Celtic fans are set to miss out on attending the season opener and Ange Postecoglou’s first league game in charge of the Hoops.
With the 2021/22 campaign on the horizon, beginning at the end of this month, there is some optimism going into this one. Purely down to the fact we should finally see the long-awaited return of fans to grounds every week.
Celtic kick off their season at a tricky venue against Hearts at Tynecastle, returning to the league after gaining promotion last season.
However, as reported by Sun Sport, Hearts chief executive Andrew McKinlay has confirmed they hope to have around 4000 spectators inside Tynecastle for the opening day fixture with the updated social distancing rules then, but no away fans will be in attendance on the 31st of July.
“For the first home game in the Premier Sports Cup, we will have 2,000 fans inside.
“For the second cup game and the first game of the season against Celtic, we are currently working on the number as we have been given different social-distancing numbers to work with.
“It is social distancing inside the bowl but also social distancing on the concourse, and they are different numbers.
“We’re working through that, but it looks like being a few thousand more. It seems optimistic to me, but we are being told it will be back to normal from August 9.
“The agreement in the cup is we’ll all stick to home fans only. We will not bring any away fans in until we have satisfied our season-ticket holders unless we’re forced to.”
Although this might come as a slight blow to some supporters looking to return to away venues on the first day of the season, I don’t think many were expecting it to be the case anyway.
It is well over a year now since Hoops fans have last been inside a stadium to see the side play. The majority will just be looking forward to getting back inside Paradise for the first time since March 2020.
