Post by Admin on Nov 26, 2011 23:26:41 GMT
As many of you may or may not know, there are a cuple of us who work as part of event security and stewarding at Celtic park. I spoke about the recent behaviour of away fans against Dunfermline in midweek so I’d like to add an article from the other side of the fence as it were. So bare with me.
Ok, well we turned up at Celtic park as usual,in what turned out to be one of the worst days imaginable for a game of football. High winds,gales at times with torrent after torrent of heavy rain, seemed unlikely to give up on it’s quest to dampen the mood at Celtic park.
So we sit as usual during the prematch briefing and are made aware of a few swift and immediate changes to our stewarding policy. Obviously with recent accusations of sectarian chanting or whatever you deem it to be, decisions were made to change the setup in regards to policing the stadium with celtics own staff as opposed to sub contractors etc. This decision wasn’t taken lightly either. So to our surprise we were asked that sincere had been doing a good job at tackling the problems in the away end at 120, we were given a chance to join the ranks,and a permanent move over to 111. Well we jumped at the chance, but soon wondered if we had made the right move.
The answer to this was as simple as it would ever get…..after the behaviour we dealt with from Dunfermline fans on Wednesday night, we were a little surprised as to how different the attitude was in 111. Let me be the first to say, that I for one am delighted to now be working in 111 with the green brigade. They were actually a decent bunch of lads, who genuinely know the script and play the game fair, but that’s my opinion,being right in amongst this lot gave me a better appreciation for what it is they are out to achieve.
The only issue I dealt with today was a few hangers on who tried jumping over from surrounding sections, these guys were the ones out looking to be a bit problematic,but in general the green brigade were in good form,and do what they do best,entertain the thousands of supporters and drum up a decent atmosphere…..these guys deserve plaudits for their efforts and I believe they are misrepresented by a select few who thing the have a badge of honour be thinking they are in the green brigade when really they have no place in their at all.
So respect where it’s due,these guys are right to feel that they are being criminalised for what they do,as it’s a stigmatic image that they do not merit,they are actually all decent blokes,good banter and no trouble.
I wanted to bring that up,not as a biased bit of reporting,certainly not,as there were like I said the hangers on who had no place in there,just trying to jump sections and playing the hard man,just to prove point that wasn’t going to see them win out in the end anyway.
The differences between 111 and the away crowd we dealt within 120 just 3 days prior is staggering…..just to make that clear…….funny that, isn’t it.
Well anyway kick off approaches and out come the obligatory banners, hitting out at certain things,mostly to do with the green brigade rebel,skull in hooded top with a press reported behind him painting a shadow with horns and the like,very good banner that highlighted a valid point,so fair play. Within the first ten mins of the game they got fired up bringing in the atmosphere that only they can, getting the 48,406 who attended right into it. 2 nil up within 8 mins, and it looked like it could be a rout, someone was due a gubbing today, and the mob from paisley were onto a hiding.
Samaras sees his shot tuck under the goalkeeper as the ball spun away from the keeper in the rain soaked pitch and trundles slowly over the remaining 2 yards and into the net, Gary Hooper made it 2 just a few mins later and ended up topping of the game with a well earned hat trick. A wonderful goal from the young starlet Mckeogh was enough to send the crowd home reasonably pleased and see the gap for now drop by 2 thirds in just a week,to just a four point gap.
Celtic played well at times in what might have ended up being a bit of a tough contest,but the result was never in doubt,and the Celtic of old proved that they have enough quality to hurt teams.
Celtic showed today,especially with the terrible weather that they could get the ball down and play some decent football. Samaras to his credit has being playing better recently,to a consistently decent level,effort today was acceptable. Forest was also playing well. Hooper got involved a lot more in the build up of play and got rewarded with his goals.
Its looking decent for Celtic and it stands them in a decent shape for the midweek Europa league clash with atletico Madrid. Celtic can take great confidence from today’s game and put this into motion when the spaniards arrive for the final home tie in the group. It certainly won’t be easy, but if they play as good as they did today,it could be another well earned 3 points to keep them in Europe just that little bit longer.
So to summarise, Celtic played as good a game as we’ve seen in a few weeks,and scored a few good goals, and from coming from working consistently with away supporters to working with the green brigade,giving you an honest account of what goes on their,today all in all has been great.
