So the time lines and attendances allowed figures are:
17 July: Rangers v Arsenal - 2,000; Celtic v Preston - 2,000
20 July: Celtic v Midtjylland - 9,000.
24 July: Rangers v Brighton - 8,500 (why the 500 difference incidentally between this and their 9,000?); Celtic v West Ham - 18,500.
25 July: Rangers v Real Madrid - 12,750 (now we have a 5,750 difference - why?).
31 July: Rangers v Livingston - 17,000 (referred to as Rangers’ “COVID safety crowd limit” - is this an actual thing? If so, what is the criteria for determining it? If it is based on capacity of Ibrox and Parkhead then the numbers still don’t make sense. Nor does it make sense if you aren’t in any event maximising social distancing by opening all sections of the stadiums. And that is before you get into the fact that, as someone pointed out the other day, Ibrox is effectively compartmentalised into 12 or so different parts (I can’t quite recall what the number was but it was about 12 I think).
Celtic are “encouraged by the indicative figure of around 24,500 for the subsequent home game”. Is that them v Dundee on 7 August? Or a European game on 3/4 August (when we are away to Malmö / Helsinki)? If they are getting it for the European game, what are they then going to get for Dundee? Another increase? Why is there no mention of a Celtic “COVID safety crowd limit” and, if there is one, what is it and why does it differ from ours?
9 August: restrictions scheduled to lift.
10 August: Rangers v Malmö / Helsinki - full house expected.
Glasgow City Council’s statement just does not stand up to scrutiny, even against their own “explanation”. We both started at 2,000 fans. Two games later we are at 12,750 and they are at 18,500. Three games later we are at 17,000 and they are at 24,500.
I don’t think a “seethe” from Rangers is quite good enough here. The club should be demanding answers here and I’m sure they are. Whilst I understand why the club generally prefer to try to be diplomatic and do things behind close doors rather than have everything played out bitterly and in public, there are times when blatant double standards need to be laid bare and publicly called out. This feels like one of them.
How often do we hear about discrimination in Scotland, particularly the west coast of Scotland? Yet this sort of thing plays itself out like this. And, worse still, it plays itself out and nobody truly calls it out. We rant and rave on FF and the like and Rangers sources talk of “seething” but that’s it. That’s the extent of our voice. If the boot was on the other foot then this would be playing out on a very different way. James Dornan and co would be all over it.
And as an aside, the silence from Club 1872, the “fans’ group”, is deafening.