Celtic have confirmed that they intend to take their ticket allocation for the crunch Ibrox Old Firm at the end of the month.
There will now be 750 Celtic fans at Ibrox for the big match on the 29th of December. It is less than 10% of the usual number who travel.
This puts to bed rumours that Celtic were set to deny the tickets on “safety fears”.
Their statement said: “Following the decision to reduce Celtic’s ticket allocation at Ibrox Stadium for our match on December 29, 2018, we can confirm that the 750 tickets received by Celtic will be distributed through the usual allocation process.”
There was a lot of postulating in the run up to this statement. Celtic were clearly scorned that we’ve slashed the number of briefs they’ll receive.
Rangers take hardline on ticket situation
I don’t think you can really argue against any of the reasons quoted for Rangers doing it. Having that stand was giving Celtic an advantage.
Our rivals also had their health and safety arrangements brought into question at the last Old Firm at Parkhead. They struggled to cope with recucing the ticket allocation of Rangers fans in kind. There was also crowd trouble after Celtic players childishly antagonised the small but passionate travelling Rangers contingent.
There’s also an ongoing feud over the motivations as to why Rangers cut the allocation. The Club’s Official Line was that allocation had been cut to satisfy demand for season tickets.
But being honest, anything that gets Peter Lawwell and the rest uptight has to be worth doing. We need to create any advantage we can.
Dave King intimated at the AGM that there was no intention to backtrack on it either.
It’s providing an interesting backdrop to the game. If Rangers are serious about mounting a title challenge against Celtic, they need to beat them on the 29th.
Say what you want, cutting the amount of tickets they get gives us a better chance of doing that.