'Saddened' O'Neill fears impact on derby away fans

Martin O'Neill fears large ticket allocations for away fans at matches between Celtic and Rangers may be lost forever - and he is "saddened" by events that have led him to that conclusion.

Ugly scenes marred the aftermath of Celtic's Scottish Cup quarter-final win on penalties at Ibrox, with spectators entering the pitch.

As of Monday, nine arrests had been made following Sunday's encounter.

It was the first meeting of Rangers and Celtic since 2018 to have such a large away support - around 7,500.

In recent years, away allocations in the fixture had been 800, 2,500 or with no visiting support at all. Sunday's derby had a larger away crowd in part because of the rules of the Scottish Cup, while other recent Old Firm cup ties have been semi-finals or finals at Hampden, with evenly-split crowds.

Celtic manager O'Neill told Talksport: "I was a really big advocate, from a distance, of feeling that without away fans, without the full allocation of away fans, I thought the Old Firm game, still a fantastic fixture, had lost some of its lustre."

O'Neill added: "I thought the noise emanating from Ibrox, both last Sunday and the Sunday before that, even though we'd only 2,500 people, was something I have not heard for a long, long time.

"Maybe Celtic playing Liverpool way back in 2003, have I heard a noise emanating from a stadium like that.

"So, there's something really magical about it and I'm really, obviously, quite saddened by the events. Saddened seems almost like you're minimising or downplaying things.

"But overall it's a shame because I think the things that I was hoping that would happen, and happened for a long time, may now not happen anymore."

Rangers had hosted Celtic the previous Sunday in their 2-2 Scottish Premiership draw, when away fans made up around 2,500 of the 50,000 crowd.

Danny Rohl's side are due to visit the 60,000-seater Celtic Park once more in the league this season and when the last time the sides met at Celtic Park in January, approaching 2,400 Rangers supporters attended.

Celtic's allocation on Sunday was akin to visiting crowds at Ibrox derbies during O'Neill's first spell managing in Glasgow from 2000-05, when he won seven trophies with the club, including three league titles.

"I would love if there was a serious consideration to be looking at these particular things, what happened, what could have been avoided, but I honestly think that in terms of atmosphere, there was nothing like it," added O'Neill.

"And I'm talking about going there to a hostile atmosphere at Ibrox, where you actually, perversely, get some sort of intoxicated joy from it. Joy might be too strong a word, but it really was amazing.

"People are going to look at it and say 7,000 people at Ibrox or Celtic Park just cannot be policed.

"I don't know the answer, but I still think something would be seriously lost again if that atmosphere throughout the game is anything to go by."

Graeme Souness, who managed Rangers from 1986-91, felt the increased amount of away fans "added to the atmosphere" but agreed with O'Neill.

"It is, in my opinion, the biggest derby in the world," he told Talksport.

"Unfortunately, I don't think we'll see that again. What happened on Sunday will mean we won't see away supporters in the stadium again, not in those numbers anyway. It takes so much away from the game.

"Although it wasn't a great game, both of them generated an unbelievable atmosphere. I got my phone out before the game and filmed the scenes. It is the biggest, most passionate football match you will ever go to. But I think it will be a long time before we see that number of away supporters again.

"No matter what you think about Scottish football, Rangers and Celtic are monsters. They are not football clubs, they are institutions, and what makes them institutions is the passion that their supporters have for their clubs.

"And, as always, a small minority spoil it for everyone."

Souness also added: "It's a small element of supporters that react to defeat in a negative way.

"As much as they try to control it, alcohol does play a part in it unfortunately. I was on my way to a stadium and, on both sides, people are topping themselves up and that would be before lunch."