Old Firm away tickets ban could enter next season as Rangers 'guaranteed' to respond if Celtic call upheld

Claims have been made that an away fan lockout at the Rangers vs Celtic matches could spill into next season.

The pair’s Old Firm clash at Ibrox in March that ended in a penalty shootout win for the away side during a Scottish Cup quarter-final was marred by chaos. Both sets of supporters ended up on the pitch in stormy scenes that were widely condemned as travelling fans returned to the fixture in full capacity in the Broomloan Stand.

Now ahead of the post split game at Parkhead amid the Premiership title race, Celtic are not permitting access for Rangers fans, and the Ibrox side have hit out. Rangers have asked the SPFL to intervene after Celtic decided not to make briefs available for the final Old Firm match of the season, stemming from a decision to deny ultras group the Union Bears access.

How long could a Rangers vs Celtic fan ban last?

BBC Sport Scotland’s chief sports writer Tom English now claims Rangers would likely respond in turn next season if none of their supporters are in Glasgow’s east-end next month. English said on Sportsound: “I can pretty much guarantee you that if there are no Rangers fans at Celtic Park on May 10th, there will be no Celtic fans at Ibrox, for the first Old Firm game of the season at Ibrox next season. Then Celtic will retaliate. and then Rangers will respond. and we'll go round and round in circles. So it's a big moment for the SPFL to make a ruling on this.

“I'd hate to be on the sub-committee overseeing this. I can understand why Celtic don't want the Union Bears at Celtic Park. Even though it might that their allocation would be 1% I believe of the Rangers allocation, might be 30 or 40 of the Union Bears. I can understand why Celtic wouldn't want them anywhere near Celtic Park given what happened at Ibrox. Equally I could understand why Rangers wouldn't want the Green Brigade at Ibrox.

“I can understand like at some point, I'm thinking no away fans, it's more trouble than it's worth. Yes, the innocent get caught up in the guilty, and it's no kind of a solution really. But this is this is where we are. What I find really kind of odd is Celtic really trying to assume the moral high ground.

What will SPFL do about Rangers and Celtic stand-off?

“Something has to happen here. The SPFL won't do it, Rangers haven't sanctioned the Union Bears, so Celtic would see it's incumbent on them. It obviously plays well with the fans and there's the sporting advantage element as well of having the whole of Celtic Park full of Celtic fans, let's let's not be naïve about that. It's tit for tat.

“If there are no Rangers fans at Celtic Park, your precedent is set then, so that you could roll that out and say oh well if Hearts don't want Rangers or Celtic fans, they say well the precedent is set now, we don't have to have them. So the ramifications of this are significant, absolutely significant.”

Celtic hero Pat Bonner was on the panel and added: “We as ex-players loved the atmosphere when there was two groups of fans there. It was two groups of fans who behaved themselves. That's the key and that's what we're all looking for, we'd all dream of that, but that's not easy. I was worried before the last game, maybe the last game was the wrong game to pick actually because it was always going to be a team that had to win that game, and a team that was going to be sorry losers. There was always going to be a reaction and maybe that was a mistake.”

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