Rivals kickstart the conspiracy theories ahead of Celtic clash

By David Walton

August 24, 2021

Well, it hasn’t taken long – the Rangers fans have kickstarted their own conspiracy theories after Kevin Clancy was given the Glasgow Derby against Celtic on Sunday.

Indeed, the officiating team was announced for the crunch clash at Ibrox earlier today. The match will be Clancy’s third Glasgow derby after previously taking charge at both Ibrox and Celtic Park respectively.

In his first derby, he allowed Jon Flanagan to get away with elbowing Scott Brown. However, our foes simply can’t take their eye away from some big calls in Clancy’s last derby.

In Rangers’ 2-1 win at Parkhead back in December 2019, Clancy had the gall to give Celtic a penalty. Nikola Katic was all over Chris Jullien in the box and a spot-kick was awarded. He then had the cheek to send off Alfredo Morelos for two bookable offences, believe it or not.

Indeed, Clancy’s only crime in that one was giving a couple of decisions against Rangers. Forget the fact that they totally followed the rulebook. That doesn’t matter. You’re not allowed to give Celtic decisions in a derby if you’re of a blue persuasion. Doing so will see you treated with utter contempt regardless of whether it was right or wrong.

Celtic need to ensure the referee doesn’t matter against Rangers

Clancy has given poor decisions in the past against both Celtic and Rangers. It’s the nature of being a referee. Not every decision is going to be spot-on.

We could easily point to decisions made in previous games involving Clancy and Celtic. But the truth is that bad judgments don’t make a biased referee. We’ve no reason to believe Clancy doing anything other than his job.

It would be ideal if Rangers fans could stop trying to store an early excuse. Celtic are coming into this one brimming with confidence. Knocking out AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League would only boost that further. We have to ensure we put in a performance that leaves major decisions obsolete come full-time.

But that doesn’t mean the conspiracies haven’t already begun. Surprise surprise, it’s our rivals who have left been raging in the build-up. Here’s a look at some of their reaction to the news that Clancy will take charge:

In other news, Updated Celtic confirmed signings, loans, exits for 2021/22