Celtic have secured the full Broomloan stand for their Scottish Cup tie at Ibrox, it is being reported.
When Martin O’Neill’s men were drawn out to play away against Rangers in the quarter-final, attentions quickly turned to the potential return to the traditional allocation.
Scottish Cup rules dictate that clubs have the right to take up to 20% of stadium capacity, meaning that Celtic could take up to 10,000 fans to the game in theory.
But the Daily Record now report that Hoops fans will be given around 7,500 tickets for the game, with the entire section of the stadium being designated for away fans.
The news marks a welcome break from the drastically decreased allocations to which we have become used over the last eight years.
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Celtic vs Rangers ticket allocation confirmed
The potential of a 10,000 allocation caused debate, as it would’ve required additional segregation elsewhere in the stadium.
But the report mentions that there was ‘no realistic possibility’ of this being granted.
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Last year, the two clubs reached an agreement to increase away allocations to around 3,000, after less than 1,000 becoming the norm for half a decade.
There were many instances which saw no away fans at derbies at all, with Celtic refusing their allocations due to concerns for fan safety at Ibrox.
Speaking about the allocation last week, O’Neill clarified his expectation for how many of the Parkhead faithful would be allowed at the game.
He said: “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.
“But to get the full allocation as we did…you know, going to Ibrox and having the side to the left full of Celtic fans was always gratifying.”
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