POLICE INVESTIGATE BANNER CELTIC FANS ALREADY KNOW THE OUTCOME
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 10 hours ago
- 3 min read
So, according to this morning’s press, the tifo unfurled by Rangers fans on Sunday is now the subject of a police investigation.
Now, depending on which source you trust, and let’s be honest we’re talking about The S*n and the Daily Record here so can we really trust any of them, the tifo is either under investigation or has been seized by police as evidence.
Celtic Fans Already Know Nothing Will Come of Police “Action”
Personally, I find this idea a bit far-fetched. The tifo was shown on TV to millions of people. A five-minute check of season ticket data will tell you who was there and who was holding it.
Checking for finger prints on something that’s been held by about 7,000 people seems rather pointless.
Seizing and storing such a huge item, if indeed the police have done so, seems like an utterly pointless exercise. Unless of course, the point isn’t actual investigation, but to instead create the illusion that they give a damn.
Personally, I’d rather they’d have put that level of effort into isolating the bottles that were thrown at Viljami Sinisalo before the well-intentioned Rangers sub proceeded to inadvertently contaminate the evidence.
However, we’ve been down this road once already this season, with Arne Engels the last time we visited Ibrox. So, I don’t think any Celtic fans expect this police investigation to turn up much of anything.
This comes at a time when, thanks to their massive and widespread abuses of power the last time Rangers visited Celtic Park, trust in Police Scotland from the wider Celtic fanbase is at an all-time low.
Frankly, the police have been shown up once again. After all, what criminal charges can you actually level for a tifo?
Was it abusive?
Yes.
Threatening?
I would say so.
Incitement to violence?
Well, it literally invited Rangers supporters to “take aim” and judging by all the missiles thrown from the home supporters, at the Celtic players and staff, it seems they got the memo on that one.
However, this tifo was deployed by thousands of people. We can’t charge all of them with a hate crime.
Ultimately as disgusting as that tifo was, bringing any kind of criminal charges for it, charges that will stand up in court, is probably a non-starter.
The police know that. Hence why the tifo seems to be where they are diverting most of their attention. It’ll be the same as it’s always been; pretend to do your job for a week or so until the public discourse moves on.
You can then just quietly brush it under the carpet and move on.
Celtic can’t control that. So, we need to instead focus on what we can control. The club should announce in short order that Rangers fans are no longer welcome at Celtic Park under any circumstances.
If that means no more tickets for Ibrox for our fans then so be it.
I know some fans will be unhappy with that, but we can’t keep sending our players, staff, and fans into such a toxic atmosphere.
Especially, we can’t do that when we have little if any confidence that the authorities will do anything about the conduct of the home support or players.
Actually, I would go further. Celtic should refuse to play at Ibrox again, until there are massive changes to how that place is managed and who is allowed in.
I’m sure we are more than good enough to make up from elsewhere the six league points this would mean forfeiting.
And perhaps finally, the refusal to let these games go ahead might finally prompt TV companies and other enablers to lean on Rangers and demand they get their house in order once and for all.
Celtic have that power. It’s time we used it. A line must be drawn here.