Glasgow community councillors are demanding that Celtic stump up the cash for a title party for supporters next time they win the Premiership.
It follows Saturday’s chaotic scenes in the Glasgow Cross and Trongate areas when thousands of fans defied requests not to go into the city centre to celebrate the club’s 55th league triumph.
Police said 17 people were subsequently charged and four reported over offences including being in possession of pyrotechnics or offensive weapons, assault and public disorder.
Around 500 police officers were on duty after the previous year when celebrations got completely out of hand, leading to 19 arrests and injuries to four officers.
Now Merchant City and Trongate Community Council, who represent local residents, have said that enough is enough - and insist it should be the responsibility of the club to ensure there is somewhere for fans to safely congregate and have a party.
They have suggested an alternative gathering at Celtic Park itself, following the final home game of the season, at the nearby Emirates, or at Glasgow Green, and say the public purse would be protected if the club paid for the venue.
A community council spokesperson said: ‘Once more streets in the centre of Glasgow were taken over by thousands and thousands of Celtic supporters and turned into a No Go area for residents, businesses, and traffic including emergency services and public transport.
‘The event was mainly good humoured but an historic monument, traffic lights and a subway station roof were climbed upon. Flares and firecrackers were set off. Normal life in and around Glasgow Cross and Trongate was brought to a standstill.
‘Several hundred police did their duty at great cost to the public purse. Glasgow City Council cleansing staff faced the massive task of clearing up the mess of bottles, cans and other rubbish - yet another expense to taxpayers.
‘At the 11th hour Celtic Football Club issued a statement the previous day asking their fans not to congregate en masse, noting it would be an unauthorised gathering. While we are grateful that at long last the club spoke out, at least 15,000 fans ignored the belated appeal.
‘It is clear Celtic cannot control its supporters when they take to the streets. We repeat our request, made two years ago, that should there be another such occasion the club organises - at its cost - its own celebration at Parkhead, the Emirates across the road from the stadium, Glasgow Green or any other venue of its choice.
‘The same situation occurred on the last day of the Premiership season in 2023 and 2024. It cannot be allowed to happen for a fourth successive year.
‘We shall be reviewing Saturday’s events with Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Professional Football League, the police and our Scottish Parliamentary representatives, and continue to press for urgent actions by all parties involved.’
Chief Superintendent Emma Croft said a ‘significant majority’ of the fans were ‘highly intoxicated’ at Saturday’s unofficial celebrations after the 1-1 draw with St Mirren, and some were hospitalised for suspected drug misuse, while it’s understood that some businesses were forced to close as a result of the disorder.
Police, Glasgow City Council and the club had all pleaded with fans not to congregate in the city centre, but their requests were largely ignored.
Bus shelters were dismantled to stop supporters from climbing on to of them, but many scaled other structures including traffic lights, while smoke bombs were set off.
I've impressed myself this season, boasts Celtic target Kvistgaarden
Long-term Celtic target Mathias Kvistgaarden has admitted he’s been hugely impressed by his own form this season – as the race begins to secure his signature for next term.
Brondby frontman Kvistgaarden has been voted Player of the Year in the Danish Superliga and stated earlier this week that he feels the time is now right to move and look for another challenge.
Celtic have been on the 23-year-old’s trail over the course of the last two windows, although his expected £11million price tag is towards the top end of what they are willing to pay for new talent. The club are also eager to see whether Daizen Maeda will commit to a new deal.
Eintracht Frankfurt are also known to be keen on Kvistgaarden with serious talks ready to begin on his future.
Kvistgaarden ended the campaign with 17 league goals and 23 in all competitions for Brondby and has spoken of the pride he feels in that tally despite the fact his side finished a distant third in the table behind champions FC Copenhagen.
‘Aside from the fact that I haven’t scored a single goal from a penalty kick, I’m a bit impressed with myself,’ he told Danish media. ’All 17 goals have been scored in open play.
‘It means even more to me that it is my colleagues who have voted for me (as Player of the Year). It is an expression of the fact that I have been a good player this season.’
Kvistgaarden, however, concedes that there is still room for improvement.
‘When I look back on the season, I also have to admit that I have missed far too many big chances,’ he said. ‘If I had been my team-mate Mileta Rajovic’s height, I would have probably scored a few goals. I can’t help it. I’m only 175 cm (5ft 8ins).’
Parkhead's Mr Incredible is about to leave even Forrest in the shade
Callum McGregor is out to make himself Celtic’s self-styled Mr Incredible by writing another new record in this weekend’s Scottish Cup final with Aberdeen and clinching his sixth domestic Treble.
The Parkhead captain already stands alone in the Scottish game with five to his name – thanks to team-mate James Forrest having missed the 2020 Scottish Cup final win over Hearts – and admits he can barely believe he has the chance to ringfence his place in history at Hampden this weekend.
‘It is incredible reading, even when you hear it out loud, but this is the standard we want to set. We want to win everything we are in,’ said McGregor.
‘Cup final days bring a whole load of potential “what can happen” moments and we need to try and minimise that as much as we can. If we turn up, play well and do all the right things, we know we have the ability to win.
‘Six trebles would be an incredible achievement, but my full focus is on making sure we do everything we can to win the game.’
Manager Brendan Rodgers, of course, is also aiming to become the first Celtic manager to win three Trebles.
French farce for Furuhashi as he's urged to find a new employer
Kyogo Furuhashi has been given the clearest warning yet that he must find a new club this summer following his disastrous switch from Celtic to Rennes.
