It may have been a great day on the field for Celtic as they trounced championship side Sunderland 5-0 however, off the field a small group of fans have once again done their best to drag the clubs name through the mud.
A video has been doing the rounds on social media platforms as well as media outlets of a group of hoops fans congregating outside a shop in which EDL co-founder Tommy Robinson was signing books. The video goes on to show the hooligans throwing a flare into the shop before breaking windows and getting involved in fist fights with what I suspect are Sunderland fans.
Mr Robinson (who is no stranger to controversy) today made a video aimed at Celtic fans travelling down south for the game in which he labelled fans in the green brigade “muppets” before telling fans to “stop hating on him”. He later made a video in which he claims these fans attacked women and children however it is unclear to whether that is true or not. In the latter video a Celtic fan is shown being aided to by police as they await an ambulance.
Northumbria ambulance service have since issued a statement revealing that the fan was brought to hospital with head injuries although is in a stable condition. Thankfully there was only one casualty reported during the disturbances on the day although it is very embarrassing for Celtic who are fresh off a £23,000 fine for the Green Brigade fiasco.
The minority do not define us
I have little doubt that the newspapers will have a field day with this story tomorrow, the shame of the whole thing is that little to no recognition will be given to the thousands of hoops fans who traveled to the stadium of light, behaved and watched their team batter Sunderland.
I suspect also that very little coverage will be given to the clubs’s £10,000 donation to the Bradley Lowery foundation or the fans that chanted the little boys name throughout the game.
Next: 3 takeaways from Celtic's thrashing of Sunderland
These are the 99% of Celtic fans who will be bunched in with the thugs who decided to cause chaos on the streets of Wearside today. Lets hope the club decides to take a strong approach and ban all those involved in the violence on a day that should have been one to celebrate for all in green and white.