Justice Secretary's warning to Old Firm clubs ahead of safety talks
Humza Yousaf says they'll consider postponing the match if there are police warnings of trouble
Last updated 12th Mar 2021
The Justice Secretary is telling the Old Firm clubs to get their fans to obey the law if they want their match to go ahead next weekend.
Humza Yousaf is holding an online meeting with leaders from Rangers, Celtic, Police Scotland and Glasgow City Council this afternoon and warning if Police get intelligence about disturbance or gatherings being planned then they'll consider all options, including postponing the match.
He told Clyde 1 News: "We have to send collectively - and that includes the clubs - an unequivocable message that people must stay at home. I'll certainly be impressing on the clubs to do whatever they can between now and March 21st.
"If there is disorder, not only is that bad for public safety but also public health, at one of the most critical junctures of the fight against the virus.
"If that is the intelligence we're getting then clearly the option of potentially postponing the match is one we would have to consider.
'Only so much clubs can do'
"There's only so much the clubs can do, but I would like them to talk to the players, the managers and club ambassadors and send out an unequivocable messages to their fans that you must stay at home.
"I'm hopeful the clubs will agree to that but ultimately they might do all of that and still the intelligence tells us that rival groups are going to come out and cause disorder.
"And if that is the case then we have to review every single option at our disposal."
First Minister's anger
His comments back up those of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon hit out at Rangers fans and heavily criticised the club, saying they could have done more.
In a statement to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday she said: "I share the anger and despair that the vast majority of people, including I'm sure the majority of football fans, felt at the weekend towards crowds of supporters flagrantly breaching rules that the rest of us are following every day at great personal cost.
"The behaviour witnessed at the weekend was disgraceful and it was selfish.
"Now it's natural that some of the anger people feel is directed towards the government and the police - I absolutely understand that. All of us must reflect on what more could have been done and what more we need to do to avoid any repeat in the future.
"But those at fault are those who breached the rules - how the police manage situations like this is an operational matter, the government cannot and should not direct policing operations.
Rangers issued a statement in reply to Nicola Sturgeon saying: "It is particularly disappointing that there has been a lack of acknowledgement from the Scottish Government to the wide range of efforts we undertook to limit public safety issues.
"It is also particularly disappointing that Mr Swinney has chosen to lambast Rangers publicly, given the fact that we had proactively initiated engagement with Police Scotland, the SPFL, the Scottish Government as well as a local MP."
The letter went on to list 10 events in which it claims to have made efforts in recent weeks."