A competitive match between Celtic and the Rangers is almost always a must watch and an important game. But a friendly between the two raises all sorts of questions, if such a thing can even exist. The news that the two clubs will face each other in Australia in November has not been met with open arms from the supporters of both the clubs.
At the moment there is an odd situation where Celtic have spoken of a four-team tournament in Sydney, which is being branded as Ange’s homecoming, in their official statement.
On the other hand, the Rangers, have been much keener to promote the first ever international Old Firm fixture in their official statement.
Both sets of fans are not particularly happy with the news though. While Celtic supporters do not appear to be keen on meeting their crosstown rivals away in Sydney, it looks like the Rangers supporters are not pleased with the Ibrox side playing second fiddle in a tournament that is heavily being promoted as Postecoglou’s homecoming tour to Australia.
Rangers fans unhappy with Celtic friendly in Australia
The A-League have already tweeted about this being ‘The AngeBall World Tour’. Also, rumours of it being dubbed ‘The Postecoglou Cup’ haven’t helped. There are also rumours that Celtic are receiving more than twice of what the Rangers will get. Thus, it pretty much feels like they are playing second fiddle here.
As reported by The Scottish Sun, Dave King has given his take on the situation and taken the side of the supporters:
"“I am 100 per-cent with all supporters on this. It is not something that I would have sanctioned if I was still on the board.“Unfortunately, this is another in an increasingly long list of recent instances where the club has shown its indifference to supporter wishes and interests.”"
Several fan groups of the Rangers have already made it clear that they are not happy with the idea of the two Glasgow giants playing a friendly away in Australia. It is quite unusual to see fans of both the clubs broadly in agreement on one point, so this situation is quite a rarity.
Of course, it is not hard to see the reasons behind why the tournament was arranged and it could help both clubs compete with those from around Europe. It is still several months away though and for now, the focus must be on the Premiership title race, with Celtic sitting three points ahead of the Rangers as of now.