RANGERS and Celtic have agreed to reinforce a stay at home message for fans ahead of this month's Old Firm clash, a government minister has said.
Mairi Gougeon says a meeting this evening between the clubs, the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, and the football authorities went "positively" as the parties work to avoid a call-off of the Parkhead fixture next weekend.
Police Scotland chiefs were also involved in the discussion, which came amid fears the game could be postponed to prevent fans gathering and breaking lockdown rules.
Scores of Rangers supporters took to the streets last weekend to celebrate the side's first major league title in a decade.
Speaking after the meeting, the sports minister said: “This was a positive meeting which we called to address the need for fans to stay at home during the upcoming fixture on March 21.
“The reason we have allowed elite football to proceed is as much for the benefit of supporters as for those working in professional sport.
“Everyone is being deprived of so much right now – and making so many sacrifices – that the ability to watch a football game safely at home on television should be something that people should have the ability to do.
“But a minority cannot be allowed to act irresponsibly. We want to send out a very clear message that all fans must stay at home – there will be opportunities to come together to celebrate safely, collectively in due course.
“Clubs have a leading role to play in reaching out to their supporters and communicating the vital message that fans and supporters need to stay at home. I welcome that both clubs have agreed to reinforce that message.
“We still face a very real threat from the highly transmissible new variant and cannot risk people’s health at this time, when we are at the very cusp of easing some restrictions.”
It comes after justice secretary Humza Yousaf suggested the game would be postponed if there was any police intelligence saying fans were about to “square off” against each other.
Mr Yousaf said: “We are grateful to Police Scotland, Glasgow City Council, and Celtic and Rangers football clubs for agreeing to join discussions arranged by the Scottish Government. These were constructive discussions.
“Our collective efforts are very much on ensuring the upcoming fixture between the two clubs is spoken about for events on the pitch, not off.
“We are pleased that the football clubs involved agreed to communicate robust messaging, stating unequivocally, that fans should stay at home.
“However, if police intelligence tells us, despite clear messaging, large groups of fans are going to gather and put public health at risk, we will need to very seriously consider taking action. Powers are open to us on that front.
“We are at the most critical juncture in our fight against the virus and we cannot, and simply will not, tolerate the shameful scenes we witnessed recently. We will await to see the action from all partners involved and update Parliament next week.
“Let me reiterate that this meeting was positive and partners engaged very constructively.”
Following the meeting, Rangers bosses issued a new statement, reiterating the stay at home message.
It read: "Rangers can confirm we took part in a multi-agency meeting this afternoon with representatives from the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, Police Scotland and Celtic FC.
"This is to continue an open and constructive dialogue in relation to the upcoming Old Firm fixture at Parkhead on Sunday, March 21. We are pleased that today’s meeting was very constructive and we have agreed to support the ‘stay at home’ message.
"Rangers would like to reiterate manager Steven Gerrard’s comments from last weekend, for supporters to stay at home and ensure the safety of themselves and others.
"We are cognisant of the ongoing fight against Covid-19 and ask that everyone follows Government guidance to stay at home.
"The club will continue to liaise with all agencies as well as a number of supporters. We will continue to work to ensure that the clubs message is reiterated over the coming week and will provide further updates in due course."
Earlier on Friday, Celtic released a statement saying they had been clear about the need for fans to follow the rules throughout the pandemic – a message they would “re-emphasise” ahead of the game.
The club said: “The Scottish Government has already made clear to Celtic that it does not in any way associate the scenes last weekend with Celtic or our supporters.
“Although Celtic and our supporters are desperate to get back to Celtic Park to support the team, the club and our supporters are of course mindful of the risks associated with public gatherings at this important time.
“We have communicated regularly around our fixtures and our supporters have worked with the club responsibly; the celebrations after our historic nine-in-a-row title triumph last summer and after our unprecedented quadruple treble Scottish Cup win in December are two key examples of that.
“We will re-emphasise that message for this fixture as we have done during the season and we are sure that our supporters will work with the club while the restrictions remain in place.”
Chief constable Iain Livingstone said: “I am grateful to both football clubs, Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government for these positive and constructive discussions.
“Discussions will continue in the days ahead to work together with the people of Glasgow, and Scotland, to make sure that public safety is maintained.
“It is vital everybody demonstrates personal and collective responsibility to support the public health imperative.”
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel