Former Celtic midfielder Peter Grant will take his Dunfermline side to Ibrox tomorrow evening looking to inflict a fourth successive defeat on theRangers under pressure manager Stephen Gerrard. Grant’s side will have the backing of the travelling away supporters – the first time that away fans have been admitted at Ibrox since the easing of the pandemic restrictions.
What you may ask has this got to do with Celtic? Well other than wishing the former St Pats Bhoy all the best for the game, it’s relevant because Celtic are visiting Ibrox ourselves later this month, on Sunday 29 August (kick-off is 12 noon) and we are interested to see if the decision to allow away fans from Dunfermline will be repeated when Celtic come calling.
The three options open to the current Ibrox club are as follows:
OPTION 1. Use the pandemic as an excuse to exclude all away supporters, citing the high profile nature of the game and mentioning consultation with their buddies in Police Scotland. In this option zero Celtic fans get to attend the Glasgow Derby on 29 August. This maximises their advantage as they seek to get the three points but it also creates a longer term problem, as Celtic are almost certain to ‘return the compliment’ when they pitch up at Paradise on 2 January 2022. Also Sky Sports might not be too pleased about that and of course when it’s only their fans in their stadium they are 100% responsible for all the songs sung and chants heard as we all noticed earlier this week when Malmo rather hilariously won at Ibrox.
OPTION 2. Offer Celtic fans the restricted 750 tickets for the away corner they have created, knowing that again Celtic will return the favour early next year. This is probably the most likely outcome but as yet after checking with the club this morning Celtic have not yet heard from theRangers about these tickets being made available to Celtic fans. Interestingly our source disagreed with me in this being the most likely outcome, preferring the first scenario mentioned above as being the most likely. But it’s just a guessing game folks.
Free Broomloan 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/Jxg0hMeVtP
— Celtic OK (@CelticOK) March 8, 2018
OPTION 3. Expecting sanity from Govan club is perhaps a form of madness in itself but they desperately want to maintain the ‘Old Firm’ brand as a crucial component in their ‘Big Continuity Lie’ and perhaps the best way to do this is to actually treat these games like an ‘Old Firm’ match by restoring the 7500 away tickets for the Free Broomloan Stand and in doing so allow a similar number of their own fans into Paradise on 2 January 2022. This is an option favoured by both Ally McCoist and Martin O’Neill as we have previously reported on The Celtic Star.
Here’s what McCoist had to say about restoring the away allocations at these Old Firm (sic) matches back in April 2020.
“I haven’t been to Parkhead for an Old Firm (sic) recently but I have been to Ibrox when Celtic only had 800. But then I went to the league cup final when Celtic won, the stadium was split and the atmosphere was just brilliant, you realised what you were missing.
“The atmosphere as you can still imagine for the home team with the vast majority of fans is good, but when the away section have a good support the atmosphere is fantastic.
“I don’t really know how it started it was probably a bit tit-for-tat. I know Rangers I think were not too happy with the supporters getting stuck down the corner with maybe an obstructed view. It then led on one thing to the next thing. It doesn’t matter how it started, but it needs to end that’s what it needs to do.”
“When we get back playing football hopefully in the foreseeable future they can get it sorted. There’s something about the away fans, listen the home fans we love, the supporters who are loyal. But the away fans that travel always in my football career and memories, always make some noise.”
And just over a year later in May 2021 former Celtic manager Martin O’Neill returned to thus subject to agree with McCoist, again from The Celtic Star.
“When the crowds are in, when the away fans fill up their particular end and when the place is absolutely electric there’s no question about that”, said O’Neill when asked if it’s the best Derby in the world. I feel when the fans do come back, I’m hopeful along the way they can have their quota of fans back again.
“When you went to Ibrox, you felt like you had some company with you, that you weren’t alone when you saw the Celtic fans, I’m quite sure Rangers felt exactly the same.
“You can use all sorts of adjectives about the games but they’re something so magical about them. Of course, there’s an intensity that doesn’t exist anywhere else, the build up to the matches is like nothing else and the game itself is frenetic.”
https://youtu.be/1xrRhu6zQdQ
But just like you can’t bring Rangers FC back from the dead, the ‘Old Firm’ brand is a goner too and this horse has bolted as far as restoring ‘sanity’ when it comes to allowing rival fans to attend these games – something that Celtic and Rangers always managed between them until the passing of the old Ibrox club in 2012. So file option this under Dead and Buried, alongside Rangers FC.
In amongst all the arguing can we all please have a moment of silence for the Free Broomloan Stand. RIP 💚 pic.twitter.com/UxhZxixSOH
— Oran (@oranstorrie99) May 24, 2018
