Well, it didn’t take new Celtic Pass to Paradise presenter Matt Smith long to have the Rangers supporters biting.
Celtic yesterday announced that they had hired the veteran ITV and BT Sport broadcaster to host this Sunday’s Glasgow Derby. Smith will join the Pass to Paradise team for the encounter with Steven Gerrard’s side.
It’s a boost for supporters to see a new face on their screens for a change. With Sunday’s game being at Parkhead, adding a highly-experienced presenter such as the ITV man looks a good hire.
It’s an important game for the Hoops in more ways than one. As well as laying down a marker for next season and salvaging some pride, the club could do with giving the supporters some hope as well as something to cheer about.
As well as that, the prospect of protecting the Invincibles’ legacy and ending Rangers’ unbeaten league run would be a bonus. There’s certainly plenty to play for.
Rival fans bite at “Glasgow derby” tag from new Celtic presenter
Let’s get it clear, Matt will have been briefed. We know he once called this derby the Old Firm. That’s the narrative English presenters have ingrained into them so you can hardly have a major pop.
However, he’s been out on social media calling it the Glasgow derby as he looks ahead to Sunday. After accepting the job from Celtic, he’ll know the terminology he now needs to use. After all, that’s how we view this fixture. It’s the Glasgow derby to us and always will be.
But our rivals appear to be more irked by that fact than they try to make out. Their insistence on labelling this an “Old Firm” clash is something else. Perhaps we should find it cute that they’re so desperate to be linked with us in some way.
Even so, this isn’t a tag we even want to know about. And it’s clear that news reached Smith after being hired for Sunday’s streaming service.
And, after tweeting that he was looking forward to another “Glasgow derby”, rival fans couldn’t help but bite:
https://twitter.com/SGlasgow91/status/1371500759347556361
In other news, Scott McDonald has outlined why he “hated” returning to Celtic Park as an opposition player.
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