A Rangers thing’: Celtic boss distances club from derby row

Brendan Rodgers insists the away ticket allocation debacle is a ‘Rangers thing’, and not a Celtic issue.

The Northern Irishman passionately addressed the ongoing situation between both clubs during his pre-match press conference for the game against Hibernian on Sunday afternoon.

He is adamant that Celtic upheld their side of the bargain regarding their ability to welcome Rangers supporters inside their stadium for the upcoming derby encounter on Sunday, September 1. 

However, he added that Rangers were unable to guarantee that Ibrox would be sit for purpose to host Celtic fans in the return game in the new year, and so, Rodgers backed the board’s decision to have only home fans attend the game at Celtic Park for the Scottish Premiership fixture.

“Clearly disappointed for both sets of supporters,” the 51-year-old responded when asked for his reaction to the news. “It’s been a long time now since we had a decent allocation for both clubs. 

“Listen, it’s not complicated. I believe there was an agreement in place to carry out work to ensure that it was in place for both sets of supporters to come. Celtic has been working on that for a number of months, I know that, with the investment that went into it to ensure that everything was right for this fixture. 

“You can only do that if the agreement is upheld by both. So, we can’t guarantee that and sadly we aren’t able to open the gates for the away support for this one. 

“I think the statement said it was for the next two games, so, fingers crossed that after that we will see in the final couple of games that we can get supporters back in.”

He continued: “I think the board has made a really good decision in terms of it’s the club’s job to protect its support. And if they don’t have the guarantee that come the second fixture, then I think it’s only logical that you wouldn’t reciprocate. 

“Celtic have played their part in what they were asked to do. Nothing of this was Celtic’s issue when you go back to when all of this started. It’s nothing to do with Celtic. 

“Celtic is getting dragged into this here as a ‘Celtic vs Rangers’ thing. It’s not a Celtic thing. This is a Rangers thing. 

“So, when Celtic is asked to make the stadium safe, we plow money into that and we do the works, which started months ago. As I said, both parties haven’t agreed upon it. So, it’s not complicated. It hasn’t been done. 

“‘Good faith’ or whatever way you want to put it, there was still an agreement for both, and it’s not been done. It’s not good faith if we allow Rangers supporters in and then we get to January and our own supporters can’t get in. 

“The agreement hasn’t been upheld, so Celtic rightly has to defend their supporters and club. Sadly, like I said, Rangers supporters have to miss out on this game and Celtic in the return game. 

“Let’s hope after that, we can find a way to get the supporters in.”