O'Neill urges Celtic to turn down tiny Ibrox allocation for Premier Sports cup tie

Martin O'Neill believes Celtic should refuse the 300 tickets Ranges have allocated to Bhoys fans for next month's Premier Sports Cup quarter-final.

The Ibrox outfit announced on Friday that they have slashed away briefs for that clash on Sunday, September 13 following the SFA-commissioned report into the crowd trouble that scarred last season's Scottish Cup last-eight tie in Govan.

Both sides of the Old Firm have been ordered to play their next home game in that competition behind closed-doors and pay the opposition £100,000 – with Rangers citing the need to prevent further pitch invasions as the reason for reducing the number of seats reserved for Celtic supporters so drastically.

However, O'Neill, whose side played in front of 8,000 away fans for that cup game at Ibrox in March, believes returning to tiny away supports damages the Glasgow derby badly and would rather have no travelling punters at all.

'We might as well not get any, if that's the case,' he stated. 'My view, taking off the Celtic manager's hat, and just looking at it from a viewpoint, is that 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. 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 (when no away fans were present).

'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 because it is a fantastic fixture.

'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.

'When we played the league game (in March), where we were 2-0 down (and drew 2-2), I have not known noise like it at Ibrox for a long time, even in my day. It was phenomenal. Just to be participating in that game gives you goosebumps.

'Very obviously, if they're going to give us 300 tickets, I would rather say no. And we'll give them one.'

O'Neill saw his side bounce back from their catastrophic midweek Champions League qualifying exit to LASK Linz with a 2-1 win at home to Falkirk on league business.

Two first-half goals from Camilo Duran secured the points before a Colby Donovan own goal after the break and O'Neill thanked supporters for staying behind the team despite their Euro horror show in Austria last Tuesday night.

'As we got off the bus, the crowd actually cheered us, which was unexpected and something that we probably didn't deserve,' he said. 'So, yeah, I was really pleased.'

Midfielder Luke McCowan, panned following his display in Linz, was also given a round of applause when taking the field as a second-half substitute.

'I don't know where I was at that stage, my head had gone. But that was nice, if that's the case. Really nice,' said O'Neill.

'It's been a tough four days for all of us. Physically, the 120 minutes, the disappointment of losing and the psychological aspect of all of that there was a concern, but it was a good response.

'I would be disappointed if we had dropped points from the number of chances that we created, but we were on the back foot the last 10 or 15 minutes of the game naturally because of the goal that we conceded.'

Defender Cameron Carter-Vickers also claimed the fans refusal to turn on the team provided a massive lift for the players.

'That definitely helps us,' he said. 'One hundred per cent. Even when coming off the bus arriving, there was a good little cheer for the staff and the players. It gave the team that boost and let us know that the fans are behind us, which, like I said, is always a good thing.

'It was nice to get that. A really bad 45 minutes obviously dampened the mood on the season so far, but, for the most part, we've been pretty good, so it's just about focusing on the positives and keeping going.'

O'Neill had captain Callum McGregor missing through illness against Falkirk and has revealed Kasper Hogh is battling an adductor injury which will need managed over the course of the coming games.

He also has concerns that Kieran Tierney, taken off in the second half yesterday, has picked up a similar issue. Callum Osmand was spotted leaving the stadium in a protective boot after the match too.

'Kieran, I thought had cramp, but it wasn't. It looks similar to Kasper,' said O'Neill. 'I'm not sure at this minute. I need to find out from the medical staff how that is.

'Kasper 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 (at home to Aberdeen). I'm really not sure, but I'm hoping he will be.'

O'Neill revealed Reo Hatate also ruled himself out of the visit of Falkirk with his future up in the air ahead of the closure of the transfer window – and admitted there are fitness concerns about a number of the squad.

'Reo wasn't fit to play,' said O'Neill. 'He had strained himself in training and ruled himself out of contention.

'When we went to Portugal in pre-season, a lot of the senior players weren't there for one reason or another. We had Callum, Carter Vickers, maybe four, and essentially it was the youth lads like young Kennedy and people like that.

'While they got a great benefit out of the pre-season, it wasn't beneficial for those boys who were coming back from World Cup duty. We've really got to hang in until these boys get really true fitness, proper fitness.

'I thought that we had enough problems last season with it, players going down like Kieran, not finishing games.'

Falkirk boss John McGlynn rued the concession of two easy goals to Duran despite being pleased with his side's overall display.

'We got off to the worst possible start and gifted them a goal,' said McGlynn. 'It was a harmless ball that Scotty misjudged and the kind of nightmare start you don't want on the back of Celtic's game in midweek.

'It was a harmless ball that should never end up in the back of the net.

'We didn't give up too many chances and had some good passages of play, but, then, we got caught. We lost two really cheap goals, but we were much better in the second half, so huge credit to players.

'There was loads of encouragement to take from that second half.'