So on to midweek for the euro tie and see if we can keep the run of form going. Hail hail.
Ok, well we turned up at Celtic park as usual,in what turned out to be one of the worst days imaginable for a game of football. High winds,gales at times with torrent after torrent of heavy rain, seemed unlikely to give up on it’s quest to dampen the mood at Celtic park.
So we sit as usual during the prematch briefing and are made aware of a few swift and immediate changes to our stewarding policy. Obviously with recent accusations of sectarian chanting or whatever you deem it to be, decisions were made to change the setup in regards to policing the stadium with celtics own staff as opposed to sub contractors etc. This decision wasn’t taken lightly either. So to our surprise we were asked that sincere had been doing a good job at tackling the problems in the away end at 120, we were given a chance to join the ranks,and a permanent move over to 111. Well we jumped at the chance, but soon wondered if we had made the right move.
The answer to this was as simple as it would ever get…..after the behaviour we dealt with from Dunfermline fans on Wednesday night, we were a little surprised as to how different the attitude was in 111. Let me be the first to say, that I for one am delighted to now be working in 111 with the green brigade. They were actually a decent bunch of lads, who genuinely know the script and play the game fair, but that’s my opinion,being right in amongst this lot gave me a better appreciation for what it is they are out to achieve.
The only issue I dealt with today was a few hangers on who tried jumping over from surrounding sections, these guys were the ones out looking to be a bit problematic,but in general the green brigade were in good form,and do what they do best,entertain the thousands of supporters and drum up a decent atmosphere…..these guys deserve plaudits for their efforts and I believe they are misrepresented by a select few who thing the have a badge of honour be thinking they are in the green brigade when really they have no place in their at all.
So respect where it’s due,these guys are right to feel that they are being criminalised for what they do,as it’s a stigmatic image that they do not merit,they are actually all decent blokes,good banter and no trouble.
I wanted to bring that up,not as a biased bit of reporting,certainly not,as there were like I said the hangers on who had no place in there,just trying to jump sections and playing the hard man,just to prove point that wasn’t going to see them win out in the end anyway.
The differences between 111 and the away crowd we dealt within 120 just 3 days prior is staggering…..just to make that clear…….funny that, isn’t it.
Well anyway kick off approaches and out come the obligatory banners, hitting out at certain things,mostly to do with the green brigade rebel,skull in hooded top with a press reported behind him painting a shadow with horns and the like,very good banner that highlighted a valid point,so fair play. Within the first ten mins of the game they got fired up bringing in the atmosphere that only they can, getting the 48,406 who attended right into it. 2 nil up within 8 mins, and it looked like it could be a rout, someone was due a gubbing today, and the mob from paisley were onto a hiding.
Samaras sees his shot tuck under the goalkeeper as the ball spun away from the keeper in the rain soaked pitch and trundles slowly over the remaining 2 yards and into the net, Gary Hooper made it 2 just a few mins later and ended up topping of the game with a well earned hat trick. A wonderful goal from the young starlet Mckeogh was enough to send the crowd home reasonably pleased and see the gap for now drop by 2 thirds in just a week,to just a four point gap.
Celtic played well at times in what might have ended up being a bit of a tough contest,but the result was never in doubt,and the Celtic of old proved that they have enough quality to hurt teams.
Celtic showed today,especially with the terrible weather that they could get the ball down and play some decent football. Samaras to his credit has being playing better recently,to a consistently decent level,effort today was acceptable. Forest was also playing well. Hooper got involved a lot more in the build up of play and got rewarded with his goals.
Its looking decent for Celtic and it stands them in a decent shape for the midweek Europa league clash with atletico Madrid. Celtic can take great confidence from today’s game and put this into motion when the spaniards arrive for the final home tie in the group. It certainly won’t be easy, but if they play as good as they did today,it could be another well earned 3 points to keep them in Europe just that little bit longer.
So to summarise, Celtic played as good a game as we’ve seen in a few weeks,and scored a few good goals, and from coming from working consistently with away supporters to working with the green brigade,giving you an honest account of what goes on their,today all in all has been great.
So on to midweek for the euro tie and see if we can keep the run of form going. Hail hail.