As everyone is doubtless aware, Celtic has been told that it will only get 800 tickets for the first game at Ibrox next season, as the new Ibrox CEO digs in his heels and refuses to entertain the idea of giving us more.
This changes nothing, and that’s sort of the problem. Because all the problems Celtic had with this arrangement remain, and unless something big changes we have a choice to make.
Don’t rule out our club turning down the allocation. It could happen.
We are in no mood to play these silly little games of theirs indefinitely.
They have endangered our fans already with this nonsense and if they’re going to continue it then our club has to decide if it is going to continue sending our supporters into a potentially harmful situation.
And I don’t think there’s much appetite to do so at Celtic Park. I think we’ve done everything we can to resolve this, and the will to do that is receding. We’re not going to get a scintilla of consideration or respect from them, and that’s been evident for a long time. Ibrox would be content to make this a permanent arrangement.
We recognise that’s manifestly unsafe.
We’ve already turned down tickets once. If we do it again that too might become permanent.
Clubs across the country are doing all they can now to restrict away fans.
This occasionally means many thousands of empty seats at grounds. The SFA has shown no inclination to get involved and set minimum ticketing arrangements … and it would be easy to do.
I’m not an expert at this, but the rulebook says that an away side has to make “reasonable provisions” for away fans.
Clubs should need to set aside a minimum number of seats – say 10%, which at Ibrox is 5,000 and 6,000 at Celtic Park – for away supporters. Clubs which cannot sell out their own stadiums should be obliged to offer tickets to away fans.
If that caused stewarding headaches then maybe it would force some of them to make halfway decent provisions for our fans in the first place, and allocate us a proper area in their ground instead of jamming us into single stands or bits of them as they do now.
There is a legislative way out of this shambolic and dangerous situation, and it should have been sought for fans before we got here. Instead we’ve got this shambles wherein our supporters need to run the gauntlet at their ground and where at others many thousands of us can be locked outside whilst TV cameras pan around empty seats.
Ibrox’s continuing excuse for this – and one which is swallowed by their credulous and thick fan-base – is that the tickets are already on offer to their own fans and that this can’t be changed.
Bollocks. I have a season ticket at Parkhead which does not guarantee me a seat for a game against the Ibrox club, which I have to buy separately for those games.
That’s a provision that could be easily inserted into the terms and conditions for existing season ticket holders in the Broomloan Road stand, and those fans would still have tickets for every other match at the ground.
Every other one.
To hide behind a pitiful excuse like that is bad enough, but it’s worse that the media lets them away with it.
Bisgrove says there will be “discussions” about future seasons, but that’s kicking the can and a transparent attempt to get us to accept this situation now in exchange for “jam tomorrow.”
We shouldn’t accept that for one minute.
When our board is faced with the decision about what to do with that paltry 800 allocation I won’t envy them.
But I will back them, especially if they decide to reject it as unsatisfactory on the same grounds as last time.
If we get enhanced security guarantees before that, then fine.
But I don’t think there’s any way that they could make that experience safe, even if they cared about doing so. As long as they persist in this I would prefer it if none of our fans went to a ground where their safety cannot be guaranteed.
I suspect people at Celtic Park feel the same way.
Answer is No!
Again as an outsider looking in and comparing it to how it is run over here in Portugal, I know that there are dedicated away fan areas that are only possible to be sold to the away fans (in some stadiums even parts of the home allocation is sold to the away fans if for example one of the big 3 Porto Benfica Sporting are in town). The stadium I understand mostly is Porto´s as its the one I work in more often. There the dedicated fan area is the upper extreme left hand side of the stand opposite the main one.
https://footballtripper.com/portugal/porto-stadium/
The picture in the link shows it better, the away section is the one in grey and is around 5% of the capacity, now these are DEDICATED to the away fans only .. I know that before they have had seats in the right hand side of the north stand but that has since been altered to the upper position. Boavista and Vitoria Guimarães both give visiting fans tickets in the stand behind the goal (I know having operated the high behind camera in the stand at boavista and having the Sporting fans all around me, so much so that they had to arrange a security guard just to ensure my safety!) . The 5% i believe is a UEFA guideline which the Portuguese league has enforced as a minumum and these seats can not be sold as a season ticket to home fans. (They can be seperately purchased however on a match by match basis – If they are playing a team from the islands on a weeknight for example, they don´t bring a huge following so if it is a reasonably important match they may sell tickets in that section to home fans – separating the away fans with a wide banner and stewards.
I hope we have nothing to do with these neanderthal fascists and I certainly don’t want them polluting our stadium ever again.
Take none! Give none!! Tho I rather not even play that poison!
Our people are not safe at that place and have we had any sort of apology for the attacks on our fans and staff and I guess that will be a no then.We have to tell them stick your tickets right up your arse as far up as possible
It’s unrealistic us asking for 8,000/10,000 and only makes us look pathetic and powerless when they say no. Their fans must be loving us being told what will or won’t happen or be allowed. Much prefer us stating that we don’t want any tickets to their unsafe violent environment for the foreseeable seasons
They should be told to stick their tickets where the sun don’t shine. No doubt though, big Peter will do everything to accommodate his Ibrox pals.
Hail Hail.
As you said its another petty game,, we seemed to be blamed for it starting by certain sections of press,, well if the club refuse tickets it should be stated it’s on the grounds of safety an keep pushing that statmet, staff and fans alike have been endangered more than enough times over there,, nothing every really done about it,, no thank and your locked out as well,, put an end to it
I’ve just got one word to say about the Ibrox attitude to restricting Celtic fans to 800 ….. Primitive !
Why dont celtic just put out a definitive statement saying unless Sevco restore the ticket allocation to pre acting like spoilt weans levels they will not be accepting or allowing away tickets for the fixture, put the onus entirely on them and let they and their media bum chums squeal.
They can shove them right up where the sun doesn’t shine…….sideways.
If you’re going on the percentage of capacity ( 10% ) for Ibrox then how will the season ticket holders get access to their seats for “ every “ other game ?
Aberdeen , Hearts & Hibs could take 3000 away fans easy , every time they visit .
Am I a lone voice here? AN opportunity for us to own the moral high ground. An opportunity to embarass all the other clubs.
WE SHOULD GIVE THEM THE USUSAL 7500.
We should turn down the 800.
We should stop the tit for tat playground stuff. We should be the club that mades our own decisions.
How teh hell coudl they spin that?
Totally agre why should fans be put in harm’s way
It’s is now to be very clear – that we set out our position regarding previous events – and the sequencing by ibrox club – that said – this situation needs improve – 800 is a token – and it’s in the corner which they and away supports complain – it’s it time we were the big boys and state that we will offer a better figure of several thousand and we expect the same proportion of their ground- that we will work to a decent figure – I think it’s less of a spectacle – we must take the higher ground here or really all is this will be perceived – right or wrongly as tit for tat. Leadership which have if we want to and is difficult to see with this guy biscotti