The SPFL recently stepped in on a ticket dispute, as the Celtic and Rangers allocation furore continues.
We’re in to about the ninth or tenth chapter of this tiresome story by now. It all started in 2018 when Rangers cut our allocation for Ibrox down from around 7,000 to just 800 (Scotsman) after a series of chastening derby losses.
Celtic played ball for a while, but after a series of issues in Ibrox derbies, now don’t wish to take tickets for our rivals’ ground.
The latest on the issue is that Rangers still intend to demand tickets for their next visit to Celtic Park, even if we don’t have fans at Ibrox.
It could all get very messy, very quickly and the league governing body may soon be called in to action.
Section I27 of SPFL’s rules 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.”
“Reasonable” is of course extremely vague. Many would argue that 700 (the current Ibrox allocation) is not reasonable for a derby of this magnitude. But it doesn’t seem to be an issue.
However, the SPFL have shown recently that they are prepared to get involved in allocation disputes, albeit at a lower level.
When the Championship title was set to be decided in a final-day showdown between Queen’s Park and Dundee, the Glasgow side offered their visitors just 400 tickets for Ochilview. (Football Scotland)
Despite the allocation actually being over 10% of Ochilview’s capacity, Dundee kicked up a fuss. Days later, they announced that they had secured “a minimum of 1,000” tickets.
In a statement, they said: “Dundee FC is very pleased to announce that, following representations made by the Club, the SPFL Board has determined that Queen’s Park FC is required to at least double our original ticket allocation for next Friday’s fixture at Ochilview to a minimum of 1,000.
“Whilst this is still considerably less than the expected level of demand, the Club would like to sincerely thank both the SPFL Board and Police Scotland for their prompt and careful consideration of our arguments in the interests of public safety and on behalf of our loyal supporters.”
So there we have it, the SPFL Board are prepared to get involved in allocation debates after all. Quite what this means for our dispute with Rangers, who knows.
It’s not clear how they secured additional tickets for Dundee, what sanctions they were willing to impose on Queen’s Park, or even if they would get involved in a much more high-profile case.
At least it shows that the governing body are prepared to govern from time to time.
In other news, Celtic have been included on a global list of the most valuable football brands
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