Safety first Celtic. Jamsie deserves our support. Sad news about David Potter.

[Joe O'Rourke]

Well the Scottish Sports Writers took the bait from their friends over Govan way, with regards to the furore over claims that Celtic will refuse tickets for the first game against Newco on September 3rd. The actual facts are, that Celtic will decline tickets unless our Supporters, and maybe more importantly, our Staff are guaranteed safety before, during, and after the match.

It’s not just during the match we have problems with the behaviour of their so-called supporters. As soon as our team bus arrives they are bombarded with abuse, the same happens after the match when the players and staff are boarding the bus. Our Directors get the same treatment, they just can’t help themselves, it’s just “Blatant Bigotry” one of the most disgusting episodes was when our Captain Scott Brown had abuse about his late Sister directed at him, and what did the Cops standing right beside it do, absolutely nothing “SCUM” just doesn’t do it justice, and that is directed at the cops as well as the fans.

Last season at Snake Mountain, when we had already won the League, our players still got objects hurled at them, both Jota and Matt O’Riley had many missiles, thrown at them, thankfully they were from the Alfredo Morelos School of target shooting, so none hit their intended target. In the not too distant past many of our players have been targeted, Scott Brown was attacked by a fan who came out of the stand, and was allowed to go back to the stand after he shxt himself when Broony stood his ground. In past seasons, Greg Taylor, Griff, Scott Sinclair, and others have been targets of the numpties over there.

Over the last two visits to the Bigotdome, seven Celtic Supporters have been hit by glass bottles thrown from the home sections. We had a Celtic Physio hit by a glass bottle in what was supposed to be a secure area behind the Celtic dugout. We had glass strewn all over the eighteen yard box about to be defended by Joe Hart, and that’s not taking into consideration the numerous near misses. Newco actually admitted they could not guarantee the safety of two ex-Celtic Players who were about to commentate on a match, has that ever happened before anywhere in world football?

The safety of our Players, Staff, and Supporters is paramount, that’s non-negotiable, can Newco give us guarantees of safety? I doubt it very much, I doubt they could give a guarantee to their own players if Celtic win. The solution may lie with “Safety Netting” I’m not convinced by that just yet, and I certainly don’t think that could happen in the short time remaining, and I also don’t envisage Sevco doing that unilaterally, they would want us to use the same type of netting.

It’s also been claimed that Sevco will demand 700 tickets for the return fixture at New Year. I don’t know how much truth is in that, but I do know there in no set number on allocations, a reasonable amount is what’s quoted. So if we are obligated to give a reasonable amount, it would be the smallest amount I could get away with, whether that’s 10 or 100. The bottom line is this, the Stakeholders need to get involved, Neil Doncaster told me years ago he didn’t want to get involved in ticket allocations, but it’s now came to a time when they all need to sit down and have a conversation about allocations, especially since we are hearing the Hearts, Aberdeen, and even Livingston are going to reduce allocation even more this season.

And finally, I wasn’t shocked to hear that we are drawn away to SPL opposition in the League Cup, while Sevco enjoy another home draw against a lower league team, helping them out financially at every opportunity, what’s the odds their game will be live on the telly as well. I was sad to hear of the passing yesterday of David Potter. David was a fantastic Bhoy, a very well respected Celtic Historian, who wrote several books about his beloved Celtic. Condolences to Rosemary and all the Family Requiescat in aeternum pace David.

And really finally. If you are able to, please get along to James Forrest’s Testimonial Match tomorrow night. Jamsie has been an absolutely brilliant player for Celtic, and he deserves a full stadium to recognise his massive contribution to our Great Club, so come on all you Celtic Supporters, give James the adulation he so richly deserves.
Glasgow’s still Green & White.