Celtic WON’T be taking any tickets for the April 7 Glasgow Derby at Ibrox.
There have been no away fans at the last four SPFL meetings of the clubs after Celtic raised security concerns following the match on 2 January 2023 when 700 of their supporters were in the corner of the stadium between the Govan and Broomloan Road Stands.
Discussions have been on-going between the clubs but now, 10 days before the match takes place Celtic have decided not to put the safety of their fans at risk at Ibrox.
Almost certainly Celtic won’t be offering any tickets to their city rivals for the post-split SPFL fixture which could take place as early as April 27.
Neither club issues statements on these decisions, normally the Daily Record or Sun is informed by a ‘source’ from one club, with a ‘source’ from the other then giving their version to the other publisher.
There has been suggestions of the SPFL enforcing minimum away allocations but with Neil Doncaster involved nothing is expected to come of that. Since inception SPFL rules have insisted on a reasonable allocation for away fans, with no definition of what reasonable is the rule is pointless.
In the Scottish Cup clubs are obliged to make 20% of their stadium available to away fans but that rule hasn’t been invoked for a Glasgow Derby since the formation of Charles Green’s Tribute Act in 2012.
After two seasons in the top flight which saw Celtic winning four successive matches at Ibrox Dave King opted in the summer of 2018 to give Celtic the same allocation of tickets to Ibrox as every other SPFL Premiership club.
Celtic reciprocated that move, the numbers have varied between zero and 800 but a return to 7,000 away fans at either stadium looks unlikely with the only possible concession being the ‘Euro-allocation’ of 2,500 away fans at each stadium.
CLICK HERE for the Crawford Allan rumours.
CLICK HERE for Celtic decide against taking tickets for September Glasgow Derby.
