Jonathan McAllister from Coleraine was at the corner interface between Rangers and Celtic fans whenever the latter surged out of the stands and onto the pitch, followed soon after by a wave of Rangers supporters.

Police officers and fans were hurt in the melee at the end of Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter final game (which Celtic won on penalties), which was the first Old Firm clash since 2018 where Celtic fans have been allowed a the whole Broomloan stand to themselves.

Mr McAllister and another Ulster-based supporter were both critical of the police for not being firm enough.

Mr McAllister, 46, is secretary of Sam English Coleraine Rangers Supporters Club, and was among a busload of about 50 fans from the Coleraine area at the game.

Of those 50, about 10 were children he said, including his own daughters River (11) and Natalia (15).

He told the News Letter that both sets of fans were guilty of throwing fireworks, but that bottles and coins had also been thrown by Celtic fans.

“We parked on Helen Street, where the Rangers had directed the buses, and immediately saw large groups of Celtic fans walking up the road,” he said.

“We knew straight away something wasn’t right.

“They began shouting at us, and one person even threw a beer can that thankfully missed one of our children.

“There was only one police officer on a motorbike patrolling the entire road.

“While the singing in the stadium usually builds the atmosphere, it became dangerous when grown men started throwing Buckfast bottles and coins at our fans.

“It’s beyond me how they got those items into the ground; I had a club flag and was searched four times.

“When Celtic won on penalties, their fans charged the pitch toward us.”

Of the Rangers fans who then surged onto the pitch, many with their faces covered, he said that “maybe they did take it too far in fighting,” but said their actions were defensive.

“If it hadn’t been for our own fans and the police stepping in, I honestly think our children would have been hurt.

“A couple of them are now too scared to go back.”

It is the worst fracas he has seen in 36 years of attending matches he said, adding that “you usually see police everywhere – this time, the lack of protection was shocking”.

He also condemned graffiti left behind by Celtic fans, glorifying the IRA and mocking the 66 fatal victims of the 1971 Ibrox disaster.

A member of Banbridge Loyal Rangers Supporters Club, from the town and aged in his 30s, said around 15 fans were over at the match.

The man (whose did not want his name published) likewise saw trouble brewing from the outset.

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The fans arrived about an hour before kickoff, and he noticed the bus was dropping them off in the same area as Celtic supporters.

There was “a bit of roaring and shouting” from both sets of fans.

Then what he witnessed inside the stadium as the match concluded was “bedlam”.

“You could see straight away Celtic fans were on the pitch jumping on the goalposts,” he said.

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“The police were sending the stewards out to hold them, but they couldn’t.

“You could tell it was going to happen. The ultras below us weren’t going to sit and let Celtic fans run all over the pitch.

“When we were back on the bus, everybody said the same thing: the problem was the policing.

“I think 99% of fans could tell what was going to happen.

“It’s the most heated rivalry in the world of football.

“The minute they were dancing and singing on the pitch, and they’re seen to be allowed to dance and sing on the pitch, there’s only one thing: people are going to try and put them back off it if the police aren’t going to do their jobs.

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“It’s the last time Celtic are going to get that allocation.

“And in the future, the police have to be stronger.

“Things were at fever pitch and just kept boiling and boiling.

“Then whenever it goes to penalties in a tight match like that, that’s it boiled over.”