[Official TC Thread] Celtic vs The Rangers, Scottish Cup Semi Final April 17th, 12pm SKY SPORTS 2

Well that's a load off of Ronnys mind

 

Having listened to bits & bobs from the Scottish media it seems as though they're approaching this game in the same manner as they did Rangers playoff games with Motherwell.

Back then opinions ranged from Rangers walking all over Motherwell, to them certainly being favourites.

We all know how that ended.

 

Anyone know the ticket chances of this? Ken season ticket holders will get first option then what? Worst thing about not having my season ticket anymore, go to about 75% of games and never any guarantee

 

Doc has the battle fever on already. Rhyming off their players as you like :smiley-laughing002:

 

Anyone surprised he knows more about them than us?

 

Pop my head in, Doc is slabbering over the huns.

Seen this all too often, back out I go.

 

Not wanting to get involved in the "Warbles" chat then, nah? :smiley-laughing002:

 

No its * embarrassing. .20 pages on a sevco game 6 weeks away and 6 pages on a game we play on Saturday. .a game that is 10 times more important than this *...deal with this thread the week we play this mob...

No wonder we are * and infighting. ...media and newco win this round all day long

 

Problem is though, whether you or I like it or not people don't really give a * about the game against Partick Thistle. If the game next week was at home we would have about 20,000 fans at the stadium. I would be there because I'm daft enough to sign up for a season ticket every season, but the numbers have been * for so long. If the game next saturday was at home and against sevco you would bet your bottom dollar that we would have fans wanting to fill the stadium up twice.

So this forum only reflects reality. I can understand your frustration but we have to come to terms with what interests the fans. I actually think a lot of our fans are gloryhunting *. I was there last season in the Europa League, not in my normal upper tiered seat, but in some * lower tier seat behind the goal against Astra, Zagreb and Salzberg, because not enough of our fans gave a * enough to actually come and bother cheering us on against 'smaller European teams'. I understand money is tight, and life is hard and it is a big commitment to dish out a lot of money for supporting your football team, but it just annoys me because whenever a big draw comes up or a game against that mob happens, everybody * their pants for a ticket.

 

You and Venglos should go for pints. That would be the craic.

 

Well they should.

 

Judging by the length of this thread already, I think we can safely put to bed the myth that Celtic fans haven't missed Rangers. It's nothing more than bravado and lies in most cases.

 

Of course they should, I do, many don't. As you can see by our home attendance this season.

 

head for the market inn you,ll be safe there

 

Nope. He's just become person #3 on my ignore list.

 

Think I might join you :smiley-laughing002:

 

I have missed skelping them, and missed the competition from them.

But I can 100% guarantee you I have not missed them and their vile undead followers in a general sense.

 

I don't think anycunt's ever denied that we've missed hunskelpings? Them though? Nah, I've loved every minute of not having their bigotry around.

 

wee warburton " respectfully " worried ? 4 games in the last week when the leagues by ma bawz !!

Mark Warburton will strongly oppose any bid to reschedule one of Rangers’ Championship matches for the midweek before their Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic.

The Ibrox club are facing a potential fixture backlog if, as is anticipated, their home game against Queen of the South on 26 March is postponed because of international call-ups.

Rangers’ away league game at Livingston on 16 April will also have to be moved to a new date as Warburton’s men are now facing Celtic in the hotly anticipated Hampden showdown that weekend.

The first available free midweek for Rangers next month comes between their Petrofac Training Cup final against Peterhead at Hampden on 10 April and their return to the national stadium for the Old Firm Scottish Cup semi-final the following weekend.

But Warburton insists he would rather fit two postponed fixtures into the final week of the regular Championship season, which finishes on 30 April to facilitate the play-offs schedule, than disrupt his preparations to take on Ronny Deila’s side.

Of Warburton’s first team squad, Lee Wallace, Jason Holt, Barrie McKay and Liam Burt are all believed to be in contention for places in the Scotland senior, under-21 and under-19 squads which will be named today, while on-loan Arsenal midfielder Gedion Zelalem is likely to be in the USA under-23 squad for their matches against Colombia later this month.

“I would be keen to avoid rescheduling a game for the midweek between the Peterhead and Celtic matches,” said the Rangers manager.

“It’s fair to say that if you come off a final at the national stadium with a big build-up, that’s not the right thing to do. I’d rather play four league games in the final week of the season than put the players through that sort of poor preparation for a big game against Celtic.

“The international squads are announced on Thursday and we are beholden to when that information is released. Hopefully, we will find out what is happening with senior squads, under-21s, USA and overseas squads.

“We haven’t got massive numbers, we have a tight squad for reasons we have explained. But if we lose three, four or five players, then the date of the Queen of the South game will have to change. That’s outwith our control.”

Warburton, meanwhile, admitted top scorer Martyn Waghorn is unlikely to return from injury in time to face Celtic. The 26-year-old striker suffered ankle ligament damage at Kilmarnock last month on the night he scored his 28th goal in 34 appearances for Rangers.

But, while Waghorn is making good progress in his recovery from an injury expected to sideline him for eight weeks, Warburton is more concerned with ensuring he is fully fit again for the start of next season.

“No, we are never going to risk a player,” said Warburton. “We won’t try and get him in the team if he’s not right. Irrespective of his fitness or actual recovery from the injury, if he has been out for eight weeks he is going to need time to regain his match fitness and sharpness.

“Our only concern for Martyn is to make sure he is ready for the start of next season. If we do really well in the latter stages of this season, that might change things.

“At the moment, he is responding really well to his treatment programme. He is absolutely disappointed at the prospect of missing the Celtic game and it would be great to see him on that type of stage. But, fingers crossed, he’ll do well in his recovery and have more of those opportunities next season.”

Read more: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/footb...-prior-to-celtic-semi-1-4057637#ixzz42UH1Zzsh
Follow us: @TheScotsman on Twitter | TheScotsmanNewspaper on Facebook