David Edgar shares instant reaction to Rangers-Celtic development out of Ibrox
David Edgar shared his instant reaction to the news that Rangers will not have supporters in attendance for their SPFL Old Firm clash with Celtic on 30 December.
The Gers expressed “extreme disappointment” on their website (19 December) towards the SPFL after confirming their supporters have been denied away tickets for the Old Firm derby against Celtic at Parkhead later this month.
The Hoops cited “safety concerns” [Glasgow World, 18 August] after refusing to take up around 700 tickets for the trip to Ibrox earlier in the season following several incidents.
Celtic were open to reinstating the more traditional previous away allocation at both stadiums of around 7,000 fans and Rangers were keen to take that figure plus an additional 500 briefs for the visit to Glasgow’s east end on December 30 and took their case to the SPFL Board Sub-Committee, which they claim backed the club’s appeal.
However, it seems the SPFL have refused to enforce their backing which left Edgar in furious rage on his Twitter account (19 December) over the decision:
What are they doing?!
The SPFL’s decision is incredibly baffling given the history and huge worldwide following the Old Firm derby clashes get so for this month’s game to have no away fans will only hurt themselves.
Rangers fans must be in furious rage right now after this disastrous development which certainly aids Celtic in getting a possible result when the two clubs meet on 30 December.
It is believed that the Sub-Committee was unwilling to determine what a “reasonable” number of tickets for the fixture would be after Celtic cited numerous issues in previous encounters.
This development really isn’t a good look on Celtic either with the club looking like petulant children with constant whining at previous issues with the Old Firm clashes.
Whether the club’s fans are in agreement with this decision is another matter entirely but this decision certainly now completely decreases the excitement and anticipation for this highly engrossing and crucial derby which could certainly impact the title race considerably.
Dreadful decision from the SPFL and not a good look for Celtic too. They’ll have no excuses if they fail to get a result on 30 December. This will be extra fuel and motivation for the Rangers players, hopefully.
In other Rangers news, the club may now look to sign an international striker in January amid a £2.3m development this week.