Football: Scottish Championship - Rangers take title amid the mayhem

Celtic 0 Rangers 3: Three sent off and 10 booked as Celtic lose crown at Parkhead

CELTIC WERE stripped of their title, and much of the their dignity, too, as Rangers clinched the Scottish Premier League title on the ground of their most bitter rivals. It was a scenario that proved too much for supporters and players.

Three players were sent off - two from Celtic and one from Rangers - by referee Hugh Dallas, who was struck by a missile while police restrained fans threatening to attack him.

This was the Old Firm at its bad, old worse. There were 29 arrests inside the stadium and both clubs, who must meet again on 29 May in the Scottish Cup final, may face an inquiry by the Scottish Football Association over the disgraceful scenes during and after the match.

The unedifying sight of the police hustling the Rangers team up the tunnel after their celebrations in front of their 7,000 fans tucked inside a corner of this cavernous stadium was more akin to South America than the east end of Glasgow. Rangers had been ordered not to celebrate if they won but they chose to ignore those wise police guidelines. Indeed, the taunting gestures by several of Dick Advocaat's players to those remaining Celtic fans in the post-match mayhem appeared inflammatory.

Celtic later revealed that four of their fans, who had stormed on to the p[itch during the match, have been banned for life, while they are scanning close-circuit television footage to identify the culprit whose missile left Dallas with a bleeding face.

Celtic's PR executive, Peter McLean, said: "We are very disappointed by the behaviour of several of our supporters and we expect to make a full apology for that behaviour."

McLean said he felt that Celtic and the police had taken adequate security to combat any chance of the trouble spilling over.

The bitterness that flowed from the stands may have been purely Glaswegian, but it obviously infects those from further afield. When the dust had settled, the three whose red cards merely inflamed local passions were a Frenchman (Stephane Mahe) and a Norwegian (Vidar Riseth) of Celtic, and an Englishman (Rod Wallace) from Rangers.

There were also 10 bookings thrown around by the capricious Dallas, whose decision-making has to attract some of the blame for fuelling the antagonism between the teams.

To the untrained eye it seemed that Rangers, particularly their robust captain Lorenzo Amoruso, could throw their weight around with impunity, while Celtic's every challenge brought either a foul, or worse.

Mahe found that out in the 31st minute. Booked earlier for dissent, he then delivered a volley of abuse at the referee after being awarded a foul and saw red. When Dallas awarded a penalty in the 44th minute, which Jorg Albertz coolly converted to make it 2-0, Celtic Park was in an uproar and the plot was lost.

McCann had delivered an early lead to Rangers, who had never won any of their previous 47 titles on their rivals' patch. His 12th-minute goal was a moment of supreme irony. The boyhood Celtic fan, who crossed the divide when he joined Rangers from Hearts six months ago, stabbed Wallace's cutback past goalkeeper Stewart Kerr.

Riseth's wrestling match with Vidmar allowed Albertz to double the lead and McCann put the final nail in Celtic's coffin in the 75th minute when he raced on to a pass from the substitute Jonatan Johansson and rounded Kerr to score the third goal.

Wallace was then sent off in the 85th minute for striking Riseth, before the unruly Norwegian midfielder earned his dismissal for scything down Claudio Reyna in injury-time.

Rangers' coach, Dick Advocaat, was sad that the fans' behaviour had marred his side's triumph. "We have led the league since the third weekend, so I think we deserve this. You could see the rivalry between the fans and the clubs, but there was no need for this," he said.

Goals: McCann (12) 1-0; Albertz pen 44 2-0; McCann (76) 3-0.

Celtic (4-4-2): Kerr; Marshall, Annoni, Stubbs, Mahe; Riseth, Lambert, Larsson, Wieghorst (Healy, 69); Brattbakk (Donnelly, 60), Viduka.

Rangers (4-4-2): Klos; Porrini, Amoruso, Hendry, Vidmar; Reyna, Van Bronckhorst, Albertz (McInnes, 85), McCann; Amato (Johansson, 73), Wallace.

Referee: H Dallas (Motherwell).