Hibernian have shown "bravery" by making the decision to reduce Celtic and Rangers away allocation at Easter Road.
That's according to former Celtic boss Martin O'Neill, who believes Hibs chief executive Ben Kensell was well within his right to implement the change following numerous issues involving travelling fans - even though the Edinburgh club will be taking a financial hit in the process.
Both side's of the Old Firm would usually receive up to 4,000 tickets when visiting Hibs' home ground but that number is set to be cut and will continue to be slashed further should misbehaviour persist.
Speaking on talkSPORT last week Kensell stated: “It’s impactful and important because if we’re prepared to do that (lose money) we obviously mean it’s gone too far and a line has been crossed and we want to do so something about it and address it.
"That dialogue will happen with the SFA, SPFL. We have a brilliant game in Scotland were are immensely proud of and we want to make sure it’s observed in the best way possible.”
READ MORE: Why Livingston deserve respect for Scottish Premiership run
The topic of supporters behaving badly while in football stadiums was back on the agenda on Monday morning as the radio station discussed the unsavoury chanting heard during the weekend's FA Cup quarter-final clash between Manchester United and Liverpool.
O'Neill was asked about Hibs' strong stance on the matter and recalled: “He was talking especially about the flares and pyros. A player going to take a corner kick and being pelted with stuff. Those things are issues (for Hibs) rather than sort of tragedy chanting. It’s been going on for a long time.
“Is it something they want to try and ban because someone from a Celtic viewpoint sings The Fields of Athenry or from a Rangers viewpoint thet sing The Sash My Father Wore? I’m not sure. It’s a brave move of him in reducing an allocation if thinks this is causing deep offence to a lot of people up there because Hibs will be losing out in terms of money.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel