Brendan Rodgers has expressed his delight that Celtic supporters will be allowed to attend the Champions League knockout tie against Bayern Munich in Germany, but he’s also admitted concerns about the ongoing use of pyrotechnics by a minority of fans.
Celtic narrowly avoided an away fan ban after UEFA’s disciplinary panel considered sanctions following the use of pyro during the match against Aston Villa. Thanks to strong legal arguments from the club, UEFA opted for a €10,000 (£8,000) fine instead, meaning fans can travel to the Allianz Arena for the second leg.
While pleased with UEFA’s decision, Rodgers isn’t convinced that those responsible for the pyro incidents will change their ways.
He told Clyde 1 SSB:
“I’m not sure they’re going to listen to me, if I’m honest, whoever that may be, but let’s hope. I think the game now as a whole, it’s not just a small group of Celtic supporters, you see it throughout football. This element of ultras and all this sort of thing, you see it throughout Europe.
“So it’s not just solely Celtic supporters, but my only worry is for Celtic and our club, so that we can maintain the status that we have, which is an amazing club with an amazing support base and club where supporters can travel anywhere in the world and always be welcomed and doors are always open for them. And that’s what we always want to have.”
While passionate support is part of Celtic’s identity, Rodgers’ comments stress the need for fans to consider the potential consequences of their actions. Celtic’s relationship with UEFA has been strained in the past due to similar incidents, and further breaches could lead to harsher sanctions in the future.
The Aston Villa incident was in particularly frustrating, with it just one fan’s action potentially seeing thousands locked out of Bayern Munich.
It’s good to see UEFA take the approach of not enforcing a ban, but Celtic got very lucky here.
Hopefully, there will be an end to the Pyro displays.
We can only hope the minority take note and stop the use of pyros and get our away fans in to every match…the players need a support…..please don’t spoil it