There’s only a handful of games to go until the end of the league season and all the teams in contention need all the support and unity they can get from their punters in this final push for the line.
That’s why the Green Brigade are back in at Celtic Park in the wake of their lengthy expulsion and it must be why Rangers have turned down their ticket allocation for the final Old Firm game of the season at Parkhead because of the stipulation that briefs can’t be sold to the Union Bears.
Accept those tickets under the conditions put forward by Celtic and you’re looking at a schism between the club and the ultras group that creates most of the atmosphere at Ibrox.
As it is, an SPFL sub-committee will now decide how many away fans – if any – can attend that game on May 10. That can’t be the end of this, though. There’s still plenty of mess left over from the last clash between Glasgow’s big two at Ibrox in March that needs to be cleaned up and a requirement for both clubs to get a proper grip on their ultras groups when the dust has settled on the title race and plans are being made for next term.
It will be interesting to see what Mark Blackbourne’s independent review on the pitch invasions and general disorder around that Scottish Cup clash comes up with – and what the reactions are.
It seems inevitable there will be questions over policing, but how Celtic and Rangers engage with the more fanatical elements of their support should come under the microscope too.
The scenes witnessed at Ibrox in the recent Scottish Cup clash were a disgrace
Police and stewards battle to retain a sense of control at the Scottish Cup game earlier this season
What happened at Ibrox was a disgrace. Celtic’s interim chairman Brian Wilson was wrong to defend his fans’ celebrations on the field at the end of a penalty shoot-out as little more than a ‘euphoric response’.
Punters should not be on the pitch. Full stop. And that’s before we even get to turnstile-storming, unacceptable vandalism and how their ultras appeared to get tickets when locked out of Celtic Park.
The reaction from Rangers ultras was absolutely inexcusable also. Police officers and a member of the Celtic backroom staff were allegedly attacked on the pitch. Flares were thrown. It was mortifying and Ibrox chiefs need to be very careful with their messaging over this ticket spat with their arch-rivals.
Ultras create a sense of occasion, but they need to toe the line like everyone else. There clearly needs to be stricter codes of conduct with the clubs. If they disobey, they need to be punished – and be seen to be punished – with the threat of disbandment.
Otherwise, things are only going to spiral further. At the moment, we certainly look to be hurtling back to Old Firm derbies where there will be no travelling support at all. Both clubs have a responsibility to work together to try to prevent that, because, right now, it’s arguably the saddest element of an altogether depressing situation.
