For the entirety of last season, no away fans were permitted at any of the Old Firm Derby matches played at Ibrox and Celtic Park. The issue began at the end of the 2022/23 season when the final two Old Firm matches were played without away fans and rolled through to last season.
The reason for the blanket ban on away fans at Old Firm matches had been a long time coming. For several years, allocations were getting smaller and smaller due to safety issues so it was no surprise when both clubs stopped letting away fans attend altogether in 2023.
Will there be away fans at Old Firm matches this season?
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In March 2024, both clubs agreed to a return of away fans at Old Firm matches for the 2024/25 season. However, things didn't get off to the best start when Celtic revealed in September that they wouldn't be allocating away tickets to Rangers for the first derby of the season.
Although it was Celtic who took the decision not to allocate any tickets for away supporters for the first Old Firm match of the season, they pinned the blame on Rangers.
According to reports, they wrote to Rangers at the start of the season explaining that they wouldn't be issuing away tickets for the match as they didn't believe their rivals had undertaken the necessary security steps to return the favour at Ibrox at the next derby.
Although Rangers refuted the claims made by Celtic, they responded by ‘returning the favour' and banning Celtic fans from the most recent Old Firm clash at Ibrox in January.
What have both clubs said about it?
Celtic boss, Brendan Rodgers, towed the party line and pinned the blame on Rangers for the continued lack of away fans at Old Firm matches in an interview earlier in the season. He said:
“Celtic have played their part in what they were asked to do. When you go back to when this all started, it had nothing to do with Celtic. Celtic get dragged into this here as being a Celtic-Rangers thing. Itโs not a Celtic-Rangers thing, this is a Rangers thing.
“When asked to have this agreement, make the stadium safe, we plough money into that, that started months ago. On both parties, that hasn't been agreed, so it's not complicated, it hasnโt been done.”
“The agreement hasnโt been upheld, so Celtic rightly have to defend their supporters and their club and, sadly, the Rangers supporters miss out in this game and the Celtic supporters in the return game.”
Rangers boss, Philippe Clement, has been more coy on the matter. He said:
“I'm not involved in these talks but I hope for football games always that there are two sets of fans. There are some things from the past but I don't know all the details so I'm not the right person to ask or the right person to ask if it was possible now.
“I like to see football where on two sides there are fans, it's always better for the product and the players for everybody.”
๐ฃ๏ธ “๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐๐ถ๐ฐ-๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด, ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด.”
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 โคต๏ธ pic.twitter.com/kfqf9CzzPu
โ Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) August 16, 2024
Old Firm away fans – future allocation
Back in March 2024, it was agreed that a 5% allocation would be given to both Celtic fans and Rangers fans for Old Firm matches in 2024/25. This means that 3,000 Rangers fans will be able to attend the next old firm matches at Celtic Park and 2,500 Celtic fans will be able to attend at Ibrox.
At the time, the SPFL said:ย “Following engagement with both clubs, the SPFL is pleased to confirm that Rangers FC and Celtic FC will provide ticket allocations of around 5% for away supporters, for SPFL matches between the two clubs.
“This will be effective from Scottish Premiership season 2024/25, subject to all necessary requirements being satisfied at both Ibrox and Celtic Park.