Moving Celtic's opening Premiership clash with Rangers would open a can of worms and spark outcry - Chris Sutton

Everyone knows it’s the incredible atmosphere this game generates is part of what makes it box office. The way the calendar works, Rangers would be due to go to Celtic Park first next season, usually in August or September. Goodness knows what the situation will be like by then in terms of the coronavirus but the smart money is on Scottish football fans remaining shut out at that point. As usual up here, the mere suggestion of it has Rangers fans screaming conspiracy, but do me a favour. Some people think the heat will be on Celtic next term but as far as I am concerned it’s the other side of the city who are the ones who will feel it the most. His side lost to Hamilton Accies in their last domestic game and there was talk about his future. We could bump the Old Firm games back to March but for all we know Rangers could be third in the league by then and it won’t matter a jot. Celtic will be walking a tightrope in the qualifiers and there won’t be much room for a dodgy 25 minutes, never mind an off night. Teams have said over the years they’ve found Celtic Park to be an intimidating environment and you can go back to my time at the club to see how strong we were at home. That fear factor will be gone behind closed doors but motivation shouldn’t be a problem for the Celtic square regardless. I know it’s a staggered start due to restrictions but they will have about six weeks of pre-season under their belts and hopefully the Premiership will get under way on August 1 as planned. It will be treacherous but Celtic cannot afford – in every way – to miss out on the group stage for a third year in a row.