NafisaThe next Old Firm meeting at Ibrox is already shaping up to look very different from the last one.
Rangers and Celtic were drawn against each other in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-finals, setting up another Glasgow showdown at the same stadium where their previous cup meeting descended into chaos.
But this time, thousands of Celtic supporters are not expected to flood into the Broomloan Stand.
And there is a very important reason for that.
The ticketing rules governing this competition do not give Celtic the same guaranteed allocation they received when the two clubs met in the Scottish Cup earlier this year.
That could mean a significantly smaller travelling support when the Hoops return to Ibrox for the September 12/13 quarter-final.
Why Celtic received so many tickets last time
The previous cup meeting between the sides was played under Scottish Cup regulations.
Those rules allow visiting clubs to receive up to 20 per cent of the available stadium capacity, which opened the door for a dramatically larger away allocation.
As a result, around 8,000 Celtic supporters travelled across Glasgow for the Scottish Cup quarter-final.
The Broomloan Stand was packed with travelling Hoops supporters as Celtic eventually progressed after a dramatic penalty shootout.
It was the first time in years that such a large away support had been present for an Old Firm fixture at Ibrox.
But the arrangement was very different from what supporters had become accustomed to in league meetings.
And that distinction is now hugely important.
Premier Sports Cup rules change everything
Unlike the Scottish Cup, the Premier Sports Cup does not provide a fixed 20 per cent away-ticket guarantee.
That means Celtic cannot simply demand another bumper allocation because they received one for the Scottish Cup quarter-final.
Instead, the number of visiting supporters permitted inside Ibrox will be determined under the competition’s current ticketing arrangements.
The situation is made even more complicated by the fact that Rangers and Celtic have operated with significantly reduced away allocations for their Premiership meetings in recent years.
The clubs currently have a reciprocal agreement understood to be around five per cent of stadium capacity.
That would be nowhere near the numbers Celtic took to Ibrox for the Scottish Cup clash.
And then there is what happened after the last cup meeting…
This is where the upcoming quarter-final becomes even more intriguing.
The last Scottish Cup encounter didn’t simply end with Celtic celebrating a penalty-shootout victory.
It was followed by ugly scenes inside Ibrox.
Thousands of supporters from both clubs entered the pitch after the final whistle, while objects and pyrotechnics were thrown.
Police officers were injured and a member of Celtic’s coaching staff was assaulted.
Both clubs were subsequently charged over the incidents.
That backdrop makes the prospect of returning to a huge away allocation particularly sensitive.
There is little reason to expect the authorities or the clubs to simply ignore what happened in March when deciding the arrangements for another Old Firm cup tie at the same stadium.
Celtic and Rangers will meet twice in September
The League Cup quarter-final is only the beginning.
The rivals will meet at Ibrox during the weekend of September 12/13, before travelling across Glasgow for another Old Firm battle at Celtic Park on September 20 in the Premiership.
That creates an extraordinary run of fixtures between the two clubs and ensures that tensions surrounding the ticketing arrangements will be closely watched.
There is also recent history between the clubs over away allocations.
When Celtic hosted Rangers in the final league meeting of last season, Celtic refused to hand over the usual allocation of around 2,200 tickets unless the Union Bears were excluded from the travelling support.
That dispute demonstrated just how complicated the issue has become.
Now the two clubs are facing another high-stakes meeting, but this time under a competition where there is no automatic 20 per cent entitlement for the visitors.
So while Celtic supporters may have memories of 8,000 Hoops fans filling the Broomloan Stand, they should not expect a repeat automatically.
The Premier Sports Cup rules simply don’t provide the same guarantee — and after the extraordinary scenes that followed the last Old Firm cup meeting at Ibrox, the eventual Celtic allocation could be considerably smaller.
Nafisa
