SPFL CHIEF VOWS TO “GET TOUGH ON YOBS”, CELTIC FANS JUST SHAKE THEIR HEADS
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
If lip service and half-hearted statements were steroids, Scottish Football’s overseers would have a harder punch than Ivan Drago by now.
The latest utterly ineffectual guff from our national sport’s managing bodies came via SPFL Director of Operations Calum Beattie.
Speaking to the Daily Record yesterday, Beattie echoed the similar, completely vacuous sentiments of SFA Top Dog Ian Maxwell, when he also said last week that authorities will “get tough” on criminal behavior.
As usual, amidst the desperate clamor to grab a positive headline, to be seen to “say the right things” neither of these men said anything to give me, or indeed most other Celtic fans any belief that they have the capability to tackle this issue.
Celtic Fans Can’t Take “Getting Tough” Statements Seriously, When Biggest Culprits Are Still Ignored
Let’s just get straight to the point here. It's a statistical fact, as demonstrated in official government data that Rangers fans commit more acts of stadium violence than any other club in Scotland.
Celtic have an issue too in this regard, I won’t deny that. But, like any cancerous disease, you can’t treat it effectively until you remove the biggest tumor.
Scotland’s Shame continue to disgrace themselves on an almost weekly basis during the football season.
Yet nothing is said about the constant songs of hatred and racism, the fact that certain commentators apparently can’t go there and do their job over “safety concerns”, or that missiles being thrown at opposing fans are seen as an “inevitable risk” for most fans travelling to Ibrox.
On the subject of missiles I couldn't help but notice the almost self-congratulatory nature with which both Beattie and his willing stenographers at the Daily Record continually highlighted the conviction of one hooligan as a sign that the tide is turning.
Whilst one thug calling himself a Rangers supporter does indeed currently sit in a prison cell, no doubt dreading his next trip to the showers, he was but one of dozens of culprits that day.
I expect that now the police, the SPFL and SFA have found their scapegoat, a man who judging by his multitude of previous convictions for similar offences should never have been allowed anywhere near Ibrox on May 4th to begin with, they”ll consider the case closed.
Any Celtic fans like us who continue to draw attention to the fact that there were dozens of objects thrown at our players, fans and staff that day, not just that solitary Bucky Bottle (other tonic wines are available), will no doubt be dismissed as “paranoid” or “entitled”.
It will happen again on August 31st, because, to date, 99% of those who engaged in violence last time around got away without any penalty whatsoever.
Though, I suppose the idea of anyone occupant of Ibrox not getting a penalty for a change is kind of funny, in its own, ironic way.
Scottish football has a hooligan problem. That’s not in dispute. It is not confined to just one club. However, until the authorities accept and confront the fact that most of the trouble does, indeed, emanate from one club, and actually take appropriate, meaningful and impactful sanctions to force that club to take action, nothing will change.
The disease has spread to other clubs now, but the initial and primary vector was and remains Rangers.
Until someone in authority actually develops the courage to call that out, and form a cohesive plan to change it, I retain zero confidence that this problem will be fixed anytime soon.
