Rangers fans have been left questioning the “science” after the news Old Firm rivals Celtic are set to get more than double the capacity for a match on the same day.
The Gers are preparing to welcome Brighton to Ibrox Stadium this Saturday with 8500 fans set to be welcomed through the club’s gates.
This is more than four times the amount that was let into the match with Arsenal (2000) with a further 4250 to be let in the next day against Real Madrid (12750) [Rangers].
The fact that 50% more supporters would be allowed to attend only a day apart has been the figure of suspicion with fans simply wanting a greater explanation as to why.
The entire fan lock-out concerns the science behind Covid-19 and the global pandemic and it is not clear how or why 24 hours makes such a significant difference.
But just when you felt that Glasgow City Council – stadium allocations have been delegated to local authorities – couldn’t confuse fans more, Celtic have only gone and announced an allocation of 18,500 for a friendly with West Ham.
This is set to take place at 3pm on Saturday 24th July – two and a half hours before Rangers are set to welcome 8500 fans for the friendly with Brighton.
This is 10k people more and the situation has Gers fans scratching their heads even if Rangers’ Ibrox stadium has a capacity of 50,817 whilst Celtic Park has a capacity of 60,411.
To put things in perspective, Rangers’ friendly with Brighton Ibrox will be around 17% full but Celtic’s ground will be 30% full.
The 18,500 is also more than the 17k which are scheduled to be welcomed to Ibrox on the opening day of the season against Livingston on July 31st whilst Celtic had 9000 fans at their Champions League qualifier with FC Midtjylland this week.
Gers fans took to Twitter to call out the disparity in decision-making as the return of supporters continues to ramp up:
Rangers fans are eager to get back into Ibrox as soon as possible after a season away from the ground in the last campaign.
The Ibrox club have expressed their hope that for the upcoming Champions League qualifier in August, with a leading government figure backing up the suggestion.