Old Firm Matches Without Away Fans: Security Concerns Rise

The Old Firm will roar on this season – but only from one end of Glasgow at a time.

The SPFL has confirmed there will be no away supporters at any Celtic vs Rangers fixtures in this season’s Premiership or League Cup, a stark escalation in one of football’s fiercest rivalries and a decision rooted in security, risk and recent trouble.

Rangers are due to host Celtic at Ibrox in the Premier Sports Cup on 13 September, with the league meeting at Celtic Park following a week later. Both matches will be live on Sky Sports. Both will be played without the traditional pocket of away fans that has long provided colour, venom and a very specific kind of electricity.

For years, the clubs had settled on an away allocation of around five per cent of the stadium capacity for SPFL games – roughly 2,500 tickets at Ibrox and a similar number at Celtic Park. That uneasy truce has now been shelved.

The tipping point came in March, when on-pitch clashes between rival supporters after a Scottish Cup tie forced the issue into the spotlight. An independent review followed. Its findings prompted the SPFL and the clubs to revisit the entire matchday model for this fixture.

Rangers then made the first move. For the upcoming cup tie, they offered Celtic just 300 tickets, a fraction of the usual number, citing their own assessment of the risks attached to the game. Celtic refused, unwilling to accept what they saw as a token presence inside a hostile ground.

With neither side backing down, the SPFL stepped in.

After a new round of talks involving both clubs, league officials, Police Scotland and other agencies, the league has imposed a blanket lockout on away fans for all Old Firm meetings under its jurisdiction this season.

In a statement, the SPFL described the move as a “temporary arrangement” designed to give all parties time to digest the independent review’s recommendations, implement changes and plan future fixtures in greater detail. The league also stressed the need for “greater certainty” for supporters and match organisers, removing the drip-feed of late, contentious decisions on allocations that had dogged recent derbies.

The message is clear: safety and security now sit firmly above spectacle.

All sides have pledged to work “constructively” during this period, with the SPFL making it clear the stance could be revisited if circumstances “materially change” over the course of the campaign. Longer term, arrangements for Old Firm matches beyond this season will be set out well before the 2027/28 season kicks off.

For now, though, the most charged fixture in Scottish football will be played in one-colour cauldrons – full voice, full volume, but only one badge in the stands.