Charlie Mulgrew admitted that he’s loving the early exchanges on the build-up to the Glasgow Derby at Celtic Park on Saturday lunchtime and the former Celtic defender reckons it’s all part of the theatre of the great footballing rivalry in Glasgow.
Brendan Rodgers fired the first shot on Saturday afternoon saying that his players would work hard all to week to prepare for the Glasgow Derby then they’d have some fun at Celtic Park on Saturday.
🔊 LISTEN: “Mentally we’re in a really good place… next Saturday we’ll have a bit of fun”.
🍀 Brendan Rodgers reacts to Celtic’s 3-0 win over Hearts and looks ahead to next weekend’s match against Rangers. pic.twitter.com/g9V5hWySP7
— Clyde 1 Superscoreboard (@ClydeSSB) May 4, 2024
This ‘fun’ remark incensed the easily offended Ibrox support and their manager who the next day responded by accusing Rodgers of disrespecting his players, before adding that he’d never disrespect an opponent. The lack of self awareness here from Philippe Clement didn’t go unnoticed just a few weeks after he walked away in disgust at the final whistle of his side’s 3-2 defeat in Dingwall, having failed to shake the hand of the Ross County manager Don Cowie.
This all adds to the drama and the excitement ahead of the match which kick-off at 12.30pm on Saturday lunchtime with a 60,000 crowd inside Celtic Park and every single one will be a Celtic supporter, with theRangers supporters watching the action on Sky Sports.
Hopefully this will be the last time this happens as the next meeting is at Hampden for the first ever Glasgow Derby Scottish Cup final on Saturday 25 May. Then from next season in the Scottish Premiership the there will be 3000 of theRangers supporters inside Celtic Park and 2500 Celtic fans at the Glasgow Derby matches at Ibrox.
If the Premier League is regarded as one of the top leagues in the world, it’s excitement levels won’t match what all be happening the Scottish Premiership this weekend at Celtic Park. Incidentally, if English football is your thing then have a look at VPN Premier League for a brilliant guide to watching games online.
Charlie Mulgrew provided an insightful insight into the build-up to Saturday game, where a Celtic win takes the Champions six points clear with two games remaining and a better goal difference on top.
“I love it. It adds to the occasion, the fans love it, Mulgrew told Sky Sports. “Both sets of fans are relishing it. Rangers fans I can imagine are delighted with the response from Clement, it’s brilliant from Brendan Rodgers putting it out there.
“I think it all adds to it, it’s a bit of fun and it’s what this occasion brings. It gets everyone up for it. The fans are up for it and there’s a lot of anxiety among the players I’d imagine but you’ve got to have fun.
“You’ve got to go out and enjoy it, it’s what we great up doing as football players. You want to go out and play football and enjoy it. If you’re out there enjoying it and working hard, you know you’ll work harder, you’ll press higher and keep the ball but he’s bang on about wanting to have fun but obviously (the)Rangers will want to have fun as well so it’ll be a great game,” Mulgrew said.
Here’s the full interview with Charlie Mulgrew trackside at Celtic Park on Sky Sports as he previews the huge Glasgow Derby at Celtic Park on Saturday. Charlie Mulgrew’s quotes on the ‘fun’ row starts four minutes into the interview…
🗣️ “He’s bang on with go and have fun, but obviously Rangers will want to have fun too…”
Charlie Mulgrew looks ahead to Celtic’s crucial clash with Rangers on Saturday.
📺 Sky Sports from 11:30am pic.twitter.com/LQxgBU9fSD
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) May 7, 2024
