Novo and Limmy: A handful of Celtic fans leave an open goal to critics

The season has started - fairly well for Celtic - and yet, the Scottish mainstream media are awash with negative stories about the club.

Same old, same old, you may say. But there are lessons to be learned from the actions of a few fans, that have given fuel to those who wish to incinerate our reputation as the best fans in the world.

The targets - who prefer  to be known as victims - are two men for whom I haven't the least time.

One - Nacho Novo - was a thoroughly unpleasant player who had such a desire for recognition that, long after he had hung up his well-used studs, he took to social media throwing the most vile of insults at Celtic and our fans.

The other, who prefers to be called "Daft Limmy" is the embodiment of a proudly non-intellectual underclass creating trash TV. Take Homer Simpson, drain him of charm or wit, give him a  Scottish accent and a TV show and you have Brian Limond.

He has his adherents, but then so do burgers made from mechanically-recovered meat, which you can at least make look like something roughly palatable.

So, how were these two men involved in dragging the name of Celtic through the dirt?

With a little help from "our friends", of course.

Firstly, we had the moron who decided it was funny to sing the cringe-worthy "May you die in your sleep, Nacho Novo," song.

That song was truly embarrassing when Novo was playing.

But, during a match you might make (very lame) excuses that it was all terracing banter, the sort of thing  that only comes out when people get carried away by the crowd and the atmosphere.

It still didn't make it acceptable but then again excuses are generally made for the unacceptable.

What kind of mind - or absence of the same - you must possess to wish to sing such a song to the person's face while going about his business, I would not care  to speculate.

In what circumstances would that be OK?

I could go through the plethora of reasons why there are none but that would be to insult anyone reading this as it surely needs no explanation.

Limmy

When we come to the "Limmy" incident, that's of an entirely different nature.

For those who don't know, on the day that Danny McGrain unfurled our seventh consecutive championship flag at Celtic Park, Limond tweeted that he thought Danny had died, having been electrocuted in his loft, adding, "Who am I thinking of?"

Some younger fans may not know that he was referring to Danny's teammate and friend, the late and much-loved Johnny Doyle who died in that tragic accident.

He was called out on his bad taste - his signature style - and, instead of apologising for the  genuine hurt and offence caused, he doubled-down, insisting that his comment was made out of innocent ignorance and attempting to moralise against his critics at the same time.

Limond, you see, (unlike his brother David who was sent to prison for orchestrating a campaign of harassment against a Celtic-supporting journalist),  knows nothing about the "Old Firm" and therefore, in Limmy World, he can say what he likes, even openly musing about the death of 68-year-old Danny on a day, which should have been all about honouring one of the greatest-ever Celtic players and Scottish sportsmen.

His "defence" was as risible as his sense of humour but he had got what he was seeking - a reaction to add to his notoriety, in much the same way as he "innocently" tweeted about assassinating Donald Trump.

"Opps! Ooh-err! What have I said? I didnae know. I'm awful, aren't I? It's your own fault if you're offended!"

This was as snivelling a performance of publicity-seeking as you were likely to find.

But then two or three people speculated - joked? - about Limmy being stabbed. Naturally, they were from Celtic-affiliated accounts.

The result was that The Herald's Martin Williams (the man who reported that Rangers had died and has spent six years trying to make up for it) was given the opportunity that he had been waiting for.

The story was not a doubly-inappropriate comment on the deaths of Danny McGrain and Johnny Doyle but how bad Celtic fans were threatening someone who Williams apparently considers a national treasure.

And it has allowed Limond to get all the publicity he was seeking and capitalise on what he knows is an  anti-Celtic sentiment in much of the Scottish mainstream media.

(There are specific questions to be asked about Williams but that is for another time.)

Novo and Limond's separate conducts are not mitigated in any way by the actions of fools who would do Celtic fans a favour by finding something to do with their time other than associating themselves with Celtic.

But, if some fans don't have a sufficient moral compass to guide them away from the unacceptable, then they might instead try some common sense or, at the very least, refuse to give our critics what they want.

It has taken countless thousands of Celtic fans to build our reputation.

It only takes a handful to damage it.