Celtic dimwit is sign of vulgar Scottish football subculture infecting game and navel gazing must stop - Keith Jackson

Just because it’s a cliche doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

The enduring, irrefutable fact remains that football without fans isn’t worth the grass it’s played on. If it was not for the passion and the emotion which injects itself into the veins of our national sport then the game would be stopped and, worst of all, almost no-one would stop to bat an eyelid.

It should be stressed also that the vast majority of those stalwarts who make it their business to show up week after week, home and away, in defiance of every defeat - these are the people who make it matter as much as it does. But somehow, somewhere along the way Scottish football has become infected by a contagion which is so malign and so utterly appalling it does give reason to wonder if it’s really all worth it.

A subculture has taken hold of football’s extremities and it’s gripping hard enough to make the eyes water. The time has come to stop beating around the bush where these self entitled simpletons are concerned. They like to call themselves ‘ultras’ as if they are more extreme and important than the normal run of the mill fan.

But the truth of the matter is, for the most part, they are moronic, middle of the road cult members who have long since abandoned the ability to think for themselves.

These people appear to pride themselves on being obnoxious, crass and vulgar as if it has become their sole purpose in life to cause shock and outrage in equal measure, wherever and whenever they gang up together, under the banner of whichever club they purport to love.

They are not radicals. They are repugnants. And the sooner they are given the cold shoulder by those of us who prefer to exist in a civilised society, the better it will be for the game that we hold so