Hours and hours of ballot related chat means one thing: Celtic have a big Hampden match on the horizon.
While the focus of Ange Postecoglou and his players will be on this weekend’s league clash against Rangers, many supporters have been forced to think about another derby later this month.
On Sunday 30 April we face our bitter rivals at the National Stadium, for the right to face Falkirk or Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup final.
Celtic announced ticket details for the game against Rangers yesterday, including who had been successful in the dreaded ballot.
For the semi-final, the club have balloted the available tickets between “all season ticket holders on the Home Cup Ticket Scheme.” (Celtic)
They did the same for our February League Cup final against the same opposition.
There isn’t enough supply in the 25,000 odd tickets to meet demand, so some match-going supporters frustratingly have to miss out. Some on both recent occasions, which doesn’t seem particularly fair.
At this point, I will admit to not being totally au fait with ticket protocols at the club. It is clearly a complex issue with plenty of difficulties as the replies on the club’s Twitter feed would show.
It does, however, seem more than a bit unfair that some supporters have got good news in both recent derby ballots, while others have missed out on both major matches.
I say this as someone who has had mixed results, getting a ticket to the recent final but missing out in this week’s draw.
Surely there is a fairer way for the club to cater to demand. Surely all fans who were unlucky for February’s game should be guaranteed a ticket for April’s one.
They could then ballot any remaining tickets between who is left. Surely no supporters would have any complaints about that.
This isn’t an article calling the club out. It’s a complex issue, as I say. They would probably argue that the current process is the simplest way to do things.
But is it the fairest?
In other news, Celtic are set to face Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan this summer
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