It’s that time again when Celtic and Rangers meet for another dose of one of football’s greatest rivalries.
Celtic have dominated Rangers for a very long time now and they will be looking to keep their boot on their rivals’ throat when they lock horns at Ibrox on Thursday.
Whether it’s Ange Postecoglou in the dugout, Brendan Rodgers retuning, the champions scoring first, Rangers playing well or scoring first, or the Bhoys looking off-colour, the end result is always the same and that’s a win for Celtic.
That was proven when Celtic secured a stunning penalty shootout win against Rangers in the League Cup final at Hampden last month.
Those in Rangers colours, before that match and even post that game, were in cloud cuckoo land when they thought that there was still a chance to close the gap in the Premiership.
But fast forward to the present, and to reality, and Celtic are 14 points clear of Rangers, with Rodgers and Co. producing positive results over this festive period, whilst Philippe Clement’s side embarrassed themselves again.
Kris Boyd says Rangers fans will turn ‘nasty’ inside Ibrox if Celtic score first
Daizen Maeda scored after 20 seconds at Ibrox in April and – after his heroics in the League Cup final – he will be looking to add to that tally.
Kris Boyd is fearing the worst heading into that match and made it clear that the ‘league is over’, regardless of what happens.
The former striker even stated that if Celtic score first, then Ibrox will turn ‘nasty’ because there are already a lot of ‘angry’ Rangers fans even before a ball is kicked, as he told Sky Sports News (01/01/25 at 10:20 am).
“There is a lot of negativity,” said Boyd. “There were questions being asked a few weeks ago. If you look at it now, obviously, they lost at St Mirren and the draw against Motherwell. The changes that were made to the team. There is a lot of negativity surrounding Rangers going into this Celtic game.
“If Celtic go to Ibrox, and some of the bookmakers have got them odds on favourites, which pretty much sums up where both teams are at. Celtic going to Ibrox odds on and it’s the second Glasgow derby of the season in the league. It’s not been good enough for Rangers. You just get the feeling that if this continues. Well, it can continue.
“There will be, depending on what happens, I think there will be a lot of angry Rangers fans at Ibrox. If Celtic start well and score the first goal, there will be 51,000 Rangers fans in there, it could get really nasty – even if Rangers win, Celtic will still be 11 points clear. The league is over.
Why are there no away fans inside Ibrox for Celtic’s visit to Rangers
Well, as Rodgers put it perfectly in August ‘it’s a Rangers thing’.
Back in 2018, Rangers ended the long-standing convention of allowing 7,500 Celtic fans into Ibrox, as posted by BBC Sport.
So, rightfully so, Celtic followed suit and Rodgers – who returned to the club last summer – made his feelings clear on the matter at the start of the season.
“Celtic have played their part in what they were asked to do,” said Rodgers. “When you go back to when this all started, it had nothing to do with Celtic.
“Celtic get dragged into this here as being a Celtic-Rangers thing. It’s not a Celtic-Rangers thing, this is a Rangers thing.
“When asked to have this agreement, make the stadium safe, we plough money into that, that started months ago. On both parties, that hasn’t been agreed, so it’s not complicated, it hasn’t been done.
