Gerrard’s admission about embarrassing Celtic Park antics

Steven Gerrard has made a surprising admission about his embarrassing celebration at Celtic Park after Rangers managed to beat the Hoops in their own backyard.

It seems like a lifetime ago now but at one point Rangers were considered as genuine threats to Celtic‘s quest for nine-in-a-row. They had managed to dominate the Hoops at Hampden Park in the Scottish League Cup although an inspired Fraser Forster in goal had secured the trophy for Neil Lennon’s men on the day.

Less than a month later though Rangers did manage to get their win over their rivals. It was their first win at Celtic Park since 2010 and left them just two points behind them with one game in hand. It was a huge win for the Ibrox side for sure but their celebrations was way over the top. It seemed as if they had actually won the league although it was just December. And the Scottish media was happy to play along.

One man whose celebrations drew huge criticism from the Celtic faithful was Steven Gerrard. The Rangers manager had barely shaken Neil Lennon’s hand before he screamed into a camera and started to celebrated wildly. In hindsight, that must be an embarrassing moment for him especially because how the season has unfolded since then.

Gerrard even admitted that he would not celebrate in the same manner if he could go back in time. As reported by the Glasgow Times, speaking about the incident the Rangers boss said:

"“Derby games are the games that I love. If I could pick one game now that I could go back and play it’d certainly be the Merseyside Derby away at Goodison.“For some reason, I loved that fixture, I loved the hostility on the terraces. I actually thrived off the fear of losing them, the fear of what it would feel like if you lost one and you never wanted to go near that feeling.“I think that’s the reason for it, sort of, builds up and your behaviour comes from there. That was similar to my behaviour on the side at Celtic Park.“The team hadn’t won there in so long and, as the Rangers manager, it’s on your shoulders to get the right result there. The build-up, you become really tense and there is that fear of losing the game, so I think the reaction there, obviously, I wouldn’t do that again, in hindsight.“But that is just a load of passion and emotion pouring out of you at that time.”"

Ironically, the Ibrox title challenge completely fell apart after that game. After returning from the winter break, they went on a nightmare run of results that saw them fall 13 points behind Celtic in the table and ended all hopes of stopping nine-in-a-row. In many ways, the suspension of the season might have even ended up saving Gerrard’s job.