Initially, I was cautiously optimistic about away fans returning to Glasgow Derbies. Then last week happened, and my mind was completely changed.
Win or Lose, Aggression and Violence is Their Way
I think my friend and colleague Paul John Dykes summed it up best on ACSOM this week. He said of Rangers: “They are terrible winners”.
He is absolutely right. When they win, there’s carnage. When they lose, there’s slightly more carnage. In any case, its bad news for anyone who isn’t “Staunch”.
There’s Safety in Numbers, and We Won’t Have Them
Ibrox just isn’t a safe place for such a relatively small number, (around 2,000) Celtic fans.
There will be violence before the game, there will be numerous things thrown at us, and probably our players too, during the game, and nothing will be done about it. And as I said above, whatever the result, there will be trouble after the game too.
Things Used to be Better
I went to Ibrox for a Glasgow Derby once, back in 2008. We beat them 1-0 that day thanks to a Scott McDonald goal.
We had an entire stand that day, and even if someone from the opposing side wanted to start trouble, they couldn’t physically reach us to do it. That will not be the case this time around.
Time Away Has Only Made Them More Toxic
When the original Rangers ceased to exist back in 2012, and the new club entered the 4th tier, I was genuinely hopeful. I thought that some time apart from Celtic, and being made to earn the right to compete at the top level might have taught them and their fans some humility.
How foolish I was. The opposite happened of course.
They new club entered the Premier League, eventually, but the fanbase had changed. They were even angrier, more aggressive and more intolerant than before.
The Blame Game
To top it all off, they now had a massive chip on their shoulder thanks to the victim complex built up over years of convincing themselves that everyone was to blame for Rangers demise, except Rangers and their supporters.
That complex remains with them today, as they still can’t accept that they are no longer on a level playing field with Celtic financially.
Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice...
Maybe it’s a character flaw I have, but I always try to see the good in people and I want to believe that we can all change for the better.
So again, I was hopeful that last weekend would pass peacefully. I expected them to trot out the old racist songbook, of course, but I certainly didn’t expect them and their players to so brazenly disrespect their hosts and our fans.
If that’s how they behave when there’s only 2,500 of them, how can we expect them to be anything other than utterly repugnant when they have nearly 20 times that number, in their own stadium.
No Confidence in Police Scotland
If Celtic are to make it in and out of Ibrox without serious incident, it will require the full and unconditional support of Police Scotland.
However, in light of the evidence of numerous civil rights violations committed by officers against Celtic fans last week, I am sad to say I have zero confidence in their ability to protect Celtic’s supporters or indeed our staff.
However you feel about the Green Brigade, no fan should have to miss the match, especially not a Glasgow Derby, because of overzealous policing.
If Anything Happens, The Press Will Loyally Downplay it
We’ve also seen over the past week, to a quite cringeworthy degree just how far some of our supposedly free press will go to run damage control for Rangers, their players and their fans.
The Daily Record did its damnedest to cast Vaclav Cerny as a “pantomime villain” whose act that almost triggered a riot was “nothing more than banter”.
We’ve also seen The Herald, the once proud newspaper where I started my writing career 25 years ago, descend into Sevconian sycophancy, with a series of similar commentaries about the “playful banter” of Cerny’s act against Celtic fans, and the “pyro party” the Rangers fans had after the game.
If anything happens to our supporters at Ibrox next time, we can expect a similar level of damage control, and deflection.
In the End, a Glasgow Derby Just Isn’t Worth it
I’ll close out today by asking a question.
Do we really want to give our hard-earned money to an entity that so virulently despises everything we are, and everything we represent?
I certainly don’t. I’d rather go to Celtic Park, maybe watch the game on a big screen, safe in the knowledge that I’m amongst allies.
But then again, I’m in Japan, I haven’t been able to attend a Celtic game in person since 2012. So maybe I have the benefit of hindsight from a distance.
But distance is exactly what we need to put between ourselves and the occupants of Ibrox, until they learn how to behave like human beings.