Away fan ban 'a Rangers thing' - Celtic's Rodgers

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has described the continued absence of away fans at Old Firm derbies as "a Rangers thing, not a Celtic-Rangers thing".

Rangers announced on Wednesday that there would no away tickets for Celtic's January Scottish Premiership visit after their city rivals decided not to allocate them for the September match at Celtic Park.

The Scottish Professional Football League has since talked to the clubs and been told that both will provide ticket allocations of about 5% of stadium capacity for away supporters for Old Firm derbies later in the season - provided necessary works are completed at both grounds.

But Rodgers and Celtic have explained that their decision for the September game was based on the uncertainty over when Rangers will return to Ibrox, after delays to renovation works to their Copland Stand forced a temporary move to Hampden Park.

"Celtic have played their part in what they were asked to do," he said. "When you go back to when this all started, it had nothing to do with Celtic.

"Celtic get dragged into this here as being a Celtic-Rangers thing. It’s not a Celtic-Rangers thing, this is a Rangers thing.

"When asked to have this agreement, make the stadium safe, we plough money into that, that started months ago. On both parties, that hasn't been agreed, so it's not complicated, it hasn’t been done."

Rangers ended the long-standing convention of allowing 7,500 Celtic fans into Ibrox in 2018, reducing the allocation to about 10% of that total, with Celtic following suit.

Eventually, neither club accepted tickets for each other's grounds for safety reasons, but an agreement had been reached in March between the SPFL and the two clubs to reintroduce away fans.

Given the size of the respective stadiums, about 2,500 Celtic fans would have been able to visit Ibrox, with 3,000 Rangers supporters for games at Celtic Park.

"The agreement hasn’t been upheld, so Celtic rightly have to defend their supporters and their club and, sadly, the Rangers supporters miss out in this game and the Celtic supporters in the return game," Rodgers said.

"I think the board have made a really, really good decision. The club's job is to protect the support and if there is not that guarantee come the second fixture then I think it is only logical that you wouldn't reciprocate."

Rangers on Wednesday said they would not provide Celtic fans with tickets for the January fixture after being informed of their rivals' decision for the September game.

"The allocation to be implemented by both clubs was clear and Rangers was taking all steps towards fulfilling that agreement," Rangers stated on their website.

"In the meantime, we can confirm that no away allocation will apply for the January Old Firm fixture at Ibrox. This is consistent with the reciprocity embedded in the agreement reached between the clubs and the SPFL."

Manager Philippe Clement said that, as he was not involved with the decisions, he could not comment other than to say that it is "always better for the product" if two sets of fans are in attendance.