Vote Now on Ibrox Boycott! If rumours are correct, should Lawwell be supported?

IF the rumours are true and Celtic are set to refuse to accept tickets for Ibrox due to safety concerns then many Celtic supporters will agree with the decision that Peter Lawwell, having considered all the information he has received regarding the safety of our support, has reached.

And if it is NOT safe to go there on 29 December with just 800 tickets on offer then the same thing applies for the fourth league meeting that will take place there after the split next spring.

Celtic should also tell them now that there will be no allocation to their vile, racist, bigoted support for the third league match at Celtic Park.

The ONLY viable options going forward for league matches against this mob are to return to the tried and tested allocation which sees the Celtic support occupy the Free Broomloan Stand and allows the Police to operate their segregation plans that work very well indeed with that allocation.

OR we go with no away fans and that has a dividend for us of never having to hear those bigots ever again at a league match at Celtic Park.

It also denies them the scenario that they want and which came about simply because Brendan Rodgers keeps winning every single time he’s taken a Celtic side to Ibrox and we’ve partied big-time.

I’ve been in the Free Broomloan and know how much everyone enjoys being there when we win at Ibrox and for the Celtic support who travel to every game – like the 800 who went to Norway last week – we do have to respect their desire to attend each and every Celtic game.

However if Peter Lawwell has enough concerns regarding safety of our supporters then he would not be doing his job if he ignored these concerns and pressed ahead with accepting tickets for an unsafe environment.

Celtic themselves, together with Police Scotland, were unprepared for the new circumstances at Celtic Park earlier in the season when their allocation was cut for the first time.

The almost caused a disaster in the Janefield Street tunnel behind the North Stand and I was caught up in that with my son. It was unpleasant to say the least, it reminded me of the game at Nottingham Forest in the mid 1980s.

To accommodate 800 Rangers fans, the Police seemed to think it was fine to re-direct tens of thousands of extra supporters through that narrow passage way before kick-off, and there wasn’t a Police officer in sight in there either. The Celtic supporters stayed calm and self-Policed during the crush and a serious incident was narrowly avoided.

The idea that the Police can adopt the plans that they use when any other club play at Ibrox is both reckless and crazy. Yet given the lay of the land surrounding their stadium, there seems to be no alternative.

If the decision is as rumoured, Celtic should open up Celtic Park and show the game on the big screens and bring the players back there after the game if we get a result.

VOTE NOW!

Do you agree or disagree with the rumoured decision to refuse tickets for Ibrox due to safety concerns? Vote now…