Celtic’s now on a different level, no away tickets for Glasgow Derbies

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·14. August 2024

Celtic’s now on a different level, no away tickets for Glasgow Derbies

Attendance numbers show the level that Celtic is on compared to theRangers…

James Tavernier of theRangers is seen at full time during the UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round 2nd Leg match between theRangers and Dynamo Kyiv at Hampden Park on August 13, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Last night, theRangers played a crucial Champions League qualifier against Dynamo Kyiv that could have seen them bank some extra finances of around £5m were they to progress to the knock-out rounds. However they were knocked out 3-1 on aggregate, 2-0 on the night, by the Ukrainian side at their temporary home at Hampden Park, continuing the Bears’ less-than-desirable start to the season.

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With a draw against Hearts on opening day, theRangers recovered against Motherwell in a tight victory but still sit behind Celtic in the Scottish Premiership by two points. A capacity 60,000 crowd came out to watch the Scottish champions face Kilmarnock, and our away end was as bouncing as ever at Easter Road, with demand far outstripping supply of tickets from Hibernian. The same can’t be said for our rivals, who have not only struggled to sell out not only Hampden (capacity 50,000) domestically, but on an important European night (29,000), where the ‘famous atmosphere’ is supposed to be their 12th man.

As the teams walked out of the Hampden tunnel last night, ‘Simply The Best’ was blaring, but that can’t be said about their fans. The music muffled their cheers, which isn’t surprising considering the lack of support that actually turned out.

We’re Celtic. We support our club through the bad times – but can the same be said for them? Up until now, yes it could. But those empty spaces at Hampden last night must be a huge concern, as it has been theRangers supporters who have kept the club, founded in 2012 by Charles Green, afloat

In a time of general uncertainty for theRangers , finances are in question and fans are becoming increasingly concerned about where the club is headed. The funds that could have been generated by progressing to the next round of European qualifiers would’ve been incredibly important, especially with everything going on and their manager admitting that they’d need to sell players to buy some.

Nazar Voloshyn of Dynamo Kyiv scores his teams second goal during the UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round 2nd Leg match between theRangers and Dynamo Kyiv at Hampden Park on August 13, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

But the fans can’t really have any complaints. Back the team for 90 minutes, don’t just jump out of your seat when there’s a dubious red card decision. What must the players be thinking?

We’re on a different level and that’s now clear to see. Even in recent years, our European atmospheres have been incredible, and theRangers can’t match that now, and certainly not at Hampden, where they will play their Europa League matches.

Nazar Voloshyn of Dynamo Kyiv celebrates after he scores his teams second goal during the UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round 2nd Leg match between theRangers and Dynamo Kyiv at Hampden Park on August 13, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Celtic now has the chance to pull away and become the dominant force by a country mile for this season and well beyond, and that’s on top of the trophy haul we have enjoyed since 2012.. Now, it’s on the Celtic board to invest properly and allow us to become unstoppable, and maybe even Invincible this season. It’s not as if Brendan has not done that before!

And the latest news today, confirmed by Celtic, is that their will be NO away support at the next two Glasgow Derbies, despite the agreement that was put in place at the end of last season to allow approximately 2500 away support4s to attend the matches this season.

That has fallen foul of the ongoing building crisis at Ibrox with their club now relocated to Hampden. Celtic have not received satisfactory assurances for the safety of the Celtic supporters at the New Year way victory (venue unknown) so have taken the decision not to allocate tickets to theRangers support for the game at Celtic Park on 1 September.

The Celtic Star broke the news that theRangers had agreed to install netting at Ibrox after seven serious incidents happened at the small away corner between the Broomloan and Govan stands. These nets were to prevent bottles and other objects being thrown onto the away support.

Celtic have been busy making changes to the away section at Celtic Park to accommodate the 25000 Rangers supporters but the corresponding work has NOT taken place at Ibrox, which may or may not be the venue for the New Year fixture.

The clubs can revisit this for the second round of fixtures later in the season should theRangers compete the agreed and necessary work to allow it to happen.

The ball is in their court.

So there will no Rangers fans at Celtic Park for the Glasgow Derby on 1st September and that is a result of the Rangers not being able to guarantee implementation of the PRE-AGREED safety precautions in time for the new year derby at Ibrox.

Celtic have held up their end of the bargain, anyone attending a match at Celtic Park can see that this is the case.

Meanwhile around 2500 Celtic supporters will now get the chance to attend the game in Sunday 1st September.

Jessica Elliott

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