NafisaAberdeen’s reduced ticket allocation for their Scottish Cup clash with Rangers may not be enough to prevent another outbreak of supporter trouble, according to former FIFA official Keith Hackett.
The Dons have been punished by the Scottish FA after supporters used pyrotechnics and invaded the pitch following their Scottish Premiership victory over Kilmarnock earlier this month.
As a result, Aberdeen will have 500 tickets taken away from their allocation for the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park.
It means Derek McInnes’ side will head into their meeting with Rangers with a slightly smaller support behind them, although the punishment has already raised questions over whether removing 500 tickets is actually enough of a deterrent.
Aberdeen had earned their place in the semi-final in emphatic fashion, producing one of their biggest results of the season by beating Celtic 3-0.
Dan Neil scored twice before Kevin Kelsy added a third to complete a stunning victory for McInnes’ side and set up the Hampden meeting with Stephen Robinson’s team.
But the celebrations at Kilmarnock have now come at a cost.
Hackett believes the Scottish FA may need to consider significantly tougher sanctions if it wants to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
The former chief executive of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) in England has argued that taking away 500 tickets does not necessarily create a significant enough financial or sporting deterrent for clubs or supporters.
Speaking exclusively to Ibrox News, Hackett said the behaviour of a minority of supporters was creating a difficult problem for Scottish football authorities.
“There is no doubt that the behaviour of a minority of Scottish Football Fans is creating a dilemma for the Scottish Football Association,” he said.
Hackett believes the SFA is likely to be discussing the issue with police, government representatives and supporter groups, particularly because sanctions imposed on clubs can ultimately affect supporters who have done nothing wrong.
“It is those fans that go to grounds and do not cause any problem that suffer,” he added.
His suggestion was that where trouble can be clearly linked to a particular section of a stadium, authorities should consider closing that area rather than imposing punishments that affect an entire fanbase.
But Hackett’s biggest point concerned the financial impact of removing 500 tickets.
“Consider the cost implication of reducing the allocation by 500 tickets, the cost frankly to the clubs revenue is not that big,” he said.
That led him to propose a far more severe punishment.
“Perhaps a radical punishment might be a suspended points deduction.”
A suspended points deduction would represent a dramatic escalation compared with the type of supporter sanctions Scottish clubs have traditionally faced.
Rather than simply losing tickets for one fixture, clubs would potentially have points hanging over them if further incidents occurred.
And Rangers themselves would not be immune if the SFA decided to adopt a punishment along those lines.
The Ibrox club has experienced its own disciplinary issues relating to supporter behaviour in recent seasons.
Rangers issued a statement in September 2025 highlighting a number of incidents, including a £17,300 fine and a suspended UEFA sanction relating to the sale of away tickets following the Club Brugge match.
The club also referenced a smoke bomb incident at Hampden Park during the 2024-25 season, which resulted in Rangers having 500 tickets removed from their allocation for the League Cup semi-final.
There was also a separate incident involving a discriminatory banner during the match against Fenerbahce, which resulted in a suspended closure of the Copland Stand.
Rangers were subsequently hit with another supporter sanction earlier this year.
Fifty tickets were removed from their allocation for the trip to Hibernian on 2 February after pyrotechnics were used during the December 2025 fixture against Kilmarnock.
The recurring nature of the issue has also led Rangers to repeatedly remind supporters of the potential consequences before matches.
The club’s pre-match information regularly warns fans that unacceptable behaviour can have serious consequences for both individuals and Rangers.
That includes discriminatory or offensive singing and chanting, pyrotechnics, throwing objects, violence and entering the trackside area or pitch.
Rangers have therefore already experienced the consequences of reduced away allocations, making Hackett’s proposal particularly relevant to the Ibrox club.
A suspended points deduction would be an entirely different proposition, however.
Instead of losing a number of tickets for one match, a club could potentially find itself carrying a sporting penalty into future matches, meaning the consequences of supporter misconduct could eventually have a direct impact on the league table.
For now, Aberdeen’s punishment remains limited to the removal of 500 tickets for their Scottish Cup semi-final.
That means Rangers will have a slight advantage in the stands when the two sides meet at Hampden.
But Hackett believes the SFA needs to think beyond individual allocations if it genuinely wants to change supporter behaviour.
And if the authorities do eventually decide that ticket reductions are no longer enough, Rangers could find themselves under the same microscope as Aberdeen given their own recent history of supporter sanctions.
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