Breaking News: According to Tom English, the Scottish Professional Football League is being questioned about Celtic’s ‘unreasonable’ behavior in the Rangers dispute

Tom English is of the opinion that the Scottish Premier League ought to pay attention to the fact that Rangers will once again play Celtic at Parkhead without any away fans.

The writer for BBC Sport responded on Twitter on December 19, following the release of a statement by the Light Blues in which they referred to the situation as “grossly unfair,” so putting doubt on the supposed corporate governance study that the league was conducting.

Despite the fact that the league’s subcommittee sided with the club on the judgment that it was “unreasonable” for Celtic to admit zero away fans, there will be no Rangers fans present in the Old Firm derby on December 30. This is because the Bhoys simply failed to offer sufficient evidence for the committee to decide how many fans should be allowed to attend.

English wrote the following in response to the statement that the Gers made regarding the standoff regarding tickets: “Questions for the SPFL to answer here.” At what point did the term “unreasonable” become sanctioned?

“And how is the review of the corporate governance proceeding?”

During the summer, the chairman of the SPFL, Murdoch MacLennan, made the announcement that the “independent review” would be conducted. This came after the league was compelled to apologize to Rangers for the sponsorship dispute [STV, 14 July].

Totally unfit for the job at hand

To put it another way, if the subcommittee is able to make the decision to back Rangers’ position, but the conclusion turns out to be the contrary owing to Celtic’s refusal to cooperate, then the exercise was a complete and utter waste of time.

The chorus of voices that are demanding for the restoration of away fans in Old Firm derbies at Ibrox and Parkhead continue to fall on deaf ears as a result of the fighting that is taking place at the executive level.

Club Statement | Old Firm Ticketing

— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) December 19, 2023

It is a step in the right direction for the Rangers administration to be striving to bring back traveling assistance to the game since the current arrangement is not beneficial to anyone.

If, on the other hand, the SPFL is able to support that stance while doing nothing to see it implemented, then their purported authority is rendered meaningless. Furthermore, if the governance review is taking place, it does not appear to be having much of an impact if the Gers have been left on the wrong end of another significant decision for such a ridiculous reason.

The atmosphere at one of the most important derbies in world football suffers when fans from one side are absent from the stadium. Finger-pointing about who initiated the controversy a long time ago has worn thin, but despite Ibrox’s willingness, it does not appear that the situation is any closer to being resolved.

It is the responsibility of the league administration to intervene in situations such as this one; nevertheless, the Premier Football League has demonstrated that it is absolutely helpless in this regard.