Celtic have made their final decision on the ticket allocation offered to them by Rangers for the first Glasgow Derby of the season at Ibrox.
According to a report in The Sun, Celtic have rejected the offer of 700 tickets for the corner of the Broomloan Stand and the Sandy Jardine stand for the 3rd of September fixture.
The report also says that Celtic are looking to withhold Rangers allocation for the Parkhead fixture in December with the Ibrox club said to have written to the SPFL to ask the governing body to intervene on the row as per the rules on ticket allocations.
The SPFL rule i27 states, “The home club must make provision for the admission of such reasonable number of visiting supporters at every home League Match and Play-Off Match as may be agreed in advance with the Visiting Club and, in the event of their being unable to agree such number not later than 14 days prior to the date of the League Match or Play-Off Match in question, the number of visiting supporters allowed shall be determined by the Board whose decision shall be final and binding.”
In short, Rangers want their tickets for Celtic Park and they are taking steps to get them.
Celtic should hold firm in their ticket allocation stance
67 Hail Hail told back in May how the Celtic’s ticket allocation for Ibrox was set to be confirmed at around the 700 mark.
Celtic refused the allocation for the final Glasgow Derby match of last season and they are perfectly correct in doing so once again for the fixture in September. In fact, Celtic want a return to the old allocation but, unfortunately, that is something that the Ibrox club cannot offer due to the club’s season ticket holders in the stand.
Although frustrating for the away fans that love attending this fixture, the safety of the supporters must be of paramount importance.
Rangers have made assurances that security will be tightened up to allow the Celtic fans a safe space to support their team but the Parkhead board, after raising safety fears, are clearly still not convinced that it’s safe to accept the allocation.
Let’s not forget why this all began in the first place. Brendan Rodgers Celtic side was imperious during his first tenure as the Celtic manager and watching the full Broomloan Stand celebrate four Ibrox wins a row was clearly too much for Rangers to stomach.
This story is not over yet and I am sure there will be more twists and turns it develops over the coming weeks.
In other news, Elfsborg Sporting Director’s classy message to Celtic and Gustaf Lagerbielke
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