SCOTT Bain has admitted he would like to see a return to the traditional ticketing arrangements at Old Firm games – even though he believes Celtic’s chances of beating Rangers on Sunday will be significantly increased by having far more fans behind them at Parkhead than their city rivals.
Rangers announced last May that they would be slashing Celtic’s allocation of briefs for matches at Ibrox by over 6,000 to just 800 and selling season tickets to their supporters for the Broomloan Road Stand.
The Scottish champions responded to that move in September by reluctantly reducing the size of the away support inside Celtic Park at the Glasgow derby match to around 800 as well.
A statement read: “This is not a development we welcome and it is unfortunate that the initial decision came without any form of discussion. The previous arrangements worked well for both sets of supporters as well as contributing to the status of the fixture as a sporting occasion.”
READ MORE: Celtic call for talks in Old Firm ticket allocation row while restricting sales to Rangers fans
Brendan Rodgers’ side won the opening Old Firm game of the 2018/19 campaign 1-0 in the East End in September while Steven Gerrard’s team prevailed by the same scoreline in Govan at the end of December.
Celtic are currently 10 points ahead of Rangers at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership table with eight games remaining and can effectively, if not arithmetically, sew up their eighth consecutive league victory with a triumph this weekend.
Bain, the Celtic goalkeeper who is set to start in his second match against Rangers this weekend, appreciates that having the vast majority of the 58,000-strong crowd roaring them on will give Neil Lennon’s men a huge advantage over their opponents.
READ MORE: Celtic hit back at Rangers over ticket allocation spat
But the former Alloa and Dundee player, who helped his side come from behind twice to win 3-2 at Ibrox back in March even though they were reduced to 10 men with the second-half ordering off of Jozo Simunovic, feels the world-famous fixture would benefit from revised ticketing arrangements.
“There will be a lot more Celtic fans than the last time we played them,” he said. There will be less Rangers fans and we need to use the atmosphere. If anything, I like it when there are more away fans. It creates a better atmosphere, more of an Old Firm derby feeling. But it is what it is.”
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