No Fans at Glasgow Derbies for Rest of Season – Why Celtic Should Be Delighted
The SPFL has confirmed no away fans for the rest of the season – and after years of ticket disputes started at Ibrox, Celtic should embrace it.
Phillip Cooney 
No fans at Glasgow derbies for the rest of the SPFL season. My reaction? I am perfectly happy with it.
The SPFL has confirmed there will be no away supporters when Celtic and Rangers meet in SPFL competitions for the remainder of 2026/27.
That means no Celtic supporters at Ibrox on September 13 and no Rangers supporters inside Celtic Park when the sides meet seven days later.
For me, Celtic should embrace it.
No fans at Glasgow derbies – Celtic stand alone
I wrote recently that Celtic do not need Rangers to define us.
We are Celtic. We stand alone.
Celtic Park packed exclusively with Celtic supporters does not diminish our club. If anything, I believe it strengthens our home advantage.
I am also quite happy not to have the toxic atmosphere which has surrounded these fixtures brought into our stadium.
People will argue that travelling supporters create a better spectacle. Historically, there is truth in that.
However, we should remember how we arrived here.
Rangers started dismantling the traditional away allocation in 2018. Celtic previously received around 7,000 tickets at Ibrox before Rangers slashed that number to roughly 800.
Celtic responded by reducing Rangers’ allocation at Celtic Park.
Cause and effect.
Rangers started the ticket problem
Brendan Rodgers summed it up perfectly in 2024 when discussing another breakdown in away allocations.
He said Celtic were being dragged into something portrayed as a problem involving both clubs.
Rodgers’ conclusion was simple: “It’s not a Celtic-Rangers thing, this is a Rangers thing.”
That history matters.
More recently, Rangers proposed giving Celtic only 300 tickets for the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final at Ibrox. Celtic refused the proposal and asked the SPFL to intervene.
Now nobody travels.
I can live with that.
Celtic should never be dependent on Rangers supporters coming through our gates to create an atmosphere or validate the importance of our club.
Celtic existed before this ticket dispute and Celtic will thrive regardless of it.
If Rangers want to continually reduce, restrict and complicate away allocations, let them.
Fill Celtic Park with Celtic supporters.
We are Celtic.
We stand alone.
Key Takeaways
- No away fans at SPFL Glasgow derbies for the rest of 2026/27.
- Rangers originally cut Celtic’s traditional allocation in 2018.
- Celtic subsequently responded with the same reduced allocation.
- Brendan Rodgers previously called the dispute “a Rangers thing”.
- In my view, an all-Celtic Celtic Park is no bad thing.
As long as you mention the dead club as if they are still in existence, up keeping the continuity myth ; then you are part of the problem .
Make it permanent. I would say the SFA should also make Scottish Cup matches between us and them home fans only, but no doubt they would then ensure we never get a home tie against them in the cup.
And we won’t need to spend a fortune fixing the the parts of the stadium that they trash when they come..don’t need that sort in Celtic Park
Unfortunately it is what it is. Rangers DID start this. Responsibility lies with them. Sick and tired of equivalence being put forward. We’re not perfect. They’re a bunch of balaclaved bigots. We are Celtic !!!!
So, if we draw them in the SC and we are the home team does that mean we still have no fans and we pay them £100k, even though the LC 1/4 final at Diebrox will be home to 50k bigots and we got fck aw dough? Wheres the fairness in that?
Great news, I personally don’t want them in our stadium ever and I don’t want to be in their one having to listen to their horrible songbook. Perhaps now we can break this awful historic connection and finish that O** F*** nonsense that our very biased media love
Exactly,we don’t want or need them at Celtic Park. Our team can go to their place and get results without our fans, we’ve done it many times before.
We don’t need to be involved in their problem. It denies the media any opportunity to try and discredit our fans.
Maybe the cup tie should be played at a neutral venue without any fans.