Numbers and logic behind Celtic’s Free Broomloan agreement

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The Celtic Star

·19 Februari 2026

Numbers and logic behind Celtic’s Free Broomloan agreement

The news that Celtic supporters will once again fill the Free Broomloan stand at Ibrox for the upcoming Scottish Cup quarter final seems to have enraged a large number of the supporters who tuped over to the latest version of Rangers back in 2012…

The draw after Celtic defeated Dundee in extra time and theRangers got their revenge of Queen’s Park who beat them at Ibrox last season was both unsurprising and also a little bit of a shock to be honest.

Celtic to get their old Broomloan Rd allocation for the upcoming Scottish Cup quarter final next month. Decision taken following talks between both clubs and an understanding Celtic would reciprocate for any future cup matches at Celtic Park.
– Kamis, 19 Februari 2026

Unsurprising because theRangers got yet another home draw, when was the last time they played outside of Glasgow in cup football? Shocking because they managed to draw Celtic, usually they get the lowest ranked team left in the draw (see the Women’s Scottish Cup draw earlier this week for the most recent example of this in play.

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Now the away team in the Scottish Cup is entitled by the rules to 20% of the tickets. The capacity at Ibrox is currently 51,700 so Celtic is entitled to 10,340 tickets.

Our view is that we should have held out for the 7500 seats in the Free Broomloan and also the 800 in that dangerous little corner taking our allocation to around 8300, still below our entitlement.

As things have turned out the two clubs have agreed to revert to the traditional allocation with Celtic supporters occupying the Free Broomloan stand and the restless natives in the other three. That will further down the road set a similar 14.5% allocation – not a 20% one that they’ll be screaming for – at a Glasgow Derby cup-tie at Celtic Park. That will mean Celtic will give the latest Ibrox club 8759 tickets rather than 12,082 that they’ll be demanding on their horrible forums and social accounts.

Odsonne Edouard of Celtic celebrates scoring to give Celtic a 3-2 lead. theRangers v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, Ibrox, 11 March 2018. Photo Stuart Wallace Shutterstock/IMAGO

Restoring the traditional allocation is a clever move by Celtic, playing the long game. Celtic’s allocation was cut substantially after Beautiful Sunday when the ten men of Celtic won at Ibrox with that Odsonne Edouard winner finally breaking them. They hatched a plan to push Celtic supporters into that dangerous corner and the fixture lost much of its fascination for the wider audiences around the world.

Martin O’Neill last week spoke about this and hoped that this situation would lead to the full allocation returning. The current situation as it stands for Scottish Premiership matches is that the away side in the four Glasgow Derby matches receives 5% of the stadium capacity.

Celtic players walk off the pitch triumphant after the final whistle. Celtic won the match 3-2. theRangers v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, Ibrox, 11 March 2018. Photo: Stuart WallaceShutterstock /IMAGO

Hopefully this develops after the Scottish Cup tie – regardless of the result – to the traditional allocations in seasons to come.

A dejected fan of theRangers sits with his head in his hands in the Govan Stand after watching his team lose 3-2 against 10 men Celtic. theRangers v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, Ibrox, 11 March 2018. Photo Photo by Stuart Wallace Shutterstock/IMAGO

Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr. Click on image to order