Former Celtic and Rangers figures have urged the clubs to resolve the away ticket row, with another impasse looming over the League Cup meeting on September 13.
Ex-Celtic striker Tony Watt has urged Celtic and Rangers to settle their ongoing dispute over away supporter allocations.
Rangers cut Celtic’s allocation for the forthcoming Ibrox fixture to just 300 tickets after trouble at the Scottish Cup tie in March.
Both clubs have been hit with punishments that include stadium bans and financial penalties, with Celtic describing the sanctions as “disproportionate.”
Celtic boss Martin O’Neill floated the idea of turning down the allocation altogether, a position that has drawn criticism.
Speaking on Superscoreboard, Watt said: “It’s childish, isn’t it, from both sides. There’s a middle ground for everything.
“Both teams should be sat in a room, two of the head honchos and whoever else needs to go, and say ‘let’s be grown men about this’.”
He called for private talks to find a fair solution, arguing that airing the disagreements publicly makes both clubs appear immature.
Alex Rae comments on Rangers Celtic ticket allocation row
Former Rangers player and coach Alex Rae echoed the call, and warned that supporters would be the ones who lose out.
He said: “It’s the bare minimum they’ve given them, and you know what’ll happen the next time that fixture comes around at Parkhead; the Rangers fans will get it.
“And it’s the fans that are actually going to suffer here from both sides.”
Rae felt an allocation of around 2,500 would have been a more workable compromise.
He recalled the bigger away followings of prevous years: “I absolutely used to love going down to Parkhead and watching the game as a Rangers fan, and I know my mates from Dennistoun would love coming to Ibrox as well when it was around the 7,000 mark.
“Then it got cut down to a couple thousand; now to go down to 300 feels like we’re right back to square one and I don’t think anybody’s happy with that decision.”
Watt questioned whether 300 tickets made sense at a near-50,000-capacity ground.
He said: “That should have the governing bodies saying ‘is that a reasonable amount?’
“It’s not. I’m not saying Celtic deserve more, or less, but if you’re putting wording in something, be specific about it because if there’s 49,000 and you get 300, that’s not reasonable.
“300, you’re better off with zero; it’s tit-for-tat. 300 is scandalous.
“Both sides were wrong regardless of who started it. Just get in a room and thrash it out.”
Rangers Celtic ticket row reaction
Things had improved over the last year or so, but the events of the Scottish Cup meeting in March has taken both clubs away from common ground.
Celtic have dragged their heels over taking their share of responsibility for their fans’ actions in the Broomloan Stand that day, and they’ve allegedly now been receptive to Rangers calls for a working agreement moving forward.
They can’t expect to have a favourable outcome for Ibrox game, then demand what conditions are in place for Rangers fans at Parkhead. That’s not likely to work.
As things stand, the 300 allocation isn’t workable, and is the worst-case scenario.
It’s likely that Celtic will follow Martin O’Neill’s line of thought and not accept that allocation, with Rangers then refused tickets for the league meeting one week later.
That could herald a period of no away fans at the games for some time.
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