Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has given a passionate response when asked about the ongoing absence of away fans for the derby fixtures against Rangers.
Having invested time and money into safety and match experience improvements at Celtic Park for visiting derby supporters over the summer, Celtic decided not to give an away allocation for the upcoming Rangers match due to not getting guarantees that similar work would be completed at Ibrox in time for the new year derby.
These works were agreed upon between the two clubs and the SPFL earlier this year, so the Scottish Premiership champions were put in a difficult position when it became apparent that Rangers couldn’t guarantee they would follow through with the plans.
Ultimately it means that there will be no away fans at either of the next two derby matches, with the hope that Rangers do end up completing work in time for the final two league derbies.
Asked for his thoughts on the situation today, Rodgers was clear. This isn’t Celtic’s fault.
Brendan Rodgers has his say on Celtic vs Rangers allocations
He said in a media conference [Clyde 1]: “The club’s job is to protect the support. If there’s not that guarantee come the second fixture then it’s only logical you wouldn’t reciprocate.
“Celtic have played their part in what they were asked to do. When you go back to when this all started, it has nothing to do with Celtic. Celtic gets dragged into this here as a Celtic/Rangers thing. It’s not a Celtic/Rangers thing, this is a Rangers thing.
“Celtic, when even they’re asked to have this agreement to make this safe. We ploughed money into that and do the work – which started months ago. It’s not complicated, it hasn’t been done. Good faith, whatever way you want to put it, there’s an agreement for both and it’s not done.
“It’s not great faith if we allow Rangers supporters in and we get to January and our own supporters don’t get in. It’s not good faith. The agreement hasn’t been upheld so Celtic rightly have to defend their supporters and the club.
“Sadly, Rangers supporters miss out on this game and Celtic in the return game. But let’s hope after that we can find a way to get the supporters in.”
Brendan Rodgers gets it spot on
The Celtic manager has used the media well here to get across Celtic’s point. There’s a lot of punditry and opinion that goes about dragging the Bhoys in as equal culprits on this issue.
The club have been clear on multiple occasions – they want sizable allocations for both clubs at both grounds for this derby.
Rangers agreed to install these safety and match experience measures. They now cannot say for sure when they’ll be able to complete the work. As Rodgers says, it’s a simple situation.
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