RANGERRAB 3,263 Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Liewell really does think he can do as he likes doesn't he? Literally sticks two fingers up to everyone by letting them back in. I take it thats the SPFL investigation cancelled too then? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
barca72 440 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Who's kidding who here, Liewell? http://www.sportinglife.com/football//news/article/26854/9086742/celtic-flag-ban-climbdown Celtic flag ban climbdown Last Updated: December 23 2013, 18:55 GMT Fans will now be able to take flags and banners to Celtic's Boxing Day clash at St Johnstone following a U-turn by the Perth club and the police, according to the Scottish champions. Celtic fans: Behaviour has led to UEFA fines St Johnstone had announced on Sunday that a ban had been imposed in a bid to prevent flags being used as a shield to let off smoke bombs and flares, which is a criminal offence in Scottish football grounds. Celtic's most recent Scottish Premiership away trip, against Motherwell, saw a number of pyrotechnics left off among away fans and two smoke bombs thrown on to the pitch. But Celtic announced on Monday that the decision had been reversed. A Celtic statement read: "Following discussions today between Celtic, the local police and St Johnstone FC, it has been decided that flags and banners will now be permitted at the match on Boxing Day. "We have an excellent relationship with everyone at St Johnstone FC and we thank them and the police for reviewing their initial decision. "Football is about colour and atmosphere and creating a positive occasion for all and everything should be done to ensure that such an event can take place. "However, it is also imperative that the safety and the well-being of fans is given paramount importance and in this regard we share the obvious desire of St Johnstone FC and the police that all matches take place in a safe environment. "We do not need or welcome any form of pyrotechnics at matches and clearly any continued presence of these does nothing for Celtic Football Club or our supporters. "Celtic has already had discussions with our main supporters' representatives and we have been assured that our supporters will again back the club in the right manner at McDiarmid Park. "With the team currently unbeaten in the league we want our fans to come and enjoy the game safely in a positive atmosphere - and hopefully celebrate the club continuing this great run over the festive season." The statement came as Motherwell began work to replace more than 250 seats which were broken by Celtic fans during their Fir Park meeting on December 6. Police said that 18 smoke bombs, three fireworks, and one flare had been set off inside the ground. A number of arrests have been made as police probe the vandalism inside the ground and several disturbances outside. Those scenes prompted St Johnstone to announce their restrictions in a joint statement with Police Scotland on Sunday. The Perth club had said: "Supporters will be aware that, regrettably, there has been a significant increase in the letting off of flares, smoke bombs and other pyrotechnics at games across the country this season. "These are inherently unsafe not only for those around the devices but also for spectators in general, particularly those who suffer from breathing disorders. They also have the potential to set seats alight and cause flags to burn. "St Johnstone FC and Celtic FC fully support Police Scotland in their attempts to eradicate this nuisance from our game and as part of the planning process for this match between the three parties and other agencies, and as there have been several instances of flags being used as cover for the igniting of these devices, a decision has been taken that for this specific fixture flags and banners will not be permitted inside McDiarmid Park." 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Cooper 0 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 The power of the Celtic family. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,263 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 The power of the Celtic family. St Johnstone say there will be no flags yet Septic say they can bring them.Should be interesting. let's hope St Johnstone don't back down. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Cooper 0 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 If untrue it is quite an inflammatory statement to release. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,263 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 If untrue it is quite an inflammatory statement to release. I read too that the police say there's to be no flags. Maybe Liewell thinks he's in charge of Police Scotland as well as the SFA,SPFL and the Girodome and can over rule whoever said no flags. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Cooper 0 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 I read too that the police say there's to be no flags. Maybe Liewell thinks he's in charge of Police Scotland as well as the SFA,SPFL and the Girodome and can over rule whoever said no flags. Well he is a very powerful man. No doubt he has may friends in the force, no doubt at all. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,263 Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Well he is a very powerful man. No doubt he has may friends in the force, no doubt at all. He seems to have too much power, that is the problem.It will be interesting to see how this pans out after their statement that flags were permitted 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
barca72 440 Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 He seems to have too much power, that is the problem.It will be interesting to see how this pans out after their statement that flags were permitted Here you go Rab, it seems like Liewell has been lying again ... http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/police-deny-banner-ban-lift-for-celtic-perth-trip-1-3242456 Police deny banner ban lift for Celtic Perth trip Banners and flags have been banned from Celtic's Boxing Day clash with St Johnstone. by ANGUS WRIGHT Updated on the 23 December 2013 22:27 Published 22/12/2013 14:18 CELTIC have found themselves at loggerheads with Police Scotland after giving their supporters the green light to take flags and banners to the Boxing Day clash with St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. St Johnstone had announced on Sunday that a ban had been imposed in a bid to prevent flags being used as a shield to let off smoke bombs and flares, which is a criminal offence in Scottish football grounds. During Celtic’s most recent Scottish Premiership away trip, against Motherwell, a number of pyrotechnics were let off among away fans and two smoke bombs thrown on to the pitch. Celtic announced earlier this afternoon that that decision had been reversed – only for match commander Superintendent Kevin Lynch to criticise the statement hours later, insisting that the ban remained in place. The Celtic statement read: “Following discussions today between Celtic, the