The crowds stretched from Celtic Park, down the Gallowgate to the Merchant City with tens of thousands of supporters gathering to toast a second consecutive title win in Glasgow’s east end.

Drone footage captured some remarkable scenes, of people massed around Glasgow’s Tolbooth and bringing traffic to a standstill on Argyle and High Streets.

The footage showed fans in an overwhelmingly celebratory mood, admittedly the aftermath did make for a less pretty picture, but these city centre festivities have become something of an end of season tradition taking place after the final home game and trophy presentation.

Last year saw similar scenes and with a potential fifth Celtic treble in seven years on the horizon, this weekend a casual observer might assume that Glasgow would be well-prepared, primed to take the inevitable strain and service the thousands who spent the remainder of their Saturday in town.

Glasgow is Scotland's sporting capital, whether it's Scotland fans, Celtic fans or Rangers fans, you would think the city would be ready to host them. 

Read more: 'Scotland's clearances might have been blessing on rest of world'

The reality could hardly be further from the truth. Once again, supporters were essentially left to make their own fun in the city centre, with no additional facilities in place and no official, regulated gathering place.

You’ll struggle to find a portaloo and, beyond the more enterprising food trucks who set up along the way, you won’t find kiosks or other places for food and drink.

It’s in stark contrast to the welcome we afford sports fans when they come to major events here in Scotland. Look at the Euro 2020 fan zone at Glasgow Green, just a couple of streets from the site of the Celtic support’s recent celebrations.

Well-organised, staffed with table service, appropriately socially distanced (at least until Callum McGregor’s equaliser against Croatia), and available for free to anyone so long as table bookings were made online in advance, it was well-run and managed.

However, Scotland was one of the official host nations at the Euros and contractually obliged to provide such services. Normally, as Scottish football and rugby fans will attest, a row of clean Portaloos outside the Tollbooth would feel like a red-carpet welcome.

The Herald:

Everyone in Glasgow knew that the Celtic fans would be celebrating at the weekend. Glasgow City Council actually issued advice for visitors to the city, but they did not pre-emptively close streets or advise alternate travel routes. Simple decisions like this would probably have been appreciated by non-football fans too.

Any prior acknowledgement of the celebrations would allow businesses to adjust opening times, local pubs to stock up in advance and the residents living in and around the streets to plan appropriately – all fairly routine and reasonable arrangements to accommodate such a large influx of people.

The likely justification will be that the council and authorities wouldn’t wish to be seen encouraging any sort of antisocial behaviour that will inevitably come from such a large gathering of people with alcohol in tow, and such concerns are unfortunately warranted.

Police Scotland reported three separate incidents of assault leading to hospitalisation for the victims, ten arrests for public disorder, with eight fixed penalty notices issued for other offences and eighteen other reported minor injuries.

By comparison, 26 arrests were made across the weekend at last year’s TRNSMT festival. Without downplaying the disorder in either case, it demonstrates that such a large gathering of people in any circumstance (particularly where drinks are served) will always contain isolated incidents of trouble.

Read more: Indiana Homes: The Scot who turned his house into an archaeological dig

There will also be an element of pearl-clutching from certain corners over the volume of litter these occasions produce, as if the average gig-goer or celebrating fan is a bonafide human Roomba.

The remarkable overnight clean-up effort by Glasgow City Council after all three league title celebrations since the relaxation of lockdown restrictions is to be applauded but the need for these measures is another consequence of a lack of forward planning, as bins fill up near-instantly and local bars are unlikely to let you in of you are carrying a black bag of empty Tennent’s cans and used Lost Mary vape bars.

With the Gallowgate awash with green smoke, and impromptu firework displays aplenty, Saturday is also likely to have thrown some spare timber on the now-blazing debate on pyrotechnics at football matches.

Handily, it’s an issue that is, in itself, a case study in decision makers putting their fingers in their ears rather than getting all parties around a table and attempting to reach an amicable solution.

Glasgow’s standing as a city of sport, music, culture, but most often football above all else, need not be to the detriment of those with other pastimes. Supporters should be allowed to gather and celebrate.

But so long as the city keeps them at arm’s length and refuses to engage them, the issues these spontaneous events bring will long persist. The current arrangement works for no-one, and everyone deserves better.

David Flanigan is a football and culture writer who has previously written and podcasted for 67 Hail Hail, The Celtic Way, The Cynic, and By The Min Celtic.