Celtic Fans Rally Around McCowan After European Exit — But Old Firm Derby Looms
Celtic's supporters turned a week of frustration into a show of backing, cheering midfielder Luke McCowan onto the pitch days after he deleted his social media accounts following online abuse.
The story begins with a Champions League play-off exit. Celtic were beaten by Austrian side LASK in Linz, a result that dumped Martin O'Neill's team out of Europe's elite competition before the group stage even began. The response from a section of the Celtic support was blunt: a banner unfurled at Parkhead reading "World Class Embarrassment" (BBC Sport).
McCowan, a Celtic midfielder, bore the brunt of the social media backlash over his performance in Linz. Former Celtic captain Scott Brown told BBC Scotland that McCowan deleted his Instagram or Twitter accounts because of the disrespect he received, and said the player should never have been pushed to that point (BBC Sport).
Then the mood shifted. When Celtic returned to domestic action and beat Falkirk — Camilo Duran scored twice, though Colby Donovan's own goal set up a nervy final 20 minutes — McCowan was introduced from the bench and received an ovation from the home crowd. Brown, who knows what it means to carry the weight of that support, thought the fans were "good" at the Falkirk match. O'Neill noted that supporters even cheered the team as they got off the bus before kick-off, something he described as unexpected and, in his view, probably not deserved (BBC Sport).
For fans, this is the dual nature of following Celtic: fury one week, warmth the next. The banner and the ovation both came from the same stand. What separates them is that one was aimed at the institution, the other at an individual who simply had a bad night at work.
Attention now turns to a fixture that needs no introduction in Scottish football. Celtic will face Rangers at Ibrox on 13 September in the quarter-final of the Premier Sports Cup — the Scottish League Cup, rebranded under its sponsor's name — with the draw made on 16 August (Celtic FC).
Rangers confirmed they will give Celtic 300 tickets for the match, a modest allocation typical of the reduced away sections used in the Old Firm derby (BBC Sport). Celtic's ticketing page states that allocation is already sold out (Celtic FC).
Across the city, Rangers manager Derek McInnes is still shaping his squad. He hopes to sign "a couple more" players to complete his preparations (BBC Sport), having already brought in James Penrice on loan from AEK Athens, with an option to make the move permanent (BBC Sport).
So both Glasgow giants enter September with work to do — Celtic nursing a European wound and searching for rhythm, Rangers tweaking a squad their manager does not yet consider finished. The first derby of the season at Ibrox will tell us plenty about where each of them stands.
