By Martin Samuel, The Times
On January 2, 1971, at the end of an Old Firm derby, 66 Rangers supporters were killed in a crush leaving Ibrox stadium. When the fixture fell on the same date 27 years later, it was considered fitting to respect one minute’s silence for the victims.
The only problem was the match was at Celtic Park. I was there. A solemn announcement was made, the referee’s whistle blew and silence descended, at which point a loud voice, audible throughout the ground, shouted: “Sunday, bloody Sunday, f*** ’em all” and chaos ensued.
There will be commemorations for the dead of the Munich air disaster at Old Trafford on February 10. The visiting team that day will be Manchester City. I am sure the majority of away supporters will be impeccably behaved, but it only takes one idiot. If the Premier League can fix the fixtures to give us a trumped-up Super Sunday for the television cameras every few months, surely they could have come up with a pairing less volatile than this?
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