CELTIC played to an empty away stand at Ibrox as they defeated Rangers 1-0 on Sunday.
Though the club had been offered tickets, they declined, attributing their decision to safety concerns. Recent derby encounters at Ibrox have seen Celtic fans, players, and staff targeted by projectiles. In this latest match, a vape was thrown onto the pitch in Joe Hart’s direction.
Celtic fans are eager for the club to return to the former ticket allocations, a sentiment Celtic shares. The Green Brigade underscored their dissatisfaction with the current situation by displaying a banner during the St Johnstone match.
Speaking on the Go Radio Football Show, Stephen McGinn voiced his belief that the absence of Celtic fans at Ibrox on Sunday detracted from the match’s atmosphere. He advocated for Celtic to extend a ticket offer to Rangers for the December match. However, a source close to Celtic informed CeltsAreHere that the club has no such plans.
McGinn stated: “I think something has got to change. Whether the league or Sky get involved because I thought the atmosphere was poor for a Celtic Rangers game. I hope Celtic do the right thing and give Rangers tickets for the next one and long-term, they’ve got to bring some sort of allocation back.” He added, “If they take away the fans, it’s just another game. Anyone tuning into the game on Sunday is thinking ‘what atmosphere?’. I think if Celtic are winning and their fans are goading the Rangers fans, they get better in the game. When it’s just 50,000 Rangers fans, they’re watching a losing team, there’s so much negativity spiralling.”
John Hartson commented, “It’s shocking really that there are no away fans, but it’s where we are now. I don’t know why the two clubs, chief executives, whoever is in charge can’t come together and sit down as adults and say ‘look, it adds so much to the game’. It doesn’t help one team or another; Celtic have just gone to Ibrox and won with the only Celtic fans in there being Lenny and Chris Sutton.”
McGinn responded, “Rangers have made their bed for the season; they’ve sold off the tickets. But what Celtic can do is do the right thing and give Rangers an allocation.”
