Martin O’Neill has told Rangers to shove their ticket offer for Ibrox in next month’s Old Firm Premiership Sports Cup showdown. The Hoops have been offered just 300 briefs for the quarter final clash on the back of trouble in the Scottish Cup last term. Both clubs face stadium closures in their first home ties in the competition with opponents also getting £100,000. But Celts have seen their allocation slashed for the League Cup encounter on September 13 – with Parkhead chiefs expected to do the same for the Premiership collision a week later.
O'Neill: 'We might as well not get any'
O’Neill said: "We might as well not get any, if that's the case. My view, taking off the Celtic manager's hat, and just looking at it from a viewpoint, it's one of the great fixtures. Even if the teams are not of the standard of, let's say, Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid, it is still a fantastic fixture. And you honestly don't realise how big it is in European games and in the world. People talk about it as a great game. And the best atmosphere is when the away fans have their allocation."
"That's been my point the whole way. I thought from a distance, watching games when it was away, that it lost something. I remember I came to one of the games here with Celtic and Rangers, and Rangers scored a goal and it was in complete silence. So that's not what you're looking for. It's still a crowd participation game. And that's a shame. If these are the things that are happening because of it, if we're both having to play behind closed doors for the next game if we're at home, well, I don't know. I'm not contesting that."
Fixture's atmosphere and allocation
"But overall, it's, from a distance, a shame because it's a phenomenal fixture. And when we played the league game, obviously memory plays tricks on you at the end of the day. The league game, where we were 2-0 down. I have not known noise like it at Ibrox for a long time, even in my day. Also, I think I'm probably wrong, but it was phenomenal. And just to be participating in that game gives you goosebumps. So that's a shame. But very obviously, if they're going to give us 300 tickets, I would rather say no – and we'll give them ONE."
Meanwhile O’Neill is hopeful Callum McGregor and Kasper Hogh will be fit to face Aberdeen on Wednesday after the pair missed the 2-1 win against Falkirk. Captain McGregor was absent through illness while Hogh was nursing a knock suffered in the Champions League collapse in LASK.
Injury update and transfer plans
O’Neill said: "McGregor must be really ill because he would normally not miss [even] a training session. I spoke to him very, very briefly on Friday and he was still recovering. He's had a little injuries here in my time, but he's never been ill. And I knew last night that he wouldn't make it for the game. But I'm hoping in a couple of days he'll be back. Hogh has got an adductor thing at this minute. This was the first of seven games in 21, 22 days. So it's a matter of just keeping an eye on him. I'm hoping he'll be fit for Wednesday. I'm really not sure, but I'm hoping he will be."
O’Neill is looking to bolster his squad ahead of the transfer window closing on Thursday – with the deadline to register players for the Europa League 24 hours earlier. The Hoops are in for PSV midfielder Joel van den Berg, with the 19-year-old understood to be keen on a move to Parkhead. Hajduk Split midfielder Niko Sigur is also in the frame along with Chelsea left back Landon Emenalo. O’Neill said: "We’re hopeful."
