It was confirmed yesterday that the first couple of Glasgow derbies of the Scottish Premiership season would be played without away fans, with both Celtic and Rangers set to stop visiting supporters into their respective grounds.
This has been a recurring theme over the last few seasons, dating back to 2021 and a dispute over away ticket allocations. Back in March of this year, it was agreed that up to 2,500 away fans would be allowed into the grounds for the 2024/25 season.
However, this will not be the case for the first couple of Old Firm games of the campaign, the first of which takes place at Parkhead on September 1st.
Celtic have withheld the away allocation for that fixture due to the fact that Rangers would not commit to hosting away fans for the January fixture at Ibrox. Rangers could not guarantee that changes would be made to the ground to make it safe for visiting fans, including erecting nets in the way end.
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Celtic: Brendan Rodgers Pulled No Punches On Rangers Derby Antics
It is unfortunate that mixed crowds have not been present at Glasgow derbies in recent times, something that certainly takes away from the atmosphere in these games.
The latest issue certainly seems to fall at the feet of Rangers, who had plenty of time to ensure that the necessary measures were taken to allow away supporters to attend.
This is a point that Brendan Rodgers was keen to stress earlier today.
Speaking ahead of Celtic's meeting with Hibernian this weekend, he was quick to remind everyone that the continued lack of away fans at derby games was solely down to the actions of Rangers.
🗣️ "𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗖𝗲𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗰-𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴."
Brendan Rodgers with a passionate response to the news there will be no away fans at the first two Old Firm league games this season ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/kfqf9CzzPu— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) August 16, 2024
The club's job is to protect the support. If there's not guarantee come the second fixture, I think it's only logical that you wouldn’t reciprocate. Celtic have played their part in what they're asked to do.
Nothing about this was Celtic's issue, nothing. When you look back at how all this started, it was nothing to do with Celtic.
Celtic gets dragged into this here as being a Celtic-Rangers thing. It's not a Celtic-Rangers thing, this is a Rangers thing.
Celtic, even when they're asked to have this agreement and make the stadium safe, we plough money into that, we do the works which started months ago...
It's not great faith if we allow Rangers supporters in, then we get to January and our own supporters aren't allowed in. It's not good faith.
I think the agreement hasn't been upheld, so Celtic rightly have to defend the supporters and the club.
He has a point.
Rangers had a huge amount of time to prepare for this season's derby games, something that they have apparently failed to do. It is understandable why Celtic felt they could not allow opposition fans into next month's fixture as a result.
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