Hearts CEO, Andrew McKinlay has confirmed that the Edinburgh club plan to reduce away ticket allocations next season for all clubs except Hibernian. The Edinburgh Derby will be safe from any cuts as both capital clubs have reached an agreement to maintain the status quo for next season.
Speaking to Sky Sports, McKinlay said, “Yeah, so we are very much focused on, as you’d expect, our own fans and the home fans. And we’re in a really great position at the moment thanks to those fans that we have fifteen and a half thousand season ticket holders and we actually have a waiting list now close to 7000.
“So huge demand from our fans means that we already have a large number of season ticket holders in the Roseburn Stand, the traditional away part of the ground.
“And those season tickets apply for every game other than Hibernain. We’ve taken a decision that all teams other than Hibs will get one section at the end of the stand. And we’ve come to an agreement with Hibs, which is great to keep the derby as it should be to make the atmosphere which we all think is just fantastic.
“Hibs will still get the whole end and I think that’s a really important thing for our fans, for the Edinburgh Derby and for football.”
What does this mean for the Celtic fans?
Well, as 67 Hail Hail told earlier this month, reports suggested that the club will receive just 650 tickets for the trip to Tynecastle. Whilst the Hearts CEO didn’t confirm the exact number of tickets that would be available, you can imagine the number won’t be too far from that.
Celtic received just 1264 tickets for the title clincher last season. With the club carrying a healthy travelling support to whichever ground they go to, many fans still struggled to get a ticket for one of the most important games of the season.
Next season is going to be even tougher. Unless there is a significant increase in the 650 tickets that have been reported as being made available to Celtic fans next season, a lot of fans who have been committed in following the club all over the country for a number of years are going to find themselves at a loose end when the Tynecastle fixture comes around.
And whilst I understand the need for clubs to look after their own fans and that what they are doing is within the ‘rules’, we are in danger of seriously diluting the atmosphere in every Scottish ground around the country if this trend of cutting away allocations continues.
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