Emptying out the neighbours

Newco’s offer of 700 tickets for visiting Celtic fans next season, as reported this morning, is nothing new, it is their default position.  I have been there among this number, kettled by police 90 minutes before kick-off, then showered by bottles and lighters during the game.  Parking and walking towards Ibrox among Newco fans attending the 7,000 capacity Broomloan Stand who got there early.

Who thinks this is safe?  The kettling wasn’t, anyone who was old or with health difficulties would be traumatised by the experience.  Bottles raining on top of fans is a serious accident waiting to happen.  We won the day I was there, Newco fans left early and we were kept late, so the streets were clear by the time we left the stadium, but other results are possible.

My first visit to Ibrox was 40 years ago.  Then, Celtic fans had the whole of the Broomloan Stand, some of the Govan Stand, half of the Enclosure and a third of the Main Stand.  The stadium capacity was 44,000 and it was still not a sellout.  It was a time they could not afford to turn any Celtic fans away.

We will not be back at Ibrox in safe numbers until they need Celtic fans to buy their tickets.  The only solution to the impasse is to beat them so comfortably and so often that they need us to buy lots of tickets.  It is harsh, because they are our neighbours and this is not neighbourly, but for the sake of football in Glasgow, we need to absolutely wipe the floor with them for so many years thousands of their fans simply stop turning up.

I think this is a challenge worth undertaking.

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