Another day dawns in Scottish football, and yet again I have to begin by clearing up more lies from the Scottish press.
I saw this morning, on various sites, reports that a “breakthrough” had been made in allowing away fans back into Celtic Park for our game against Rangers next month.
Of course, rather than just report the facts, which is what they are paid to do, The Daily Record had to put their own, anti-Celtic spin on it.
Not a Breakthrough, Merely a Return to a Previous Agreement
Firstly, there is no new major shift in the agreement, the exact same numbers and logistics were agreed in principle at the start of the season. The agreement was cancelled when Rangers were unable to guarantee that Celtic fans would have full access to their allocation for the game at Ibrox on January 2nd.
So, no, the previous deal wasn’t “revoked by Celtic” as the Record claims. It was nullified when Rangers failed to live up to their end of the bargain. This may sound like semantics, but such details are crucial. Once again we have a national newspaper banking on the ignorance and inability of their readership to read beyond the surface level of a story.
Celtic Didn't Start This
Since the Daily Record and their ilk have chosen to ignore such essential details, I’ll give you a quick reminder.
The reason Rangers stopped giving tickets to Celtic fans in the first place had nothing to do with our fans, or their behavior. It was simply that we beat them too comprehensively, too often, in their own midden and their fans couldn’t handle it.
Celtic simply reciprocated.
This “Dispute” Could Have Ended Years Ago
The reality, as much as the Record tries to tell us otherwise, is that Rangers could have ended this childish tit for tat at any time, by simply acknowledging their mistakes and asking Celtic for a return to the status quo. They started it, and it was always within their power to end it. They chose not to. And as a result, Scottish football’s international credibility tanked even harder than before.
But as we know, much like basic spelling and grammar, humility doesn’t come easily to their fanbase.
Basic Errors
OK, maybe I’m being a bit childish here, but it needs saying. How much is “2,5000?”
Because that’s the figure the Record has put out there on their website as to how many tickets the ever loyal, true blue Rangers fans will get for the first 20 minutes of their next game at Celtic Park.
I say first 20 minutes, maybe that’s an exaggeration. They might hold out until half time before the take the huff and go home, with their team losing heavily on the park.
But in any case, I doubt Celtic have agreed to give Rangers around 40% of Celtic Park’s allocation. Let’s wait and see how long it takes the Record to fix that one.
Anyway, I digress.
Not Celtic's Problem
For the sake of argument, I’m going to assume that the semi-literates at the Record meant to say 2,500. That’s still a far cry from the 8,000 both sets of fans used to get. And personally, I don’t think we should accept any less than that.
It’s just common sense from a safety point of view, that you either give fans their own end of the stadium or don’t bother. Having just 2500 of either side’s supporters surrounded on all sides by the opposition is a logistical nightmare for police and stewards.
There’s safety in numbers, and from personal experience I know that’s especially true when we go to Ibrox and win.
Hibs Do it The Right Way
Meanwhile Hibs showed how it should be done ahead of their Scottish Cup quarter final tie at Celtic Park. They asked Celtic, politely, for an increase on their initial allocation of 2667 tickets for the match.
Celtic duly obliged and now up to 7,000 Hibs fans will be able to come along and enjoy the match.
No threats, no false notions of supremacy or moral authority, just a reasonable football club asking another football club to treat them with the same courtesy.
That’s the way it should be. However, I suspect that telling the self-appointed kings of staunch that they should “be more like Hibs” probably wouldn’t go down too well at the Debt Star.