Report: Urgent legal discussions underway as rivals face £5m bill for Celtic decision

By John McGinley

April 2, 2022

Urgent legal discussions are taking place in Australia this weekend after Rangers pulled out of the match against Celtic this November, The Daily Record has reported. [02/04 print edition, back page]

The paper says that the Ibrox side could be hit with a whopping £5m bill for their decision to leave the Sydney Super Cup.

The report from Keith Jackson cites Australian sources who dispute Rangers’ version of events, stating that commercial manager James Bisgrove personally signed off on the branding they have now taken issue with.

Reports from multiple outlets have suggested the lack of ‘Old Firm’ usage in the promotional material has rankled Rangers. Many observers see through the excuse and have put their decision down to fan pressure.

The whole thing is rather amusing from our point of view. They’ve gone from landing around £3m for the event to potentially having to pay out a sizable seven-figure fee for a breach of contract.

Rangers seem to love getting themselves entangled in legal disputes. And we don’t even have to go through the tiresome build-up to a ‘friendly’ derby and all that entails.

Manager Ange Postecoglou is looking forward to his Australian return regardless as the tournament organisers look for a big club to fill in for the Ibrox side.

He told The Herald: “My understanding is that we are still going and that’s the important thing for me. I know how passionate people are for football on that side of the world, particularly when teams visits from over here. And I know the passion that exists for this football club.

“It’s still going to be a massive occasion. Obviously, I’ve got my own selfish reasons for looking forward to it because it’s going back home for me. From our perspective, nothing really changes.”

We can all now look forward to the homecoming tour.

In other news, Liel Abada and former Barcelona man respond to Kyogo Instagram post ahead of Celtic derby.