Ahead of today’s Glasgow Derby clash at Celtic Park in the cinch Premiership, manager Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to the mainstream media about the atmosphere at Paradise in spite of the furore surrounding the ticket allocation row. The tickets for away fans will be non-existent in the next two league matches between both sides of the Glasgow divide.
In light of very credible and significant threat to Celtic supporters’ safety at Ibrox stadium, the board of directors at the Hoops decided to reject the 700 tickets for that dangerous corner of the Govan club’s ground for the last Glasgow Derby match of the season across the city.
After our physio had been bottled last season and our goalkeeper having to pick a broken Budweiser bottle out of his goalmouth, the classy followers of the opposition made it the treble by injury one of the Celtic fans in the away section at New Year, causing that particular fan to be bloodied from another thrown bottle from theRangers end.
So this one will be a repeat of the night we hammered them 3-0 last campaign at home to leapfrog them in the Scottish Premiership. It was a wonderful atmosphere that night and didn’t seem to hold us back in the slightest, as our new Japanese bhoy, Reo Hatate turned on the style and Liel Abada gave Borna Barisic a night to forget. We terrorised them in that evening and the place was bouncing.
Question is, can it be repeated this time at a 12.30pm kick-off?
Well, Ange Postecoglou stated he sees no issue with that being repeated again and insisted he is buzzing ahead of this latest fixture in Scottish football for the Bhoys. Speaking yesterday, the Celtic manager said: “Of course, I watched it when it was on and it’s one of those fixtures that globally attract attention. It’s a historical game in terms of derbies and how much it means to the city.
“At our place, the atmosphere will be fantastic. The games we’ve had there have been really good in terms of the energy created by our supporters. It just adds to the spectacle and I’m looking forward to experiencing that again. You expect a tough game as they are a very good side.
“It’s a big game and in all big games there’s a bit of an edge to them and both teams can have their moments and it won’t be any different. I’m looking forward to it and these are the games, particularly at home where it should be a cracking atmosphere, and the players involved are looking forward to the contest.”
The boss was steadfast in the belief that it will be only another three points if we do win, but understands the significance for the supporters as the club could go twelve points clear of theRangers come Saturday dinner time.
He said: “It will be exactly three points. If we win the game it furthers that distance with games running out and we understand that it could have a major impact in terms of the end of the season, but ultimately nothing gets decided on the weekend.
“The players understand that and they’re really good at focusing on what’s before us right now and that’s playing the team closest to us and we have an opportunity to extend our lead at the top. Irrespective of the outcome we still need to follow up the next weekend and perform again. It’s disappointing for Reo because he enjoys playing in these games and has had a major impact when he’s played.
“He tried to be available but it hasn’t quite worked out so you’re always disappointed for the player. From a team perspective, we get Aaron back which is great for us and we have good quality in the middle of the park so we’re still confident the team we put out there will be able to perform to the levels we need.
“All we can do is play the game and I think play it with a mentality of being really competitive and trying to perform to the best of our ability. We don’t think we have to do anything different in the way we approach the game. We want to put our best foot forward and excite our fans.”
Paul Gillespie
