The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) has announced that away fans have been banned from attending any of this season's Old Firm encounters between Celtic and Rangers.
The decision comes ahead of this month's highly anticipated double-header between the Glasgow rivals, with the first meeting set for Ibrox on September 13 in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final, before the two sides meet again in league action at Celtic Park seven days later.
The ban follows the scenes that marred the Scottish Cup quarter-final clash between the sides last term. Both clubs were recently sanctioned by the Scottish Football Association (SFA) after an independent review into the incident on March 8, in which supporters from both teams entered the pitch at Ibrox following the penalty shootout.
In response, Rangers had decided to give their Glasgow rivals just 300 tickets for the upcoming cup clash, a proposal Celtic rejected. Meetings between league officials and representatives from both clubs have now resulted in a complete ban on away supporters being present in stadiums until at least the end of this season.
An SPFL statement read: "This temporary arrangement will allow both clubs, together with the SPFL, Police Scotland and other relevant stakeholders, to give proper consideration to the findings and recommendations of the Independent Review, take forward the necessary actions and ensure sufficient time is available to plan future fixtures thoroughly."
"It will also provide greater certainty for supporters and those involved in matchday planning, while avoiding repeated uncertainty around ticketing arrangements for individual fixtures," the statement continued. "All parties have committed to working constructively during this period, with safety and security remaining the priority."
The SPFL added that "the position will remain subject to review should circumstances materially change during the season."
Broomloan Road allocation reversed
The March cup meeting had marked the first time Celtic fans were given the full Broomloan Road Stand allocation since the number of away supporters permitted at the fixture was reduced to fewer than 1,000 in 2018. Negotiations between the clubs had produced a 5 per cent allocation agreement for league fixtures in 2025 and 2026, but that arrangement has now been nullified for the foreseeable future.
The Old Firm derby is one of the fiercest rivalries in world football, contested between Glasgow's two dominant clubs, Celtic and Rangers, who have won the vast majority of Scottish league titles between them. Ibrox is Rangers' home ground, while Celtic Park is Celtic's.
Managers react to the decision
Speaking ahead of Rangers' match against Motherwell, manager Derek McInnes said he was surprised by the decision. "It's always better when opposition fans are allowed into a derby game," he said. "In the context of everything that's gone on with this fixture and the last part of it, I think there's a lot to consider and a lot to discuss."
"As far as I was led to believe, that was still up for discussion, so it's kind of caught me on the hop a wee bit," McInnes added.
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill echoed his counterpart's disappointment but admitted it was somewhat expected. "I think that was inevitable, really, when Rangers were offering 300 tickets, and we refused that," he said.
"Really sad, I must admit, just from a normal punter's viewpoint. It's a great, great fixture when the ground is absolutely full. And I think the away fans make this," O'Neill said.
"I can think back to the years gone past, at the beginning of the century, when I was involved, and they were magnificent fixtures, absolutely fantastic. It is quite sad," he added. "Hopefully the two clubs will maybe get together at some stage or another and try to iron out the particular problems."
"It's not to say that we haven't had a few problems in the past, but they seem to have escalated over the last number of seasons, which is a problem," O'Neill said.
The SPFL statement said the ban will remain under review should circumstances change during the season.
