Martin O’Neill and Alex McLeish fume over Rangers and Celtic saga after Old Firm update
Martin O’Neill and Alex McLeish have been left fuming by the decision to not allow travelling Rangers supporters to attend the Old Firm clash with Celtic at Celtic Park.
Rangers took a case to the SPFL board to allow away fans to attend the clash and while the league’s bosses sided with the Light Blues, they were unable to grant the Gers a reasonable allocation because of a lack of evidence from Celtic.
This means that when the two sides meet on 30 December at Celtic Park, no Rangers supporters will be in attendance, a decision which has enraged O’Neill who believes that it negatively impacts the fixture.
Speaking on PLZ Soccer (20 December, 4:50) he said: “You mentioned about no away fans being allowed into the stadium and I’m sure that Alex and I feel the same saying there’s something lost about the fixture. When I went to Ibrox to know that we were going to have 5,000 or 6,000 Celtic fans there, you took some consolation in that.
“You felt as though you weren’t alone and I’m sure Alex felt the exact same when he stepped out at Celtic Park, looked down to his right and saw the fans and thought ‘I’m not facing this on my own.’
“I feel as though the fixture has lost something and from a managerial viewpoint, going to Ibrox you felt as though you had somebody with you to help you along.”
McLeish quickly agreed saying: “I hate that Martin. Honestly, I was at the first Old Firm game of the season and when Celtic scored it was almost like we were in a time warp. It went really quiet, no Celtic fans cheering, Rangers fans stunned and I was just thinking was that a goal?
“Come on let’s get the fans back.”
Get the fans back
As representatives of both sides, McLeish and O’Neill show in their verdicts that there is certainly an appetite from both Celtic and Rangers to get away fans back into stadiums, but now some action has to be taken to make that possible for all involved.
The spectacle of the Old Firm fixtures is ultimately being harmed as the interaction between the fans, the support of the travelling side and even some of the fire produced from the terraces has all been lost because of this decision.
From a Rangers perspective it would have been a huge boost to Philippe Clement had he been able to look and see a sea of Light Blues supporters to his side as he took to the touchline for the first time in the Old Firm.
Hopefully, the likes of O’Neill and McLeish will continue to advocate for an improved system to help away fans, otherwise the importance of this clash will only reduce further as time passes by.
In other Rangers news, Clement has responded directly to a question surrounding Ianis Hagi’s future at Ibrox beyond January