Old Firm returns with a vengeance as Rangers plot to ban Celtic fans

THE official Rangers supporters group has called for a blanket ban on all Celtic fans from Ibrox when the two teams next meet, after Sunday’s Old Firm derby saw effigies of Rangers fans hung from the Parkhead terraces. 

Celtic destroyed their archrivals 5-1 in their first league dust up in more than four years after the Ibrox side were banished to the lowest division of professional Scottish football over a bankruptcy scandal. 

As frequently happens when the Glasgow rivals meet, events off the pitch yet again managed to overshadow the score line. Rangers have claimed that their fans were subjected to “a sickening and shameful display of outright sectarian hatred” from Bhoys who strung up two blow-up dolls, one wearing a Rangers top and the other an orange sash, to the upper tier of the stands.

Amid a hostile welcome Celtic fans also hung a giant banner reading ‘Know your place Hun scum’, while Rangers supporters chanted the banned Billy Boys song and trashed a toilet. 

The next league fixture takes place on December 31 at Ibrox and fanboy group Club 1872 later announced that they had “reviewed pictorial and video evidence of the disgusting behaviour” and had “written to the Rangers board requesting that they ban Celtic supporters from Ibrox until Celtic can prove that they have taken substantive action against the Green Brigade and other overtly sectarian elements within their support.”

A Celtic spokesman said the club would not become involved in a petty “tit for tat spat” involving the weekend match, which was described as a “fantastic event for the club and our fans worldwide.”