CELTIC supporters have been banned indefinitely from Ibrox, which
Rangers claim has been vandalised once too often.
Rangers say it has cost them more than #20,000 to repair damage caused
by Celtic ticket holders at Old Firm matches played at Ibrox since March
1992. Rangers add that several attempts have been made to persuade
Celtic that they should accept responsibility for their supporters'
behaviour.
''With reference to the most recent encounter, on October 30, 1993, we
have been corresponding with Celtic on a regular basis,'' said Rangers'
chairman David Murray, ''and it is perfectly clear from their letters
that they accept no responsibility whatsoever for this vandalism. The
cost following that match to repair damage was #7800 and we can no
longer tolerate this type of destruction.''
Mr Murray added: ''The board of directors has taken the decision to
withhold all ticketing allocations to Celtic Football Club in respect of
our next scheduled league match at Ibrox on Saturday, April 30. Tickets
will be available only to Rangers supporters.
''We regret the matter has reached this point. However, due to the
intransigent attitude of Celtic Football Club and their lack of
responsibility with regard to the behaviour of their supporters'
behaviour, we believe no other course of action is now available to
us.'' Rangers wrote to Celtic on Tuesday informing them of the ban.
Celtic chairman Kevin Kelly said: ''This matter was raised at the
Scottish League management committee last week when it was agreed that
clubs should be responsible only for their own grounds.
''We have suffered damage at Celtic Park but prefer to keep it quiet
rather than draw attention to the kind of people who do these things.
However, banning another club's fans is a dangerous action to take.''
Mr Murray says that the problem hit him suddenly while he was writing
a cheque for #142,000 to be paid to Celtic for Rangers' ticket
allocation at the last Old Firm match at Celtic Park on New Year's Day.
It struck him that he was collecting for Celtic when in return their
fans go to his ground and cause damage.
''They don't buy our programmes or eat our fast food. But they do
smash our seats,'' he said.
Rangers also say that they have to pay an added #12,000 on their
police bill when Celtic visit. Mr Murray does not fear a backlash with
Celtic refusing to give tickets to Rangers' fans. He knows, of course,
that Celtic, who are more than #5m in debt, cannot afford to go without
the money generated by Rangers' supporters.
Mr Murray also knows he can sell out Ibrox when Celtic play even
without their supporters.
There is no law in the game which states that clubs must give their
opponents tickets and Mr Peter Donald, secretary of the Scottish League,
said: ''It is most unfortunate and there is no doubt that part of
football's attraction is the atmosphere which can be generated by
supporters of opposing clubs.''
Mr Gerry Madden, general secretary of Celtic FC supporters'
association, said he was surprised at the move. His group has spoken to
the police seeking a solution to the vandalism and added: ''If someone
would give us the sophisticated video evidence which Rangers say they
have, perhaps we could do something.
''I hope there will be a change of heart because this is supposed to
be the greatest club game in the world.''
Mr Peter Rafferty, chairman of the Affiliation of Registered Celtic
Supporters' Clubs, said: ''We have to hope this is not an end to the
matter and that there will be room for some kind of compromise.''
Sports OpinionBack Page
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article