There’s notable opposition from Celtic fans participating in a tournament on the other side of the world alongside their Glasgow rivals.
We’ve been following the story since news broke on Tuesday and it’s been fast moving.
It was peculiar the way this was announced by Celtic who didn’t mention opponents or the venue in their press release.
We then got word from the Australian clubs involved about who was participating.
Celtic, Sydney FC, Rangers, WS Wanderers.
A press release has also now been sent out by the NSW Government:
The AngeBall world tour is back on home soil.
We've got a few memories 🔥#WeAreALeagues pic.twitter.com/TlAACPcU0d
— Isuzu UTE A-League (@aleaguemen) March 2, 2022
The A-League and Celtic have billed this as the AngeBall World Tour and treating Celtic as the biggest draw for the tourny. Staunch freelance journalist Andrew Dickson has been at it all Wednesday morning on social media, raging about the situation.
This is what you’ve signed up to, Rangers. More than eight months of building up to it too, no less. Who on earth at Ibrox thought this would be a good idea or thought it would be portrayed any differently from how it is? https://t.co/JvVpYG6rrr
— Andrew Dickson (@mrandrewdickson) March 2, 2022
People in Australia will not quite understand the level of petiness things can get to back in Glasgow. Given Ange is Australian, and the former boss of Australia, and also there best ever football manager – of course he and the club he manages would take centre stage.
There are fans over in Australia who will be delighted to see this happening.
Many fans in Glasgow see this as money grab that will sanatise the Glasgow Derby.
It will be interesting to see how things turn out and how many fans attend the tournament.
Speaking to journalists in Australia, they believe a lot of ‘theatre-going’ fans will fill the stadium. It’s hard to imagine a neutral crowd at a Glasgow Derby.
