MICHAEL BEALE has confirmed his side will not be giving the newly crowned champions a guard of honour as they walk out onto the pitch on Saturday.
Nobody was expecting it from Celtic and it’s turned out to be the case. The Ibrox club and their captain have done it for Hearts when they played in the Championship and also applauded others for giving them a guard of honour when they were winning in the lower league.
However, when it comes to Celtic, it’s just a bridge too far. Considering they are set up to try and stop Celtic from winning things, to applaud the hoops for beating them to the league with 4 games to spare, while also knocking them out of both cup competitions is unthinkable.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Beale told PLZ Soccer:
‘I don’t think they would want us to and in the stadium in front of our fans, I don’t think it would be the right thing to do either.
‘We have a lot of respect for them, they’ve clearly been the best team in the league, but it’s been dealt with in the past and that takes it out of my hands thankfully.’
Beale says it’s out of his hands, but wasn’t pressed on if he would’ve allowed his players to do it if it was up to him.
This was a manager who was preaching honesty and integrity after allowing Partick Thistle to get a goal back when his team unfairly scored from a dropped ball.
Celtic players don’t need that validation or any sort of respect from their rivals. They know what they’ve achieved and just because they won’t line up and applaud us onto the pitch doesn’t make us any less deserving champions, but it does make it sweeter how much they’re hurting.
