Rangers and Celtic managers address guard of honour talk as Barry Ferguson and Brendan Rodgers reveal stance

Celtic visit Ibrox on Sunday in their first game since clinching a fourth consecutive William Hill Premiership title and a 13th in 14 years. Discussion over whether Rangers will form a guard of honour for their visitors started soon after Celtic’s 5-0 win over Dundee United.

But interim Rangers head coach Ferguson pointed out on Friday that it has never happened between the teams and he thinks “it will always just remain that way”.

Ferguson stated: “I’ve been asked quite a few times about this, it’s never happened in the past. I don’t know why there’s always a big clamour about a guard of honour.

“It’s never happened whether it’s Celtic, whether it’s Rangers, and I think it will always just remain that way. Celtic are champions for a reason, because they have been the most consistent throughout the season, we haven’t, but in terms of a guard of honour, I don’t see that.”

Mark of respect

Rodgers feels a guard of honour for champions is a mark of respect that honours the traditions of football but understands why it won’t happen at Ibrox.

He said: “The guard of honour thing, it’s not a rule, that’s the first thing I would say. It’s not in the rules that you have to do it. And I think that when two clubs and the rivalry are so emotional, it’s always difficult for the team that comes up short.

“So, it’s one that I’m relaxed either way on it. It’s one where I’m a little bit of a traditionalist because there’s a lot of things that are going out of our game over on these isles that are just moving away from the traditions of the great managers and the great people that ran our game and were successful in our game.

“I always think if you’re a champion, or not a champion, showing that humility to the other team, whatever the rivalry is, it’s a mark of respect.

“But like I said, Celtic-Rangers, it’s an emotional rivalry, and if you’re up short, and if you come up short quite a lot, then it can be a challenge for you and to justify that with your supporters.”

Hoops seek atonement

Celtic moved 17 points clear last weekend but have lost the last two derbies and Rodgers has stressed the importance of atonement.

“This is a game that is all about pride, and we’ve proved our point over the course of this season in terms of our performance level, consistency,” he said. “I think the challenge in these games is that we’ve been so comfortable going into the games, and I felt that has really disrupted our mindset. When it was win or bust in the cup final, we won it, because that’s it. These games we’ve been so comfortable, and even though you’re pushing, I know what these games mean to supporters and what it means to myself and the club, there just can be that little bit in the back of the mind that you’re 13 points clear or 16 points clear.

“And so that has taken a fraction of an edge off that you don’t want, but there’s maybe a subconscious thing there. But this here, this is our last game. We are fighting for the pride of our team and also for our supporters, because we lost the last game at Ibrox, deservedly so. We shouldn’t have lost the game at home, but we did, and we have to make that right in the last game.

“I hear the talk up here about meaningless games. There’s never that. A Celtic-Rangers game, there’s never a meaningless game or there’s nothing in the game. There’s everything in this game, everything. So, we have to go and prove that on the field. Yes, we are champions with the best team, the most consistent team, with the mentality, Champions League progression, all of this here. But these are important games.”

Rangers demand response

Ferguson, meanwhile, is demanding a response to the criticism he levelled at his players following last weekend’s 2-2 draw with St Mirren in Paisley.

“There was a lot of frustration for a number of reasons because I wasn’t happy with the way the game went,” said the former Rangers captain, who revealed defender Leon Balogun has trained with a mask after a minor operation on a cracked cheekbone.

“Again, the full week, we’ve spent a bit of time moving through certain scenarios that I wasn’t happy with. We still obviously have another day to go. We’ll do a lot more work tomorrow, but they are clear on what I wasn’t happy with and I expect a big improvement in Sunday.

“It better change and it has to change. It’s something we have spoken about as a group and I expect them to take the information on. I couldn’t care less about the performance. I just want to get three points. It’s a bonus for me if you play well in the games. I don’t tend to look what happened in the past. That (Parkhead win) was a number of weeks ago and I’ll expect the same level, if not better in Sunday.”