How Bologna showed up Susan Aitken and Glasgow City Council

Susan Aitken of Glasgow City Council would have been disgusted if she viewed any of the scenes coming out of Bologna last night, the residents partied like they have never done before.

They enjoyed themselves, socialised and stayed out late, some traffic disruptions were reported.

Tucked in the centre of Italy, north of Rome and south of Turin and Milan, Bologna isn’t really a football town, tourists have other things to do than watch the local football team. Firenze is nearby.

The locals do have pride however, in themselves, their city and Bologna as the most public expression of their civil pride.

Finishing third in Serie A brings Champions League football to the city for the first time with just the two clubs from Milan picking up more points than the side captained by Lewis Ferguson at times.

That achievement, even without a trophy, was accompanied by scenes of joy in their home city, fans came out to celebrate, some drank alcohol, some might have dropped litter but no-one really cared, the city was prepared with images being relayed across the world.

A small price to pay for the feel good factor with more to follow, next season Bologna will host at least four Champions League matches.

Meanwhile in Glasgow, SNP leader Aitken is condemning Celtic fans while licencing 100 hate marches for June and July because tradition demands that city businesses come to a halt to celebrate the hatred of Catholics with Catholic Churches a special target, requiring additional security.

Football is one of Glasgow’s few attractions, if you wiped out the two top flight clubs city centre businesses would soon know all about it.

City centre hospitality has taken a hammering over the last five years, the successes of Celtic brings in thousands of visitors, many will make it an overnight stay with money flooding into the local economy either side of 90 minutes at Celtic Park.

Last week Aitken and her Council leaders once again demonstrated their hostility to football fans enjoying a good natured, once a year celebration, projecting Glasgow in a positive light around the world.

Almost everyone knows the strong divisions across the city, there is no requests from Celtic fans to celebrate on Paisley Road or have a bus parade along Edmiston Drive.

Some basic facilities such as skips for litter and Portaloos around Glasgow Cross would have been enough with a gathering catered for in Glasgow Green.

On Sunday Manchester will provide that, on Monday Southampton or Leeds will roll out the red carpet for their victorious football team.

A generation or two ago any public celebrations would have been unthinkable, as would the thought of an SNP dominated City Council.

Politically the SNP probably draw a lot of votes from Celtic supporters, the comments and actions from Aitken won’t have gone down well, especially when she is sanctioning 100 Orange Order parades.

It seems that the SNP leader only takes a deep interest in the city centre when it suits her, anyone visiting Glasgow will be disgusted at the litter and rundown appearance of every street in the city centre.

In political terms the actions of the City Council over the weekend look like an own goal- meanwhile the party continues in Bologna as it did last month in Bilbao as the city showed its colours after Athletic won the Copa del Rey.