All true football fans rightly condemned the actions of the Celtic fan who recently encroached on the field of play and accosted AC Milan goalkeeper Dida. As the governing body responsible for the Champions League, UEFA were duty bound to take stringent action to show how dimly such misconduct is viewed and to deter fans of other clubs from acting in a similar manner.
It is deplorable that you failed to act appropriately to uphold football's good name and recent revelations that it was the intervention of FA of Ireland president John Delaney which prevented UEFA taking a stronger line against Celtic asks serious questions of the integrity of your organisation.
That this incident occurred at Celtic Park is no surprise to those of us with knowledge of how low behaviour standards are at this ground. Inadequate stewarding is par for the course and there have been countless incidents over the years where fans have got on to the field of play or players and match officials have been struck by missiles thrown from the stands. Due to a particularly Celtic-friendly media in Scotland, these episodes have tended to be covered up but, when such a disturbing incident occurred in such a high-profile match, it was not unreasonable to expect that UEFA would act decisively to ensure the protection of all players and to let Celtic FC know that they are bound by the same rules as every other club.
The circumstances surrounding the latest incident must not be allowed to cloud the issue. Whether Dida overreacted to his encounter with the fan is irrelevant. A spectator got on to the field of play, was able to assault a player and Celtic FC are 100% responsible for this. Their stewards tend to be fans working for free admission, invariably paying more attention to events on the field than focusing on crowd control duties. That the fan in question was able to escape unhindered surely highlights the club's culpability.
You should also be aware that this is not an isolated incident. As recently as their qualifying tie against Moscow Spartak, Celtic fans got on to the field at the end of the penalty kick shoot-out. Whilst no threat was posed to the Russian players, the very presence of fans on the field of play is totally unacceptable. Once more the stewards were too busy joining in the celebrations of Celtic's victory to focus on their duties. Perhaps if your Observer had been more vigilant that night and you took action against Celtic, the subsequent more serious incident would not have occurred.
On a number of other occasions, most notably in domestic fixtures against Rangers, Celtic fans have indulged in intimidatory behaviour resulting in assaults on players (Ally Maxwell - Jan.94, Fernando Ricksen - Mar.05) and there was the infamous pitch invasion and assault on referee Hugh Dallas in May 1999. There was even an occasion in a reserve team match when a Rangers player (Fraser Wishart) became aware of an air pistol being fired at him. Furthermore, you will be aware of an incident at Ibrox Stadium last season when a Celtic fan got on to the field and brought the Rangers v Maccabbi Haifa UEFA Cup tie to a halt.
For a considerable number of years, Celtic fans have been permitted to revel in a glowing reputation about their commitment to their club and the feelgood factor they generate. This is a myth, created and maintained by the club's publicity machine and the pro-Celtic media. UEFA also share some responsibility for allowing yourselves to be manipulated into presenting an award to Celtic fans for their behaviour at the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in Seville. As I recall this came at the end of a campaign which saw ticketless fans storming turnstiles, widespread forging of match tickets, pitched battles at airports and flights re-routed, then the Celtic crowd marred the final itself with their venomous jeering of the victorious Porto side, hardly the sort of conduct worthy of an award for sportsmanship.
There has for some time now been a widely held suspicion that, again led by sinister elements within Scottish society, UEFA has preferred to focus its disciplinary might on Rangers FC, allowing minor offences like the singing of certain songs to be blown out of all proportion, even fining the club despite originally finding the fans not guilty of 'discriminatory behaviour' at Villarreal in March 2006. Meanwhile, the systematic lawlessness of Celtic fans continues to be ignored. Your reluctance to deal swiftly and aggressively with the most recent incident can only be viewed as cowardice which reflects badly on UEFA and, indeed, the entire football family.
UEFA had a wonderful opportunity to establish the standards expected of spectators. Celtic FC should have been punished for their neglect of a long- running problem and the fans too are worthy of punishment for their reluctance to identify and isolate the perpetrators of the various unacceptable acts over the years. A hefty fine, the deduction of the points they won against AC Milan and the closure of Celtic Park are the actions which should have been taken if UEFA was to retain any credibility as a disciplinary force.
By allowing John Delaney any input on such a serious matter in which, given Celtic's traditional hamming up of their Irish links (indeed, the programme for the Milan game makes this very point) and the ownership of the club by a politically-attuned Irish billionaire whom the FAI has previously approached for cash for fund their operations, he clearly had an interest, your integrity is greatly flawed.
Ironically, your dereliction of duty came on the same day when comments attributed to Scottish FA Chief Executive Gordon Smith, regarding an 'agenda' against Rangers FC, were rubbished by UEFA spokesman William Gaillard. But by refusing to act strongly against Celtic FC, you have further fueled the perception that your organisation is incapable of acting even-handedly.
Yours in sport,
L. B. Blue Esq.