Martin O’Neill pressures authorities with comments on Rangers vs Celtic ticket allocation – Exclusive
Anticipation is building ahead of Rangers’ Scottish Cup tie at home to bitter rivals Celtic.
Rangers thumped Queen’s Park 8-0 in the last 16 of the Scottish Cup on Sunday to set up a mouth-watering tie with Celtic, who edged past Dundee a day prior.
Before Rangers’ Scottish Premiership trip to Motherwell on Wednesday night, talk has already turned to their Celtic encounter at Ibrox on 7 March.
Celtic are set for a reduced ticket allocation at Rangers, who will also host Martin O’Neill’s side six days prior in the league.
After caretaker boss O’Neill suggested that Celtic should get a bigger allocation for this upcoming Old Firm fixture on their rivals’ home turf, more have weighed in on this matter.
Keith Hackett knows exactly what Martin O’Neill is doing ahead of Rangers vs Celtic clash
Scottish Cup rules state that away teams have the right to claim up to 20 per cent of tickets, which equates to approximately 10,000 supporters at Ibrox.
Prior to May 2018, Celtic fans traditionally took around 7,500 fans but that was slashed to 1,000 nearly eight years ago.
For a time, no away fans attended Old Firm games before last season, allocations of around five per cent, with extra security, were permitted.
Ahead of this crunch fixture, Celtic legend O’Neill said he “assumed” a full allocation of away tickets would be “forthcoming”.
“I don’t know the club’s stance, but if you take me out of the club at this minute, just being a Celtic supporter, I would want all the tickets we can get, the allocation that’s available to us under the rules. I assume that would be forthcoming,” he said on Tuesday.
“I thought that the Old Firm fixture lost a little bit in the sense that the full allocation was not given, for whatever reason. I don’t know historically what it was.
“I’ve got kind of an idea but it doesn’t really matter. But I think that that did lose a little bit of one of the great fixtures in European football, if not the world. But at least there’s some fans coming back and it makes a bit of a difference.”
Now, former FIFA referee Keith Hackett believes that O’Neill’s comments will put pressure on the powers that be over how many away tickets Celtic fans will get.
Indeed, the way O’Neill stresses how something has been “lost” in one of the “world’s great fixtures” could cause an allocation re-think.
Hackett exclusively told Ibrox News: “Martin O’Neill is a terrific manager and was a wonderful player that I was able to see first-hand when officiating. His knowledge and experience come through in these comments.
“He will be aware of the reduction in allocation of spectators, and his comments and influence put pressure on those administrators who are going to make the decision.”
Danny Rohl’s Rangers face season-defining run of games
Rangers sit second in the Scottish Premiership, three points ahead of Celtic, who have a game in hand, and three adrift of leaders Hearts.
On Wednesday night, they face a tough trip to fourth-placed Motherwell, who have the meanest defence in the division with 17 conceded in 24 games.
If they can claim a big win there, that sets them up perfectly for Sunday’s home clash with the season’s surprise package Hearts.
In October, Rangers were eighth and sat 10 points behind Hearts. By the end of this week, they could go top under Danny Rohl.
| Rangers’ next five matches | Competition |
| Motherwell vs Rangers | Scottish Premiership |
| Rangers vs Hearts | Scottish Premiership |
| Livingston vs Rangers | Scottish Premiership |
| Rangers vs Celtic | Scottish Premiership |
| Rangers vs Celtic | Scottish Cup quarter-final |
After this tricky double-header, they then travel to bottom of the table Livingston on 22 February before renewing their Old Firm rivalry with Celtic at Ibrox on 1 March.
Less than a week later, the Gers lock horns with the Bhoys again, this time in the Scottish Cup. It is fair to say that this run of games could make or break Rangers’ season.