Stephen Robinson has told the media that Celtic will not get a guard of honour from his players, in a decision that he claims was made “above his head.”
I’m curious about this for a couple of reasons, the most obvious of which is why are directors making that decision for managers and players who might want to pay such respect to fellow professionals?
The other question is just what is the St Mirren’s board’s problem with affording Celtic a traditional mark of respect for a great football campaign?
This game either has standards or it doesn’t. it either respects traditions or it doesn’t. The Scottish Cup Final won’t be played at 3pm on a Saturday this year; that’s a brick out of the wall. This is another one.
Look, there isn’t a single person at Celtic who expected to receive even a crumb of respect from the club at Ibrox for our title triumph.
There are some in our own support who are adamant they would be dead-set against giving a guard of honour to their club, no matter what the circumstances.
But then, these clubs detest each other from the stands to the boardrooms, in a way that the word “rivalry” doesn’t remotely do justice to.
St Mirren’s decision is abysmal because no-one expected it from them. Nobody expected them to be small and petty over this.
Sure, I’ve written before about how their club has taken the ludicrous decision to limit Celtic to one stand at their ground, when three of the others have a good chance of being empty, and bemoaned what happens when “fans” are in control of the board at certain sides … but this is really pathetic from them, and I hope someone at Celtic asks what their problem was.
This isn’t about the “guard of honour” per-se.
Celtic will live without it, and it says more about their club than it does ours and what it says is nothing good.
This is basic civility, basic decency, a little bit of sportsmanship instead of a descent to partisan squabbling … and they have failed on that moral test and for no reason that I can fathom.
Our game just became a little less friendly, a little less accommodating, a little less respectful.
Whatever they thought this decision meant, it will leave a bitter legacy which will last far longer than any temporary, sneering satisfaction they take from it.
This is how the descent of standards begins, not with huge totemic gestures but with small chickenshit acts like this.
I hope they’re proud of it.
I will never be surprised by the capacity of most of Scottish football’s so called leaders to demonstrate mean, petty and vindictive behaviour – and allow their vindictiveness to trump their commercialism- St Mirren being a classic example – hard to imagine any other part of business where they don’t want to sell their product to customers [ie Celtic] who are keen to buy.
Neither wonder St Mirren and other who follow this example have financial problems. What is more worrying that company directors who have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders, support this practice. But after all it is another example of the best wee bigoted country on the planet.
Frankly who gives a tam tit ?! Couldnae care less and don’t think they’re necessary anyhow. We’ll have our day at Celtic Park and hopefully, shortly afterwards again at Hampden. Thats all that matters.
Sums up Scotland, the best wee bigoted country in the world, it just shows how deep bigotry is in this country, when the media will make out bigotry is not as bad as it was.
Let’s face it, St Mirren is the go to club for huns who don’t want to be known as huns, e.g.
Chic Young, Madden, Steven Thompson et al, and the ground is only a short march from the Victorian Lavvy.
That deserves a double figure pumping. Bobby Madden will be delighted.
So much for the SFA and the TV outlets etc pushing their ‘respect” motif’s before each game. Then they wonder why some morons in the crowd show no respect. All I can say is that after following the Celtic for over 50 years we have never dropped to that level and never will regardless of who the league winners are. Changed days.
Traditions that once stood within Scottish football have now finished.
Hardly surprising with ourselves set to win another treble and in doing so setting the world record.
We know that the scum remain responsible for the standards set in Scottish football regarding respect, and as the scum have fuck all but bitterness then expect everyone else to follow suit.
Expecting already that we will have no supporters present at the 1st of the Glasgow derby’s next season as the last one would be regarded as such a great success.
Such small minded approach within Scottish football hardly does any good for the game in general, so leaves us with no other option but to continue with rubbing there noses within there own shite.
The guard of honour is officially over as I see it, and not one bit bothered by it either, as its not going to deter from our domination of Scottish football whatsoever
@ johnno. And ah couldnae have put it better masel !
CELTIC should have the ballboys give the team a guard of honour at the end of the game. To show st mirren “who at the club took this petty decision” how easy it can be done and make a fool of them for that decision…..st mirren have joined “the rangers” as a laughing stock to Scottish football or (shame).
Forget the guard of honour nonsence, fans go to see football not the political garbage created by media outlets.
Let’s just play the match and enjoy it.
If you want a guard go to Buckingham Palace, otherwise move on.
Maybe I am getting old, too old to remember, but wan’t this ‘guard of honour’ crap mot something that is sed to happen on flag day? The visiting team would show their respect on the first day of the following season and that would be that?
Lets be frank here, looking for every team we play after becoming Champions until the end of the season is nonsense anyway – what about the teams in the bottom half of the split? What happens if we don’t win the title until the last day of the season? Guard of Honour is just irrelevant- as long as we win the flag, I couldn’t care a hoot what the other do or don’t do.
Personally, I think this is making a mountain out of a molehill and honestly not worth your time. Perhaps look for quality before quantity for you blog, or can we expect another three stories of a similar ilk between now and the end of league season?
Aberdeen game
So now the tradition is no guard of honour. Happy to go with that going forward. HH the Champions
Right on. Means hee-haw.
Good afternoon James, I am a regular reader of your work and generally find myself nodding in agreement.
I don’t have any great disagreement with this piece but I have been following Celtic for 50 years and I thought the “guard of
honour” was a fairly recent thing.
I am curious as to when it became a thing and have we bestowed this accolade on our city rivals?
It’s also a tradition in Scottish football that match officials must be Rangers supporters. When are they going to drop that tradition? Widen the pool for referees. Remember a small pool leads to mental disorders. eg. Robertson denied a foul for a block on O’Riley- the result? The whole Rangers defence froze- the Celtic attack being used to such decisions carry on and score. You see what happens with Rangers supporting referees. Rangers are unfairly disadvantaged. It’s got to stop.
You could bet a lot of money that if Tony Fitzpatrick was still in charge at St Mirren , there would have been a guard of honour ! It’s all pettiness from a below average manager and club . No biggie !
Is it possible to send youth players or more out to their rivdld for s season.
Unintended consequences anyone.
Pals of Celtic good loan players.
St mirren well they are after all a very sectarian hate filled club .its rotten to the core this club disrespect ignorance hate evil that is st nirren.but hopefully celtic batter at least 10 goals against them to learn them manners
The Scottish central belt is rotten,and this is just another example of it.Simpletons thinking this is some kind of grand gesture.
It’s all.very sad, but let there players, management, and Directors feel the huge wave of Happiness emanating from Celtic Park.
It’s just so typical of the West of Scotland mentality and the anti-Celtic bias is which is prevelant in every aspect of West of Scotland life.
Of course it’s just a coincidence that historically St Mirren’s attendances always improved when the team from Govan were going through a bad patch but that’s another story altogether.