Furuhashi has struggled desperately at the French side since a chaotic start when former head coach Jorge Sampaoli left and insisted he had nothing to do with the Japanese striker’s £10million arrival.
Since then, he has only been given limited game time under new boss Habib Beye and wasn’t involved at all in any of the Breton outfit’s final five games of the Ligue 1 campaign.
Furuhashi managed only one start in 12 outings, with Beye now stating that any players not cutting the mustard have got to spend the summer looking for new opportunities elsewhere.
‘All the players who will be at Stade Rennes next season will be sought-after players who want to be 200-per-cent involved in the project,’ said Beye.
‘Anyone who is in limbo will have to see what can happen elsewhere, but they won’t be a priority for the club. That is very clear.’
O'Riley looks ready to join Frimpong in earning Celtic some extra cash
The fundamental aim of a successful transfer strategy is to acquire players at a bargain price, develop them into valuable assets and sell them on for a healthy profit.
Celtic have done more than that. They have taken in sizeable fees for departing stars and, by inserting sell-on clauses in the process, contrived to make even more from them down the line.
It is a common enough practice. And it doesn’t work every time. But the best-run clubs will get at least some of them right every few years and, in so doing, be rewarded not once but twice.
Celtic signed Virgil Van Dijk from Groningen for £2.3m. Two years after his £13m transfer to Southampton, they earned 10 per cent of his £75m move to Liverpool.
This week, they have pulled off something similar with Jeremie Frimpong, the Dutchman they plucked from Manchester City’s youth academy in 2019. Four years after his £11.5m transfer to Bayer Leverkusen, they are thought to be earning around £5.5m from his move to Liverpool.
And there might be more. Reports suggest that Matt O’Riley could be on his way out of Brighton & Hove Albion, where he has struggled to make an impact since his £30m move from Celtic last year. Expect the Parkhead board to be watching with interest.
Just as success breeds success, so does money make money, which is why Celtic’s domination of Scottish football will not be easily ended.
This Bhoy has a future in broadcasting when he hangs up his boots
They say that North American accents are a natural fit on TV and radio.
Well, a Canadian certainly proved that to be the case when Alistair Johnston was called over by Eilidh Barbour to join the Sky Sports team after Celtic’s 1-1 draw with St Mirren last Saturday.
Not for the right-back a few brief words about how well the lads had done before being allowed to rejoin his mates for the title party.
After Martin O’Neill, Stiliyan Petrov and Chris Sutton had said all they had to say about James Forrest’s landmark equaliser, the erudite Johnston proceeded to speak at length in front of the cameras.
Quite unprompted, he paid a heartfelt tribute to the veteran winger for his achievement, dissected his side’s unconvincing performance against the Buddies, and even described in detail what Brendan Rodgers’ men had to do better in the Scottish Cup final with Aberdeen.
The only minor quibble is that he went on, and on, and on ... to the extent that Messrs O’Neill, Petrov and Sutton probably began to wonder what on earth they were doing there.
If Eilidh Barbour had asked Johnston his opinion on the current state of resurfacing works on the M8, you suspect he would have given it a go.
Seriously, though, it was refreshing to listen to someone so eloquent, thoughtful and considered in his answers.
Especially when we’ve grown weary of the ‘that was a disappointing goal to lose from Motherwell’s point of view’ platitudes that pollute our airwaves and screens.
And that’s just from the pundits.
When Johnston decides to hang up his boots one day, the Bhoy has definitely got a future in broadcasting.
Sadiku claims toppled champions will be better equipped to handle next season
Elena Sadiku has described this season as a learning experience for Celtic’s women and promised that they will bounce back hungrier than ever after the summer.
A 6-0 victory over Motherwell in their final league game could not disguise what has been a desperately disappointing campaign for Sadiku’s side.
As well as failing to lift a trophy, the defending champions finished fourth in the SWPL table, 15 points behind Hibs, who won the title with a 1-0 victory over Rangers at Ibrox.
Accused of taking Celtic backwards in the last year, Sadiku has faced calls for her dismissal, but she insists it was always going to be a difficult season for her team.
They were under pressure to defend their title. And the demands of a historic Champions League adventure took their toll. Sadiku also pointed out that her budget was smaller than those of the Edinburgh clubs.
With those challenges behind them, Sadiku believes Celtic will be better equipped next season to handle expectation and meet the standards required of them every week.
‘Before coming into this season I said to the players it was going to be the toughest season so far,’ said Sadiku. ‘Coming in as champions is different. You have a target on your back all the time.
‘Playing in the Champions League was also a highlight. We have quality, we performed really well, we were strong, but there was also a lot of games, which was a difference. A lot of travel.
‘Everything has been a learning season for us. We wrote history and I think that was an eye-opener for everyone. For me and the players right now, go on holiday... but work during pre-season and make sure that when we come back we are hungrier than ever.’
Sadiku intends to shake up her squad over the summer - the priority is to bolster it with ‘leaders’ - but it pleased her to see the existing group do themselves justice against Motherwell.
Lucy Ashworth-Clifford and Maria McAneny scored two goals each at Celtic Park. Morgan Cross and Saoirse Noonan also found the net on a day when Sadiku’s players clicked.
‘This was a game where we wanted to show the best of ourselves,’ said Sadiku. ‘It was a game for the last time being the group that we are today.. It was for the fans who have been supporting us through thick and thin.
‘We are going to have some weeks off now, but when we start next season, we are going to be very, very hungry for success.’