Simon Jordan weighs in after hearing what Brendan Rodgers has said about Celtic fans’ use of pyro

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Celtic fan’s use of pyro came to the fore this month after the club were fined by UEFA after the Borussia Dortmund match.

UEFA fined Celtic €20,000 and threatened to ban the club from selling tickets to away supporters for their next European fixture if the Hoops fans continue to use pyro in any of their competitions.

A hardline stance has been taken by UEFA on three other member clubs as they have threatened partial stadium closures to Lille, Elfsborg and Legia Warsaw this season.

And after hearing what Brendan Rodgers said about Celtic fans using the devices, Simon Jordan has now weighed in on the debate.

Celtic boss’ pyro comments spur Jordan rant

Rodgers said Celtic ‘don’t need’ pyro to create an atmosphere at games and has urged the Hoops support to stop using them if they cared about the club.

Upon hearing that Jordan said on talkSPORT, “If indeed they want it stopped, for the reasons that we’ve discussed on numerous occasions, and whether people think it’s the fun police policing something that they enjoy doing.

“It’s now gotten to the point where you’ve got the first team manager of Celtic, you’ve got the boards of various football clubs, and you’ve got sanctions being deployed on these football clubs because fans want to set off pyrotechnics.

“And I can’t really get my head around why people think that it’s their gift. I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t allow people to entertain themselves that they shouldn’t be able to amuse themselves that they shouldn’t be able to enhance the atmosphere and we do see pyrotechnics being controlled and put onto football pitches by the clubs themselves.”

Jordan calls for ‘lifetime banning order’ after Celtic manager comments

Jordan continued, “But there is an element of you are in our stadium, you are having to abide by certain parameters.

“Do as you are told and if you won’t do as you’re told, it’s incumbent upon the clubs to put the prerequisite amount of stewards into the environment to be able to identify the culprits that are letting off pyrotechnics and farm them out and then ban them.

“And then keep on doing it, and keep on doing it and then close sections of the ground, if you have to.

“Does it mean searching people on the way into the ground? Or do the clubs have to be far more diligent than they’re being and start hoicking people out of the stadium and start putting lifetime banning orders on them?

“So [do clubs have to say] it’s not a discussion. It’s not a debate, we’re not interested in whether you think it’s fair whether you like it or whether you think it adds to the atmosphere. This is not a discussion, this is not a democracy in this area is autocracy. Do as you’re told. Or get out.”

There is no doubt that this debate will go on and it is likely a section of the Celtic support will use pyro again as it has become ingrained in their matchday experience.

As it stands right now, pyro use is banned and Celtic have urged the support to respect that.

With Rodgers looking to get out of the group stages of the Champions League this season, the last thing the Celtic boss needs is to travel to an away future without a travelling supporter as they will be crucial in helping to spur their team on to qualification this season.