Exclusive: Ex PL referee lifts lid on official’s influence on Celtic giving Rangers a guard of honour
We’re delighted to welcome former Premier League referee Keith Hackett as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Rangers…
Keith Hackett hopes Celtic adhere to tradition and give Rangers a guard of honour ahead of kick-off in this weekend’s Old Firm clash.
There has been some discussion over whether the Hoops will give the title-winning Gers a guard of honour after Rangers snubbed the Celtic league winners during Steven Gerrard’s first season at Ibrox.
Hackett gave us an insight into if the referees on the day will have any say in whether one side should give another side the respect of a guard of honour.
“No, that’s for the competition, the league itself to actually have that discussion,” Hackett exclusively told Ibrox News.
“If there’s a tradition within the game that this takes place and it’s taken place over a number of years without a problem, it’s incumbent then to follow that tradition and be respectful of that team that’s won the league.
“I would hope they’d adhere to that tradition. I’ve seen that take place in England and overseas and I think that’s the respectful thing to do.”
Celtic would have every right to refuse us a guard of honour after we snubbed them a few years ago.
However, if the club want to avoid any more criticism then they probably should give us the deserved honour.
There was a long tradition of giving this respect to a side that managed to win the league with games to spare and while we did enjoy our snub a few years ago, the criticism was fair.
It’s almost a lose lose decision for the Hoops as if they clap us then their fans will be fuming but if they don’t then plenty of fans from other clubs will be critical.
Let’s see what happens on Sunday.
In other Rangers news, Slavia’s boss had made a Rangers admission that Bears will love.