Ross County manager Stuart Kettlewell has joked that Celtic may be intimidated by the home support as the Scottish Government gave them the green light to bring fans back.
County, along with Aberdeen, will be allowed to host spectators this weekend against the Hoops and Kilmarnock respectively. It will be the first time this season that matches in Scotland will have spectators in the stadium.
The Daily Mail has reported that all those attending the fixture will be local to the stadium itself.
Scottish Sport Minister Joe Fitzpatrick also confirmed in comments published in the Mail that: “The football authorities and clubs involved have also been able to review and learn from the pilot event staged by Scottish Rugby on 28 August”.
And County boss Kettlewell, speaking just before the announcement, was in a jovial mood.
As quoted by the Herald, the Staggies manager said: “Celtic will be intimidated by it if there is a couple of hundred fans.
“In all seriousness, we do have to try and make it a home advantage. We played at preseason in an empty stadium (at Celtic Park) and it was still an intimidating place to go.
“A lot of the local people are desperate to get back in.”
This is the new normal
With a bit of luck, all test events this weekend go successfully and we can start integrating football fans back into stadiums across the country.
Dons chairman Dave Cormack is hoping to be allowed to bring back 700 fans for their clash with Motherwell at Pittodrie in two weeks (Daily Record). So there’s an opportunity for growth here.
For Celtic, it remains a waiting game. The Hoops, as well as Rangers and St Mirren, won’t see any fans return to their stadiums until lockdown restrictions around Glasgow are eased.
However we’ll get a taster for what this new normal will be like on Saturday. County’s re-introduction of supporters to the Global Energy Stadium should provide the match with an added layer of intrigue too.
It remains to be seen what the maximum number of supporters will be for Celtic Park, but it looks as though the vast majority of our away games will now take place in front of fans.
That’s a step in the right direction at the very least.
In other news, a Dutch report has claimed that a Celtic-linked £6.3m-rated talent isn’t going anywhere.
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