Celtic are set to refuse Rangers their entitled allocation for the upcoming Old Firm clash in Parkhead because, well, because they’re not getting it all their own way.
Celtic look set to refuse Rangers 800 tickets for the match at Parkhead – as per the Daily Mail – because from where we sit, the Ibrox side will no longer give them 7,000 in Govan.
It comes after they rejected Rangers’ offer of 800 for the first Old Firm match of the season at Ibrox earlier in the campaign, as reported by Sky Sports.
Ticket allocations at centre of Scottish footballing debate
There’s a common misconception that Rangers are the ones who kickstarted this ticket allocation carry-on in Scottish football.
The truth is Hibs were the first team to introduce the idea of cutting away allocations to better serve the home support when they did it against Rangers back in 2018, the Edinburgh News reported at the time.
Since then, the entirety of Scottish football has shifted the focus away from pandering to the Old Firm support and attempted to bring back their own stadiums and supporters as a result.
Rangers and Celtic fans can moan about a smattering of empty seats on away days, but as proven by the resurgence of St Mirren, Scottish football clubs are better served focusing on the people who serve them.
And that is exactly what Rangers did in 2018 when they cut the traditional Old Firm allocation which handed Celtic an entire stand and saw us shoved into the corner of Parkhead.
Celtic egos bruised by Rangers ticket allocation situation
After refusing Rangers’ offer of tickets earlier in the season, the hypocrisy of failing to offer the same, quite frankly, is not right.
Everything which holds Scottish football back feels like it also serves to maintain Celtic’s dominance. The lack of TV money or sponsorship, the parochial politicking, the refereeing conspiracies. One team often benefits from it and therefore one team stands to benefit from the status quo.
Rangers agreement likely to be reached via SPFL
Only a few years ago – with the help of Dundee’s infamous disappearing vote, via The Guardian – they were the only club in world football who were awarded a title they didn’t actually win during the Covid pandemic.
Really, it means that that any SPFL vote is often not taken seriously by club supporters.
And that’s what this latest ticket allocation politicking appears to be about. It has Celtic’s modern-day identity all over it. The goalposts will be moved until they get the best chance of a tap in.
Rangers have repeatedly told them that they are willing to negotiate a more suitable arrangement which benefits Ibrox season-ticket holders but helps preserve the atmosphere of the (there-is-no) Old Firm derby.
But for a Celtic that is so used to having everything their own way in the Scottish game that’s not good enough. Even if ultimately this is what is going to happen.
Good to see it’s not getting to them
Apparently, the green and white ties are forcing this to the upper echelons of the Scottish game to force change and a minimum away day capacity for rival fans.
Rangers are quite clear; the allocation will NEVER go back to the previous arrangement no matter how much moanin’, greetin’ and Neil Doncasterin’ Celtic do. That is a fundamental fact.
But this has to go through some kind of draining official, legal channel and Celtic have to be seen to “win” like some kind of faceless corporate brand changing legal stipulations to buy up the land of small-time farmers.
To Celtic, it looks as much about ticket allocations as it does about refusing to be submissive to Rangers. They know it’s not going back to how it was before, but how dare we oppose them?
With the Parkhead club’s corporate ego running riot since the events of 2012, you’ve got to give kudos to Rangers for taking them down a peg or three.
In the face of Celtic’s latest power move, and after being handed the keys to the kingdom by Rangers’ incompetence, anything which so obviously annoys them this much has got to be a good thing.
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