Michael Stewart has delivered his verdict on whether Celtic vs Rangers will go ahead next weekend.
A meeting between the two clubs, the government, the police, and the city council took place on Friday. Afterward, justice secretary Humza Yousaf told the BBC that a final decision will be made “early next week”.
Celtic and Rangers both had their managers release statements urging their supporters to stay at home. That looked like a clear tool in response to the meeting that suggests the game will go ahead. The Hoops have also cranked up security around Celtic Park ahead of the fixture.
And Stewart believes this will lead to the game indeed going ahead, with the fan anger too great a risk should it not.
Speaking on BBC Sportsound [13/03, 14:10], Stewart said: “My gut instinct is the game will go ahead. There needs to be a pause of a moment of reflection because what happened last weekend wasn’t good at all and the message needs to be hammered home that it cannot be accepted.
“The issue for me it should never have got to that stage where it was impossible to do anything about it, it needs to be stopped before it gets to that. My feeling is if you cancel the game, the reaction to that becomes so big it becomes very difficult to police.
“But I have no doubt there will be concern about potential congregation around the ground before and after the game. That’s where they need to get the intelligence in terms of what the Police are thinking and put procedures in place so it doesn’t get to a stage where they can’t handle it anymore.
“My gut is the game will go ahead with a heavy presence in place to stop anything happening.”
Michael Stewart bang on; too much being put in place for Celtic vs Rangers not to go ahead
Even though Yousaf told the BBC that postponing the fixture is still an option, this doesn’t feel likely. Not when you see the effort that’s being put into ensuring the game can go ahead.
For example, if it looked certain it was going to be called off, would Celtic have increased security? Would they have both sent out messages asking fans not together if it looked like being postponed?
A final verdict may be made official come the start of next week. But the truth is, even at this early stage, it’s difficult to see this game being called off or postponed. If there is intel that gatherings are set to occur, it should leave the authorities with plenty of time to come up with a plan to deal with it appropriately.
What’s most important of all is that Scotland continues to suppress Covid-19. The scenes involving the Rangers supporters in George Square last week were nothing short of a disgrace. You can clearly see why the government are pessimistic about letting this fixture happen.
But we can’t live in fear of gatherings occurring. There’s nothing to suggest Rangers fans won’t gather regardless like they did last week. The game going ahead will hardly affect that.
So, when the official verdict comes from the government over what’s happening here, don’t expect a postponement.
In other news, Scott Robertson’s injury yesterday has been downplayed by his current loan manager.
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