some league games we can force change by hitting clubs in the pocket forcing them to speak out. This cannot go on.. open season on any player in green and white.. Force other clubs to act. Money is the only weapon we have. I say use it wisely. What do others think aboot this.
Hail Hail
Rich
Funny how the BBC’s report on mcgregor getting off with assault doesn’t allow comments.
Wonder why?
Time for the fat gardener to demand to know who these three ex-refs are.
Anyway,who are all looking to the first of Scotlands Internationals?
Hope Big Eck does well.
Someone? Anyone?
Even sevcos under 18’s coach agreed it was a blatant foul..
REPUGNANT!
Even the numpties over on Fester Fester cannie believe Shagger got away with it.
How’s this for a scenario:
mcgregor tells mcleish if he’s cited and banned he’s withdrawing from the Scotland squad.
mcleish tell his ‘bosses’ at the sfa.
sfa duly instruct three hun ex-refs.
Jobsagoodun.
TURKEYBHOY
Couldn’t give a rat’s posterior for EBT McLeish’s Scotland team.
Only hope is that Celtic players involved remain injury free.
I’m Scottish and support the national team.
But, as long as mcleish is in charge I hope no Celtic player plays for him and I hope Scotland get hammered.
Paul 67
I must apologise for my rant at 2:15
I know its your blog and you obviously can write what you like on it.
HH
……..and still Celtic supporters will clamour for tickets v them and for games at Hampden.
Ask not what our club will do for football…….
North East Ghirl
None will decline a call up, listen to Griffiths talk about playing for Scotland and the article on this website where Gordon talks about his rivalry with McGregor, nothing about McG kicking his team mate all about a rivalry and they seem friends.
Dena29,
You are perfectly justified in posting your harrowing experience.
If you could go further and copy it to the CSLO, for the attention of the club.
It’s not the ranters and ravers who get the reaction, but those who are composed and respectful in their anger.
Hope you are fully recovered from your ordeal.
TURKEYBHOY on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2018 2:56 PM
THCHWTECS,AT 1.41,
Oh,FFS,can there be no debate about anything on here without you bringing up ,transfers,in fact anything to get a dig at Celtic.
To me,you are no better than a Hun.A shit stirrer.
…………………………
Indeed!
It’s as if there is an agenda at play. Perhaps it’s to keep things on the level or indeed on the square. Or there again it could be both.
DENA29
Power to your truth.
No need to apolagise at being angry to lack of reality.
Glad you made it out safely.
Hail Hail.
Dena 29
Sorry I must have missed your post, I am sure you have been in touch with Celtic regarding this situation and how it was handled by so called professional people, I am delighted you are safe, take it as far as you can to get answers.
DESSYBHOY,
None of those players you mentioned are Celtic supporters. They only play for the club.
KT, JF, CMCG and RC are. They should all withdraw in my opinion. Scotland are worse than Sevco because they try to hide their bias.
Can someone correct a bad mistake in the article ‘McGregor:SFA justice’?
It refers to Kristoffer Ajer as ‘the Danish defender’ or ‘Danish stopper’ and as any fule kno, he’s Norwegian.
THOMTHETHIM FOR OSCAR OK on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2018 3:22 PM
Thank you …………….I just re-read it and realised Id tried to tell Paul what he could write on his own blog
step too far i thought.
I’m fine now that i have come down off my salbutamol overload :-))
HH
From John Hartson.
He’s kicked him off the ball.. scandalous decision ? https://twitter.com/record_sport/status/1036939698634145792
From @RhebelRhebel
The @ScottishFA turned a blind eye to the old Ibrox club’s illegal player registrations and bungs to ex-managers so there’s no chance they would reprimand anyone from the new club for the trivial matter of kicking an opponent. #SFAcorruption
Well said Sir.
There’s a’plan’ on FollowFollow to stop our team bus getitng anywhere near the door at Mordor on December 29th, so the players have to walk a gauntlet of Orcs.
Yes, I know…
However, there’s some wonderful keyboard warriors with suggestions to stop police intervention, notably:
“They can do you for loitering just to get you moving. I would suggest walking in wee circles or something. So long as you are moving.”
Yup…Can see it now :)) …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5goISKPSH8
NEG
Good point, but I would like my team mate to stick up for me if an opponent kicked me and I needed to share a dressing room with the kicker in another context.
From thecelticblog2018
Today’s McGregor verdict shows, again, why we need to tackle the SFA’s way of doing things. I believe the club has run out of road in its campaign to change how things are done. It is the responsibility of the fans now, and we have to come together.
Today’s decision by the SFA not to suspend Allan McGregor for his shocking kick-out at Kristofer Ajer is another in a long line of them which asks serious questions about just who it is who runs football in this country. Was that decision taken with the long term benefit of the sport foremost in the minds of those who made it? Or was it taken on a narrow, partisan, and thus biased, basis for to the advantage of one club at the expense of the rest?
That decision brings the game into disrepute. The SFA’s “new system” is already a farce. To require the unanimous agreement of three Grade One officials before TV evidence can be used in such a case is to open the door wide for all manner of disgraces; it makes it easy to corrupt the sport. It means one bad apple can spoil the whole barrel.
Alone of Europe’s association countries, only Scottish football would have come up with this, and only with Celtic rolling towards ten in a row would it have been proposed and passed. The problems with it are all too obvious.
Do not wait for Celtic to offer a comment on this decision. I very much doubt that they will. I have reservations as to whether or not they even should. It doesn’t involve us, although the victim was our player. I can tell you right now that Celtic has little interest in raking over the coals of this and previous outrages. Our club has reached the end of the line as far as trying to get genuine reform in the governing bodies goes.
