Gordon Strachan is hoping this weekend’s Celtic and Rangers match passes peacefully – after he was left stunned by the “horrible” incidents in Liverpool last week.

The former Celtic and Scotland manager was shocked by the scenes outside Anfield last week when the Manchester City team bus came under siege as it rumbled towards the ground ahead of the Champions League first leg tie between the English giants.

Wary of the chaos which marred the infamous Celtic and Rangers match in 1999, there remain sensitivities surrounding the possibility of Celtic winning this season’s league title against Rangers after the Premiership split.

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And Strachan remained sympathetic with those involved with sorting out the fixture list heading into the latest meeting between the old Glasgow rivals.

He said: “The Liverpool and Man City game was wonderful but what we end up talking about was a bus getting attacked. It was a horrible sight. It wasn’t a surprise to me because I was on a bus which was attacked with CS gas at a Manchester United v Liverpool game. And I got a brick thrown at the bus. I’ve seen it before and it’s frightening when it happens.

“Nobody knew it was coming last week and if you take it for granted then something like that might happen here.

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“I hope that never happens here but it can and that’s why the Government and police think we maybe can’t take that gamble. I can understand where they are coming from.

“Yes we want to promote the football, but the scenes in 1999 when the ref was hit with a coin were ones that went round the world and we don’t want that again. Have we got better? I don’t know.

“But when you see the Liverpool scenes then you think ‘hmm - I don’t want that coming from my country’.”