'Tiresome Waste of Time' - Hugh Keevins fumes at Rangers & Celtic fans over expected issue

Rangers and Celtic’s League Cup kick off is expected to be delayed while the two set of fans “play with their toys” and try to outdo each other with pyro displays, according to Hugh Keevins.

The Daily Record journalist sniffed at the prospect of Hampden Park being filled with smoke at the scheduled start time next month in his 10 November column for the paper’s website.

He slammed the likelihood as a “tiresome waste of time” after both semi finals saw Old Firm fans hold up the first whistles last weekend, as Celtic thrashed Aberdeen 6-0 on 2 November and Rangers came back from a goal down to beat Motherwell 2-1 a day later.

Keevins wrote: “We now know the Premier Sports Cup Final between Celtic and Rangers, which is scheduled to kick off at 3.30pm on December 15, will start sometime nearer to four o’clock.

“The weans will have to play with their toys first of all and one lot of supporters will have to out-ultra the other because that is pyrotechnic protocol. Visibility will be impaired and the whole business will be a tiresome waste of time.

“Don’t give me the baloney that pyro heightens the matchday experience. Celtic’s six-goal shimmy around Aberdeen in the first semi-final last week was more entertaining than smoke bombs. It’s the football, for better or worse, that lives on in the memory.”

Rangers vs Celtic final set to be held up

The pyro situation apparently isn’t going away and battle lines look to be drawn up along a generational divide, with older observers largely finding it pointless and dangerous.

The authorities agree and punishments have already come down from UEFA, while interim chairman John Gilligan has called for it to stop [BBC Sport, 16 October].

Players clearly appreciate fans creating a proper atmosphere but whether they want to try to play top-level sport in a cloud of smoke and fumes is potentially a different situation all round.

Either way Philippe Clement is unlikely to be focused on the stands come kick-off time next month as he badly needs an Old Firm victory at the sixth attempt.

Having scraped through to the final after finding his job in the spot light in major way off the back of league defeats at Kilmarnock and Aberdeen, failing to defend the only trophy he has lifted as Ibrox boss has been tipped to spell then end of his time in charge by Ibrox News pundit Derek Ferguson.

There has been indication already this season from high up in the hierarchy that the club are going to keep Clement in a job no matter how unhappy the fans get [Tom English, 1 November].

But another clash with Brendan Rodgers without success will only add to a worrying record and won’t convince any of the fans who have already given up on him to believe again.

In other Rangers news, “a lot of fresh investment” at Ibrox has been cited by a finance expert amid a “huge” claim.

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