'Players will feel the same' - Ex-Rangers star explains why no away fans at Celtic Park impacts the spectacle

Former Rangers midfielder Alex Rae believes players from both sides of Saturday’s Old Firm clash will miss having away fans at Celtic Park.

The decision was taken by the clubs for the final two Premiership fixtures between Celtic and Rangers to be played without a visiting support. One which was taken on safety grounds. It follows a significant reduction on the away allocation in recent seasons.

Rae is wary of how it will “contribute to the spectacle” and believes it will only have a negative impact.

“I think it does yes and the players will definitely feel the same,” he told Grosvenor Sport. “Across the board, people want to see away fans at the game, especially an Old Firm. There's something special about these games so to have no fans really contributes to the spectacle. It's not healthy. The whole argument about safety doesn't really stack up for me so I hope they can try and get some fans into the game.”

Rangers boss Michael Beale gave his view on the situation, using experience from time coaching in Brazil with Sao Paulo, and how “referees are put under a huge amount of pressure if you have a large crowd [all] in favour of one team”.

“Even having just a few fans is better than none,” he said. “But in Brazil there were reasons for that. There was a lot of crowd violence at the Sao Paulo derbies before I went there. You’d always rather have some fans, even if it was only a small amount. I just think it adds to the flavour of the game and also there is the referee pressure.”