THE CELTIC TRUST has taken to social media this morning to outline their thoughts on the report published by Police Scotland earlier this week. In a series of tweets posted in quick succession The Trust start by noting the complete absence of any mention of the Janefield Street Crush from last September.

Celtic’s statement from yesterday afternoon promised a “comprehensive and thorough” report shortly into the Crush and it is hard to see how Police Scotland are going to avoid criticism in this.

“It is well-known that Celtic has commissioned its own report into the events at Celtic Park last year, an incident which the Club has treated with the utmost seriousness. The outcome of this comprehensive and thorough investigation will be released shortly,” the official Celtic statement said.

The Trust also pointed out the Police didn’t speak to any fans groups while compiling their report but in what they call “a very sinister move” they did speak to the media while noting that the Police reckoned that FAC were ultras and were actually unwilling to engage with the Police – despite never having been asked to do so!

It is well worth reading what The Celtic Trust has had to say today. You can follow The Celtic Trust HERE.

Below is the full text of what The Celtic Trust posted this morning. Their initial tweet is also included at the end.

We have now had a chance to read the report published by the Police Service of Scotland yesterday into the policing of football in Scotland. We noticed a number of things. Firstly, they do not address the Janefield St incident at all – not even mentioned – which seems strange.

Second, they didn’t speak to any fans groups really – certainly no Celtic ones. They spoke to Supporters Direct and some other organisation but nobody who represents fans directly.

Third, and in a very sinister move, they spoke to the media – not sure how that is relevant to policing – and seemed to suggest to them that they should stop reporting ‘those with the loudest voices’ ie the police are telling the media which citizen voices should be listened to.

Fourth, they explicitly identified @FACKilltheBill (of which we are a constituent part) and ‘ultras’ as groups who have ‘entrenched views’, ‘unwilling to engage’, who the media cover and suggest that this is a problem.

The say, among other things:
“There was also an acceptance they follow those who shout loudest, most notably the narrative put forward by ‘ultra’ type supporters and Fans Against Criminalisation (FAC).” And…

“In Scotland, sectarian issues and the activity of very vocal groups of supporters exacerbate this antisocial behaviour.”

This appears to be an attempt by @policescotland to dictate to the media which citizens should be heard and reported. It also implies that FAC and other ‘vocal’ fans organisations, such as the Trust, are somehow responsible for ‘sectarianism’.

If you add in the comment from @ScotsPolFed calling FAC ‘apologists for criminality’ and suggesting they be ‘sidelined’ while the police speak to ‘real fans’, this is a really chilling, sinister and undemocratic move by the @policescotland to crack down on active citizens.

We call on all fans of all clubs to oppose this kind of intervention in our organisations and to ensure that any dialogue they do have with the police is not used to undermine other fan bodies. We, for one, don’t want to seek accreditation from the police as ‘real fans’.

Yesterday we urged ‘Silent’ Celtic to let us know the findings on their independent investigation into the circumstances that led to the Janefield Street Crush and note that the club responded and plan to release this report shortly.

Here’s what we had to say yesterday and if you missed it, it is certainly worth a read…

The Janefield Crush – Police Scotland release Squirrel, Silent Celtic and the FAC video

UPDATE FROM THE CELTIC TRUST

We received this direct message from The Celtic Trust and are happy to update our article by including this…

Morning

FAC was asked to take part and refused to do so because it was a sham exercise.

Our point this morning was that they slammed FAC for not enaging but we see no evidence that any independent fan group of any club were listed among the participants.

So either they were not asked or they were asked and refused as FAC did.

You might want to update your piece to reflect this.

Cheers

The Celtic Trust