There will be just 576 Celtic supporters at Tynecastle for the upcoming Scottish Premiership match against Hearts, it was confirmed by the club today.
The Bhoys will receive just one section of the Roseburn Stand, down from big 3,500 allocations a few years ago and 1,264 last season.
It’ll be disappointing for Celtic away day regulars. The tickets have been balloted amongst season ticket holders who attended 14 away games in 2022/23, but there isn’t enough to meet that criteria fully, meaning some die-hard fans will miss out on October 22nd.
Why is the Celtic Tynecastle allocation so small?
Hearts took the decision earlier in the year to restrict every away support in the Premiership except for Hibs, primarily to service season ticket holders.
Hearts CEO Andrew McKinlay told Sky Sports back in July: “We’re very much focused on, as you would expect, our own fans and the home fans. We’re in a really great position at the moment, thanks to those fans, that we have 15,500 season ticket holders and we actually have a waiting list now close to 7,000.
“So huge demand from our fans means 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 Hibernian.
“We’ve taken the decision that all teams other than Hibs will get the 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 and to make the atmosphere, which we all think is fantastic. Hibs will still get the whole end and I think that’s a very important thing for our fans, the Edinburgh derby and for football.”
While it’s obviously Hearts’ prerogative to service their own supporters, it is disappointing that away days in Scotland continue to be restricted. This has become a trend across the league over the last half decade and isn’t an issue solely impacting Celtic fans.
Away fans travelling up and down the country provide passion and flavour to the matchday experience and it’s a culture that should be encouraged, not diminished.
In other news, No surprises as Derek McInnes calls for ‘aggressive’ Kilmarnock at Celtic Park on Saturday.
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