7,500 Celtic fans to fill away end at Ibrox for first time since 2018 after agreement is reached with Rangers and police over Scottish Cup showdown

Celtic fans will fill the Broomloan Road end of Ibrox for the first time in eight years during next month’s Scottish Cup quarter-final tie with Rangers.

The decision follows a week of talks between both clubs and Police Scotland, with the agreement meaning around 7,500 away supporters will be allowed inside the stadium for the March 8 showdown.

Although competition rules allow visiting sides to claim up to 20 per cent of a ground’s capacity, it’s believed the authorities would not countenance 10,000 Celtic fans in attendance, as many of them would have to be housed in either the Bill Struth or Sandy Jardine Stands adjacent to rival supporters.

Instead, they will sell out the traditional away end in what is a return to the ticket split prior to 2018.

Back then, the Ibrox club decided to restrict the allocation of all visiting clubs to just 750.

A subsequent tit-for-tat fight between the Old Firm clubs ensured there were several instances when no visiting fans were allowed in the respective grounds for league matches.

Celtic supporters filling the away end at Ibrox was once a regular sight in seasons gone by

The Parkhead club have been granted the allocation for Scottish Cup tie on March 8

An agreement was recently struck between the clubs which sees around five per cent of the ground allocated to away fans for Premiership games.

While that will see around 2,500 Celtic supporters at Ibrox for the third league clash of the season on March 1, a further 5,000 will now be given tickets for the cup game at the same venue a week later.

It’s understood that, as part of the agreement, Rangers will be entitled to the same percentage of tickets for a Scottish Cup match at Parkhead should they be drawn to play there in future.

After the draw for the quarter-finals was made, Celtic boss Martin O’Neill expressed hope that his team’s fans would be represented at Ibrox in the kind of numbers he was accustomed to seeing in his first spell in charge.

‘I’ve talked to a lot of people down south in my time living there and they think exactly the same thing – it would be fantastic to get it back,’ he said.

‘I don’t know the club stance but, if you take me out of the club for a minute, just being a Celtic supporter, (we) would want all the tickets we can get – the allocation that’s available under the rules.’