Today Rangers drew Ayr or Dunfermine at Ibrox in the draw for the fifth
round of the Scottish Cup. Their Old Firm rivals Celtic host fellow SPL side Aberdeen. However,
leading up to this draw much speculation was being had over the very real
possibility that an Old Firm tie might just come out the hat.
With 16 teams left, tensions were
certainly high among certain portions of the Rangers support about the
possibility of a Celtic clash. Some fans were eager for it to happen, others
were completely against it.
As it happens, it did not
materialise, and assuming both sides negotiate their fifth round ties the draw
for the quarter finals (or ‘Sixth’ Round, as the SFA like to describe it) will
see the odds for such a clash cut in half.
8 teams left in the competition,
a 1 in 4 chance of a Rangers Celtic quarter final. That is a pretty high
chance, truth be told.
Rangers defender Lee McCulloch suggested
prior to the draw that he fancied a crack at an SPL team in the fifth, if it
was Celtic so much the better. And his counterpart at Parkhead, Kris Commons
also egged up the concept of an Old Firm clash.
As it transpired we will need to
wait till the next round, assuming both make safe passage there, to see if the
two biggest clubs in Scotland
will clash.
But let us step back for a
moment; do we need an Old Firm
clash? Do we even want one?
My personal stance is that while
my heart would of course love Rangers to play and beat Celtic, the sheer poison
that has enveloped the game in this country since Rangers went into
administration last year has grown exponentially. There is real, genuine,
sincere hatred between many clubs, much of it towards Rangers, and that is
especially dominant among Celtic fans.
I am not getting into the ins and
outs or rights and wrongs of the situation, just illustrating that Rangers and
Celtic (fans and clubs) hate each other arguably more now than they ever have;
consequently there is a real question of safety and security if the two meet
any time soon.
The level of police presence required
to ‘keep a lid’ on the brewing tension for such a match would be possibly the
biggest-scale operation Strathclyde’s finest have ever had to undertake for a
football game, and the hysteria, hype, build up and increasing passion
surrounding it could potentially lead to a borderline meltdown.
I am a Rangers fan, but I am also
a human, and I have no desire to see anyone on either side injured or worse as
a result of the sheer madness of a potential meeting of Rangers and Celtic.
We remember some of the past
craziness at Old Firm matches, too many to list. This would be the worst of the
lot, and the venom inside whatever ground it took place in would be something
unprecedented in the Scottish game.
Of course, the longer we go without an Old Firm clash, the more the
hype, tension and fever continues to build up. Or, on the flip side, perhaps
time apart will heal the current fractures, or at least some of, and we might
be able to concentrate on football.
Sadly, though, with the way
Scottish football has been in recent years, I suggest the former.