This Wednesday will see potentially Celtic's biggest match this season as they take on their old rivals Rangers in what will be the second Glasgow derby of the season. The stakes could be higher for Postecoglou’s men as a win would see Celtic leapfrog Rangers to first
place in the Scottish Premiership table.
Celtic continued their great form with a late-minute winner from Liel Abada to defeat Dundee United on Saturday. Meanwhile, Rangers slipped up against Ross County in Dingwall as Matthew Wright salvaged a point for Malky McKay’s men.
Celtic are without key players Kyogo Furuhashi, Tom Rogic, David Turnbull and potentially captain Callum McGregor and with Rangers new boy and shock deadline-day signing Aaron Ramsay in the squad, it should make things that bit more interesting.
Kyogo Furuhashi, Ange Postecoglou and Callum McGregor posing with Scottish League Cup. Source - Getty Images
Another interesting factor that has sparked a lot of debate going into this one is the absence of away fans that will no longer be attending the match at Celtic Park. The de-evolution of away fans at old firm matches is becoming quite worrying for many supporters on both sides of the Glasgow divide and could be quite damning for the reputation of the league
Initially, it was Rangers who slashed the Celtic fans allocation back in the 2018/19 from 7000 to 800, to which Celtic swiftly followed suit.
Celtic fans at Ibrox during the invincible season. Source - Getty Images
Rangers reason for this major ticket allocation reduction was due to the fact that there were so many new season ticket holders that sat in the Broomloan Stand, and it wasn’t fair to move them elsewhere. This influx in season ticket holders came as many fans were looking to back new manager, Steven Gerrard.
Back in August 2021, Rangers then decided that there would be no Celtic fans whatsoever attending the August 29th fixture vs Celtic, a game in which Rangers went on to win 1-0, thanks to a Filip Helander header in 66th minute.
Celtic would continue this back and forth, banning any Rangers fans from attending the upcoming fixture on the 2nd February.
Talk Scottish Football video on the allocation at Old Firm matches.
Stewart Robertson, the managing director of Rangers, has since said that there are no plans for this to change any time soon.
He said: "I think things have evolved over time.
"About 800 fans from either side now go to games but I don't think there will be in a couple of weeks because of where Covid was at the time.
"We had a red zone and there were no away fans in.
"The challenge is changing that at the moment because both teams have sold season tickets in those areas and actually it is 'how do you change that back?'
"Those supporters have renewal rights, so it is not something I see changing in the short term.
This is something that has divided both Celtic and Rangers fans.
On a recent poll I conducted on Reddit, it was clear to see the frustration from both sets of fans about the ticket allocations being slashed.
From this you can tell that the majority of fans are against not having both sets of fans at Old Firm games, however it isn’t as clear cut as perhaps it was first thought. On the Rangers end 25% of fans were happy with an empty away stand at Ibrox, 59% were against the idea and 16% were neutral.
On the Celtic end there was more of an input from supporters, but the stats were fairly similar. 35% of Celtic fans agreed with no Rangers fans for this week’s Glasgow Derby whereas 44% disagreed with it. 21% were neutral to the situation.
User "Larsson07" has brought logic to his answer by demonstrating a fair approach to how the Old Firm this week and looking to the future should be dealt with. "SomeMightSayAHL" also brings a fair point, bringing up the fact that Rangers had a full stadium of home fans for the first Glasgow derby earlier in the season.
Overall, I believe that in the future the Glasgow Derby should return to 800 away fans at the very least. The fixture is renowned worldwide for being one of the most passionate and ferocious rivalries in all of football and with the lack of away supporters, it just doesn't bring that same level of intensity that it usually does.
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