Rangers and Celtic have both remained silent on the disorder that followed Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final at Ibrox, with neither club having issued a statement at the time of writing.
Celtic won on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes to knock Rangers out of the competition, but it was the scenes after the shootout that dominated the headlines. Celtic supporters invaded the pitch following the victory, with many Rangers fans then doing the same, resulting in clashes that were deeply alarming for those present. The Scottish FA are understood to be investigating multiple incidents from the aftermath, yet both clubs have so far said nothing publicly.
Simon Jordan offered his take on that silence during a live appearance on talkSPORT, suggesting that expecting the two clubs to coordinate their response is somewhat naive given the nature of the rivalry. His view was straightforward: Celtic and Rangers cannot agree on anything at the best of times, so the idea of them producing a joint statement is unrealistic. Each club will be working toward a position that serves its own interests rather than a shared one, and Rangers in particular may be inclined to point to the fact that it was Celtic supporters who made the first move onto the pitch.
Both clubs could face fines from the Scottish FA as a result of the incidents, and the question of whether Celtic fans will be allowed back to Ibrox for future derbies now hangs heavily in the air, given that Rangers had only recently agreed to open the full Broomloan Stand allocation to the visiting support.
Meanwhile, Rangers must quickly shift focus toward their Premiership campaign. They travel to St Mirren on Sunday in a match they cannot afford to drop points in, given that they already trail Hearts by six points. A failure to win at the SMISA Stadium would leave Rohl returning to a hostile Ibrox the following week with supporters running low on patience. The German has largely enjoyed a more settled relationship with the Ibrox support than his predecessor Russell Martin ever managed, but the pressure is building, and the coming weeks could prove defining for his tenure.