Celtic react to Ibrox shambles by withdrawing 2,500 Derby match tickets

The ban on away fans at the Glasgow will continue into the new season with the September 1 match at Celtic Park being played without any away fans.

The ongoing farce over a home ground for the 2012 Tribute Act has forced Celtic into pulling the plug on the plan for 5% of the stadium capacity going to away supporters.

Safety issues resulted in Celtic refusing tickets to Ibrox in May 2023 with the last six matches played out in front of home fans only.

Netting and other safety features have been installed at Celtic Park to accommodate 2,500 away fans but nothing has been put in place at Ibrox with no certainty that the stadium will be open for the January 2 clash.

Faced with that situation Celtic will now have around 3,000 more fans at the September 1 match once segregation is removed.

With or without away fans Celtic have had the upperhand in the fixture with just one meaningful defeat in the last three seasons, other than a moral victory Phil Clement has three defeats in the fixture on his CV.

Tonight The Sun reports:

The SPFL stepped in last season to demand that the two rivals clubs ended their travelling fans feud.

And an agreement was reached to allow a five per-cent away allocation at each venue starting this campaign.

But we understand Celtic have recently written to Rangers insisting they will NOT give away briefs for the Sunday September 1 clash at Parkhead.

They have made their decision after behind-the-scenes talks with police and Glasgow council chiefs.

It’s believed Celts had spent a six-figure sum on planning for Rangers’ visit next month, with a 2,500 allocation.

But, crucially, they haven’t been convinced that Rangers have done the same for the scheduled January 2 clash at Ibrox.

The blame game will now be underway with angry bears denied their long awaited return in numbers to Celtic Park

For the SPFL opener at Tynecastle less than 600 visiting fans were present, on top of the flit to Hampden it seems that all doors are slamming in the face of the 45,000 Ibrox Season Ticket holders.

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