Some will lambast the club for that; I prefer to acknowledge the work that they have done behind the scenes and that which they have tried to do and to accept that they have reached the end of their influence. People tend to forget that even with the greatest will in the world, Celtic is one club in a country with forty-two of them in the professional ranks.
What we want doesn’t matter. To get genuine reform, real change, you need to take people with you. You need votes from others. You need their support.
To put this bluntly, we’re on our own. We may have friends, but these are the sort who will hold our jackets whilst we jump into a fight. As anyone who’s ever been in close combat knows though, a real friend isn’t watching your stuff whilst you’re in the deep end. A true mate is steaming right in there with you, and the truth is, we have no friends of that sort.
Too much of Scottish football still sees this as a “Celtic-Rangers” issue and not as something being undertaken for the good of the game. Too much of Scottish football wants to sit on the side-lines and pretend the last six years, and the ten before that, didn’t really happen, all the better to avoid having to do something about it.
They will literally put up with any corruption, any distortion of the rules and regulations, as long as they are kept out of the line of fire, and who can blame them? Honestly, if they see this – and they do – as a power struggle between two clubs, why should they care which one wins?
The Glasgow axis has never done anything for them, and that won’t change depending on which of the teams there is on top.
It’s easy to see why they think this. But it’s also dead wrong, and pig ignorance to boot. Reform is as important to them as it is to us, but they have no incentive to seek it because it doesn’t benefit them in any way that they can see right now.
In short, I no longer believe that Celtic will be able to influence things enough to get us the things that we want. There will be no inquiry. There will be no justice on EBT’s. There will be no retrospective stripping of titles. Even Resolution 12 will sink like a stone, because our club does not have the muscle to force these things to the fore.
Call that what you like; some will take a reasoned view of it and say that the club itself has tried everything it can and that we’ve simply run out of options; having spoken to Celtic officials I can tell you that’s exactly what I do believe. Others will say that the club did not do enough to press these matters when they had the chance. There’s an element of truth in that too, and I would not argue with anyone who made that particular case.
I think, though, that whichever of these views you take – indeed, if you don’t accept either and believe that Celtic is “in this up to its neck” as someone said to me recently – it is important for us all to come to some understanding, and agreement, about where we currently are. Before we can move forward it is important to be aware of our present position.
Am I saying that we’ve lost? No, I’m not. Far from it. We have run out of road but there are others roads, and some of them may well offer us their own opportunities for progress. Just because going through the club will not work it does not mean it’s over.
As one of my favourite writers once wrote; “I do not counsel prudence. I said victory could not be achieved by arms. I still hope for victory, but not by arms.”
So how, then, do we win? Well first we organise, and that’s why I’m writing this today. As you will all know the site has been promoting a brand new forum these past few days, it’s called The Celtic Noise. Some might have their own ideas about what that forum should be for, but this site, which is one of three which has supported setting it up, believes it should be a place where we can all come together and discuss the issues that are important to us.
It is important for us to find ways to join our strength; this is why I am happy to be working with the team at The Celtic Star and with the guys at VideoCelts; they are our co-partners on the forum but that does not mean that others are locked out of it. Indeed, we will all need to work together if we are going to give ourselves the best chance to win.
There are ways to win, believe that if you believe in nothing else. The important thing is that we keep these issues current, and this site has always been committed to doing that. I believe the others are too. We have to keep these matters in the public eye, we have to keep on pressing for reform of the game, we must lead and then our club will follow; I can assure you that they will. They simply need us open the door for them just a crack.
The Celtic Noise is an important project because it unites three different sites; to the best of my knowledge it is the first such scheme ever proposed in Celtic cyberspace. The combined weight of our readerships and our contributors can make it one of the loudest voices in this debate. The club already knows who we all are; this can only give us greater reach and weight.
Please join the discussion. Please sign up for The Celtic Noise. The site is still in its infancy; it will be refined over time and that will allow it to grow. You guys built The CelticBlog; the onus is on you to make The Celtic Voice all it can be.
Ultimately, I want it to be your voice.
It’s time to be heard.
On McGregor decision – Just my take.
The decision not to cite McGregor is because one member of the panel is likely (to justify his assessment)) to have viewed McGregors kick out as part of the clashing when he saved the ball.
When KA fell over the top of him and for a brief nano second both legs were entangled before KA’s momentum took him further away. In other words, there’s some question for at least one member of the panel as to whether the lashing out was part of that dis-entangling process or a separate incident altogether.
I disagree completely of course, because the dissenting panel member is making a decision on what HE thinks was in McGregor’s mind at that moment. In his eyes, if there was no intent, there was no offence. This is absolute nonsense, but it is the only possible way he could not recommend citing the player. The evidence is very clear – the player kicked out at another player with his studs showing & actually made contact. Attributing to the offending player a lack of intent or offering the preceding clash as mitigation is not within the remitt of referees, and is therefore not withing the remitt of review panels comprised of ex referees.
There is enough delay between the disentagling and the kick out for there to be vlear case for referral.
In essence, the dissenting ex referee is saying that if was referee & saw this incident he’d have taken NO action against McGregor.
The reaction to the panel’s decision says it all really – disbelief in most quarters and smirking high fives in the remainder.
Even Gerrard admits he’d have no complaints if his player had been sent off.
As a famous gardener once said “Who are these people? We want to know.”
Celtic should ask the SPFL to schedule a Rangers game just before the end of each transfer window – certainly galvanisises and engenders a genetic spirit of injustice.
SG – McG you were luck not to have been sent off and a penalty awarded
McG – sorry Slippy
SG – you’re bound to be cited and banned
McG – Slippy this is the Sevco Football Association we’re talking about
SG – Carry on kicking