If you know the history you see the same ending time and again

ONE of the advantages associated with being the resident old guy in the organisation is that you can vouch for the fact history really does repeat itself.

- HUGH KEEVINS

The thought occurred to me as I surveyed the coverage of the post-match disturbances outside Celtic Park in the immediate aftermath of Wilfried Nancy's latest defeat last Saturday.

When it comes to the separate life form that is an Old Firm derby, a draw is, to use the old guy's patented metric, a disaster and a defeat is a catastrophe.

I read one of the posh papers at the weekend describe the crowd who had gathered at the front door as a “baying mob”.

That'll be the baying mob otherwise known as Celtic's customer base.

The matchday providers of the kind of revenue which gets you £80million in the bank and a London Stock Exchange listing.

Threats and intimidation of the kind that forced Peter Lawwell to stand down from his position as Chairman of the club on December 31 can never, ever, be justified.

But then a thought came into my head. The legitimate right to protest can never be denied, and the old guy was only 14 when he first understood that to be the case.