Celtic's Behaviour Warning Ahead of Rangers Derby
Martin O’Neill has revealed Celtic received a formal “general behaviour” warning from Police Scotland ahead of Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final against Rangers – a Glasgow derby that will be played in front of 50,000 Rangers supporters and not a single travelling Celtic fan.
The authorities have ordered that no away support be present at Ibrox, the latest flashpoint in a long-running ticket allocation row between the clubs. The tension stems in part from the last Old Firm meeting in Govan in March, when Celtic edged a Scottish Gas Scottish Cup quarter-final on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes, a night overshadowed by crowd disorder.
Both clubs have since been punished. Their next home ties in the Scottish Cup must be played behind closed doors, and each has been hit with a £100,000 compensation bill, to be paid to whichever side is drawn away in those future fixtures.
Against that backdrop, the police came calling.
“We had the police come in today, just a little 15-minute meeting with us, just reminders of our behaviour, which I think is actually a timely reminder. It a good thing as well,” said the 74-year-old Celtic manager, who cut a calm but clearly alert figure as he looked ahead to a derby stripped of its usual split of colour and noise.
“It’ll be a bit strange not having the (Celtic) fans in but I’m nervously and excitedly looking forward to it, it’s a great fixture,” he admitted. The sense of occasion remains, even if one half of Glasgow will be watching from living rooms and pubs rather than the away corner at Ibrox.
For O’Neill, the message from Police Scotland went beyond crowd conduct and into how his players handle the flashpoints that so often define this game.
“I think it’s the overall picture. Gosh, it’d be nice to have something to celebrate. I think it’s just general behaviour from us,” he said.
“They didn’t mention this but I would have assumed that one of the things that they considered is what happens on the field of play, because these things can be taken further.
“You don’t want any sort of punch-ups for a start; secondly, you don’t want too excessive celebrations, stuff like that, if that was the case.
“I mean, I’d be delighted to be celebrating something in the game. But it’s the behaviour in the light of what has happened in recent fixtures.”
So Celtic head into one of the most emotionally charged fixtures in world football under an explicit reminder to keep their heads, control their celebrations and avoid the kind of images that can spiral beyond 90 minutes.
Selection Decisions
On the football side, O’Neill’s selection call in goal adds another layer of intrigue to the build-up.
He confirmed that midfielder Mika Baur, who missed training on Friday with a knock, is expected to train on Saturday and should come back into contention. The bigger decision lies between the posts.
Late summer signing Sam Johnstone, on loan from Wolves, made his Celtic debut in Wednesday’s 1-0 William Hill Premiership win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. It was a solid, low-drama introduction for the experienced England international, but not yet a guarantee of a derby start.
O’Neill insisted he has not settled on whether Johnstone will keep his place or whether Viljami Sinisalo, who began the season as number one, will return for the trip to Govan.
“I haven’t made my mind up at all. It was a matter of getting a look at what Sam can do,” he said.
“It’s great to have the two of them. Big Viljami has done exceptionally well for us and it was just, again, an opportunity to see what Sam can do now.
“What he could do a couple of years ago was fantastic, what he can do now might be a totally different picture. I will let them know first.”
One of them will walk out into the noise of Ibrox without a single Celtic voice behind his goal. One mistake, one save, one celebration held in check or allowed to spill over – in this derby, it all counts.