local police and St Johnstone FC, it has been decided that flags and banners will now be permitted at the match on Boxing Day. “We have an excellent relationship with everyone at St Johnstone FC and we thank them and the police for reviewing their initial decision. “Football is about colour and atmosphere and creating a positive occasion for all and everything should be done to ensure that such an event can take place. “However, it is also imperative that the safety and the well-being of fans is given paramount importance, and in this regard we share the obvious desire of St Johnstone FC and the police that all matches take place in a safe environment. “We do not need or welcome any form of pyrotechnics at matches and clearly any continued presence of these does nothing for Celtic Football Club or our supporters. “Celtic has already had discussions with our main supporters’ representatives and we have been assured that our supporters will again back the club in the right manner at McDiarmid Park. “With the team currently unbeaten in the league, we want our fans to come and enjoy the game safely in a positive atmosphere – and hopefully celebrate the club continuing this great run over the festive season.” But Superintendent Lynch was later mystified by Celtic’s claim that a policy change had been agreed. “We were unaware of this statement in advance of it going on the Celtic website,” he said. “It is very disappointing and it would appear there has been some confusion. “There may be mixed messages, but I must stress there has been no change in the policy agreed with both clubs regarding the Boxing Day fixture. “We had a collective agreement in place with both St Johnstone and Celtic following a pre-ops meeting held at McDiarmid Park last Friday. Celtic were represented at safety officer level in discussions regarding effective policing measures. The club signed up to the previous joint statement. “We agreed with the clubs and the ground safety plan measures that flags and banners would not be allowed into this particular match because of the recent incidents at matches in Scotland involving flares and smoke bombs. Nothing has changed in that respect.” The Parkhead statement also caught St Johnstone off guard and insiders believe that the Perth club is in danger of being left to handle the fall-out. They echoed the police view that the banner ban – impacting on both sets of supporters – had been agreed and implemented as a one-off after private talks with the authorities and Celtic. The furore came as Motherwell began work to replace more than 250 seats which were broken by Celtic fans during their Fir Park meeting on 6 December. Police said that 18 smoke bombs, three fireworks and one flare had been set off inside the ground. A number of arrests have been made as police probe the vandalism inside the ground and several disturbances outside. Those scenes prompted St Johnstone to announce their restrictions in a joint statement with Police Scotland on Sunday. The Perth club had said: “Supporters will be aware that, regrettably, there has been a significant increase in the letting off of flares, smoke bombs and other pyrotechnics at games across the country this season. “These are inherently unsafe not only for those around the devices but also for spectators in general, particularly those who suffer from breathing disorders. They also have the potential to set seats alight and cause flags to burn. “St Johnstone FC and Celtic FC fully support Police Scotland in their attempts to eradicate this nuisance from our game and as part of the planning process for this match between the three parties and other agencies, and as there have been several instances of flags being used as cover for the igniting of these devices, a decision has been taken that for this specific fixture flags and banners will not be permitted inside McDiarmid Park.” 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,419 Posted December 24, 2013 Author Share Posted December 24, 2013 Celtic flag ban: We expose astonishing mix-up which caused Parkhead club to wrongly announce Boxing Day ban was lifted 24 Dec 2013 07:14 CELTIC yesterday released a statement saying the ban on fans' banners at St Johnstone had been lifted after consultations with the Perth club - but it later emerged they had phoned Inverness by accident. CELTIC were last night left red-faced after a bizarre mix-up over the McDiarmid Park Boxing Day flag ban. The Parkhead club released an official statement yesterday at 3.05pm claiming the decision not to allow banners into the ground for their clash with St Johnstone on Thursday had been dramatically reversed. But just over an hour later that claim was shot down by Saints and Police Scotland with match commander Kevin Lynch blasting the champions over their statement – insisting no U-turn had been agreed. In their statement the Hoops claimed they had held talks with St Johnstone but Record Sport can reveal they actually spoke to an official from Inverness Caley Thistle. Celtic security chief Ronnie Hawthorn made the call and thought he was speaking to Saints’ security officer Peter Mathieson – but in fact he had dialled Caley counterpart Peter MacCallum instead. He had asked for a U-turn on the decision to stop Hoops fans taking banners into McDiarmid Park but MacCallum thought Hawthorn was referring to Celtic’s trip to the Highlands which is three days after the Boxing Day clash. A senior St Johnstone source last night said: “You couldn’t make this up. Someone from Celtic thought he was speaking to Peter Mathieson but their names must have been next to each other on his mobile phone contacts list as they have the same first name. “Peter MacCallum just assumed Celtic were requesting the ban was lifted for their match as he’d read about the furore over the flag ban at St Johnstone.” An Inverness insider added: “This whole thing is quite embarrassing. Peter MacCallum didn’t think the call was that unusual because it’s a conversation he’d have with Ronnie Hawthorn anyway as the teams are playing on Sunday. “He was asked by Ronnie if Inverness were OK with Celtic fans taking flags in and he said the club were fine with that. Ronnie said Celtic would knock up a statement and send it to him which would appear on the Celtic website. “But the email never arrived which he found quite strange and it was only later when he saw in the news there was some confusion that it clicked there had been a real mix-up.” The confusion kicked off yesterday when the Hoops released a statement that read: “Following discussions today between Celtic, local police and St Johnstone it has been decided that flags and banners will now be permitted at the match on Boxing Day.” The reason for the mix-up emerged last night at 9.05pm and an emergency meeting is now set to take place over Celtic’s trip to Perth after fans of both clubs were left confused. Hoops chiefs remain confident the ban will still be overturned. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/celtic-flag-ban-expose-astonishing-2957382 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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