Rangers to reportedly snub Celtic guard of honour

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Rangers have reportedly decided against giving Celtic a guard of honour, according to the Daily Record.

Traditionally, the opposition of the champions in their first game since being crowned winners often applaud them onto the park. Last season, Hearts did it at Tynecastle when Celtic traveled there after winning the title against Rangers.

Former Rangers striker Kris Boyd said yesterday how he believes it would’ve been the right thing to do. Celtic fans, meanwhile, have been goading James Tavernier about it after he slammed Hibs for not giving Rangers one back in 2016.

As you might suspect, with the shoe on the other foot, Rangers have been quiet about it. Steven Gerrard was non-committal when he touched upon it after their 1-0 win over Hibernian on Sunday.

He said there were no plans in place and he hadn’t talked to the board about it. He didn’t even say that it was something that would’ve been discussed either. It was quite clear Rangers didn’t have any intentions of showing a bit of class to their rivals, who have once again stormed past them this season.

A good bit of motivation for our players

It’s clear that Rangers think they’re too good to give us a guard of honour. They must feel it would damage their pride, as there’s no other reason why they wouldn’t.

That must provide the Hoops stars with plenty of motivation for their trip to Ibrox this Sunday. Celtic need to seriously hammer home the fact that they’re the better team, and a footballing lesson in Govan would go nicely with a potential treble-treble to end the campaign.

The guard of honour was never going to happen. But it was a fun little stick to poke Rangers with while it lasted.

Neil Lennon could take a big step towards convincing more fans he’s the man for the job with a convincing win at Ibrox regardless. It would be the perfect way to just about round off the league campaign. Three points for the Hoops and the gap will be 12 points – the same gap as it was between the sides last season.