Celtic withdraw from Scottish Cup!!!

“SFA officials were tonight desperately attempting to pour cold water on suggestions that Celtic will be disciplined for their refusal to go through with their scheduled Scotish Cup tie against Rangers at Parkhead on January 8/9th.

“The draw for the next round of the competition took place on Saturday evening and the pairing of Glasgow’s “big two” for the second season in a row was undoubtedly the pick of the fixtures. However, in the wake of the controversy caused by the pair’s last league encunter, there were some fears of unsavoury incidents between players and even fans.

“It would seem that the Parkhead club have taken the most drastic measures possible to avoid any reocurrence of the red cards and bad publicity which dominated the last derby, a bad-tempered affair which even attracted censure from Scotland’s First minister Jack McConnell..

“In a farcical media jamboree late this afternoon, it became clear that the SFA were endeavouring to pre-empt tomorrow’s Parkhead press conference. Eager to appear in control of the situation, the governing body issued a statement from their Hampden headquarters but have since refused to elaborate and appear unsure of what is really going on.

“The statement read “It is with great regret that the SFA’s executive committe has, conditional on further talks with all concerned parties, accepted Glasgow Celtic FC’s withdrawal from this season’s Scottish Cup tournament”.

“Sources in the East End of Glasgow have made it clear that, in light of manager Matin O’Neill’s statements on what he deemed the racist and sectarian behaviour of the Rangers support at Ibrox during last month’s Old Firm SPL match, refusing to entertain Rangers at the earliest possible opportunity “would be the only decent and noble thing to do.”

“O’Neill claimed Celtic midfielder Neil Lennon was a particular target for a torrent of bigoted insults during his side’s 2-0 loss in Govan. The Northern Irish midfielder, who spat on a Rangers scarf thrown onto the pitch and was seen to be involved in a heated verbal exchange wih Rangers manager Alex McLeish, was taken towards the Celtic support at the end of the match by his manager.

“Subsequent press statements by O’Neill, in defence of his actions, made it clear he is no longer willing to accept his players being taunted in this manner. With recent games in the Dutch Eredivsie seeing teams taken off the pitch because of racist crowd chants, O’Neill is obviously determined to take his moral stance to its next logical conclusion. The Celtic board, eager to support their most suscesful manager since Jock Stein, are clearly 100% behind O’Neill.

“An SPL insider today told us “there’s obviously a huge wory that this withdrawal could lead to an irreprable rift between Celtic and not just Rangers but the rest of Scottish football. As one of the two bigest clubs in Scotland and one of the biggest in the world it would be cutting off our nose to spite our face if Celtic were expelled from the SPL so this is unlikely to happen. It seems O’Neill is simply following up on his complaints about the Ranges support after the recent match at Ibrox and is unwilling to put his team through that experience again - even though Lennon wouldn’t have played in this cup game as he is suspended.”

“While Rangers supporters deny Lennon was singled out for any particular abuse during the November clash, other than when he spat on the scaf and was singled out by his own manager on the pitch after the final whistle, it’s clear Celtic feel very strongly about this issue and are taking a consistent stance on the matter, even if it means the SPL title is now the only competition available for them to win this season.

“Meanwhile, no-one at Rangers was available for comment. The Ibrox club can look forward to a bye into the Fourth round but with clubs now clearly prepared to make a moral stand against the darker elements of their support, Chairman David Murray will have a good deal more reason for worry than cheer.”

[courtesy of; Associated Press, Reuters Incorporated Limited: Foundation Of Overseas Lithographers]

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Published:
12.13.04 / 10pm
Category:
News