Celtic v Rangers Old Firm fall-out is way beyond tedious - it's now dangerous

An upcoming employment anniversary combined with a significant birthday prompted some wistful musing in a rare lull in play during last weekend’s breathless Old Firm match.

The thought struck: How many of these games had I now had the pleasure of attending in the name of work?

And it really has been in the name of work because before starting at The Scotsma n – cough, splutter – 25 years ago, this correspondent had never attended a Celtic v Rangers match - or indeed, a Rangers v Celtic match (just to keep things equitable).

I happened to grow up watching my football somewhere other than Celtic Park or Ibrox, and while I did attend matches involving teams other than the particular club I followed, the Old Firm fixture isn't one you'd tend to go to as a neutral. Indeed, perhaps this explains a lot.

Referee Kevin Clancy experienced abuse and threats in the wake of Celtic v Rangers.

Anyway, the calculation was back-of-an envelope stuff. Well, we know there's four meetings a season at least. So that's 100 off the bat. But of course I didn't go to them all. Far too junior in the beginning and then there's holidays to take into account.

And hang on, what about those seasons when Rangers were out of the top flight? But there was a cup meeting, must be careful to include that. But then there was Covid, so subtract a few more, because I didn't cover any of those behind-closed-doors occasions. The total is probably around 50, give or take a few.

And out of all these games witnessed in the flesh, last Saturday was probably the most depressing to report on. Not because the game was poor. Far from it. It was a good, if error-strewn, game.

The aftermath, however, has been utterly draining. That’s certainly the case if you’re referee Kevin Clancy, or anyone close to him. In fact, replace draining with deeply concerning after his personal and professional contact details – Clancy is a lawyer (yes, really) – were published online, with the result being the SFA were forced to release a statement condemning the "significant volume and threatening and abusive emails" sent to the referee. The chalked-off Alfredo Morelos goal was the most contentious issue and presumably prompted the majority of unwelcome messages to Clancy. But even now, over a week after the game, it's impossible to go on Twitter and not see another clip being cast up as evidence of Clancy and his fellow officials' incompetence or supposed bias.

It was time to get off the internet when one post from a Celtic fan took issue with Clancy's award of a foul for Matt O'Riley's lunge on Malik Tillman shortly before half-time. It led to a booking for the Celtic midfielder and a goal to Rangers, with James Tavernier hitting goal No. 99 for the Ibrox side from a free-kick anyone with eyes could see had been correctly given.

What makes it slightly more dispiriting is that this is all happening at a time when the two managers in charge of the respective teams are as fair and even-handed as ever has been the case.

Neither was brought up in the hot crucible of the Old Firm environment and while that can sometimes lead to a desire to overcompensate by being even one more one-eyed, it doesn’t seem to apply here. Both managers spoke well again on Friday as they faced the media once more, with myriad controversies still – yes, still! –rumbling on.

One slightly hesitates to say it because it has come to mean old school, and neither of them are, but Michael Beale and Ange Postecoglou are both football people.

It's doubtful either one of them is the type to sit down and write a letter to the SFA demanding an explanation about such and such decision. But Rangers, embarrassingly, did go down that route, specifically with regards the Morelos incident.

Beale has now admitted he was wrong to raise the question of a possible handball against Jota in the run-up to Kyogo Furuhashi’s second goal, something which had exercised many Rangers supporters despite replays being so inconclusive. He still retained doubts about the Morelos decision. Fair enough. It was of the soft variety. But you can see why Clancy penalised Morelos for a push on Alistair Johnston. Other soft/arguable decisions of that ilk frustrate fans the length of the country every Saturday. Rangers sometimes benefit from them.

One of many unfortunate consequences from the (on-going) post-mortem is that genuinely remarkable feats such as Tavernier's 100-goal haul for Rangers has been somewhat overshadowed. Why not put a call in to John Greig, the last Ibrox defender to score 100 plus goals, I thought?

Indeed, like Tavernier, Greig struck his 100th with a double – in his case in a 2-1 win over Dundee United 50 years ago last week. Only ten of his 120 were from the penalty spot. “I used to get embarrassed being so close to the goals!” he told me.

“Don’t forget I played a number of years in midfield. He (Tavernier) is slightly different to me in that respect. He scored all his goals from a full-back position, which is a great achievement. He gets into some crazy positions as far as I am concerned."

Wisely, Greig would not be drawn on the current controversies. Now 80, he doesn’t need that. But another long-time Old Firm observer I spoke to delivered what seemed to be a pretty accurate take on things.

“It was ever thus,” he told me. “What makes it worse now is social media, every incident is replayed time after time. In the old days, before the internet, there were all manner of bampots expressing similar views, but it was in pubs, and at games. All largely forgotten about by the time they got home. It’s all online now of course. And it goes on for ever, day after day.”

Not the most uplifting way to end a column but it’s true. Everyone loves a football argument, and without debates about decisions pubs would be very quiet after games.

But the way these Old Firm matches are being re-refereed for days afterwards, and not just because of VAR, with the focus often on the most innocuous, or inconclusive incidents, is getting beyond tedious. It’s now dangerous.