Rangers accused of jumping on the bandwagon with Celtic ticket decision
Rangers “jumped on the bandwagon” when offering Celtic a limited number of tickets for last month’s Old Firm showdown, according to journalist John McGarry.
Celtic rejected the Gers’ reported offer of just 708 tickets for the 3 September clash at Ibrox [Sky Sports], which in turn could mean no away fans at Celtic Park for the return fixture.
The issue has been back in the news this week as Hearts reduced Celtic’s away allocation to just 632 for last weekend’s meeting, having previously been given as many as 3,500 tickets [Sky Sports].
Discussing the issue regarding away ticket allocations in Scottish football, McGarry told PLZ Soccer’s The Journos podcast [26 October, 6m 53s]: “If people look back and draw a line in the sand over what started the lunacy of this, at what killed the Rangers v Celtic game, for me it’s Hearts v Hibs.
“Leeann Dempster decided we don’t need the Hearts fans there, we’ll given them a smaller allocation, and from that point in the sand, Rangers jumped on the bandwagon and said well we’ll do the same because we have fans battering down our doors.
“So you’re in a situation there where it’s tit for tat – Celtic say if we’re not getting 7,000 tickets, you’re not getting 7,000 tickets.”
Not great
This appears to be an issue of growing concern in Scottish football. It does not just relate to away tickets, either, as there is also controversy over Rangers being allocated more seats for the upcoming Scottish League Cup semi-final with Hearts.
Having limited – or indeed zero – away fans at Old Firm derbies is disappointing. While there was still a great atmosphere at that most recent meeting, it would have been better had there been Celtic fans inside the ground.
The decision ultimately comes down to the club, but surely there should be rules in place that determine how many tickets away teams are allocated?
If they fail to sell them, or if the police intervene for whatever reason, then changes to the allocation can be made.
But on the basis of last month’s Old Firm and last weekend’s Hearts v Celtic match, reducing the number of away seats – and failing to sell out the home end in Hearts’ case – is not a great look.
Let’s hope a solution is reached ahead of the next showdown with Celtic at Ibrox.
In other Rangers news, a report on Thursday (26 October) suggests Rangers are in line for a £50million-plus financial windfall.