Brendan Rodgers insists he won’t lose sleep over whether or not Rangers offer Celtic a guard of honour at Ibrox on Sunday.
The champions travel across the city for the final Glasgow derby of the league season, having already wrapped up their fourth consecutive title with a 5-0 win at Tannadice. With Rangers out of the title race and without a win in five, the build-up has been dominated by one question—will they acknowledge Celtic’s success before kick-off?
Rodgers was typically measured when asked about the issue on Friday.
“You get great topics up here, don’t you?” Rodgers laughed to CeltsAreHere. “The Guard of Honour thing, it’s not a rule.
“That’s the first thing I would say. It’s not in the rules that you have to do it. And I think that when two clubs in the rivalry are so emotional, it’s always difficult for the team that comes up short.
“So it’s one that I’m relaxed either way on it. It’s one where I’m a little bit of a traditionalist and where there’s a lot of things that are going out of our game over on these isles that are just moving away from the traditions of the great managers and the great people that ran our game and were successful in our game. And I always think if you’re a champion or not a champion, showing that humility to the other team, whatever the rivalry is, it’s a mark of respect.
“But like I said, Celtic Rangers, it’s an emotional rivalry. And if you’re up short and if you come up short quite a lot, then it can be a challenge for you and to justify that with your supporters. But as I said, I’m a traditionalist.
These are the things that have been in our game for many, many years. And like I said, there’s no rule to it, but I’m relaxed either way on it, really.“
Rodgers respects the tradition, but isn’t interested in stoking the fire, which is fair enough.
The question has come up before. Rangers declined to do it for Celtic in 2019, just as Celtic didn’t form one in 2018. But Rodgers made it clear he sees the tradition as something worth preserving, even if he won’t be demanding it.
With the title already secured and a Scottish Cup Final still to come, the Celtic boss has more important matters on his mind than pre-match pageantry.
Celtic won’t be getting one, there’s not a chance. But they’ll be acknowledge the Champions in their own way, by blasting Simply The Best as the Hoops make their way onto the pitch, with 2,000 away fans in the corner.
