Celtic's post-split possibilities as the police fear glorious Ibrox title clincher

By Hamish Carton

March 15, 2023

The SPFL and Police Scotland have some head-scratching to do about the final Celtic vs Rangers match of the season.

Ange Postecoglou‘s Hoops will face their rivals at Celtic Park on Saturday 8 April in the league before taking them on at Hampden in the Scottish Cup at the end of the month.

But even once those games are done and dusted, we’ll still have one final 2022/23 derby to get stuck in to.

And this sixth and final fixture is giving some important people something to think about, according to the Scottish Daily Mail.

They say that the authorities would prefer the sides to meet as “early as possible following the split” so that a glorious potential title clincher at Ibrox is avoided.

But it’s also hoped by the police that derby matches in consecutive weeks can be avoided.

Celtic currently enjoy a nine point advantage at the top of the Premiership, but who knows what that gap will look like come the split.

Celtic will almost certainly have two home and three away matches to finish the season. Ibrox will be one of the away trips with Tynecastle also likely.

Easter Road and Pittodrie and are also potential destinations, depending on both sides finishing in the top six. St. Mirren may well be visitors to Celtic Park.

As per the SPFL, the final five league fixtures will be played on “the weekends of May 6/7, May 13/14, May 20/21, the midweek of May 23/24 and the weekend of May 27/28.”

Of course, there’s still a fair chance it’ll be all but over come matchday 34. If we win our next five league matches, we’ll be a minimum of 12 points clear with just 15 to play for.

The police won’t thank me for this. But, at that stage, a title party at Ibrox would be right up my street.

In other news, Hyeongyu Oh got some positive international news yesterday