Do we miss ‘Rangers’?

Do we miss ‘Rangers’?

Do we have any sympathy for them? Probably not.

Did they break the rules? Yes

Do we miss the Old Firm games? Even the most die hard must do.

Watching the Edinburgh derby made me think about Old Firm days.

It was always the highlight of my footballing season, an early rise on a Saturday or a Sunday morning getting the hoops on and heading to see the biggest rivalry in the world football. The butterflies churning in the pit of my stomach just wanting the game to get underway. It would be 90 mins of passion and nail biting tension but I wouldn’t change it for the world!

We’ve had some great encounters and memories over the years, Henrik’s lob, Sutton’s last minute chip for the whitewash or Jan Venegoor’s last minute header to keep us in the title race to name a few.  The last game title deciders and knowing it could go either way, compared to right now where we know the league is won even before a ball is kicked.  If it wasn’t for our Champions League adventures Celtic Park would have been a very lonely place.

Last season saw attendances drop and I don’t think there was a domestic game you could say you woke up and had that feeling in your stomach where winning is everything.  Now I am not saying attendances were down just because they are not in the same division, there is the financial aspect of how much going to a football match costs these days but with team not having to fight for every single minute knowing a dropped point could be the difference between winning the league or not, I think a good amount of fans just decided to pick and choose their games.

There are the fans who you can hear, ‘they got what they deserved’, ‘they are not the same club’, but I guarantee these fans will be first at the turnstiles waiting to get in the first time we meet again.

Rangers off field troubles are for another day but in terms of the on field rivalry I for one will embrace it when it returns.

HH

Dave Gallacher

twitter: (dave311009)