RONNY DEILA last night urged Celtic supporters to be proactive in protecting the reputation of the Parkhead club ahead of the second leg of their Europa League last 32 tie with Inter Milan.
Deila put the finishing touches to his preparations for the meeting with Roberto Mancini's side at a training session in the San Siro here yesterday evening.
With the fixture delicately balanced after a 3-3 draw in the first leg at Celtic Park last Thursday, the Scottish champions have an opportunity to claim a famous victory and progress.
However, being fined €10,000 by UEFA for the conduct of their fans in the Europa League group game with Dinamo Zagreb in December , has taken some of the focus off the Inter match.
The governing body's control, ethics and disciplinary group took action after some Celtic supporters clashed with Croatian police after fireworks were set off in the Stadion Maksimir.
It is the third time in five years the Glasgow club has been punished by European football's governing body for the behaviour of its fans.
For an institution that posted an annual profit of over £10 million last year, the fine is insignificant in monetary terms. It could, though, have serious repercussions in future.
Peter Lawwell, the Celtic chief executive, warned the club could be forced to play a European tie behind closed doors when the Parkhead club received a fine last year.
Deila, the Norwegian coach who has become a hugely popular figure with Celtic fans since arriving in Scotland last summer, revealed he was "sad" when he learned of the fine.
He has urged travelling supporters to play their part in ensuring the behaviour of a tiny minority is not allowed to tarnish the image of the former European Cup winners - by policing themselves.
"It's hurting the reputation for Celtic," he said. "As I have said before, I believe we have the best fans in the world. But a few have done stupid things.
"It is so important that stops so we don't get further penalties or whatever and a bad reputation for the club. I get a bit sad when I hear about it.
"When we are like we were last Thursday, everyone looks up to us and says: 'That it is great. They are the best fans in the world'.So we need that more.
Deila added: "I think 99 per cent of the fans agree with us that it is something we don't want. We just have to get rid of the last per cent that ruins the reputation for everyone.
"If we have a discipline problem in our team, I have to take care of it. It's the same with the supporters.
"I think they have to take care of it from inside because it is so hard for the club to do anything about it.
"This is about values and how we want to be seen by the rest of the world. Last Thursday was unbelievable. That is what we want every time."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article