Celtic fans face new away day ticket blow

Celtic fans face a massive scramble to get tickets for the January 26 clash at Tynecastle with just 1,289 tickets for visiting fans. 

In previous seasons Celtic have been given the 3,500 Roseberry Stand but Hearts will now split that stand in three with a section for Hearts fans and another third lying empty for segregation. 

Hearts tried a similar move last month for the visit of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side but were left embarrassed by large areas of empty seats in the home sections of the ground. 

After today’s announcement that fans can return to games from Monday the Daily Record reports: 

Record Sport understands 1289 tickets will be offered to Celtic for the upcoming fixture. On the opening day of the season, Hearts were allowed 4500 fans inside the stadium but it was limited to season-ticket holders only with no away fans.

Hearts stated: 

Tickets for this month’s home fixtures vs St Johnstone, Celtic and Motherwell are on sale now and we would love nothing more than to pack out Tynecastle for every one of those crucial games as the 3rd placed Jambos kick-off off the second half of the season. 

We took the decision to vote in favour of bringing the winter break forward in-order to give supporters the best possible opportunity to attend pre-scheduled fixtures and we are delighted to now be able to welcome you all home to Tynecastle next week. 

This will be the third away match in two months where Celtic fans have had their ticket allocation cut. At Dundee United damage to the George Fox Stand saw the allocation cut in half while the away day at St Johnstone on December 26 was played in front of just 500 home supporters.