JOHN HARTSON wasn’t having any of it live on Go Radio on Tuesday when discussing the situation surrounding aways fans attending the Glasgow Derby at both Celtic Park and Ibrox.
It was the Ibrox club that pulled the allocation after a sustained period of dominance from Celtic and all the Hoops hierarchy could do was reciprocate.
As Scottish media usually does, they start lumping the two clubs together and give it the old ‘as bad as each other’ nonsense.
We at CeltsAreHere have had several conversations with top sources at Celtic who have actively reached out to pursue more away fans getting back into the derby.
The Ibrox club have been petty throughout, culminating in rescinding 800 tickets back in August when Celtic couldn’t guarantee tickets for the reverse fixture because of the pandemic.
We are where we are but John Hartson made it clear Celtic’s stance and why all this has come about. Speaking on Go Radio [Tuesday 15th Feb], the former Celtic striker who has a famous picture galloping into the Broomloan after a derby goal laid the blame at Stewart Robertson’s door.
“This is notCeltic. They only reacted to what Rangers* did. They would never do that (increase away capacity first). If Rangers are going to be that shallow and stop away fans, why wouldn’tCelticfollow suit?
“Rangers* started off by banning theCelticaway fans, or restricting them.And thenCelticreacted and thought ‘if you’re going to do that, we’ll do exactly the same. I think that’s the proper thing to do.
“Why do they have to wait for Celticto do it and respond? At the end of the day, I feel like Rangers* have pulled the plug on the Celtic fans and Celtic have reacted. It’s not both clubs. It’s Rangers* denying Celtic fans into Ibrox.
“That’s not both clubs. Why would Celtic then give Rangers* any advantage if Rangers are not prepared to give them an advantage of 7,500 people in the Broomloan?
“I would think that’s pretty normal, it’s not about being the bigger club. Rangers* started this. They decided it, and Mr Robertson this afternoon had the chance to put it right.
“But it has to come from both parties and I’m fed up of people saying ‘Celticneed to step up here’. Hold on a minute. No, they didn’t do this in the first place, it was Rangers* who decided this no away fans.”
John is always a pro-Celtic pundit and we do call him out when we think he’s maybe going over the top or needs to take off his green-tinted specs. On this matter, he’s bang on the money.
The Ibrox club need to extend an olive branch now, but given their history, I don’t see that happening.
