It was the numbers game before the actual game. The debate will rage about who has ‘won’ or who has ‘lost’ in the fight over tickets but the outcome that matters most of all is what happens on the park when Rangers face Celtic in the Scottish Cup next month.
As soon as the draw for the quarter-final was made and the Old Firm were paired together, the issue of allocations – a conversation not quite as ancient as the rivalry but one that is just as convoluted and controversial – began in earnest. The decision to give Celtic around 7,500 tickets will be seen as too many on one side and too few on the other. In the end, compromise had to be reached.
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Rangers supporters believed the current arrangement of around 2,500 tickets would have sufficed. Celtic called for more than four times that amount and used the Scottish FA rule book – which states that up to 20 per cent of a capacity can be handed over to away fans – to back up their request.
In a city where everything in football terms is black or white, or blue or green, a consensus has been found in the grey area in the middle. Celtic will be given the Broomloan Stand for the fixture on Sunday, March 8.
The week before when the teams meet on Premiership duty, the away support will be housed in the corner between the Sandy Jardine Stand and the Broomloan Stand. This increase is temporary and there are no suggestions that the old allocations will return for league matches, either this season or in future campaigns.
Discussions have been held between the clubs, SFA and Police Scotland over recent days. The strong encouragement from Hampden was for those at Ibrox and Parkhead to find a solution and to avoid escalation.
If no deal was in place, the matter could have become an issue for the Compliance Officer and there was a view from Rangers to be careful what they wished for given the rules that are in place for the competition. It is understood that the Ibrox hierarchy were determined not to hand over thousands of extra seats and the agreement to settle has avoided the nightmare scenario.
There was a wish to avoid creating a saga out of the issue. Given that the fixture is just over a fortnight away, there is little planning time to use up in further rounds of haggling or having a case to answer at Hampden. If Rangers had been forced to hand over a greater percentage of Ibrox, that would have caused significant issues in terms of season ticket holders being given access.
The corner that usually houses the away support will be red, white and blue for the last eight tie and Rangers will work to accommodate those Broomloan Stand season ticket holders – around 6,000 in number - that are affected by the development. Those on the CCCS will take priority and further details are expected from the club over the next 24 hours.
Plans for segregation inside and outside Ibrox will also be finalised in the coming days. As is the case for the Premiership derbies, the away support will be required to be in situ hours before the first whistle is blown at 1pm. The authorities – both sporting and societal – are content with the blueprint that is on the table.
Those discussions with the SFA and Celtic also focused on the ‘what if?’ scenario. Should Rangers be drawn away at Parkhead in this competition in seasons to come, there is an agreement that an increased allocation would be offered to those from the blue half of the city.
In effect, it would revert to a number closer to the previous allocations before the disagreements between the clubs saw away supports shut out of the Old Firm for several seasons. The exact number of tickets – for both Ibrox and Parkhead – is obviously impacted on stadium layout and available sections, turnstiles and access and egress routes and it will never truly be like for like.
From a Rangers perspective, the optics are an issue given that Celtic have the advantage of shooting towards an entire end filled with their own punters, while the away fans are tucked in a corner when they travel to Parkhead. Good luck finding a solution to that particular problem.
That no away tickets scenario does nothing for either fanbase, either team or either club. It also does nothing for the fixture itself, and Scottish football was a poorer place for the stand-off that changed the sight and sound of the Old Firm.
For one day only, this will be a throwback to the past. Most importantly, it is about the future and which team will have aspirations of a double by continuing on the road to Hampden. That is the real battle that must be won.
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