The Old Firm is back baby!
Despite legitimate protests from many Celtic fans that the new Rangers are, in fact, an entirely new team, many of us will tune in on Saturday to see the Old Firm resume rivalries.
Ever since Rangers went to the wall, in 2012, and were demoted to the third tier of Scottish football, there has been a distinct lack of spark in the Premiership. There has been a distinct lack of bile too but we all need some ying, yang and excitement in this workaday world.
This season’s first clash of Celtic and Rangers will draw the biggest TV audience for a Scottish game in years. There are some box-office names, in the form of Joey Barton, Brendan Rodgers and… Philippe Senderos.
Barton has already doused some spice-rub on this sporting slab of meat by declaring Celtic captain Scott Brown is ‘not in my league’.
Brown responded by remarking, “I think we will get on really well with him being a Celtic fan” but Barton trumped that:
ok Scott. No pictures of me in a Celtic kit pal…😂 pic.twitter.com/7A8RuzekHX
— 👑 Joey Barton 👑 (@Joey7Barton) June 22, 2016
Former Celtic defender Mark Wilson is looking forward to this weekend’s clash but hopes the game is played out in a feisty but fair manner.
He fears that one incident could spark some Stone Cold Stunners and F5s. Wilson said:
“Broony will have thought about looking to stamp his authority on this game. We’d all like to see fireworks, we’re dying to see that.
“You hope it’s in the right way and not one of these horrible encounters where players start brawling on the pitch, the WWE stuff. You hope it’s hard, fair tackles with the two of them enjoying going up against each other.”
One thing is for sure, tens of thousands more will tune into this game that they did for any of Celtic’s league games last season, or the one before that.
The GAA Hour Hurling Show relives Tipperary’s sensational All-Ireland victory with Paidí Maher. Listen below or subscribe on iTunes.
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