Brendan Rodgers has urged Celtic to follow Sir Alex Ferguson’s lead and prove their class by offering Rangers a champions’ guard of honour at Celtic Park on Sunday.
And he hopes the painful gesture will motivate the hurting Hoops to go and reclaim their crown next season.
The controversial tradition has fired debate among punters particularly as Celtic weren’t offered one two years ago when their first game after clinching eight-in-a-row was at Ibrox.
But Rodgers - who left Parkhead just two months before that occasion - insists it would show humility if Scott Brown and his team-mates were to clap Steven Gerrard’s players on to the field this weekend.
Rangers first title in a decade stopped Celtic clinching an historic 10-in-a-row, something Rodgers admits hurt him as a Hoops fan.
However the Leicester boss admits the memory of Ferguson’s Manchester United giving Chelsea a guard of honour in 2005 still resonates.
He said: “My feeling is always that you should show humility and class and be a sporting team.
“I can never forget when I was at Chelsea as a young coach and in that first season with Jose Mourinho they won the title.
“I remember going to Old Trafford to watch the game and I’m sure that the United players didn’t want to do it.
“That must have been really, really difficult but it showed you the class of Sir Alex and showed you the humility of him.
“It was sporting but can also provide you with great motivation going forward.
“It’s something that for me - despite the rivalry and how difficult it is - you should do and then use it as motivation.”
