Brendan Rodgers has no problem with Celtic fans that will treat Saturday’s visitors as a new club enjoying their first ever visit to Scotland’s biggest football stadium. Those fans may be bampots but they are correct.
Led by shameless BBC Scotland, all week supporters will be getting fed a diet of Old Firm tripe and the resumption of a great sporting contest beloved by generations- the centre piece of Scottish sporting life
Except it’s not.
Over a decade of cheating finally caught up with the club from Ibrox in 2012. Her Majesty needed paid and the loyal fans, sponsors, backers and well heeled blue noses kept their hands in their pockets. They walked away.
Unlike the supporters of Hearts and Dunfermline who made a CVA happen all that could be heard from the people at Ibrox was ‘sumbdy’s gaunnae huf to do something’.
Celtic fans put their hands in their pockets in 1995 to refinance the club after the Bank of Scotland tried to force the club into liquidation. Rather than blow money on players Celtic supporters watched the Bank of Scotland funded Ibrox operation win three more titles to match 9-in-a-row.
Fans of every club in Scotland have paid the price to ensure that their club survived. They’ve had their noses rubbed in it from Ibrox but every trophy success since 1989 was a sham. Funded either by the taxpayer through the Bank of Scotland bail out or from tax evasion with secret contracts withheld from the football authorities.
It might suit the BBC, SFA and SPFL to pretend that 2012 was just a bad dream but supporters won’t fall for the continuity myth.
On Saturday the new club will be derided and scorned, to be polite, about their fake history and how their old club died in shame of neglect from their own supporters after refusing to pay Her Majesty like every other club does.
As we witnessed over the weekend with the Sevco squad being pictured with the Shankhill Road Defenders Flute Band certain subjects are embargoed in the best wee country in the world- but not at Celtic Park on Saturday. Truth will prevail.
Speaking to The Scotsman about the big issue that can’t be mentioned Rodgers said: “I can respect that there will be different views in terms of how they [Rangers] are held and how they created the club, but for me it’s a Celtic v Rangers game and it’s a big game. It always has been.”
It will be a big match in terms of passion, in terms of the SPFL it most certainly is just another three points against noisy neighbours with no self awareness.
Had the new club apologised for the crimes of the old one in liquidation, the cheating of their previous club and the utter poison of their supporters they’d have been given a grudging welcome into the twenty-first century.
The tribute act refused that option, embraced the dated ethos of the past and attempted to take every fan in the country as mugs as they promoted nonsense like #goingfor55.
The football authorities have ran a mile from the issue but a day of reckoning arrives on Saturday, hopefully when the tribute act follows the original club into liquidation lessons will be learned and the truth no longer feared for the next tribute act.
CLICK HERE for the player that Rodgers believes has everything.
CLICK HERE for former Celtic prospect on trial in Polish second division.
CLICK HERE for why many fans won’t ever forget 2012 and move on.