Hearts wanted 9,920 fans in for Celtic opener

Hearts have released a statement admitting that they wanted as many a 9,920 fans in for their Premiership opener against Celtic on Saturday.

Jambos fans were left infuriated after the decision from Edinburgh City Council to only grant them 4,535 tickets for the game against Ange Postecoglou’s side.

The move was a stark contrast to how other sides in the Premiership have been treated by their respective councils. North Lanarkshire, for example, have allowed Motherwell around 6,500 tickets for Saturday’s game against Hibernian.

And last night, Hearts moved to explain the decision that’s left their fans feeling short-changed.

“Our initial application sought permission to welcome 9,920 supporters into the ground”

“As was the case for our home Premier Sports Cup fixture against Inverness CT, the Club submitted a ‘Physical Distanced Capacity’ application to Edinburgh City Council. Our initial application sought permission to welcome 9,920 supporters into the ground.

“We were subsequently advised by the local authority that, based on the need to ensure a 1-meter distance between each person within the stadium, our maximum Physical Distanced Capacity would be 6,047 as, in order to ensure said 1-meter distance, we are required to have two empty seats between each person.

“For our first game at Tynecastle following this advice we were allowed 50% of the Physical Distanced Capacity. Accordingly, for last Sunday’s fixture against Inverness CT we were permitted to host 3,023 supporters. For our second game (Celtic this coming Saturday) we are allowed 75% of the Physical Distanced Capacity. Accordingly, the number permitted for Saturday is 4,535.

“Should restrictions remain unchanged for our next home fixture (vs Aberdeen on August 21st), we would expect to be allowed to welcome 6,047 supporters (100% of our max. Physical Distanced Capacity).”

Hearts fans will still generate hostile welcome for Celtic arrival

Having over 9,000 Hearts fans at Tynecastle would’ve made for a class atmosphere. It would’ve been a cauldron for Celtic to walk into. And, in all fairness, we could’ve used that adversity to our own advantage.

Celtic of course can still generate a siege mentality. We won’t have any supporters at the Premiership opener. Even if there are only going to be over 4,500 Hearts supporters, it’ll feel like there’s more.

Just look at the atmosphere 9,000 Celtic fans created in a 60k-seater stadium last week. Even the 2,000 that watched on against Preston did well to create some buzz.

Celtic are right to put their own supporters first — Photo by Steve Welsh/Getty Images

Having over 4,500 in a 20k venue will still conjure up some decent noise. And that’s what you want from this fixture. Hearts vs Celtic shouldn’t be anything but a sheer battle with the crowd making the occasion a feisty one.

Postecoglou couldn’t have picked better circumstances to go and get our Premiership campaign off to a flyer. Win at Tynecastle and the confidence returns to Parkhead in spades.

It’s just a shame the Tynecastle club couldn’t get the stadium nearly half-full. That really would have made for some occasion.