Celtic will call out the SPFL to ensure that there isn’t a repeat of the 2017 ticketing fiasco when they face Hibs in the semi-final of the Betfred Cup at Hampden.
When the two teams were drawn together in 2017 Hibs insisted on a 50% share of tickets with Rod Petrie deciding to sell off the North Stand tickets first leaving just a handful of Hibs fans behind the goal.
Celtic quickly sold out all of their tickets but were unable to be allocated additional tickets because of the way that Hibs had sold to their own fans. Just 39,813 fans were inside Hampden with over 10,000 tickets unsold.
Last season Aberdeen were told to sell tickets starting from the junction of the South Stand with the East Stand to ensure that there was no repeat. The effect of that was that fans of Steven Gerrard’s side were given tickets for the North Stand and also part of the East Stand. A crowd of 46,186 was reported with the shortfall mainly down to segregation.
The money from the semi-finals is split equally between the four clubs after costs and the cut to the SPFL has been deducted.
All four competing clubs will meet up at Hampden to discuss tickets and pricing for the fixtures which are due to take place on November 2 and 3. BT Sport will show both matches live with Celtic’s SPFL trip to Tynecastle that weekend postponed.
