Tomorrow, the stadium that John played for will have no visiting fans.
Consequently, for the duration of the cup tie, it will be an all-nativist affair.
Expect the memory of a street gang led by a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan and self-identifying fascists to be loudly heard.
A century on from the Billy Boys and the clearly stated racist eugenics in the 1923 Church and Nation Committee report, Ibrox is an echo of the old Scotland.
Sadly, it is one that Fair Caledonia seems to quietly ignore in the hope that it will Do Walking Away.
As ever, the Fitba Fourth Estate will either ignore what transpires or …err…make an honest mistake.
Here’s one that was made earlier.
Awkward…
If Mr Nevin is in situ, then he will be working really hard to see any Celtic fans do anything.
Dear reader, consider for a second that club communiqué apropos the match tomorrow.
When I read it, I was reminded of a succession of ex-players of the original Ibrox club who were wheeled out to beg for behaviour in Seville in 2022.
Thankfully, a combination of militarisation and dehydration seems to have saved “the capital of the world”.
However, the concerns about what was about to befall that beautiful city were, I would argue, well founded.
Here is my take from the time.
Especially after what had happened in Manchester in 2008.
Judge Andrew Blake in Manchester Crown Court didn’t mince his words when he sentenced eleven Rangers fans to prison for their participation in the riot after the UEFA Cup final in the city.
Because no away fans will be in attendance tomorrow, it will strain the false-equivalence narrative about crowd behaviour.
Indeed, that’s something that the SFA’s lawyers might already be realising from the last cup tie at Ibrox, when the club formed by Irish immigrants prevailed at the home of Scottish nativism.
Due to the cultural differences at both ends of the city, this isn’t the football rivalry equivalent of a Rorschach ink blot.
However, by this time, the new people in charge at Sevco probably suspect that their customer base is something of a stain on the place.
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I’m sure Aberdeen fans were celebrating on the pitch. Wonder what the punishment will be.
So, if Third Prize FC lose two derbies this week, will the sevconites be looking for a new manager? Or new owners with a boycott?
Tomorrow will be a feast of bigotry’ they cannot control themselves,
But will sky reduce the sound from the terraces ? And will Mr Pat I see things be in full voice.
The SFA may well have made a rod for their own collective back with their ground closure for both clubs….. cue the next instance of celebratory pitch incursion by over-exuberant yoofs when a diddy team wins a match by penalty shoot-out or unlikely last minute goal and we will all be entitled to wonder why they aren’t in receipt of a comparable punishment. But that’s our glorious governing body for you – thinking two errors ahead of everyone else since 1873.