The amazing words of Paul Lambert
The joint attack on Celtic fans in Amsterdam, orchestrated by Ajax hooligans and local police ‘intelligence’ produced shocking scenes on Wednesday afternoon as innocent fans were attacked from all directions in the Dutch city.
Celtic fans were unaware whether they were being attacked by Ajax fans or undercover cops with one beige jacketed thug seen to be leading the assaults on supporters- popping up on various video clips showing the full force of the Dutch in action.
There has been little backing given to the Celtic support with the state broadcaster, Radio Scotland, allowing one pundit to liken the scenes to Manchester 2008 unchallenged.
Passing sentence on Rangers fans in 2010 Judge Andrew Blake said: “The riot police were deployed in full riot gear and struggled to contain the trouble and restore order.
“What followed was the worst night of violence and destruction suffered by Manchester city centre since the blitz.”
At his media conference on Friday Neil Lennon highlighted similar problems that Manchester United and Manchester City fans had experienced in Amsterdam with his former team-mate Lambert also backing the reputation of the hoops support.
“I played for many years at Celtic and I never encountered any bother,” the Aston Villa boss stated.
“I played in the UEFA Cup final and we took over maybe 80-90,000 to Seville and there was not one arrest while we were there.
“Knowing the club and the fans the way I do, I find it incredible (what has happened). I’m not sure they would have started anything.
“I know there was trouble in the first game at Parkhead and it might have spilled over from that.
“But if you look at Celtic over the past 30 years there has not been one bit of bother.
“So I would disagree with anybody thinking the Celtic fans would go out looking for trouble when they never do it.”
Celtic fans were given Fair Play awards by FIFA and UEFA in 2003 with 60,000 fans turning out for a charity match earlier this year to support former Celtic and Villa midfielder Stan Petrov.
FACEBOOK PAGE to free Padraig Mullen jailed in Amsterdam for getting attacked by undercover Dutch thugs in plain clothes.
CLICK HERE for Facebook page to free Andy Vance stuck in an Amsterdam jail due to plain clothes thugs in Amsterdam police force.