The Old Firm Derby is without a doubt one of the most anticipated derbies in world football and the first Celtic vs Rangers game of the 2018-19 season is set to be played on the 2nd of September.
The Gers will be travelling to Celtic Park in order to take on their arch-rivals but before the game, the Light Blues delivered a shocking news for a number of the Hoops fans.
In general as many as 7000 Celtic fans travel to Ibrox for the derby as they occupy both tiers of the Broomloan Stand but recently Rangers released a statement claiming that they have cut down the away tickets to just 1000 because of the high demands from their own supporters.
This news was met with immense criticism from both Celtic FC as well as their fans and now the Bhoys have delivered to give Rangers a taste of their own medicine.
As part of the mutual agreement between both the clubs, every Derby game saw 7000 odd travelling fans but after Rangers’ cut down, the Hoops have also decided to reduce the number of tickets for the upcoming derby on September 2nd.
Celtic FC released a statement in which they claimed that they were reducing the number of away tickets to just 800.
The club statement read: “Celtic Football Club has confirmed that it will issue approximately 800 tickets to visiting supporters for the fixture against Rangers at Celtic Park on September 2. This mirrors the decision announced recently by Rangers.
“This is not a development we welcome and it is unfortunate that the initial decision came without any form of discussion. The previous arrangements worked well for both sets of supporters as well as contributing to the status of the fixture as a sporting occasion.
“Following the unilateral action by Rangers, we cannot allow our own supporters to be doubly penalised, by having access to the away fixture reduced so dramatically, while not being offered the opportunity to maximise our own support at Celtic Park.
“The rules of the SPFL call for ‘reasonable’ provision to be made for visiting supporters, without being specific on numbers. Within that context, we would welcome further discussions involving the two clubs and the SPFL.
“Celtic’s decision relates, at this stage, to the match on September 2, 2018.
“Meanwhile, Celtic will closely monitor the implications for crowd management and other factors surrounding these fixtures. We will at all times be guided by the interests of our own supporters and the reputation of Scottish football.”
Unlike Rangers, the Hoops have maintained that they are willing to sit with the Gers management alongside the SPFL personnel in order to try and sort out this issue.
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