Rangers can't even be straight with their OWN fans so tell me why Celtic should take them at face value? Chris Sutton
The latest battle in the Celtic and Rangers away ticket war has led to the usual finger pointing and blame game.
It’s a shame we are back in this mess again after getting the hopes up this fixture was returning to some sort of normality. Yet, here we are, facing another away fans shut out at Celtic Park next month and the same again at Ibrox at New Year. It’s far from ideal, but I’ve got to say I can see where Celtic are coming from over this.
If Rangers can’t be straight with their own fans, how can they take their word at face value when it comes to Celtic supporters? It looks to me the agreement reached last March was on the provision that certain safety measures were made in the wake of previous problems. Celtic have held up their side of the bargain and got the planning permission and the work done ahead of the first derby. But what about Rangers? I get the fact the return game is months away and there’s still time to sort it.
Unless there are plans set in stone, though, then how can Celtic know for sure they will be carried out? After all, this is a Rangers board who can’t even tell their own supporters if they will even be back at Ibrox by that point. So they’d be telling the Celtic board, ‘trust us, it’ll be alright on the night’. I don’t think so.
Everyone knows my stance on all of this. I’d like a return to the traditional allocations because it’s the atmosphere created by the fans that makes it as a spectacle. It’s taken a hit in recent years and at a time when Scottish football is fighting for attention, we shouldn’t be damaging the product.
We just need to hope Rangers get the finger out and get the work done and we can at least get going in the right direction again. In the meantime Celtic fans are taking