NO STRANGERS TO THE DANGERS

We have a responsibility to behave but it’s about laying down a marker

THE sight of police at the training-ground gates is not new to Brendan Rodgers. As manager of Swansea, a visit from the local constabulary before games against Cardiff City was a grim, foreboding fact of life.

Yet Celtic’s manager is under no illusions. A game against Rangers prompts a societal twitch. The rivalry and loathing is such that otherwise sane, normal men lose all sense of perspective.

The calling card for this remains 2011. Three Rangers red cards during a Scottish Cup replay at Parkhead ended in Neil Lennon and Ally McCoist squaring up on the touchline.

A government summit was followed by the implementation of the deeply unpopular — and flawed — Offensive Behaviour at Football Act. And it didn’t end there. In the aftermath of ugly scenes at the climax of the Scottish Cup Final, justice minister Michael Matheson warned clubs to implement strict liability — or else.

The threat was ignored and that’s one more reason for Holyrood politicians to watch the action tomorrow with a legislative timetable close at hand. Blame for domestic abuse and alcohol abuse is now routinely laid at the door of Scottish football. And Police Scotland have no wish to see managers or players throw a match at a flammable situation.

‘Police had a chat with the players and then an individual chat with them and our security,’ said Rodgers. ‘It’s fine. They have a responsibility, of course.

‘It is a wonderful game, a great game to be involved in, but you have a responsibility.

There was a law passed here in terms of what happens if you misbehave. We generally hope in games between Celtic and Rangers, or any games, that it never ever comes to anything like that.

‘But, of course, they have to protect the land and protect the law, players accept it, I accept it and we get ready for a great game.’

Police influence extends beyond what happens off the pitch. The practice of referees booking players for leaving the field of play to celebrate a goal is loathed by fans. Glasgow derbies evolve around passion and, when that goes, the football sometimes isn’t much to write about.

Rodgers, then, expects the common sense to work both ways.

‘I saw one of our players (James Forrest at St Johnstone) got booked for celebrating a goal,’ he said. ‘He wasn’t even in the crowd, so you have to be careful.

‘It’s an emotive game and there is passion, you want that. That’s what makes football and what makes these games, the passion. We want that, but, obviously, we have to be aware of the responsibility as well.’

The prospect of Rodgers and Mark Warburton jabbing fingers in each other’s face at time-up is, at best, remote.

The two worked together for seven months at Watford. They were colleagues rather than close friends.

‘We haven’t spoken much,’ admitted the Celtic boss. ‘Mark and I worked together for seven months and I probably knew others better than him when I was there and when I left to go to Reading we had sporadic contact.

‘When he was at Brentford and I was at Liverpool he would ring up, but we are not going out for dinner or anything like that. But he is a good guy. I know some of the other guys that work with him like Frank McParland, who I know well and he is a good fella.

‘He did a really good job in his first year — he turned things around and got them promoted. Obviously now at this level they haven’t lost, but he is now seeing what the expectation of being at a club like Rangers means.

‘They brought in a lot of players. That always takes time if you are bringing in nine or 10 players, it is all very difficult. But I look forward to having a drink with him after the game — we’ll catch our breath probably.’

Warburton is not the only Rangers figure Rodgers has a working knowledge of. Rob Kiernan’s defensive abilities have been called into question at times and Rodgers is partly responsible for shifting the Irishman back from a midfield berth at Watford.

‘Rob wasn’t getting a lot of chances in the youth and reserve teams because there were other players ahead of him,’ he recalled. ‘But because he had good size and stature I thought he could play No 2 centre-half.

‘I thought he would need a dominant one beside him — but he could play football and he could serve the ball.

‘He was a good kid, wanted to learn and I watched his development as he came up to Scotland and then went to Wigan. Now he finds himself at Rangers.’

An Ibrox team-mate is Jordan Rossiter, the teenage midfielder handed his Liverpool debut by Rodgers.

‘Jordan was competitive, he was a star for the youth England teams and did very well with them,’ he continued. ‘I wanted to test him when we were playing Middlesbrough and they were at the top of the Championship, which is a very competitive level, and he did not look out of place and scored a goal.

‘Unfortunately there were a lot of good players, which made it hard for him, and obviously he wanted to leave to play regular football.’

Old friendships are irrelevant in the heat of a Celtic-Rangers game. They don’t exist. With the backing of a home crowd, Celtic have an opportunity to go four points clear of their rivals with a game in hand.

‘If you can get a win against one of your rivals early on, it puts a good marker down,’ admitted Rodgers. ‘I think in the last match Rangers were the better team in the semi-final.

‘But this is a different team and certainly a different mentality. This is a measure of where we are.’

The police have had a chat with the players and we accept that