Hugh Keevins: It'll take more than a match-up in the Scottish Cup.........

[ian1964 10,370]

..............to rescue Celtic and Rangers

 

HUGH draws comparison with 40 years ago as he rubbishes suggestions that Celtic and Rangers meeting in the Scottish Cup is needed to save a season that is already dead on its feet.

 

 

 

THEY used to be famous. Forty years ago there was one night when the pair of them played two European semi-finals in Glasgow on the same night, watched by 150,000 people.

 

Celtic met Inter Milan in the semi-final of the European Cup and went out on penalties.

 

If they’d made it to the final it would have been the club’s third appearance there in five years.

 

Meanwhile, Rangers beat a Bayern Munich side containing the core of the German team that would win the World Cup in their own country two years later.

 

The win at Ibrox took Rangers to Barcelona, where they won the European Cup Winners Cup.

 

How the mighty have fallen.

 

The police wouldn’t let the pair play in Glasgow on the same day in broad daylight last season.

 

Celtic’s SPL match was moved to Sunday so Rangers’ Third Division game could take place in isolation 24 hours earlier.

 

And an Under-17 Glasgow Cup final between the clubs at Firhill last April was marred by violence inside and outside the ground.

 

Pathetic or what?

 

Now there are those who say the only thing that can salvage this season in the wake of Celtic’s elimination from Europe is the prospect of the Old Firm being reunited in a Scottish Cup tie.

 

Not presumably because it would be an epic match. But it would allow two lots of fans to release almost two years’ pent up frustration caused by them living separate existences.

 

Dragged apart because Rangers lived beyond their means and had to be liquidated on their way to the lower orders.

 

Now look at them.

 

Celtic have been humiliated on the field by AC Milan, embarrassed off it by some of their own supporters.

 

They have been reported to UEFA and will be the subject of a fourth disciplinary hearing in two years.

 

One of their players is the subject of a report to the Procurator Fiscal concerning an alleged case of indecency and sexual assault.

 

Meanwhile, over at Ibrox, the Serious Fraud Office have been invited to investigate alleged misappropriation of club funds.

 

And the group battling to win control of Rangers from the existing board of directors have made accusations of intimidation against some of their members.

 

Shall I go on?

 

Let’s just say neither club is what it once was because of a lack of statesman-like leadership, and leave it at that. And the fans should take a reality check.

 

There are Rangers supporters, obviously not born when their team went to Barcelona and beat Moscow Dynamo in 1972, who are looking for a street party because today’s side have gone 13 league games without dropping a point.

 

Is that not what should happen when your multi-million pound squad of full-timers face players who need time off work to play some of their matches?

 

Then there’s Celtic being held hostage by the political activists among their support. The Green Brigade by name, Wolfie Smith and the Tooting Popular Front in appearance.

 

I’ll ask Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell a simple question.

 

If it’s easy enough to ban me from his ground for a year and a half for an unspecified reason, why can’t he clean up the club’s image and do the same to those with a list of ‘previous’ the length of your arm?

 

Lawwell says the illicit banner wavers on Tuesday night showed “clear disrespect for the club”.

 

Call me old fashioned, but why don’t the club close down the troublesome area of their ground in that case? Celtic’s ticket office could, at the push of a computer key, give you the name of every occupant of every seat in the

problem area.

 

The troublemakers are deliberately undermining their own club. They must have known from past experience the banners would automatically qualify Celtic for UEFA punishment.

 

Hoops boss Neil Lennon says his heart sank when he saw the banners. That was just before his team capsized.

 

The Celtic team who lost to Inter 40 years ago dusted themselves down and went on to win another championship on the way to the first Nine in a Row.

 

The Old Firm were in rude health then. What surrounds them now is just rude.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/hugh-keevins-itll-take-more-2871417

[aweebluesoandso 290]

If Wee Spewy keeps telling the truth about Celtic, he'll never be allowed back into their fold.

[der Berliner 3,207]

Nurembourg Hugh found his gutter press level long ago and hardly ever manages to raise his head or writing above it. Rather on the contrary.