CELTIC AND RANGERS FANS UNSURPRISED AS POLICE CLEAR CERNY
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Apr 1
- 2 min read
Good news for any petty criminals reading this. Next time you’re in the pub and you feel like throwing your pint in someone’s face, go right ahead.
According to Police Scotland, all you’ll get is some “advice” about your future conduct. The precedent has now been set. Speak to most Celtic and Rangers fans for that matter, and they'll tell you this is exactly what they expected, albeit for entirely different reasons.
I awoke this morning to read a report in The Herald, outlining Police Scotland’s actions in response to Vaclav Cerny’s disgraceful behavior towards the end of the recent Glasgow Derby.
Cerny Won’t Face Charges for Actions at Celtic and Rangers Match
The report states that Police Scotland have “concluded their investigation”. They’ve spoken to the player and given him advice about his future conduct. It then says that, as far as Police Scotland are concerned, the matter is closed.
It’s sad, it’s pathetic, but it’s also exactly what most Celtic fans have come to expect from the authorities in Scotland.
Perhaps if Cerny had put on a balaclava or picked up a Green Brigade flag before throwing liquid at a spectator in the crowd, Police Scotland’s actions might have been a bit more aggressive.
That is, after all, how their officers seem conditioned to respond.
Jokes aside, this really isn’t a good look for a police force already the subject of an independent investigation commissioned by Celtic for their recent conduct towards Celtic fans.
There remains the faint possibility that the SFA could step in and take action against Cerny themselves. However, we’re now almost 2 and a half weeks out from that shame game. One suspects that if the authorities were planning to act at all, they would have done so by now.
Instead, they decided to leave the ball in Police Scotland’s court. And rather than pick it up and run with it, Police Scotland decided they’d rather just leave the ball where it is. They’ve got more important things to worry about, like ludge meetings.
Rangers fans will, no doubt, claim victory and vindication from this outcome. Such is their way, to claim any kind of victory they can.
I’m not quite sure if the “we acted like total neds at Celtic Park and got away with it” trophy comes with any European coefficient points or not.
However, for everyone else this is just another moment of utter embarrassment for Scottish football. Still, as Celtic fans, we shouldn’t be surprised by any of this at this point.
This is a country where the Celtic manager can get assaulted live on TV by an opposing fan, and nothing happens.
This is a country where opposition fans routinely sing about genocide and nothing is said.
But don’t you dare sing any rebel songs or wave a Palestinian flag, lest you be tagged a terrorist sympathizer.
In the meantime, I look forward to reading about the scene in Glasgow Sherriff Court, next time someone is up before a judge for throwing a drink at someone.
“But, M’lud, The Rangers did it and it was fine, so why can’t I?”
