If you thought it might be dead rubber on Sunday, think again
Celtic will not give champions Rangers a guard of honour ahead of the Old Firm at Celtic Park this weekend.
John Kennedy, the current caretaker boss at the club after Neil Lennon left, confirmed the news earlier. Tradition dictates across football that the first team that the champions play after being crowned title holders should give them a guard of honour, clapping them on to the pitch, just as Manchester City did last season before their clash with Liverpool at the Etihad.
However the relationship between the two Glasgow clubs is obviously no ordinary one, and it would not have sat well with a large proportion of Celtic’s fanbase had they decided to welcome their rivals on Sunday with a congratulatory gesture. Can you imagine if it was a full house at Celtic Park and they did it?
Earlier this week, former Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers, who won two titles at the club in his spell there, encouraged his former side to show “humility and class” by giving Rangers a guard of honour.
So if there was any doubt that the match on Sunday may lack some spice due to the lack of fans and the title already being in Rangers’s hands, these fears have surely been thrown out of the window. Celtic have been woeful this season in their defence of their title and will be desperate to remind their cross-city rivals that they’re not best pleased about losing their crown as kings of Scotland after nine years.
And you’d think that Steven Gerrard will have no issue motivating his players ahead of the game now, as the lack of guard of honour and respect from Celtic is sure to do nothing but rile up the Rangers players.
Scott Brown will be licking his lips….
