Rangers CEO James Bisgrove has confirmed definitively that there will be no consideration made to restoring the whole Broomloan Stand for Celtic fans on Old Firm day, following years of disagreement and discontent about allocation for each other’s fans on the big matches.
As things currently sit, there are no away fans allowed at either ground, something put in place originally by ex-chairman Dave King who decided to reduce Celtic’s allocation to 850 and a small portion of Ibrox. He stated it was a reward to our season ticket holders and fans who should take priority.
Naturally Celtic responded by reducing Rangers’ allocation at Parkhead, and since then it’s just gotten less and less mature as both sides tried to play to their own galleries, and ended up dumping visiting fans completely.
While each set of supporters, for the majority, supports their club’s actions, and we absolutely back James Bisgrove who is the biggest breath of fresh air on our board in decades, nevertheless where the interest of our club is paramount and Bisgrove is doing what he thinks is right by our club, we do feel regret that Old Firm day now has no competitive crowd, no away fans, no chanting blue murder at each other.
Ultimately, no atmosphere.
There are discussions to at least restore the 850 tickets at both ends, and it is something, we admit, but the old days of having a good few thousand at Parkhead backing our side out there in that midden were good times, even given complaints about where at their ground our fans were placed.
But Bisgrove has confirmed we will not be giving them a full stand ‘ever’ again, meaning we’ll never have more at Parkhead either.
We do sense a little of Bisgrove himself slightly playing to the galleries here – it is what the fans want, but it’s not how it was 10 years ago. And equally we’ve suggested the CEO, previously, wasn’t fully in tune with ‘Rangers’ hence his tone-deaf decision over arranging a friendly in Australia with them.
And this sounds like he’s much more on board with the fans now, understanding what they want. He’s learning on the job and now ‘gets it’ a tonne more. He’s not stupid.
We at Ibrox Noise are a little saddened that Old Firm day will never again have a good away allocation, and we understand why the fans feel this way.
And that is how that one will be.
Having attended an Old Firm game when Celtic had the full Broomloan Stand, the atmosphere was electric and added to the experience tenfold. The only other time the atmosphere came anywhere close was against European opposition. 💙💙
We at least need to get the small allocations back.
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