The Press Is Trying To Turn Our Fans Against Ange, And Celtic Gave Them The Opening.

Late last night, before I turned in for bed, The Evening Times ran an article which claimed that Ange has said he was “delighted” and “looking forward” to taking on the Ibrox club in his home nation.

I was puzzled at that headline, because he said no such thing.

I talked about it Twitter, and before the hour was up the Times had altered the headline and the story and removed the references to the Ibrox club. Their tactics are despicable.

It was an all-too obvious attempt to put Ange on the wrong side of fan opinion.

The thing is, it won’t be the last time the press plays this card.

The game isn’t due to be played until November; we have between now and then to fall out a million times over this.

The press will keep asking Ange how much he’s looking forward to it. He will do well indeed not to give an answer that the media will attempt to use to split him from the supporters.

We will condemn the media for this every time they attempt it.

But let’s not kid ourselves on here; the media is simply doing what you would expect them to do. They will make mischief against Celtic whenever and wherever and however they can.

It is the club itself which provided them with an opening this time.

It is the club itself which allowed this line of attack, by organising the fixture in the first place.

The club has placed the manager in the abysmal position where he has to take the flak for a decision that they knew full well would infuriate the fan-base, which has been vocal on this matter before.

We have no interest in playing the Ibrox club in any match where such a thing is not necessary to fulfil domestic or European fixtures.

It’s really as simple as that.

We have no interest whatsoever in the promotion of the toxic Old Firm brand, which is all this does. Our club claims to deplore the very idea of it, yet their actions signify the complete opposite.

Ange doesn’t know any of this. He probably doesn’t care.

The trouble is that the fans do care, and our position on this won’t change whether he backs his employers on it or not.

All this does is drive a wedge between the club and the support.

We would all rather Ange was not involved in the debate, but the media will keep on poking this running sore.

And I blame the CEO and the directors for that, the people who knew – who have always known – that this idea would not fly, that the fans would not support it.

It seems pretty clear that they have cynically used this moment and this particular manager to push this scummy agenda.

They are thoughtless and arrogant and utterly dismissive of fan opinion.

They do not care that Ange will have to face questions about this and will have to attempt to defend it.

This whole thing is a public relations disaster of epic proportions.

Celtic fans will be protesting and shouting about this match all the way to the kick-off.

Ange’s homecoming has been tarnished by the actions of our own board of directors. They have made it about this now, instead of about him. I cannot express enough my disbelief and disgust at it.

The media is loving this.

Already people like Tom English are tweeting about it and openly mocking the club for its contradictory stance and its embrace of the hated “rivalry.” He will not be alone in that.

Everyone is going to take their shot, and the anger of the fans is not going to dissipate; on the contrary.

Yesterday was Day One.

When the fixtures are formally announced and the PR campaign to sell tickets gets underway, wait and see how it’s promoted.

What a grotesque situation they have managed to manufacture here.

Of all the things they could have done, to do this … to make Ange’s triumphant return to the nation where he’s a hero about a money-grubbing exercise which they knew would infuriate the fans … they have no loyalty to Ange whatsoever, no consideration for him at all.

Which is to say nothing for the contempt in which they hold us.