Alistair Johnston did not just experience Ibrox, he understood it immediately. What he walked into on his Celtic debut reflects issues that have not only not gone away, they have worsened.
Johnston arrived at Celtic straight from the 2022 World Cup and was thrust into the Glasgow Derby fixture within days. There was no adjustment period and no protection from the scale of the occasion.
That first experience now reads differently with what has since followed at Ibrox. The environment Johnston described has since been seen again in more serious circumstances after Celtic beat Rangers in the Scottish Cup.
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Alistair Johnston shares what Celtic players and fans are exposed to at Ibrox
Johnston confirmed he arrived straight from the World Cup and was placed straight into the fixture. He admitted he was not expected to start but was brought in regardless.
He explained exactly what that felt like in full detail as he told TSN, “My Celtic debut. So, when I signed right after the World Cup, I went straight from Qatar there. And the January window opens January 1st.
“So, I had signed just before, but you can’t get registered to play in a match until January 1st. And there’s a long-standing tradition that Celtic and Rangers always play the first weekend of January. And that happened to be January 2nd.
“And I wasn’t supposed to start that game, but the other right back struggled a little bit that week. And all of a sudden, I got dropped in. So, my very first match with Celtic was away at Ibrox in front of 50,000 Rangers fans in the most hostile environment I’ve ever seen.
“They took the lead to go 2-1 and the whole stadium does this thing where they start jumping and I was looking around going, ‘Okay, this is going to take some getting used to.’
“But we scored an equaliser with one of the last kicks of the game and the euphoria that I felt. I’d only been in the building for a couple weeks at that point, but just to feel the passion.
“And again, this is now with the smaller allotments. So, we only had 750 brave souls, those Celtic fans going away to Ibrox. 50,000 Rangers fans, 750 Celtic fans tucked away in the corner.
“And you can just imagine the things that were being thrown into that little section when we scored the equaliser. But going over to celebrate with them and seeing just how much it meant, I was like, ‘Wow, this is what you want to play for when you’re an athlete’.”
That description matches the reality of the fixture rather than exaggerating it. It is a direct account of the conditions Celtic players walk into.
Celtic supporters faced the same conditions inside Ibrox
Only 750 Celtic fans were inside the stadium that day. They were isolated and fully exposed within a hostile crowd.
Johnston made clear that objects were thrown into that section when Celtic scored. That moment sits at the centre of his experience.
He focused on celebrating with those supporters after the equaliser. That connection is built in those conditions, not separate from them.
Recent Ibrox events show the same issues have escalated for Celtic
What Johnston experienced is not confined to that match. The most recent derby at Ibrox saw disorder escalate after the final whistle.
Fans entered the pitch and the situation moved beyond control. The police response was criticised as being too slow to react.
That breakdown had consequences, with officers injured during the disorder. It reinforces how quickly events inside that stadium can escalate, and have increasingly got worse over the years.
This is not just a difficult away ground. It is an environment that demands control, awareness, and resilience.
Celtic do not get it easy at Ibrox. What Johnston experienced then is no longer isolated. It is part of a pattern that involved Rangers fans in this fixture.
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